Cross Platform ScreamerNet Using OSX, Dave and TequilaNet

Ari Danesh sent in this request for information: "I am trying to setup a medium size render farm (approx. 30 machines). The main render farm uses TequilaNet under Win2000. I have installed Dave on the Mac OS 10.1 machines and they do see the relevant hard drives on the Master PC. I start LWSN but it does not see the Master App. Any ideas? Any tutorials." If anyone's tried this setup, please let me know.

Lightwave 3D 7 - The Best Mac 3D Program Around

Lightwave won the Eddy this year. Kudos to Newtek. (But we all knew it was the best didn't we!).

Dave Williams' LWSN Tip Under OS9.x

Dave at Atmos Software posted this tip on Yahoo Groups for stopping LWSN hogging your CPU on a single processor machine.

Recent Mac Plugin News

This is all documented at Flay, but apart from substantial upgrades to commercial Mac plugins like X-DoF 2 and IFW2 V.3 there have been numerous excellent plugins for both 9 and 10 from DStorm and many new Lscripts.

Eki Struggling with Overcaster 5 Mac Scripts

Eki has reported here that there *may* be some issues with LScript in OSX Mac 7b which are impacting Overcaster..

Glen Hurd sent me a note about a new Quicktime Codec from Microcosm which is now available for public beta and which provides huge lossless compression ratios. If you do a lot of renders to Animation Best from either Lightwave or AE then this looks very promising...(Thanks Glen!).

Mike Fessenden Resolves Backdrop Conundrum

When you save a backdrop preset from Modeler and try and load it again, the file requester won't see it unless you select All Files. Mike Fessenden's post here notes that adding the extension .cfg resolves this problem.

Rumour: 7.1 Coming Soon

At a Gomark event at Apple's UK HQ, attendees were told that 7.1 was coming soon-ish. Here's the thread on Newtek's own discussion forum.

Kent's Cool Mac Memory Handling Tip for OS9

ILM's Kent Matheson sent a neat tip for launching versions of Lightwave with different RAM allocations and Hub configurations to Flay.

Following on from the much publicised Wired story about the demise of 3D on the Mac (and, in particular, Maya) Lester sent me this link to a very comprehensive overview of Mac 3D past and present. (Thanks Lester).

Vertibevel 1.55 for OSX

Vertibevel, an indispensable Modeler plugin, has been released for OSX. I don't know what to tell you about this one. For a long time before I bought it, I'd seen the odd post raving about it but I couldn't get *that* excited about what I thought was a 'mere' bevel tool. Once I'd actually realised what it could do - which is a kind of combo bevel, smooth shift, rail bevel and extrude across groups of polys - then I realised what the fuss was about. Being able to select a multi-poly car door and hit Vertibevel to get perfect, highlight-catching microbevels instantly was enough to turn me into a rabid zealot...

Mac Sasquatch Up to 1.5

Mac updates to Worley's amazing Sasquatch full, with many additional features, are available here.

Digital Confusion Blue Rinse in 9.2.1/9.1 Workaround

If you've succumbed to the blue rinse that Digital Confusion applies to images (seemingly in 9.2.1 and 9.1 only) then Arnie has confirmed that the workaround is to use the plugin from 7.0 not the one from 7b (as with Channel Follower and QTTools).

Restoring Preferences and Init Config - A Beginner's Guide?

I wrote something similar to this in a forum, and thought it was worth repeating here. If other users have additional pointers to add, please let me know.

Under OSX, if you're getting the 'Modeler/Lightwave has unexpectedly quit' message when you quit out of either of the applications, it's usually indicative of some problem the applications have writing to the Preference files, which is what they try and do when you quit them.

That's usually provoked by some form of corruption to those Preference files or some form of privileges issue under OSX which prevents you from writing to the appropriate directory. Once these files are flakey, then Lightwave and Modeler will become unstable. I'd say that the vast majority of problems you can experience with Lightwave under both OSX and OS9 are caused by funky preferences - Type 2s, Graph Editor and Surface Editor crashes etc.

Here's a way of recreating your Preference files from scratch in both platforms which can often resolve this type of issue.

Trash all the Lightwave Preference files (but remember that you'll lose any plugins, key commands and menu layouts you added after the initial install):

OSX - User:You:Library:Preferences folder
OS9 - System folder:Preferences

Those files are:
LightWave Layout 3 Prefs
LightWave Modeler 3 Prefs
Lightwave Hub Prefs
LS/GN Prefs (dependent on whether you've used LScript)
LScript Prefs (ditto)
LightWave Extensions 3 Prefs
LWSpreadsheet.cfg (spreadsheet)

Open Layout and go to Edit Plugins and then scan the 7b Plugins folder and the 7b LScript folder. Quit. Open Modeler and then quit. Quit the Hub (if you have it enabled). This should place brand new files in the aforementioned Prefs folder (check on the dates to make sure they're new).

LightWave Layout 3 Prefs
LightWave Modeler 3 Prefs
LightWave Extensions 3 Prefs
Lightwave Hub Prefs

What about Init Config? Well, Init Config will take the backup Preference files that the original installer places in your Backup Configs folder, insert the appropriate path to your plugin folder and place the Preference files in the default place - which sounds cool! However, if, and it's a big if, Newtek make a small mistake in the construction of the Backup Configs then each time you use them that mistake will be propagated. The method outlined above, whilst much more long-winded, enables Lightwave and Modeler to generate their own default Preference files and compile a fresh listing of plugins each time.

Overcaster v5 and Auto Character Setup 2b Glitches

Eki's latest version of Overcaster, Version 5, is being updated with Mac-specific fixes whilst Jon Tiller let me know that Auto Character Setup 2b seems to fail when executing the most complex set up - IK/FK Blending. From the limited amount of testing I've done it looks like the problem lies with Newtek's Clone Hierarchy LScript which is called by the IK/FK Blending session. The script doesn't seem to work under OS9.x.

OSX Versions of X-Dof and Shadow Designer from Evasion

Lester let me know last week about OSX updates to these highly-regarded plugins. I'm sure you've seen it already on Flay, but it's good to report nonetheless

Mac Lightwave house Asylum 3d has won the Character Design Award at the 3D Festival in Copenhagen. Congratulations to the two-man team.

Meanwhile, Henk Dawson and Nigel Hendrickson have created totally different gems. Henk's is here whilst Nigel's is here.

OGL Glitches in 7b 9.2.1 and Possible Workaround

This thread in Newtek's Discussion Forum details problems some ATI users (mainly AGP Rage 128s and Radeons) are having with OGL display oddities under 9.2.1 and a possible fix from Shawn Ogle. Notably, Kenneth Woodruff highlights that in Newtek's view there are problems with Apple's implementation of OGL under 9.2.1.

Missing Plugins from OSX 7b Continued..

Brad Krause has pointed out that Reduce Points and Reduce Polygons aren't shipping with 7b. (Thanks Brad).

Mac Sales of Lightwave Overtake Windows!

Glen Hurd and Lester pointed me to an article on MacCentral here which reveals that for the first time ever, sales of Lightwave Mac outstripped Lightwave Windows in September.

HV Surface Reflection/Refraction Strangeness

A thread on Newtek's discussion forum mulls over some reflection and refraction oddities with HV surfaces. I can only reproduce issues if I turn on Full Refraction (which is quite often overkill!).

OSX 7b Interface Speed and Video Cards (Updated 29th October)

Several threads over the past couple of weeks have discussed an apparent slowness which only some people experience in the 7b interface under OS10.1. It's hard to draw any firm pointers from the symptoms people describe. What's more, many people describe blazingly fast OGL and interface performance on a variety of cards - Rage 128s, Radeons, Geforce 2/3 - which makes it hard to draw conclusions. Certainly, Newtek are aware of erratic behaviour with 'sticky menus' which may be resolution related. Other people have noted that with Classic open, both Modeler and Layout under OSX may slow down to a crawl. Tim Anderson on Newtek's discussion forums here has pointed out a debate raging in the Apple Discussion Forums (which is also featured on Accelerate Your Mac) about how fully the Rage Pro (this originally said Rage 128 Pro but it's the older Rage Pros that are affected - Ed) is supported under OSX and whether there are some drivers that fail to get installed. If anyone has some concrete information on any of these issues, let me know. For what its' worth, the performance of the Geforce3 and the Rage 128 16Mb PCI card seems excellent here.

LWSN 7b Fixed and Downloadable

Newtek have posted fixed versions of LWSN for 7b on their download page here.

LWSN 7b Fixed Soon

Art has confirmed the LWSN problem with raytraced shadows and has indicated that a fix is on its way. The story is here.

IFW2 Shaders for OSX

Richard Jennings has ported IFW2 Shaders to OSX. Great job! I've just ordered mine - for $89 it seems like a no-brainer. Thanks to Lester for letting me know.

7b LWSN Mode 2 and Raytrace Shadows Crash

After further digging and prompting from Mark Malanoski, it looks like there is a substantial issue with LWSN when you have raytrace shadows turned on under both OS9.2.1 and OSX. My initial simple tests (which seemed to show LWSN working flawlessly in both modes) all had raytrace shadows switched off. Mark suggested checking for Raytrace shadows. When this is turned on, any scene (I tried five different ones) will crash LWSN as soon as it begins to render. Mark has also validated the issue with Newtek Tech Support. This might explain the larger than usual number of reports of people having issues with LWSN. I'm only sorry it took me so long to find out the obvious with Mark's help. As usual, if anyone is managing to render scenes with Raytrace Shadows (and presumably with lights set to raytrace) on let me know.

In case you missed it on Flay, Preset Central is a wonderful new resource for Lightwave users to share any Lightwave related media. There are some excellent surfaces, models and rigs there.

