Many large Computer Graphics companies use a RenderMan renderer as their main render engine. The reason for this is that the RenderMan Interface has one feature which makes it infinitely more flexible than any other renderer: the ability to use programmable shaders. Many commercial 3D packages have hard-coded their illumination model deep inside the renderer,and as a result, many of the pictures generated by such a renderer will have a "recognizable signature".
By leaving the renderer architecture open, NewTek has enabled us to offer you alternative illumination models from those offered by the base program, Allowing you to create a wider variety of effects. But that is not all, you can also create many procedural textures which would otherwise be difficult to generate, while taking advantage of LightWave's built-in features such as raytracing.

Currently available for DEC Alpha and Intel platforms.