Welcome to NewTek's release of LightWave 5.0 for the Mac!
The following text includes important last-minute additions and changes to the documentation- please read it carefully!! {you know, don't read it while you're running next to a swimming pool or anything.....}
LightWave requires MacOS 7.5.x, Quickdraw 3d version 1.06, and Quicktime 2.5 to function smoothly- QD3d and Quicktime 2.5 are included on our CD. If you are using an early verion of the MacOS, you can pull the executables off the CD-ROM and run LW that way, 'til you get your OS up to date.
Do Not!!! move the hardware key on or off the ADB chain while the machine is powered up!
(you've been warned!)
LightWave 3D strives to be completely transparent in it's many cross-platform incarnations, but certain differences between the platforms themselves (such as a sleek, one-button mouse!) demand changes in the implementation of our interface- if you have used LightWave on other platforms, you may want to check the documentation for changes in the way it works on the Mac.
We've included a handy-dandy config file maker to add your plug-ins for you- it's in the root of the NewTek folder and called...oddly enough... 'Config Maker'.
Because of the way the Mac handles it's fonts, Modeler is not able to read fonts directly out of the System Folder. You may use the Type1 fonts we've included on the CD, or you can use fonts from a pc-compatable machine. Most font collections sold on CD-ROM work with Modeler as well, as long as they are pc compatable.
At the time of this writing, Apple had a beta version of QD3d into general release- since it's a beta extension, we cannot guarantee it's compatability with LightWave- we've included QD3d ver. 1.06 on this CD, which we've heavily tested.
The Mac version Modeler isn't capable of importing and exporting objects with Layout- within the next few weeks we'll be putting out an update that will allow cutting and pasting between the two via 3DMF support.
LightWave renders extremely fast on the PPC chip- if you have an early PowerMac (such as the 61xx/71xx/81xx ), a clock chip accelerator such as Newer Technologies 'PowerClip' can greatly decrease the length of your LightWave render times. They usually cost well under a hundred dollars, and can increase the performance of your machine by 50%!
Due to limitations in our porting library, there's a quirk in Layout that limits rotation to 120 degrees (approx.) of movement before the cursor hits a 'brick wall'- likewise, object translation hits a 'wall' as well.When you let up on the mouse button and reclick, movement is reinstituted 'til the limit is again reached. This is a problem we are addressing immediately- we wanted to let LightWave get into circulation as quickly as possible due to the flood of requests for it from the CGI community... while we realize this is an inconvenience, you can always hit the letter 'n' on your keyboard to bring up a numeric input dialogue, which functions with no limitations. This problems will be patched a.s.a.p.
When working with high polygon count objects in Modeler, you can force the QuickDraw 3d screen to update before the wireframe by clicking inside the QD3d-shaded view. QuickDraw 3d accelerators such as the models from Radius can dramatically help with redraw of heavy objects and scenes in both Layout and Modeler.
To select the Content Directory, follow the directions in the documentation, but whereas the docs tell you to select 'o.k', you actually need to select the 'Select me for the Content Directory' file in the root of the NewTek folder.
Objects created on other platforms may call in multiple copies of the same image map when the map is used across different surfaces- this quirk will go away when you resave the object on the Mac. This is especially problematic on the 601-based machines.
We strongly recommend that you not have any spaces in the drive names or folder names that are in the path to the Newtek directory.
the 'Speed Doubler' suite of extensions decreases the average render time by 25%- well worth the $50 it costs.
If you receive the error message 'must have QuickDraw 3d installed', and you in fact do have it installed, check the amount of RAM that's allocated to LightWave's modules and make sure they don't exceed the amount you currently have available.
Here's an example of the render results we've been getting-
The 'Textures.lws' scene in the 'Scenes/Benchmarks' directory, with medium resolution, 'show render in progress' turned off, 7,378,000 k for segment memory, and anti-aliasing set to 'low' returns the following times on the following machines:
Mac 6116, 90.6 mhz, 72 megs RAM, 7.5.2 os, two minutes, twelve seconds.*
Mac 8500, 150mhz, 40 megs RAM, 7.5.3 os, one minute, fourteen seconds.*
Mac 7200, 120mhz, 24 megs RAM, 7.5.5 os, one minute, forty-three seconds.*
Pentium 133, 64 megs RAM, Win '95 os, two minutes, five seconds.
*all Macs have the 'Speed Doubler' extension loaded.
With the release of LightWave 5.0 for the Macintosh PPC family of computers, NewTek now has the distinction of being not only the best 3d app on any platform, we're now the *only* 3d app that's available on *every* platform, ensuring your ability to co-exist peacefully (?) in today's multi-platform world!
All of us here at NewTek are very proud to be able to finally bring LightWave to the Mac world- you now have all of the powerful modeling, texturing, and animation features that make LW the most popular CGI app in the world.... but remember, we're hard at work on version 6.0, and as Jimmy Durante said- "You ain't seen nuthin' yet"!