Meanwhile, Richard Brak and his fellow Expressions gurus have been busy setting up the ultra-useful Brainiac's Lair complete with an Expressions Glossary.

Mixed Reports on New ATI ROM Update

Mike Breeden at Accelerate Your Mac has posted some mixed reports on the new ATI ROM Update. It looks like ATI are working on a bug fix for the update, so it may be best to hang fire for the moment.

Arnie Cachelin Gives 'All Clear' On Using 7.0 QTTools/ChanFollow With 7b

Arnie has indicated here that there shouldn't be any problems using the 7.0 versions of these plugins with 7b.

James Burns Asks for Status Report on 7b (and Whether LWSN Mode 3 Works)

James asked me to post up a status report on what's fixed in 7b and what's not. Here's my response to James posted on Yahoo Groups:

"LWSN Controller is working perfectly here under 7b (OS9.2.1). LWSN lets go of the scenes properly and allows the loading of subsequent scenes. There have been a few posts on Newtek's Discussion Forums, as you've probably seen, about problems with Screamernet (both Mode 2 and Mode 3) under 7b (OSX and OS9) but I haven't been able to duplicate anything yet - both modes seem to be working well on both platforms here in the limited tests I've done. It's good to have LWSN Controller back!

[snips]

Now Working in 7b that were problematic in 6.5b:

Screamer Mode 3
Hub
QTTools (Provided you use the one from 7.0 not 7b)
OSX now allows LScripts added as plugins..

Glitches in 7b

RLA Export still not correct (OS9 & OS10)
ChanFollow.p and QTTools.p need to be replaced with the ones from 7.0 (OS9)
Digital Confusion seems to add a blue wash (Unverified) (OS9 - maybe just 9.2.1)
Tiffs add a pink/orange hue (Unverified) (OS9 - maybe just 9.2.1)
Strange Camera Panel crash using 'p' in certain circumstances (OSX)

QTTools.p and ChanFollow.p Not Loading Under 7b 9.x?

Several reports have appeared (here from Graham Wilson and here from Henk Dawson) which seem to suggest that the Quicktime import and export functions handled by QTTools.p are not loading under 9.x. A similar problem affects Channel Follower. James Burns has separately confirmed the issue. I'm not sure if this affects everyone. Let me know if this is *not* a problem on your machine (detailing machine specs.). A solid workaround for the QT issue is it to utilise image sequences. Using the original 7.0 QTTools.p and ChanFollow.p also seems to work here but it's not usually a good idea to mix and match plugins. I'll post information if this combination throws up any issues.

Camera Panel Glitch Under OSX

Dirk van Sloten has noted here an issue here with the Camera Panel under OSX. Both he and Sam Easterling offer workarounds.

Neal Katz has been having problems accessing the site using the new URL above. If anyone else is having similar problems, please let me know urgently. The old URL may be turned off early next week and I'd like to sort out any DNS issues before then. My usual tip to check if an ISP is not routing to a site is to try and access it using Anonymizer which bypasses some of the restrictions your own ISP may have and allows you to 'stealth surf' if that's your bag..

Preliminary OSX Benchmarks Appear for a DP800 Using 7b

Chris's Lightwave Benchmark Page shows the enhanced performance of OSX Lightwave 7b placing a DP800 between a dual 1Gig PIII and a dual Athlon 1.2Gig with a raytrace.lws time in the low 150s using 4 threads. Some experimentation with threading may be necessary.

Here's a complete table of all the benchmark scenes in the new 7 Content directory on my DP800 under OSX.

Sam Easterling reports on the Newtek Discussion Forums that 7b has fixed the Graph Editor crash in OSX whilst Motion Modifiers like Follower now retain their settings after a reload (but you may have to redo your settings opening legacy 6.5b scenes in 7b). A couple of reports seem to confirm that Skytracer 2 which was altering grid size and render settings in 7.0 after a scene reload is also fixed in 7b.

Back to our favourite subject - video cards! It looks like the Geforce3 in the QuickSilver machines is throwing a few artifacts and oddities around the screen in Graph Editor but only under OS9.2.1. Bernard Brown has a screenshot here. I've confirmed it on my machine. The same issues do not affect my humble Rage 128 PCI 16Mb on my second monitor. OSX is working perfectly so far.

Michael Strickland reports here that .tifs are imported with a pinky-orange hue under 7b OS9. I've duplicated the problem here.

I'm not sure if there's an OS-specific reason behind it, but 7b OSX does not support .tifs.

A couple of footnotes in the process for running Lightwave 7.x and 6.5b together. Gil, from Newtek Tech Support, suggests here that Lightwave *always* looks in your Preference Folder first before it looks to where you've redirected your Preferences. Thus, if you leave Preference files in the System Folder:Preferences folder the implication is they will take precedence over your Command Lined preferences. Similarly, Nic from Newtek Tech Support here, suggests that even if you move Preferences to the Trash they can still interact with Lightwave unless you empty it (!).

Although I've only done a few tests on this one, I can't see any evidence of either! However, for absolute peace of mind it may be worth making sure that if you do run two copies of Lightwave you command line both set of Preference files away from the System Folder: Preferences folder and make sure that no Lightwave Preference files are sitting there *and* that you make sure you delete Preference files from the Trash.

Newtek has released 7b here. Performance increases over 7 are substantial whilst OSX Lightwave renders faster than Mac Classic! Check out the graphs on the download page.

Newtek have posted an official guide to running 6.5b and 7 on the same machine. The article is here.

If you want to run 6.5b and 7 together on the same machine it's not a problem provided you make sure you redirect one of the application's Preference files to somewhere other than default.

Default under OS9 is:

YourHD:System Folder:Preferences

Default under OSX is:

YourHD:Users:YourUserName:Library:Preferences

If you don't, and because the 6.x and 7 preferences use the same name, then 6.5b and 7 will continually overwrite one another's Preferences (and possibly use the wrong set of plugins) which would lead to a fair degree of erratic crashing.

The procedure for redirecting Preferences is easy in both OS9 and OSX - simply use the Hub, Modeler, and Lightwave cmdline text files and place the directory where you want your Preferences placed after the -c command.

In my case, I always place my preferences in the relevant Program Folder hence: -c"MacintoshHD:Lightwave 3D 6.5:Programs:"

With the Hub off, that would be:
-0 -c"MacintoshHD:Lightwave 3D 6.5:Programs:"

Obviously, these are my specific cmdlines, but if you accurately reflect the paths you use there should be no problems. In effect, provided you have a valid path after the -c argument you can place your preference files anywhere and, as I understand it, a lot of larger studios use this facility (and the new -p command for redirecting your plugin directory) to share configs site wide and make global changes.

Under OSX the default path to your Preference files is slightly different but the cmdline principle works in exactly the same way - simply define the path where you want your Preferences stored. Make sure that there's no possibility that the 6.x preferences will be written anywhere near the 7.x preferences.

A couple of tiny caveats: a) if you redirect preferences using cmdlines then the Init Config utility becomes useless because it simply restores Preferences to the default location (i.e. System Folder:Preferences or users:you:library:preferences) and b) if, for some reason, you rename or append characters to your Lightwave or Modeler applications then cmdlines seem to be rendered invalid!

Lightwave 7 Graph Editor Crash under OSX

Unless you minimise the GraphEd window, as Sam Easterling points out here, GraphEd seems to crash Layout if you open GraphEd, tweak a keyframe, close GraphEd and then scrub the frame slider.

Issues with the Extended RLA Export output from Lightwave and its functionality in After Effects have been around for some time. Now, it seems, with some superb illustrations from Glen Hurd and prodding from Adam Stern, Shawn Marshall and many other Mac Lightwavers there's a very clear exposition here of the issue and the differences between Lightwave Mac and Lightwave PC output. Kudos to all involved for using the forums to really define the issue. Let's hope its given Newtek sufficient information to resolve the problem.

James writes: "I'm using the original (small) keyboard that shipped with my 500Mhz G4, designated on the back of it as an "Apple USB keyboard," purchased right before they started shipping the "Pro" keyboards. In the LightWave 7 demo, my "delete" key wouldn't delete keystrokes, and my keyboard didn't have a "del" key (which I believe is what Newtek erroneously labels "delete" in the keystroke editor). On a guess, I remapped the "Delete Key" function to the "(BS) Cntl-H" key (which I guess means "Backspace"), and my keyboard's "delete" key worked for deleting keyframes in layout. In short: If you map the "Delete Key" function to the "(BS) Cntl-H" key, you are actually mapping it to the Mac "delete" key. I don't think that will solve the problems people are experiencing with Motion Mixer, but I haven't tested it, yet." (Thanks James).

Sam Easterling has been tracking the Motion Mixer issue (along with GraphEd glitches in OSX) for several days over at Newtek's Discussion Forums here.

Qemloss and Doubleside are now available here.

During the site vacation, Newtek, as you already know, launched Lightwave 7. Whilst there's some consolation to be had in being the last site on the web to report the fact, I've been trying to find another angle on the whole exciting business. I guess the most significant post-7 announcement was made by Matt Craig here. An OSX Tuneup is being worked on which makes Lightwave 7.0 faster under OSX than OS9! Matt goes on to describe some of the issues with the existing OSX math libraries.

I'm really pleased to be able to gloat about the fact that after many years with my trusty 9600, I've been catapulted into the present with a brand new DP800! I've posted some benchmarks on the Newtek Discussion Forums here and on Chris's Lightwave Benchmark page. It's hard to be brief with initial impressions, but I've been really impressed with the machine, the speed and the apparent stability of both 9.2.1 and OS 10.0.4. Although there seem to be a significant number of MacFixit articles about issues with 9.2.1, none seem to afflict this setup. It's been huge fun getting to grips with both OSX and Lightwave for OSX. I've seen the future and, if you can stomach the cliche, it's here now :-)

Hopefully, the site will now be able to reflect OSX users' experiences as well as those under 9.x. In that vein, it's starting to look like there may be a few more plugins missing from OSX 6.5b as is discussed in this thread on Newtek's Discussion Forums.

