The most noticeable changes for v9 are the addition of a node-based materials system that adds new shading models to LightWave, such as Oren-Nayar, anisotropic, and sub-surface scattering; the greatly improved rendering speed for today's high-demand scenes; and the enhancement of subdivision surfaces in Modeler and Layout, including Adaptive Pixel Subdivision, which gives you a variety of capabilities for film-quality displacement mapping, normal mapping (including ZBrush support) and level-of-detail control at render time. LightWave now has one of the most comprehensive toolsets for matching real camera lenses, an addition that will greatly enhance the ability of visual effects artists to match 3D elements to live footage.

Among the changes that contribute to enhanced workflow in Layout are faster OpenGL performance and additional OpenGL hardware shader support, building on the initial implementation in version 8.5. For many scenes this provides a very accurate preview of the look of the final image or animation in real-time, without the need to create test renders. The GUI has been enhanced to allow far more user configurability than in the past. You can adapt the look to fit your needs and preferences to provide the best workflow for the ways in which you use LightWave.

Features:

• Rendering:
  • Implementation of BSP/KD Tree Algorithm to achieve improved speeds as scene complexity rises
  • Complete replacement of the original ray tracing core
  • Improved multi-threading with dynamic segmentation to insure maximum use of available CPUs
  • Typical speed improvements at 2.5x over LightWave version 8.5 for today's increasingly ambitious high-polygon count production scenes
• Adaptive Pixel Subdivision:
  • Adaptive subdivision of a mesh based on distance from camera and visibility
  • Choice of Adaptive Sub-division methods Per Object, Per Polygon and Per Pixel
  • Highly optimized mesh, tied to render resolution when using Per Pixel
  • Visibly similar to micro-poly displacement
• Modeling:
  • Added Catmull-Clark Subdivision Surfaces
  • Subdivision level can be controlled via numerical values, envelopes, expressions, motion modifiers, textures, procedurals, gradients and more
  • Edge Selection
  • Edge Weights
  • N-gons (polygons greater than 4 sides) for subdivision surface modeling
• Node Editor:
  • New Shading Models
  • Normal Maps from ZBrush 2 Supported
  • Branches can be imported and exported
  • Math Animation Nodes
  • Animated Gradient Node
  • Work how you want to work: Layers in Nodes; Nodes in Layers; Layers Only; Nodes Only
  • Full support of native controls and envelopes
  • Available in Layout and Modeler, and maintains context when switching between the two
  • Full SDK Support for third parties to create nodes (including shading models) and for third party renderers to interface with and query nodal shaders.
• Advanced Camera Tools:
  • New rendering technology renders scenes using arbitrary camera lenses and warps. This allows for some fantastic effects, such as:
    • Camera plane deformations
    • Arbitrary projections
    • UV map generation
    • True orthographic rendering
    • Space warp simulations
  • Lens distortion duplicating physically accurate real world lenses or non-existent "imaginary" lenses
  • 360 degree panorama rendering (one camera)
• OpenGL:
  • Preview lighting scenarios within the UI
  • Less need for preview renders
  • Hardware shading of procedural textures
• Other:
  • Timewarp - Time Re-mapping and Warping Shader
  • CCTV Shader
  • HV Deformer: HyperVoxel Particle Displacement Shader
  • Stress Map
  • Sketch Image Filter
  • Pixie Dust Volumetric shader
  • Relativity 2
  • Quaternion Rotations
  • Mesh Editing in Layout
  • Native 64-bit support
  • Multiplatform
  • Dual and multi-core support

System Requirements:

• System RAM: 512 MB minimum requirement, 1 GB recommended
• Graphics Card: nVidia FX 5200 series (minimum), ATIFireGL V 5100 (minimum)
• Graphics support: Full OpenGL (OpenGL 2.0 support, or ARB_shading_language_100 OpenGL extension in earlier versions, required to use GLSL features)
• Driver: Latest from chipset manufacturer
• Dedicated Video RAM: 64 MB per display minimum requirement, 128 MB recommended
• Minimum Screen Resolution: 1024x768 minimum requirement, 1280x1024 recommended
• Hard Drive Space: 230 MB for program installation (not including content)
• Windows® 32-Bit:
  • Operating System: Windows® XP
  • Processor: Intel® or AMD
• Windows® 64-Bit:
  • Operating System: Windows® XP Professional x64 Edition
  • Processor: Intel® EM64T or AMD64
  • RAM: 1 GB
• Macintosh®:
  • Operating System: Mac OS® X 10.3.9 Panther(TM)
  • Processor: PowerPC® G4 minimum requirement, G5 recommended