LightWave 11.6 is the newest update to NewTek’s award-winning LightWave 3D modeling, animation and rendering software for the creation of everything from architectural visualizations to explosive visual effects for television and film.

With NVIDIA’s 3D visualization support, artists and designers working with LightWave 11.6 software in Windows 7 or Windows 8 operating systems can use NVIDIA Quadro graphics to visualize high-quality, advanced stereoscopic 3D environments across multiple devices, including enabled desktop monitors and multi-projector wall displays.

NVIDIA 3D Vision uses infrared light to control the toggling of the glasses, while NVIDIA 3D Vision Pro uses 2.4GHz radio communication to support longer range viewing (of up to 100 ft). NVIDIA 3D Vision Pro also offers bi-directional communication to verify that glasses are operating correctly. Additionally, it creates an explicit connection between the glasses and hub to eliminate interference in multi-user environments, such as studios or screening rooms.

LightWave 11.6 introduces new animation tools such as Spline Control, Raycast Motion and Compound Node. With Spline Control, nulls or other objects act as nodes in a spline to control or deform objects such as tentacles, tails, whips or even elevators. Raycast Motion utilizes Raycasting technology to make an object aware of its surroundings and the Compound Node allows you to simplify complex networks down to a single node. Other new features include the addition of NVIDIA CgFX shader support, an improved Color Picker, a faster Viewport Preview Renderer (VPR), and more.

LightWave has been used in the creation of CG and visual effects for leading feature films and television shows, including “Defiance,” “Skyfall,” “The Hunger Games,” The Amazing Spider-Man,” “The Adventures of Tintin,” “Avatar,” “The Walking Dead,” “Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome,” “Fringe,” “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” and more.

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