Newtek Tech Support have posted a couple of recent support tips. The first concerning OSX licence keys is here. The second, about using command lines to redirect your Preference files so that you can use both 7.0 and 6.5b is still being worked on but the PC version is here.

Using Classic with Lightwave Under OSX

Until recently, problems with the dongle drivers from Rainbow prevented users booting up the Classic environment under OSX whilst using Lightwave OSX. New drivers from Rainbow here at least make this partially possible as Dann Stubbs points out here.

As always, just around the time of Siggraph, the newshounds at The Mac Lightwave 6.5 Resource Page choose to take their annual vacation - just in case they get lumbered with some 'real' work and 'real' reporting. There won't be any updates to the site between 9th - 28th August. Keep the news rolling in, however. Siggraph reports most welcome. I'll try and catch up when I'm back.

Take a look at Asylum a 2-man outfit (Robin and Matt) based in the UK using Mac Lightwave 6.5, a beige G3 233 and a b/w G3 400. Fabulous gallery of images and a stunning demo reel that shows what Mac Lightwave can do in the right hands. Awesome.

Richard, who's been a long time contributor to this site, has written a superb Expressions tutorial here. It's an elucidatory introduction to the different expression formats and covers the rigging and expression-driven motion of a cycle copter. It's a godsend for the mathematically challenged and experienced expression hack alike and presents the subject in a very straightforward and elegant manner. I highly recommend a visit.

In a virtuoso display of Mac-solidarity he's also released three Mac-only plugins - RB_MotionSum; RB_Steering and Targetit along with a full Codewarrior project for writing Mac plugins.

To top it all, Richard's new website is seriously fine - the 2d and 3d galleries are well worth checking out. (Wow! - Thanks Richard).

Jason Hurdlow, the author of the mighty Vertibevel, had this to say about OSX on YahooGroups.

Jon Tiller sent me this note: "I just thought you would like to know that Joe Alter on his Yahoo LipService forum has made available to members (free login) a beta of the Shave and Haircut app. BTW it seems to work great under OS 9. And it is very snappy. However, of course he hasn't released the LW plugins yet so you can't render out in LW.... yet. He says the release is close." (Thanks Jon).

Rupert sent me this note: "I've been trying to get my LW/OSX to recognise my ADB dongle that's attached (to my USB-equipped G4) via an iMate adapter. Griffin Technologies just released a beta of their OSX iMate driver, but it still didn't work. I made inquiries, and Jason from Griffin asked me this question: "Is Lightwave for OS X compatible with an adb dongle? That is to say if you had a Blue and White G3, with your ADB dongle plugged into the ADB port, and it's a supported system for OS X, would it work? If so, the our driver should work like a charm, if not, we would gladly show them how to easily add this functionality into their app."

Rupert's posted the question to the Newtek Discussion Forum and hopefully someone in Tech Support will be able to comment.

Lester contacted Worley about OSX releases of the Worley product range and was informed that: "We're just about done with the OSX port of all our products. Keep an eye on the website, there should be an announcement in the next week or so." (Thanks Lester).

Paul Forest (Frostfyre) sent me this note: "Fantastic site! It's one of my most frequently visited. I thought you might wish to be aware that the layout plugin audiochannel.p is not available at this time for Mac users. I've written Newtek already inquiring about an arrival date. The plugin, according to the manual, allows you to drive an animation channel with an audio file. The thread, and confirmation of the plugins unavailibility, is here." (Thanks Paul).

Tim sent me this note: "just found your site today, and as a beginning mac LW user and the site it is a wonderful resources. I am new to 3d but have been producing digital print illustrations for years, and frequently use a wonderful piece of software which may help some of your site readers overcome LW output/ram limitations. I have seen may complaints about these limitations but never a mention of this solution. It is a Photoshop plugin called Genuine Fractals the program is able to resample(up) with absolutely no degradation to the image. I have used this thing for four years now , and it saves me literally hundreds of hours. I have used it on major jobs for major corporations working for some of the most demanding art directors.... and no one knows the difference.The maker of the software claims up to 400% enlargements are within the range of the program, although to date 356% percent is as large as i have gone... and the results are remarkable. example: you render a 4000x4000(ok so that's pushing it for a GB of ram but this is just an example) that gives you a n approx. 55in x55in. @72 dpi ....in photoshop/image size click off resample and change the rez to 300...so now you have a 13x13@300dpi. it doesn't take a math genius to realize that 200% of that is 26x26...and 400% takes you back to 50 or so inches at print rez(actually way higher than the typical rez required for offset printing or most high end ink jet printers), they offer 2 versions, 1 for rgb only and a "Print pro ver. that handles both rgb and cmyk, and is ridiculously easy to operate. about $150us you can render smaller with LW and allow photoshop/Gen-fractals to "make it big" much faster. It is truely remarkable!" (Thanks Tim).

Here's Dan's tip in full: "I got this great tip from Art Howe (Newtek) from last weekends Character Animation Weekend in San Francisco... To set up a scene as a default scene on the MAC that automatically loads when you launch Lightwaves layout, do the following:

1. Open Layout and create your desired scene setup, (i.e. light settings, nulls, camera settings, etc.) and save it to your Lightwave:3D 6.5 Programs folder.

2. Quit Layout and in a text editor (I used Simpletext), open the Lightwave cmndline file. This is the same file we usually use to enable or disable the hub.

3. All you should see in this file is a -0

4. Now type " "(quotes) before the -0

5. Next, type the complete path from your Harddrive to the lightwave scene you just saved EXACTLY as it is written, inside those quotes. This is case sensitive and if you have spaces in the file names, include it too.

6. After each path name, end it with a colon:

7. My path looks like this: "Mac HD: 3D Design:LightWave 3D 6.5:Programs:defaultlayout.lws" -0 [All on one line - Ed]

8. Save the file.

The DETAILS: MacHD is the name of my harddrive. Next is my 3D folder that has a space in the file name and as you can see, the space is included in the path. Next is the name of my Lightwave folder, followed by the Programs folder and lastly, the scene file. The quotes contain the path and the -0 is at the end of the path is to keep the hub off. This works like a charm and has inspired me to create all sorts of default scenes for different needs. If it is not working, recheck that your path is correct. One typo, and it will not work" (Thanks for donating the tip Dan!).

"In response to Eric Curtis question, I know (from both French and US Lightwave official support) that there is a nasty bug in Radeon cards (or Radeon drivers) that prevent OGL to work properly. We have Radeon Mac Edition AGP cards, and the only way to have correct performances (correct doesn't mean good, just the same as the old Rage 128 AGP) is to install the Mac OS 9.1 system that ships with Mac OS X. Every other drivers, 1.0.0 or 1.1.1 from ATI, or those who ship with OGL 1.2.1 are BAD. BAD means that when testing with Cinebench 2000 from Maxon Computers, the OGL perfs with Radeon AGP on our G4/450 Dual Proc were worst than on my Blue G3/350 with a Rage 128 PCI !!!!! I don't know if anybody has better perfs with a Radeon than with a Rage 128, but I'd love to hear good news from a Macintosh Lightwave user. NB : not all OGL is bad, because Quake III Arena ROCKS with the Radeon !". (Thanks Phil)

This is the first bad report I've heard about the Radeon. If other users with the card have had similar or different experiences with the card, I'd love to hear about it.

Dan has posted up a great tip for creating a default startup scene using the Lightwave cmdline file here on Postforum.

Randy writes: "Yes LWSN does hang here also. My kludgey fix was to create a QuickKeys sequence that launches when LWSN launches and waits for the cursor to change from arrow to I-beam, then quits. LWSN Controller will relaunch LWSN and procede to next job." (Thanks Randy).

Rey writes: "I just wanted to comment on my experience with USB dongles and USB cards. I have an 8500 (Newer G3/400) which I've upgraded with a Sonnet Tango USB/FireWire combo card and the USB dongle worked flawlessly for me under OS 9.1. I got the 14 day trial period until I received my permanent license key from Newtek. I also have a WallStreet PowerBook that I use while on the road and have a Macally USB card. The USB dongle also works flawlessly with that card under both OS 9.1 and OS X. BTW, I'm using LightWave 6.5b. Just thought you might find the info useful." (Thanks Rey).

James Burns kindly pointed this one out to me - Art Howe, with the help of Kenneth Woodruff and Arnie Cachelin, has made the 'missing' OS9 and OSX plugins available for download. The OS9 plugs are Level of Detail and EPS Export whilst the OSX plugins are LevelOfDetail.p, MDMetaPlug.p, Equation.p, EPSF.p, MathPlot.p, Prims.p, and SeaShell.p. The OSX download page is here whilst the OS9 download page is here.

Dan Platt sent me this update: "Just a recap of this USB CARD/DONGLE issue. I received the USB dongle today and no matter what I did, it didn't work with my USB card. With multiple calls into Art Howe (who's been extremely helpful) we determined that the USB installer simply does not recognize the dongle. Basically, it reports back as demo mode only, not with the temporary ID code. Sadly to say, I had to box up my USB dongle and to return to my old and soon-to-be extinct ADB hardware key. In short, steer everyone away from this setup." (Thanks Dan)

Suprisingly, however, I received this note from Craig Brannan who is using a PCM USB card in a Powerbook: "I have been using a MacAlly PCMCard USB Adapter in my Older PowerBook - and my USB LightWave dongle works flawlessly in both OS9 and OSX." (Thanks Craig).

