Make
it look like a million bucks, and we need that
by airtime today. |
| Rich
Helvey
Now a lead animator at NBC's Access Hollywood
for over seven years, Rich Helvey uses LightWave
for the special effects, animation, and broadcast
graphics on the show. He finds that LightWave
offers users an easy and flexible toolset with
a fast and powerful render engine, enabling producers
to work smarter and faster to create high quality
graphics.
ìThe producers here at
Access are always throwing something new our way,
and we need to be able to dive right in and create
any look, complete with appropriate props and
environments, in a very short amount of time.
The LightWave render engine always feels like
it was designed to meet my needs, and the inherent
speed of the renderer lets us do things that,
quite honestly, we shouldn't be able to do in
the time allowed.î
LightWave's flexibility helps
Helvey produce every kind of broadcast graphics
imaginable. ìAt Access Hollywood we get to
do it all. Character animation, logo work, fly
throughs, you name it.î Often Helvey has to
produce graphics that match the ìlook and feelî
of a film or television project that Access Hollywood
is covering. ìThe amazing thing is that the
big studios have tons of artists working on expensive
machines using really "high-end" software that
costs an arm and a leg (just to maintain a support
contract) for months on end to produce their mind-blowing
special effects, and here we are, four of us in
the department, imitating them all on a much tighter
deadline using mostly straight-out-of-the-box
LightWave® and getting away with it.î
Helvey concludes, ìLightWave
is fast enough to handle our nightmare 4-hour
deadlines, flexible enough to let me create whatever
I need, and it just looks fantastic. It flat out
just works.î
|
"On
the rendering side, I'm still really impressed with
the possibilities offered by HyperVoxels, above
all Sprite Mode which renders very fast. On the
animation side, I love Motion Mixer TM. Above all,
I love modeling in LightWave. Subpatches offer the
user great freedom for all things organic and Modeler
is really pleasant to use..."
Olivier
Michon, Digital Artist, VIEW, France |
|
[The
things I like best about LightWave are] the
Modeler, the principle of Subdivision Surfaces
for all organic models. Endomorphs, IK on
a per channel basis, the Surface Editor, the
render engine, the ability to re-use the same
skeleton for a variety of meshes, pretty much
everything, really."
Olivier
Jeannel, Eurosport satellite sports channel |
|
| Whether
you are flying logos, creating broadcast
bumpers or animating the invasion of the
Earth by an alien species from two blocks
down and three universes over, with complete
and utter realism (or even just for fun!),
LightWave 3D is the proven tool of choice.
Motion graphics artists the world over have
found NewTek's LightWave 3D provides the
easy intuitive tools they need to provide
beautiful and expressive images and animations.
Just the eye-catching look you need, on
time, on budget, no compromises.
HyperVoxelsTM
HyperVoxels are NewTekís breakthrough approach
to creating volumetric effects such as liquids,
fire, smoke, clouds, dust, gelatin, rusted
materials, short hair and fur, and much
more. HyperVoxels can also work in conjunction
with ParticleFX TM to add dynamics to your
effects. HyperVoxelsí ì3D pixelsî offer
three modes, so you can design effects that
you can move the camera through, or just
view from outside, near or far. With these
modes nearly any effect and level of detail
that you need can be achieved, with efficient
use of your rendering resources.
ParticleFX
LightWaveís integrated particle system includes
fluid dynamics and behavior controls, so
it can be used to simulate anything from
a waterfall to the annual arrival of the
swallows in Capistrano. For purposes as
varied as explosions, fountains, and more,
you can add particle emitters to your scene
and control the rate at which the particles
are emitted, how long they exist after being
emitted, and whether they are affected by
wind, gravity, collision with each other
or other objects. And you do all this interactively,
in Layout. You can add effects to the particles
such as HyperVoxels to create volumetric
smoke, flames, clouds, and much more.
Caustics
The dance of light on both the rippling
surface and the hazy floor of the pool.
The mysterious glints and reflections within
and around a glass filled with liquid, sitting
on a table. Hold a ring of gold in your
fingers, under a light; move, and watch
the play of highlights inside its circle
and on your shaded palm. Caustics. The way
light is reflected, refracted, and focused
in the real world by curved or transparent
surfaces. Native to LightWave 3D, naturally. |
|
|
| Tim
Johnson
Tim Johnson's years as a television graphic artist
have been highlighted with a regional Emmy®
for work on a news promotion project, and by sheer
enjoyment of the creative challenges of producing
graphics that communicate precisely, hold attention,
draw interest to exactly the right elements, and
put the message across to the audience.
ìI like LightWave for broadcast
because of the speed,î says Johnson. ìItís
easy to import a commercial clientís logo (created
in Illustrator) directly into Modeler, and crank
out a flying logo in little to no time. We can
export out in 32-bit files for compositing on
another system, or view them directly from LightWaveís
framebuffer on our NewTek VT[2]TM.î
LightWave's easy integration
with a variety of tools in the production environment
is also key. ìI like how weíre able to use
LightWave for multiple editing environments. For
the Mac-based Avids® here, we export in a
32-bit Avid QuickTime® codec that they can
import very quickly. For the Quantel Editbox®,
we render out image sequences that are later networked
directly to a shared drive. For use with NewTek's
VT TM, we render out as RTVs TM. Itís nice to
have options instead of hoops to jump through.î
And of course, Johnson values
LightWave for the quality of output it provides:
ìFor station promotion, the realism weíre getting
from radiosity and caustics is amazing.î
Johnson sums up the value
of LightWave this way: ìThe speed and workflow
has been a big time-saver. With less render and
setup time, weíre able to focus on what weíre
paid to do - being creative. We know what we need
to accomplish, and LightWave is the quickest way
to do it.î
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