Back To The Roots

After watching "Iron Sky" and reading about the production at CGSociety I got the urge to check out Lightwave again. This is after all the software that got me started with 3D all those years ago. After a brief stint with 3D Studio 4 run under MS-DOS I tried my hands on Lightwave 4 - instant love! I kept using Lightwave for a couple of years, but left it shortly after v6 came out seeing Maya as the future. I believe Maya was at v2.5 back then. Although I kept using Lightwave on and off for a couple of years Maya eventually replaced it completely.

What I remember I liked about Lightwave was the SubD's and the integrated renderer - which was very good. The modelling tools suited me quite well as well, but after learning the Maya tools I really didn't look back.

Head model courtesy Dance Macabre @ TurboSquid

Lightwave 11, as of today, has a free 30 day trial. Registering gets you a serial that unlocks all functionality and removes water mark - which is nice.

The layout is pretty much the same as I remember from Lightwave 6. You still have two different programs, modeller and layout. I must admit I'm a bit rusty not having touched the program in 10-12 years, but I managed to assign some shaders, add fur, light and render a small test.

Although 999 free render licenses are tempting I don't think I'll be jumping back.