Dan Platt (whose fabulous Medicus images you can see here) wonders "if there were any USB card issues with a USB dongle. As you may know, OSX is not supporting ADB ports, so there is no way for me to use my ADB dongle with LW 6.5b on X. I have a USB card that is working flawlessly in my G3 266, but I am a couple of weeks away from upgrading to a new G4 and looking for a band-aide in between". If any users are using USB dongles with USB cards in older Macs, please let me know. I guess most people with older Macs plumped for the iMate, but with no drivers compatible with OSX and the ADB dongle, it would be good to know if USB card solutions work.

LWSN Mode 3 Glitch

James Burns has been having problems with LWSN (6.5b) failing to 'free' itself in Mode 3. When it gets to then end of a job, the console pauses on 'freeing frame buffer'. Subsequent testing here seems to indicate that LWSN Controller can no longer render more than one job because of the glitch under 6.5b. Can anyone else confirm?

nVidia 2.1.1 Drivers Re-Released | Latest Video Driver Roundup (Updated)

Having been pulled last week, the nVidia 2.1.1 drivers have been re-released. A few weeks back, Mike Breeden at Accelerate Your Mac reported problems with Lightwave OGL display using the 2.1 drivers - similar to those with the original drivers. Nigel Hendrickson, however, here, reports that the dual monitor crash bug when switching viewport mode is gone! (Pat Turner's also written in to confirm that this issue is now cleared up). User reports welcome. The big video card question at the moment is how the Geforce 3 compares to the Geforce 2 and Radeon - better specifications don't always translate to better real world performance in Lightwave.

On the subject of video cards (and which one is best), Eric Curtis emailed me weeks ago (apologies for the delay, Eric!) with the following request:

"I check your site daily in hopes of getting the latest updates in regards to how video cards work with LW6. I am planning on buying a new computer after Macworld and I am currently undecided on which card to get in it. (Radeon seems the best right now). Anyway there have been a few firmware and driver updates recently and I was wondering if you or any of your readers had tested them?". Positive and negative reports on the latest batch of cards and drivers welcome.

Napalm Demo for OSX and OS9

Dynamic Realities have made a demo version of Napalm available for Classic Mac users here. The OSX version is here.

New Version of LScript Available for Download

Colin Partridge spotted this one on Newtek's site and sent me this note: " Just thought I let you know, if you didn't already, that there is a new Lscript update version 2.2.2 which appears to fix the problem of assigning Lscripts to menu's, keys. Seems to work for me on Mac 9.1 version but haven't seen a version for Mac OS X yet. I dont know if it breaks any Lscripts....."

The updated file is here.

IFW Textures 2 Now Available for Mac!

Richard Jennings has finished IFW2 for Mac. You can get full details here. If you're looking for an amazing array of procedural textures - noise, organics, gradients, tiles skins, special fx etc. - there's really no other Mac package to touch it. Check out the Example Surfaces section. For IFW2, the interface has been reworked and integrated into Lightwave so that you can use Viper. There's a special, limited time offer of $75 (which seems pretty darned cheap) for the package and a Mac demo. More great plugin news!

Mark Nutter Ports LOD to Mac

Mark Nutter has ported Marvin Landis's free Level of Detail Object Replacement plugin to the Mac. Kudos to Mark for a great job.

Maximising Memory Under OS9.x - Now Updated to Draft 3 (0914 GMT 22nd June

The Memory Guide for OS9.x and Lightwave has been updated to Draft 3 and is here. It now includes further comments from and information collated by Arnie Cachelin - a Senior Lightwave 3D Programmer at Newtek. Latest revisions include:

- Multithreading: not such a RAM hog after all!
- Pixel Blending should not invoke mipmapping
- Updated information on Image Filters and Segment Memory

Many thanks to Arnie for assisting with the project.

Chuck and Arnie Discuss Memory Handling in OS9.1

Chuck and Arnie have made several contributions to the discussions on memory handling in OS9.1. The most interesting tidbit to glean is that multithreading requires some doubling of data in RAM to work. This might offer a partial explanation for why some users see multithread errors (missing maps etc.) occasionally on DP machines - possibly because multithreading places even more demands on RAM than usual. The discussions are here and here.

Raven Spots Odd Draw Skelegons Glitch

Raven has spotted this oddity: "If you are using the draw skelegon tool and use the arrow keys to navigate while using it, modeler will duplicate all skelegons previously created in the chain. So if you have created 2 skelegons and then move down with the arrow keys to create a third, your first two will be duplicated leaving you with 5 skelegons. Two occuping the same space as each of the first two. If you navigate between each click it gets really messy fast. Best solution is to use the navigation buttons on the interface. I have not found any problem there. I don't think merge polygons works to fix this but my system crashed when I tried that. I will try again next session." (Thanks Raven).

Newtek Post Official Page on Shockwave Exporter - Go and See it NOW!

I've officially emptied my word bank of superlatives, but I *highly* recommend you visit the Newtek site here to see the results of the Lightwave - Shockwave 3D Exporter that is coming soon. If you were excited by the original web 3D plugins like Cult3D and Metastream, you're going to be knocked out by the Lightwave - Shockwave combination. The demonstrations give a fantastic insight into the kinds of 3D worlds and interactive 3D experiences that are now available - I was gobsmacked to see the kinds of manipulations you could do in real time to 3D environments. With the massive penetration of the Shockwave player this looks like a breakthrough for web 3D as far as I can see. Go look for yourself.

Fascinating High Resolution Workaround Offered by Rich Helvey

I'm not sure if this works, but Rich Helvey has offered a technique (other than using Limited Region) for performing ultra high resolution renders in Lightwave. The story is here.

Pat Writes With More on HV Issues...

As previously reported, Pat Turner's been having problems with HVs failing to retain their settings on the reload of a scene:

"I found that after creating a cloud 'voxel and applying it to a null I couldn't reload the voxel in the next session (the null loads but the hypertexture is lost). Tried it again saving both scene and 'all objects' (as well as saving the hypervoxel texture itself) just to make sure I hadn't forgotten to do that on the previous occasion. Nope. The null is saved with it's position intact but the Hypervoxel texture applied to it will not reload again with the scene. Reloading the "saved" hypervoxel texture (done from the hypervoxel menu) will once again load the texture onto the null but all sizing is lost.

Essentially, you have to almost rebuild your clouds or fire or whatever again! What fun. I launched the thread (on Newtek's Dicussion Forum here) because I thought I must have been doing something wrong but found at least one other experiencing the problem. If the null is the ONLY object in the scene, it seems to load again without any trouble. If your scene contains other objects, you may find yourself taking a few hours redoing your hypervoxels. I've noted that Lightwave (and I believe Arnold (Arnie Cachelin) admitted this) now seems to be experiencing a texture lockup after the application of a set number of textures. In other words, you have to budget your textures. Perhaps this is an asssociated issue. Too many objects and textures and your hypervoxels won't save.

The hypervoxel adventure I described above occurred while trying to set up a volume light/hypervoxel background for a bookcover I'm working on. I can't yet trust LW to do the heavily modeled full renderings yet at the resolutions I require. Seems I can't trust LW to render clouds yet either! The single volume light worked perfectly though." (Thanks Pat).

I've tried to duplicate this one with fairly complex scenes, but I haven't been able to trigger a problem with HVs. They seem to load fine. If anyone has further clues as to why this may be happening to Pat, please let me know.

Excellent Comping/Buffer Export Advice from Burner

Burner has been posting some sound advice and tips on exporting buffers from Lightwave as part of the RLA thread on Newtek's Discussion Forums here.

Work in Progress: Radiosity -v- Spinny Lights

I've put up some work-in-progress (that's so you don't hammer me too hard!) test images trying to match Lightwave's gorgeous radiosity renders with simple spinny lights. Radiosity wins, but, ouch, the render times are nearly 20x greater. They're here.

Greg Trombo Offers Help with PC-Mac LWSN...

Greg Trombo, the author of the LWSN Mode 3 tutorial here, has managed to successfully use LWSN 2 and 3 across a PC-Mac network. He's offered to help anyone who wishes to do the same. Brave soul! You can contact him at gregt@ivorytowerarts.com

Ricky Cox Re-Confirms VBRequester Issue

Ricky Cox of Suture.net has noted that the old VBFileRequester issue (where it 'hides' behind other panels) is still prevelant in 6.5b.

Evasion Offer XDOF and Shadow Designer for Mac

Yet more highly-regarded plugins have been ported to the Mac. Evasion's website is here.

LScripts as Plugins/Menu Options Confirmed

Both James Burns and Greg Trombo have confirmed the issues users are having with LScripts not working as plugins or menu commands.

Trip Notes Strange HV Texture Mapping Behaviour

On Postforum here, Trip noted that images mapped to HVs will follow the HVs' translations but not rotations - almost as if the image is mapped in world coordinates for H,P, and B. Referencing the texture to the HV object itself is one workaround - but scaling the null does not seem to scale the map accurately. The same behaviour is observed in 6.5. Is this normal HV mapping behaviour?

Notes From Newtek's Discussion Forums...

Nigel Hendrickson gives what amounts to the 'classic' erratic rendering problem some users are having here - a similar issue experienced by Hales in the same thread is currently being investigated by Brad; Ian is having an edge transperancy/BRDF crash here (in very simple tests, I can't duplicate this one); an interesting thread into MP and what exactly it accelerates is here; Mac users are still having problems with RLA export here; and, finally, Pat Turner's having problems here reloading HVs - they seem to lose all parameters on reload.

Mike Breeden on Geforce 3 Lightwave Issues | Geforce 2MX Transparency in OSX?

