Lightwave users?

[Julian_K]

Guys, I need some advice. I seriously intend to give LIghtwave a closer look, but with the little time I have right now I want to be sure it’s worth spending time on it.
so - any of you who do use lightwave 10 , what’s the verdict compared to other packages like 3dsMax, Maya and Modo? In particular how good is it at poly modeling , rendering, how well does it communicate with Zbrush ( obj export/import) and how easy to use in general?
Regarding the interface and ease of use I should probably tell you which others I like and don’t like.

3dsMax: I don’t like the interface, but I’m simply very used to it since I learned 3d with max and it was always my main app. I do find it more straight forward than Maya in regard to poly modeling UV mapping and rendering.

Maya: Like it even less, but also wasn’t forced to use it too often, so in general my knowledge is only basic. don’t find it attractive enough though to get deeper into it, if I am not forced to.

Modo: Would be interested, but the the interface stands in the way. don’t find it very intuitive at all.

3dcoat: Very interested but the interface seems simply messy and inconsistent to me. Would deal with it if I had more time.

Zbrush: Oddly, at the beginning I was a little annoyed by it’s totally different interface approach, but got into it much quicker than I had expected and meanwhile actually really like navigating my way through Zbrush. It might not give a rats ass about 3d app interface standard and to some that is probably a bad thing, but it has its very own ‘personality’ which becomes very likeable and even comfortable once you get to know it better.

Silo: pure pleasure in regard to interface/interaction. very straight forward, slim, elegant, lighthearted and I do all my low poly modeling there.
Maya and Max are a bad joke in terms of poly modeling compared to Silo.

Now please guys, tell me your very personal impressions about working with Lightwave

thanks in advance

J.

[system]

I am not gonna be one of those guys that will tell you that some particular package is better than the other- As we use them all over here- but you should realize that each one will have its strengths and weaknesses. I am in the Hard Core program and I will tell you that they are working real hard in making it a AAA production program.

Personally I love LW’s core modeling tools - to be able to work from points is a must for me. Of course someone will tell me me I am way off base but its my preference.

Ltr:)

[system]

i personally think that you should try LW. maybe because, i have fun using that program and it really does give me the satisfaction that i am aiming for with my every project.

modeling and rendering may be LW’s strengths, it’s equipped with great tools to help you out, with customizable workplace that’ll make your projects a personalized task.

[Gordon_Robb]

I use Lightwave. Works great. Talks to Zbrush quite well, but will be better if/when they sort out GoZ for Lightwave. There are those folks that will tell you other packages are better, and they are not wrong, but you can do great things with Lightwave.

[Kerwin]

What you want to do with the platform will influence which one you pick. I’ve used in production almost all the ones you mention, after a week or two, the UI will matter less and the refinements for particular use cases will be more obvious.

Overall, if your goal is character animation, then Maya is likely going to be the route–LW’s character tools are pretty far behind (although can be bolstered with pMessiah.)

In games, the industry still uses Max quite a bit. Not 100% why other than tradition.

Silo and Modo are really more in the modeler category, not complete systems. Modo is working more and more towards a complete system, with a pretty good renderer (even if it lacks nodal management of shaders.) I use modo a lot for SDS work and UV’ing. For retopo work, Topogun is pretty solid and will really move ahead some more Topogun 2.0.

3Dcoat is another modelling program. It has some interesting points, but it doesn’t offer me enough advantage over ZB to get too excited. I do like its retopo tools and bunch of the guys where I’m working like it for retopo.

C4D: Good for motion graphics and Broadcast work. The Bodypaint component is a plus, though if you’re using ZB, I find painting more fun ZB (although their are some multi-layer painting tricks which Bodypaint excels at.)

LW: I haven’t touched it since the early LW 9 days. It was my go-to for general 3D for years. It’s much better priced than C4D. I see LW a lot still for ArchViz, but increasingly supplanted by Modo. A good number of Modo users work side-by-side with LW as Modo originally positioned itself as better SDS modeller for LW and Maya.

Most of the other systems seem to have been swallowed up into the Autodesk empire.

All in all, I don’t recommend LW to my private students anymore; most of them want to go into CA. Not that LW is a terrible system (on PCs–it was pretty awful on Macs) but most shops aren’t using it as core to their pipeline anymore. For a one-man shop on a budget, it’s still in the mix.

-K