Some of my work in LightWave

[TowerFan]

Hey all,

I'm going to post some of my work (by request from another thread I accidentally almost hi-jacked, Sorry Anhar!!). Been working with LightWave for about a year and a half or so. Just a hobby to begin with but in the meantime I started a part-time videography business (which brought me to DVXUser) so I mostly use it for flying logos and such. Kinda boring but I'll post my fun stuff. Probably span it out over a few days as I don't have a whole lot to show.

First is the McLaren. I followed a tutorial available at SimplyLightWave.com. Best modeling tute I've ever seen. Improved my skills ten-fold.

[TowerFan]

Reply to zack from other thread... Yes, it is fully animatable. LightWave has a layer system that allows multiple layers within one object to be animated seperatly. If the part to be animated doesn't require deformation, such as a character's arm or leg, then the model doesn't need to be rigged. I've only worked in LW so I don't know how animation is done in other 3D packages.

[Nik Manning]

Nice! Very detailed.

[triplej96]

Wow, nice I just opened up lightwave for the first time yesterday I have it at work. Just messsing around I couldnt do a whole lot lol. I need some good tutorials I will check that out. What tools did you use to teach your self?

[TowerFan]

Thanks for the comments! I used mostly DVD tutorials and a couple of books. Check out 3D Garage by Dan Ablan. He has great beginner DVD tutorials I used to get started. His books are top-notch as well. Once I got some of the basics down, I started getting specific content tutes from SimplyLightwave.com and KurvStudios (can't remember their url, Google it). Really great stuff.

Here's some more McLaren renders.

[Anhar Miah]

hey! thats really good! I dig the black colour model it looks pro level.

Tutorials are the way to go, its really the one way to learn 3d, by doing it.

I really enjoy other peoples work, it gives me lots of inspiration, so please keep postin'

[Matt Grunau]

Great work Towerfan. Nice to see another LW user here. We are a dying breed.

It's not often people post anything close to believable photorealism from LW, and you have done just that.


My only suggestion would be to break up the spec and possibly the reflection with high con textures as alphas, but with very little impact on the respective surfaces. Nothing is quite that perfect, and breaking up your spec map can bring in a lot of extra believability and realism.

But your modeling is very good, and your rendering (which looks like GI) is fab. If it is GI, nice work avoiding the usual artifacts. Personally, spline modeling is something I've never quite been able to get my head around.

Also, put a little refraction on the glass covering the headlights. Just gives a little more realism.

But as far as modeling and rendering, those kick major ass, and far surpass my own capabilites. Any chance we can see a small animation?

Lastly how did you texture/model the tires? Those are usually the hardest to sell in photrealism, and yours came out nicely, from the angles we see them. Also, there is an expression out there specifically for tire rotation in relation to body movement. Might be worth looking up, if you plan to animate.


Great work. And thanks for breathing some killer LW into this section.

[TowerFan]

Anhar - Thanks for the feedback. I'll keep posting my stuff but the archives will run out quick!

Matt - Thanks for your comments as well. I appreciate your feedback on the texturing. I'm the first to admit my weakest skill in LW is texturing. Don't have the patience, or Photoshop skills, to really get good textures. Funny thing about the tires, just got lucky there. I wanted a new yet not shiny rubber surface. I layered a few different bump micro-textures to break up the light and messed around with spec and glossiness. They have bump-mapped tread but it's kinda hard to see.

I've always wanted to animate a drive-by but never got around to it. I'll probably revisit this project in the unknown future. Each of those images cooked in Fprime for about two hours (not the wires but the radiosities). By the time I got to the render stage I was kinda tired of it and wanted to move on to somthing fresh.

Here's the wires and the rim/brakes again.

[-zach-]

Reply to zack from other thread... Yes, it is fully animatable.

Nice! Could you make it crash and have it look realistic, or is it just the body?

[TowerFan]

Now that would be a serious project. The way the model is now it would be dificult, many mods needed for a crash anmation.

Besides, who would want to destroy a $1,000,000 McLaren? LOL!