Mike Breeden of Accelerate Your Mac, here, reports that the OGL drivers and OGL 1.2.2 that ship with the nVidia Geforce 3 still manifest problems with Lightwave under MacOS classic.

Colin Partridge sent me this question about the nVidia drivers for the Geforce 2MX and OSX: "Just wondering whether you had any reports of opengl transparency not working in the Mac Os x 6.5b patch. On my machine G4 with Nvidia card, transparency works fine in Os 9.1 patch but not in the Os X (10.03) version. perhaps this is a Nvidia driver thing?" If anyone has seen similar issues, let me know.

Removing Elements of QTTools.p Resolves Image and HV Thread Glitches

Removing the Quicktime Animation Loader plugin (part of QTTools.p) seems to resolve issues where certain file types are treated as animations (see story on 25th May) and have their non-existent alphas enabled. Note that disabling the plugin prevents the user from mapping .mov sequences to objects.

Interestingly, Toby reports that his specific problem with HVs refusing to render with multiple threads was *also* resolved by removing QTTools.p, here. Strange, but true.

Out of Memory Alert Leading to Inability to Read Object

Both Tim Cameron and Richard Brak independently emailed the site to ask if other users had reported problems with objects that Modeler refuses to load after a failed save. In Richard's case the object, circa 24k polys, gives a "Not enough memory for the operation" warning on save. The object can't be saved but neither can it be reopened. Tim's case is very similar with a 50k object split across four layers (90Mb RAM allocation to Modeler). Several times in one week, the save results in the same error message as Richard's with the same symptoms. Tim is using the Hub. I haven't checked with Richard about whether he's also got the Hub enabled or whether this occurs with the Hub totally switched off. If other users are experiencing this, please let me know.

News Archive..

25th May 2001

Cheap nVidia Cards from the Dark Side..

Mike Fessenden sent me this note: "Thought you might be interested in this link, it describes how to adapt PC GeForce2 cards to run in G4's; it's from the discussion forums at xlr8yourmac.com." (Thanks Mike)

Cailean at Keyframe Magazine

Keyframe Magazine's got a new Mac columnist! It's our very own Cailean Babcock, long-time contributor to this website, and bastion of hope for truth, justice, and the Macintosh way. (!! - Ed) This issue: Cailean reviews OS X for the Mac and what it has in store for Mac animators and graphic designers. He has also trekked across America to get you the latest information on how soon your favorite animation and animation-related software packages are coming to the Mac. The article will be in the upcoming summer issue, set to hit shelves on June 1st. Stay tuned!

Napalm Mac Released!

Dynamic Realities have released the awesome looking Napalm for Macintosh. Many of the crash scenes in Driven use Napalm's particle system.

Newtek Confirm Hub Glitch

Jeremy West at Newtek has confirmed some of the problems experienced by Mac users using the Hub here. The main symptoms seem to be that surface changes fail to get passed between the applications. We've already noted problems scanning plugins with the Hub on. Using 'Synchonise Layout' or continuing to work in this unstable environment eventually leads to an 'Object is Read Only' message. Unless you shut down both applications, disable the Hub and delete your Preference files this state of affairs can persist even after a restart. From my experience, if the Hub does lose synchronisation between the two applications, then, from that point onwards your Preference files for Lightwave become unstable and need restoring. Continuing to run the applications with the Hub disabled but without restoring your Preference files may continue to generate erratic issues.

(There are two ways of restoring Preferences. Either delete LightWave Modeler 3 Prefs, LightWave Layout 3 Prefs, LightWave Extensions 3 Prefs and Lightwave Hub Preferences from your System Folder:Preferences and then restart Layout, Scan Plugins and then restart Modeler. Or, use the Init Config utility to overwrite the existing Preferences with Lightwave's default ones).

Dual Lightwave Folders Post 6.5b

The default installation of 6.5b creates a new folder in Applications (Mac OS 9) called Lightwave 3D 6.5 into which it places all the new stuff. At the same time it backs up your old 6.5 Preferences and places new ones in System Folder:Preferences. At this point you effectively have two folders with Lightwave on your hard drive - 6.5 in the older Newtek Folder and 6.5b in the new Lightwave 3D 6.5 folder.

It seems that some people are unaware that this new folder has been created and that they're continuing to use the older Newtek folder and the plugins therein for scanning plugins or using Init Config. This may create problems with the newer installation. What's more, accidentally launching the older instance of Lightwave in the Newtek folder will overwrite your newer Preference files on quit. I don't know whether this creates issues for 6.5b or not. One to watch out for?

Image Loader Issues

In the past under 6.5, there have been a few reports of textures going missing after a render. In my mind, the issue had always been equated with multithreading and segments. Phil Gaude, Dave Griz and Daniel Leighton, amongst others, have written to this site about the problem in the past. Dave sent in a screenshot here. David Todman suggested the simple workaround of rebuilding the desktop which fixed the problem for him.

The same problem, however, may still exist in 6.5b although its erratic nature and an inability to duplicate the issue to order makes the issue hard to track down. There's currently a thread here on Newtek's Discussion Forum where Arnie, a leading programmer at Newtek is offering workarounds and suggestions.

One potential problem is the actual size of the image map. It may be that if the scene is soaking up too much RAM at render time then the first thing to get knocked out is the map.

Alternatively, although this wouldn't lead to erratic issues, there do appear to be the following image loader variants in 6.5b. I'm not an expert on the different file formats (or on whether you should expect the undefined alphas to default to a full mask if you use a 32bit format) but this is a list of Image Editor's evaluation of common image types:

.tifs and .jpgs seem to work fine.

16bit pcts are recognised as animations and, even though there can be no alpha (I think), the alpha is enabled by default which equates to a total mask when rendered. Disabling the alpha restores the render.

32bit pcts with defined alpha are recognised as animations - the alpha is enabled and the image renders normally.

32bit pcts with undefined alpha come in as animations but default to alpha enabled which masks the entire image on render. Disabling the alpha restores the render.

24bit psds come in as animations but with alpha enabled. The whole image is masked on render. Disabling the alpha restores the render.

32bit psds are identified as animations but since they have a defined alpha are properly recognised.

16bit tgas are fine

32bit tgas with defined alpha are fine

32bit tgas with undefined alpha come in with alpha enabled and thus mask the whole image when rendered

In some circumstances, since OGL ignores alpha channels, you'll see an image in the OGL display mapped correctly but when you hit render the alpha channel will mask out the map. This seems to be happening when using 32bit images without an explicitly drawn alpha (32bit picts/32bit tgas) or with 24bit .psd images. The workaround is, obviously, to toggle the alpha setting. I haven't had a chance, yet , to check what the defaults were in 6.5.

James writes: "Image editor (in both Layout and Modeler) thinks that .psd (Photoshop) files are 'animations' rather than still images. As a result, it tries to refresh each time the time slider is moved. The option for "still image" is greyed out. (I get this, too - Ed)

Modeler: with Surface Editor open (and Hub on)... saving file causes modeler windows to reset to their defaults (going from one window back to 4, resetting window render styles, etc.). (Despite trying, I can't duplicate this, yet - Ed)

I noticed that the Render Buffer Export plugin has a broken save file dialog; it is an open dialog instead." (Thanks James).

Raven Confirms LScript and Scan Plugins Problems with Hub

Raven's written in confirming problems using LScripts as plugins or menu items and has also experienced the problem scanning plugins with the Hub enabled. In full 'I am Spartacus' mode :-) , more people are adding themselves to the list of users experiencing the Hub glitch here. I'd better get on over, too. It's good to see Mac users fleshing out this problem...

Cool, Free Mac Plugins

Big Eyes, Small Mouth has finally made it to the Mac whilst Rotate Arbitrary Axis in Real time (server occasionally down) is also out.

OSX and Pict Files - Tip from Lester

Lester writes "PICT sequences rendered in LightWave 6.5B OSX are unreadable in OS9. There seems to be a difference in the way Quicktime 5 in OSX reads and writes PICT files. A serious problem arises when you need to reboot to OS9 to use a compositing application like After Effects, which is currently only available in OS9. The solution is to upgrade your Quicktime in OSX to the pro version. This upgrade will allow Quicktime to play image sequences. Then you can convert the PICT sequence to a Quicktime or other format that is readable in OS9. Maybe a better solution is don't render to PICT files!" (Thanks Lester).

Hub & LScript Issues in 6.5b...

Some people (but not all) have experienced a few glitches with the Hub failing to synchronise between Layout and Modeler and, ultimately, locking the object in Modeler as 'read only'. Newtek Tech support, here, recommend deleting all your Prefs files. I tried this but the problem persisted. A temporary solution was to delete the invisible Hub folder in Cleanup at Startup (also invisible) using a tool like File Buddy. After a short while, however, the symptoms reappear on my machine. An associated problem is that once the Hub has lost contact between the applications, scanning plugins can result in a message saying '0 plugins loaded from xxx files'. Initially felt to have been a 9.1 problem, it also affects me in 9.0.4. So far, I can't find a solution but given that not everyone seems to be affected by this issue, I'm looking for an OS-level or extension conflict on my machine.... if any users have also experienced this glitch or have workarounds, please let me know.

Another minor issue seems to affect some people with LScripts (either compiled or uncompiled). When added as a plugin or menu item they bring up the LScript File Navigator rather than activating the LScript directly. Again, not sure how many people this affects but it's happening here. If they're working fine for you, please let me know.

Mac Tips and Tricks at Suture Net

Ricky Cox has steadily compiled helpful illustrated guides for Mac Lightwavers at the Suture Net site. For those of you who like your guides illustrated, there's the correct way to enable the Hub explained here under the General Lightwave Tutorial index. Check out Ricky's awesome Flash skills at the same site.

It's Here! 6.5b at Newtek's Site...

...along with a massive (1000+ page!) and fully-revised .pdf manual! Initial reports on the forums are highly favourable citing more stability and speed for both the OSX and Classic MacOS versions. New features are all listed at Newtek's site here. On top of all the goodies, there are a few Mac things Newtek have slipped in without much fanfare - the full range of LScript editing and debugging tools is included for the Mac for the first time, for instance. (I wonder if Dug's awesome SuperCloner will now work). Wavefilter is now ported to the Mac. In the short time I've had to play with the release, I've found that Shading Noise Reduction is a godsend; the custom object tools like rangefinder and speedometer are mighty handy; Graph Editor rocks; the infamous 'ATI Stall' seems to be banished and overall performance is up. Early days but, it's looking good.

James Burns let me know of a couple of minor issues: some people have had problems scanning legacy plugins which seems to be resolved by a reboot whilst he's noted a change in the way targeting is handled if you try and open a 6.5b file in 6.5.

Shockwave Exporter Glimpsed Briefly..

An awesome set of demos for the forthcoming Lightwave - Shockwave3D exporter was briefly available on the Newtek site. I managed to get a sneak peek at what Newtek, in this thread, are calling 'premature' previews. Kenneth promises that the free exporter will be available soon. :-). The demos have now been pulled. It's already looking unfeasibly good!

DP533 OSX Timings on Chris's Lightwave Benchmark Site

Following on from yesterday's story about benchmarks, JIMK posted some OSX6.5 (build 502) figures from a DP533 at Chris's site.

Special Lightwave Offer for Mac Premiere, After Effects and Photoshop Owners..

Newtek have a special offer ($1000 discount!) for Mac users with Premiere, After Effects or Photoshop. The details are here.

Macintosh Price/Performance Ratio Given a Good Airing...

..over at Newtek's Discussion Forum here. The pitfall of threads like this is that they can become platform-war-bait but there's a lot of sound and earnest discussion. The 6.5 Mac benchmarks at Chris' Lightwave Benchmark site (accepting all the question marks about how valid they may be) are showing some serious performance differentials between the current Apple range and similar-priced Intel boxes. Over at Dell's online store a Dual PIII 1000 workstation with similar equipment options to a DP533 retails for roughly the same price as the Apple - but raytrace times are almost half that of the DP500s. It's unclear whether users are sticking rigidly to the benchmark defaults (I noted one dual PIII 1000 user had checked 'Extra Raytrace Optimisation', for example). Although there *is* a G4733 score, and a DP500 score there are no DP533 times posted - with the bus speed hike and extra 66Mhz of these boxes I'd be interested to see how they fare. The price/performance ratio of the dual 533s seems much better than the 733.

Of course, there are many compelling and valid reasons for using Mac Lightwave above and beyond performance - OSX is one huge reason for optimism. However, I hope Apple hasten the introduction of speed-bumped Macs soon (as has been rumoured) before the performance differential becomes too acute: given the comparatively low cost of G4533 chips, a quad 533 at a mid-range price would be a great BTO option for OSX users. With the high premium attached to the newer G4 processors, like the 733, my guess is that it will take some time before dual or quad configurations using these chips are as cost-effective as machines equipped with multiple 533s.

In the discussion, the perennial issue of whether AltiVec can be used to increase render performance is aired - and, once again, Arnie at Newtek restates the view that AltiVec is only useful when it comes to accelerating raster processes not the kind of calculations used for rendering. For bedtime reading on the under use of Altivec try this Macintouch report.

NAB Report 2: The Non-Lightwave Stuff..

Our roving anonymous correspondent has filed another excellent and in-depth NAB report focusing on the cool video applications at the show. You can read it here.

NAB Report

I've received a fascinating NAB report which you can read here.

Update to Stewart's OSX Figures

Stewart's sent me some updated OSX figures for Preview 6.5b after updating to OS10.0.1. They've been slotted in below.

More OSX Notes & Queries...

From Stewart Green: "I had a lazy Easter Bank Holiday Monday afternoon, so I thought I would just compare the render times between OS 9.1 and OS X for the benchmark scenes. I'm using a G4 466 with 512 ram and OS X LW running in demo - hardware key not found, (I'm using an ADB dongle through an iMate), mode which might have something to do with the results I got. Maybe others have similar, (or not!) results.

In 9.1 I got the following results:
Textures 20 seconds
Raytrace 553 seconds
Z Buff sort 37 seconds
DOF 42 seconds

Now here's the interesting bit. Under OS X: (OS10.0.1 times in Red).
Textures 51 seconds (27.9)
Raytrace 1221.6 seconds (yes one thousand) (730.6)
Z Buff sort 65.4 seconds (34.7)
DOF 138 seconds. (73.3)

I then went back to my old G3 266 with 384 ram and ran the tests under OS X, (softkey not recognised so 46 day license mode).
Textures 49.6 seconds
Raytrace 1201 seconds
Z Buff sort 62.4 seconds
DOF 133.1 seconds

Strange to say they are marginally quicker than the G4!!!"

Obviously, there's something amiss with the benchmarks for the OSX version of Lightwave with Stewart's G4. Given that 6.5b OSX is still preview and that Apple are still making performance optimisations to OSX, it's hard to know what the explanation is! It's going to take a few months after the final OSX version of 6.5b is released before Mac users start to get a better understanding of how both OSX and Lightwave 6.5b OSX utilise RAM, Virtual Memory, Segment Memory, multiple CPUs and threads. Even within the classic MacOS this is a fairly arcane area!

Ingo Moltzen had more of the same kinds of queries: "since we had a very snowy and rainy easter holiday Ihad enough time to do some LW testing. Because i¥m only able to render at a maximum resolution 2000x1500 I first tried the limited region feature.

I rendered a picture at 4096x2200, the first half in two regions works well, than i wasn¥t able to render even a tiny region in the second half. I allways get the "not enough memory for..." warning.

So i thought why not give LW X a try, although my tests before for low resolution pictures (1000x500) showed a 3-5 times longer rendering time. First I only use limited region for the second half of the picture, but that started to run very well, so i stopped it and start rendering the complete picture (in two segments).

And here comes the big surprise, it was as fast as the LW Mac OS 9 version (if not faster), although i cant really compare it because the Mac OS 9 version can't render in normal print resolution. Now I only have to render a stripped down file with the Sasquatch plugin and add it via front projection, or Photoshop, to get my picture finished.

Now I'd like to know if others had the same experience, especially I'd like to know what happens when you use more than one thread. In the process viewer window I saw that LW app uses only half the physical memory Ihave (320 of 768 in my G4) and additional 300 as virtual memory, very strange. If anyone starts to render a print size resolution be warned, it took 10 min before the render info window showed up, so dont think LW crashed. Ok thats all for now. If now only Newtek would spend LW a better memory management without the need for us users to play with segment memory or number of threads."

Sporadic Updates over Easter

Updates to the site will be a little erratic over the next week. I know, I know - "tell me something new", you say. Apologies for the moribundness of the site at the moment. Mac news is light. Work is heavy. You know the story...

6.5b News in a 'Few Days' and OSX Dongle News from Chuck

Chuck Baker posted information on forthcoming OSX dongle drivers and a hint that there would be news on 6.5b in a few days here on Newtek's Discussion Forum.

OSX Report from Nigel Hendrickson

Nigel writes: "I finally got around to installing MacOSX and Lightwave 6.5b on my DP 533 and I'm glad to say it all went off without a hitch. Like many people, i got a license key warning on startup of both Layout and Modeler, but it only warned me that I had a 46 day grace period to obtain a new license key code. Otherwise, both programs launched with full functionality enabled (as opposed to demo mode).This really surprised me as I'm using an ADB dongle with an iMate, I expected demo mode at best. First thing I checked was the dual monitor Modeler problem with the nVidia card. I'm glad to say, that under OSX, this is no longer a problem (not surprisingly, I suppose as it appeared to be an extension problem). I can't say I'm extremely impressed with the OpenGL performance, since the project I'm working on right now makes heavy use of subpatch objects. If there is a significant performance boost over OS9.1, then it is negated in this particular project. I will have to compare others. All in all, I'd say from my preliminary impressions, that it's safe to go ahead and use OSX and 6.5b for any new (or old) projects providing a) you don't use any third party plug-ins and b) you have complete faith that you can get the license key issue all figured out within 46 days (of course you can always fall back on OS9.1 - or reinstall)." (Thanks Nigel!).

nVidia Firmware Update from Pat Turner

This from Pat: "I just loaded and tested the new re-released(30/03/01) nVidia GeForce drivers and firmware updates. I'm not sure why I wasted the time! The drivers and firmware appeared to load and update on my G4/533 but what if any effect they have on the system as a whole and Lightwave in particular isn't in evidence. Modeler still crashes when switching the view format in any of the viewports and textures still go missing in Layout when running the Hummer Benchmark. BTW the new drivers and firmware seem to slow things down. My new time for the Hummer preview is now 1 min 36 secs. Somewhat slower than on the old drivers I think. Also I noted that when I inadvertently failed to load an object in the hummer scene, Lightwave was forced to produce a new preview and did so with the textures in place! When I reloaded the scene with all the correct objects, lightwave once again failed to display all textures. At any rate I thought I'd mention this to you. The new drivers and firmware don't fix any of the issues I was having with Lightwave. I can't see that they've fixed anything at all systemwide." (Thanks Pat).

Further OSX Impressions from Jim Speers

Jim writes: "First off, OSX is absolutely beautiful! No, it isn't ready for primetime production yet, but hey, there isn't hardly any apps that are ready for it either, so what can you complain about? As for LW6.5b, the install went without a hitch. It doesn't seem to see the hardware key though and I've tried just about everything. Nevertheless, it runs absolutely wonderfully smooth in demo mode. The Open GL updates are a lot more dynamic, although there seems to be a small glitch in the display when you move the camera (looking through it,) that causes the view to jump a little, (not that big of a deal, really.) Otherwise the update is smooth without all the "flashing" that occured in 9.1 as you move objects or the camera. The render times are a bit longer, but neither OSX or LW itself is in final version anyway. I'm running on a spare G4/400 with 1.2gb ram...and I highly recommend that if you want absolute success in the install of both OSX and LW 6.5b preview that you drop an additional 15 to 30gb drive in an empty bay and set it up with OS 9.1 first (it comes with OSX,) and then install OSX right along side of it, followed up with the LW preview. Most people I've talked with and read messages from have the most success with this route. Also gives the option to boot back to the other drive in case you actually need to get production work done!" (Thanks Jim).

Apple Pro Keyboard Woes from Wes Chilton

Wes writes: "I was wondering if you've heard of this one? I've been working on a rather large model (over 200K polys) and have been having a lot of crashing with Type 11 errors and freezes (sometimes with the bomb box but with no message in it). I noticed that this was happening particularly when I would hit a key for a keyboard command such as "select contiguous polys" or "numeric". I have been having problems with my Apple Pro Keyboard that I bought separately from my PMG4. It types double letters all the time and sometimes won't type anything for a few seconds. So, on a hunch I switched back to my original iMac-style keyboard and all my crashing problems vanished! I was able to work for 6 hours straight without a single problem. Naturally, I'm calling Apple soon to get a replacement, but I was wondering if you've had any other reports of this problem." (Thanks Wes).

If anyone else has experienced Lightwave issues with this keyboard, please let me know.

OSX Preview

The Newsgroups have seen plenty of activity on the OSX front. On Postforum, Rupert reports excellent OGL performance on his G4 and has posted up some great screenshots here. (In between getting some of his renders featured in Newtek's Lightwave 6 gallery!).

Glen Hurd sent me this report: "Just wanted to drop a line about my first experience with LW 6.5 b. First, it didn't recognize my dongle (I've got the old ADB style). I suspect that it's more of an OS X issue than anything, as OS 9 evidently has no direct connection to the computer hardware, and OS X doesn't have a whole lot of driver support -- just a guess. Second, LW ran in DEMO mode :) This meant I couldn't save scenes, and when I rendered something, it placed a nice checkerboard pattern over the image with some transparency added to the whole image (from what I could tell at the time). Third, Radiosity now can be smoothed, and what a difference that makes! I'd send you some pictures, but I'm on my way to a shoot, and won't be back 'til tonight. However, I just thought I'd drop you some news from my own meager fiddling. Radiosity is actually going to be useable. I watched the image grow on the render in progress window, and my radiosity settings were like .3 tolerance 10x18 rays (something like that) and 30 mm distance. The shadow looked like an orange peel texture under the car I had in the scene. But after the radiosity was smoothed out, it looked downright sexy -- all without killer render times (this is on a G3 400). I've been running OS X as a web server, Quicktime streamer, and general utility box for over a month, and it's never crashed the computer. I've crashed near everything else, but the only time I've restarted the computer was to update software or add another drive. As it states in the Read Me for LW 6.5, "OS X Rocks." These are the good days. (Thanks Glen).

Whilst, Graham B. Wilson sent this: "I have just performed some rough render tests between the final release of OS X and OS 9.1, and the results so far are surprisingly disappointing! I have two G4/400's. One is running OS 9.1 and the other is running the final release of OS X. Both computers have 512 megs of ram. The OS 9.1 system is running Lightwave 6.5, and the OS X system is running the newly-released 6.5B. As for the test scene, I had one 52-poly subpatch object that was rendered at a subpatch level of 10, for 5200 polys. One surface was applied, with a fractal procedural on the luminance, diffusion, specularity, and transparency channels. The scene contained one default light. The camera was set at 640x480, enhanced-low, adaptive sampling, with one render segment of 24 megs. Here are the results:

OS 9.1 ... 1min 18sec
OS X ... 2min 48sec

Very curious results. However, the OpenGL response does seem much faster and more fluid." (Thanks Graham).

I would guess that there's still much optimisation to do to the OSX version of 6.5b. Newtek have generally been unhappy about users conducting performance tests on their preview software. Nevertheless, it's great to see such positive reports on OGL speed.

Reading between the lines from contributors, and judging from the screenshots on Rupert's site, it looks like there are some tasty features cooking for 6.5b - a demo version; smoothed radiosity; sophisticated user alerts; multiple layer levels; level of detail mesh refinement; Rangefinder and Speedometer (whatever they may be!). Of course, these are only features of the 6.5b preview, and *may* not be part and parcel of 6.5b Classic MacOS. Here's hoping.

Volumetrics, Multithreading and Banding

David Todman sent me this great note on banding issues: "I believe that I've definitively solved that banding and image corruption issue that has occupied a lot of space on your site. I haven't visited for a while, so someone else may have offered the same explanation. But here goes anyway... The two things that cause it in combination are: Volumetrics in your scene + MultiThreading option activated in the Render Options panel. It doesn't matter whether you have an MP machine or not, it's the Render Setting that sets off problems, this is probably why is was initially thought to be an MP machine problem because it's mostly MP users who increase their threads for renders, even though single processor users can experience speed improvements also. The problem can be temporarily flushed out of the system by changing the memory segment limit in the Camera Options but it tends to reappear again after a few renders. When using ScreamerNet the Multithreading problem causes the system to crash out or create corrupt frames which is heartbreaking on a big job! Setting the Threading to 1 seems to eliminate all such problems completely. It's a shame, particularly with LWSN as single threading causes machines to wait around while others finish rendering, but at least it's safe. Anyway, I would suggest users exercise extreme caution with multithreading and volumetrics in future." (Thanks David).

James Burns is Staring into The Abyss...

James sent me this plea for help: "I just spent hours working on a largish model, and then I got the error message: "Not enough memory for that operation" on a save. I could not save the object. I couldn't cut any portion of it. I tried a save as with the same result. Finally I had to quit, and then I couldn't open the model again in Modeler. Damn. Damn. Does anyone know of a way to parse a hosed model file to try to recover some hours worth of work? I think I know the answer, but I had to ask. LW 6.5 on a Mac G4. Thanks in advance for your help. Oh, and please don't advise me to do anything that requires disrupting the laws of time and space, like going back and activating "autosave" in the Hub. My time machine is broken." (Thanks James).

I, for one, have never successfully restored a corrupted model. If any users have any tips they'd like to share, please email me.

OSX Preview of 6.5b Available NOW!

It's here! A preview version Lightwave 6.5b that works with OSX Final! Reports most welcome.

Matt Craig Confirms ATI 'Stall' - Fix on its Way!

Matt has posted up a note on Newtek's Discussion Forum here that confirms the problems ATI users are experiencing with multiple ports failing to refresh. The problem is due to a limitation of the ATI/classic MacOS architecture. Working with ATI, Newtek have developed a workaround which will be in the next update to LW. That update is 'soon'. OSX LW does not have these issues.

Dynamic Realities' Todd Widup Writes With News on Impact 2 and Napalm:

Todd sent me this note: "just wanted to give you a little news ont the Mac side of the world. Impact 2 is shipping for the Mac, it is compatible with both 5.6 and 6.0/6.5. We are going to begin testing Napalm on the mac soon, and we are already looking into a Carbon port of it."

This is great news. Napalm, in case you didn't know, is Dynamic Realities' next generation pro-level particle generator fully integrated into Layout. Details on Impact 2 can be found here.

Vertibevel 1.5 Mac

This awesome Modeler plugin is now available for Mac. Click here.

Viewpoint Browser Plugin

On Postforum, Glen Hurd pointed out that Mac users can now sample the Viewpoint/Metastream browser plugin. Click here. (Thanks Glen)

Toby Gaines' HV Problem

Toby wrote to me with this problem: "I talked with Newtek today, no prior knowledge of this problem. I have narrowed it down a little bit, I found that if I do not animate the hv's motion ( or the camera's ) it crashes less often. Yesterday I was able to render 60-frame clips without crashing until I animated their movement, but today it crashes without any animation. It's as if it's always unstable, and movement aggravates the problem. Here are the details: I'm using the hypervoxels to mimic droplets of fuel, so they have transparency, highlight, refraction and the fast fresnel shader, but I have tried as little as 1 point with no transparency or shaders and it still crashes. Never crashes with 1 thread; crashes when rendering ANY hypervoxels with 2,4 or 8 threads, the more threads the worse - multi-thread pixel filter checkbox has made no noticable difference layout is more stable if the hv's do not move relative to the camera; movement of camera instead of hv is just as bad If HV's are not in veiw of the camera, it still crashes. Crash is more likely when rendering multiple frames than doing a single frame I have also tried the following with no noticeable difference: - virtual memory on / off - segment memory limit set anywhere between 1 and 220 - bare minimum of extensions and control panels - quickdraw and ogl-render-ati off - upgrading CPU software to version 2.7 - initializing hard drive - re-installing system twice - re-installing Lightwave twice more - using different scenes - anti-aliasing on / off My system - G4 450 DP/ OS 9.0.4/ 384 mb RAM/ 350mb for Layout Running Lightwave 6.5 upgraded from 6 with download fron Newtek iMate ADB/USB adapter for the dongle". Phew!

I don't think there are any known problems rendering HVs with multiple threads on DP machines although Toby's recent thread on Newtek's discussion board here suggests it is also happening to another user. Given that Toby seems to have tried *everything*, can any other DP users offer any advice? This is obviously not normal Lightwave behaviour.

Newtek on DP Issues and Radeon Stall..

Phil Gaude, who's been in contact with Newtek Tech Support over his DP issues detailed further down the page, had this to say: "regarding our DP rendering problem, tech support is working on, they haven't found any workarounds yet, but the sales dept told us that we are not the only ones to report this kind of problem. Maybe more interesting, the tech support mentioned incidently in a phone talk that there was a bug with the Radeon card, and that engineers from ATI were working closely with lightwave team to fix it." (Thanks Phil).

Michael Linde on Adobe and OSX...

Michael writes: "It doesn't surprise me that they aren't committing to OSX immediately. They have hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in the "classic" version, and many of their mainstay clients aren't early adopters, and won't be getting OSX until it comes standard on boxes. Why spend the money for early release, when you don't need to? It's not like Adobe will NOT develop OSX versions, just not yet...". I think Michael's right that the commercial imperative on Adobe is to take a cautious approach....from a personal perspective, I'm just eager for the OSX ball to start rolling in anger! (I even have budget this year for a machine that OSX supports! and, no, that's not a Flower Power iMac!).

More Confirmations of Viewport Stall with Radeon (QD3D RAVE Enabled)

Both Jack Davis and Greg Trombo have posted confirmations of the Radeon stall as detailed below by Stewart Green. Greg writes: "...on a G3 400 I am experiencing the same stall issue with a Radeon32 card. Thousands of colors is worse, even though ATI suggests that may help. I am also noticing that wireframe mode is slower as well. The only thing that assisted my redraw was to reduce the screen size to 1280 x1024 or less (at 85 Hz). I sympathize with Stewart, as it is very frustrating having things move and not be shown. It makes for a host of undos." Whilst Jack says: "if i don't turn off the RAVE extension before using modeler, i can't see when i drag points in any of the 2D views unless i zoom in and out after dragging. i guess i've just gotten used to turning of the extension for modeler from my old ati 128 days. but i can confirm it still exists for me."

The workaround is obviously to keep QD3D RAVE disabled - at least when you're running Modeler.

Viewport Stall with Radeon

Stewart Green reports a viewport stall suspiciously similar to the ATI Rage 128 Zoom/Pan stalls detailed some weeks ago: "With the RAVE switched on, when I go into modeller using the Radeon, load a model with 11000 polys and try to move points with the drag tool in the back view, (I use the traditional quad arrangement of windows), nothing seems to happen. That is, the point does not move in that view or the side and top views. Yet, in the perspective view which is the only one I usually use texture shade or similar, the effect of the point movement can clearly be seen. Strange or what??". Stewart's on a G4 466. If any other Radeon users are experiencing issues please let me know.

Adobe and OSX

Since many Adobe apps are at the heart of most Mac Lightwavers' toolkits, I found this note from Lester quite troubling: "This has nothing directly to do with LightWave, but may be worth keeping an eye on. Adobe aren't porting any of their apps to OSX in the near term, but keep their options open in the long term. Adobe says that After Effects 5 will have compatibility with OSX in the "Classic" environment, which basically means no OSX compatibility at all. At a guess, I would assume that a large percentage of LightWave users also use After Effects to composite their work. Most of us are eagerly awaiting the release of LightWave for OSX. It's a bit of a bummer that when we switch to and from any Adobe application, we'll have to wait for the Classic OS9 emulator to load up, without the benefit of symmetric multiprocessing etc. Creative Mac have a short interview with Adobe regarding the OSX issue.

More Hummer.lws Results from Stewart Green...

Stewart's done some interesting hummer.lws tests in an SPG4466 at 1024x768:

Radeon = 2mins 4secs

Formac PF3 16Mb = 2mins 4secs(!)

It's hard to figure out how to explain these results given that you would expect the Radeon to significantly outperform the PCI Formac. The tests Mike Breeden did (given that the nVidia was not computing textures) and those that I did also turned in very similar times with different cards on the same machine. I can think of three possible explanations: a) the test is so demanding on the CPU that the video cards are not being saturated i.e. the constraint is the CPU/bus rather than the card b) since all OGL acceleration calls for Layout seem to be directed through the QD3D RAVE extension is this acting as a bottleneck? c) the test is flawed.

If anyone has any theories/thoughts or any other suggestions on how to compare video card performance in Layout or Modeler please let me know.

Kent Matheson on Right Hemisphere and Deep Paint..

Kent sent me a very interesting note following on from Lester's news (below) about a Mac port of Deep Paint:

"..The message quoted below from Lester is the exact wording of messages they have on several occasions sent to me in the past over the past couple of years, the last being about a year ago. What a sense of DÈja Vu when I saw this message...

The story: I'd been bugging them for a while about the possibility of a mac port (you know how their marketing works; every now and then a marketing message appears advertising their latest upgrade. I would reply with a message saying that I was on a Mac etc etc and when etc etc...) before I started getting this message. At first I was quite excited, and I think I even posted a note on the LW newsgroup about it, but my excitement faded and died after several months stretched to well over a year with still the same message coming from them.

The story gets a little bit more interesting, in that after tiring of hearing the same messages over and over I fired off a rather terse and pointed note about the subject that earned me a brief exchange with RH, first with the marketing woman (I forget her name) and then with a fellow who purported to be the head of development (I forget his name too). As it was laid out there actually was NO Mac programmer on board at RH, hadn't been for some time, and the port MAY have at one point begun but was at that time permanently stalled with no plans for resurrection.

I offered to link them up with several mac programmers and even got some advice to them from no less than Scott Squires over at Commotion (graciously replying to a cold eMail from me) but never heard from them again. As I said this was almost a year ago. So the fact that this same message (word for word) is coming out still indicates to me that nothing has happened in the interim. Additionally, with the Mac system about to go X I very (very very) (very) much doubt that this undertaking is in progress. I certainly hope I'm wrong, but I think cynicism is warranted. My feeling is that it's simply an evasive way for them to not have to say that they're NOT porting the program out to Mac. My advice is to support Maxon's 3d paint program and forget about RH." (Thanks Kent).

James Burns on Gordon Miller's Field Rendering Question..

James writes: "I've done this before (in NTSC land ‚ your mileage may vary...). I render in "Odd First" dominance in LightWave for both D1 and DV sized images (which equates to field 1, Upper field first in other programs...). The important thing to remember is to render to the right size for both. D1 (or ITU-R BT.601 to be correct) is 720 X 486 in NTSC. DV is 720 X 480 in NTSC. There are two ways to do this:

1/ Set up your camera to be 720 X 480 and render your final Odd field first. You can even render to the DV codec on a Mac, and maybe even a PC.

2/ Render to D1 (720 X 486) and crop in the output module in After Effects (4 pixels off the top, 2 off of the bottom).

Here's a bonus question and answer: Q- How do you change the field interlace of a layer quickly and easily in After Effects? A- Move the layer up or down exactly 1 pixel, and the dominance will flip." (Thanks James)

Mike Breeden Performance Testing 6.5 with GeforceMX and Radeon

Over the weekend I asked one of my heroes, Mike Breeden of XLR8Yourmac.com, if there was any chance he could include some quantitative tests of Lightwave 6.5 performance in his review of the Geforce and Radeon cards. The only test I could come up with was the standard one: load hummer.lws at various resolutions (maximising for each resolution), leave OGL options at default and time how long it takes to play all 210 frames. It's important not to use the Make Preview button, but simply Layout's arrow for play. In the process of working on this, Mike came across a glitch with OGL1.2.1 and the nVidia card which he has detailed here. If anyone has a clue about this one, please let me know.

Mike's still working on the performance benchmarks, but for what it's worth mine are here:

Apple 9600 G3/466, Formac Proformance III (16Mb) (5.9.5/2.6.4) with OGL 1.2.1 (OS9.1)
1024x768 = 2mins 40s
1152x870 = 2mins 42s
1280x1024 = 2mins 41s

Same machine with ATI Rage 128 (16Mb/PCI) OGL1.2.1 + ATI drivers from OGL 1.2.1
1024x768 = 2mins 44s
1152x870 = Unavailable Resolution
1280x1024 = 2mins 46s

If anyone has their own benchmarks for the same scene, either for a PC or for a Mac, then I'd be interested to hear.

Gordon Miller has Field Rendering/Field Order Question

Gordon sent me this: "I have just done a job to DV so I thought that I would filed render it. Final cut Pro defines the field order as " Lower/even" or "Upper/Odd" Ok I use a lower/even field order that is correct for my DV gear. I rendered A whole anim in 6.5 with the Even Field setting in the camera panel only to find the whole anim stuttering all over the place when put to DV. I Imported the anim in AfterEffects to check the Field order and to my suprise it confirmed that it was actually rendered in the "upper/odd" field order! So i converted the field order in AE and hey presto a perfect anim. It seems that if you want "Lower/Even"Field order you need to select "Odd Fields" in the camera panel and go the other way for "Upper/Odd" fields in L6.5 Anybody got any pointers on why this might be?" If anyone has any answers, I'll forward to Grodon.

Scott Burton Confirms Multi-Thread Image Sequence Bug..

Scott writes: "I can confirm the LW bug with image sequences and mult-threading. Hangs LW on my G4/500DP. :( I've also seen some posts on the LWML recently regarding this from PC users, so its not just us! Seems to affect everyone..." (Thanks Scott).

Coming Soon.

Lester notes the following from the makers of the highly regarded Deep Paint and Texture Weapons: "Right Hemisphere have confirmed that they are porting Deep Paint and Texture Weapons to the Macintosh. The following is an extract from an email I received from them: "The task has proved greater than we first expected. It requires a significant rewrite of the core code to make the products MAC compatible and optimised and this task is in progress. We do not have an official release date for either product in a MAC version at this time but we can confirm our intention to do so as soon as possible."" (Thanks Lester).<