Introduction
Usage
History
Requirements
Installation
Ordering

TrueArt's Node Library is bundle of the all LightWave ® v9.0 - LW 2020 nodes written by us.

Nodes:
Backdrop, Flatten Material, Grey Color, Grey Material, Random Color, Random Scalar, Random Vector, Reflection Blur, Reflection Direction, Render Info, Product Info, Extended Item Info, Extended Spot Info, Color Invert, Color Contrast, Compare Color, Scalar Contrast, Color Mixer, Split Color, Split Material, Split Vector, and much more.

Shaders:
Normal Pass.

Utilities:
Setup Normal Pass.

To use this plugin just add it using Add Plug-Ins.

 

Inputs: None

Outputs:
Item - Item that has been hit by the ray. It can be used in Extended Item Info or other TrueArt's Node Library nodes that takes item as argument.

Source Item - Source item casted by the ray, usually camera. It can be used in Extended Item Info or other TrueArt's Node Library nodes that takes item as argument.

Bounces - Number of bounces done by the ray. Might be used to optimize node calculations or show where are areas that takes the most of time to calculate. Divide it by Extended Render Info's Max Bounces to get normalized value or use in gradient. 0 means pixel directly visible by camera. You can turn off surface or choosed by you area from being visible in ray-tracing by checking this value whether it's greater than 0.

Frame X - Horizontal position of pixel for the ray. Usually between 0 and Extended Render Info's Frame Width.

Frame Y - Vertical position of pixel for the ray. Usually between 0 and Extended Render Info's Frame Height.

X - Normalized horizontal position of the ray. Between 0.0 and 1.0. It's the same as Frame X divided by Extended Render Info's Frame Width.

Y - Normalized vertical position of the ray. Between 0.0 and 1.0. It's the same as Frame Y divided by Extended Render Info's Frame Height.

 

Inputs: None

Outputs:
Frame - Current frame. Between Start Frame and End Frame.

Time - Current time.

Max Bounces - Maximum number of bounces set by user in options. Usually used to normalize Extended Spot Info's Bounces by dividing, to not hard code values inside node setup.

Start Frame - Animation start frame.

End Frame - Animation end frame. You can normalize frame by doing operation (Frame - Start Frame)/(End Frame - Start Frame).

Frame Width - Frame width. Can be used to normalize position X by doing operation Frame X/Frame Width.

Frame Height - Frame height. Can be used to normalize position Y by doing operation Frame Y/Frame Height.

 

Inputs:
Item - Item that will be analized.

Frame - Frame at which item will be analized.

Time - Time at which item will be analized. Frame/Time inputs are exclusive. Providing none will analize item at current render Frame/Time.

Outputs:
Item - Item that is analized. You can pick-up item from drop-down list of items and outputs item for use in other TrueArt's Node Library nodes.

Index - Cloned item index. It's 0 if item is not cloned, greater or equal to 1 if it's cloned. 1 is base instance. You usually want to use this together with Extended Spot Info's Item output passed to Extended Item Info's Item input. This way one node setup controls the all instances and they can behave differently depending on which cloned item is rendered!

Position, Right, Up, Forward, Rotation, Scaling, Pivot, World Position, World Right, World Up, World Forward, Pivot Rotation - Extended Item Info equivalents of NewTek's original Item Info.

Speed the speed of item, in meters per second. It can be connected to Gradient or to digit generating node to display on some surface. If item has applied IK or motion modifying plugin, you will need to bake motion to key-frames, prior using this!

 

Inputs:
In - Source color before inverting.

Outputs:
Out - Destination color after inverting.

 

Inputs: None

Outputs:
Product - Product identifier, 0 for Layout, 1 for Modeler or 2 for ScreamerNet. Can be used in gradient.

Modeler - Boolean value, 1 if node is evaluated in Modeler, otherwise 0. Can be used in logic.

Layout - Boolean value, 1 if node is evaluated in Layout, otherwise 0. Can be used in logic.

ScreamerNet - Boolean value, 1 if node is evaluated in ScreamerNet, otherwise 0. Can be used in logic.

Version - Product major version.

Revision - Product minor version.

Build - Product build.

Version 9.0 - Boolean value, 1 if node is evaluated in LightWave v9.0, otherwise 0.

Version 9.2 - Boolean value, 1 if node is evaluated in LightWave v9.2, otherwise 0.

 

Inputs:
Material - Source material. It can be pre-made material like Dialectric or custom made like Make Material.

Outputs:
Diffuse Shading - Diffuse Shading part of material. Ignore it, modify it, or connect it unmodified to Diffuse Shading in Surface node, or to Make Material.

Specular Shading - Specular Shading part of material. Ignore it, modify it, or connect it unmodified to Specular Shading in Surface node, or to Make Material.

Reflection Shading - Reflection Shading part of material. Ignore it, modify it, or connect it unmodified to Reflection Shading in Surface node (in this case you need to set Reflection to 100% otherwise LightWave will ignore it!), or to Make Material.

Refraction Shading - Refraction Shading part of material. Ignore it, modify it, or connect it unmodified to Refraction Shading in Surface node, or to Make Material. You need to connect or set Transparency as well!

Transparency - Transparency part of material. Ignore it, modify it, or connect it unmodified to Transparency in Surface node, or to Make Material.

 

Download TrueArt's Node Library v0.34 for Windows 32 bit (92272 bytes).

Download TrueArt's Node Library v0.34 for Windows 64 bit (92721 bytes).

Download TrueArt's Node Library v0.34 for Macintosh UB (188515 bytes).

Preorder TrueArt's Node Library 2020for LightWave 2020. You'll receive beta version for testing.

Changes made in the 2020 (1-Jan-2020)

  • Work in progress. Preorder.

Changes made in the 0.34 (23-Sep-2015)

  • Added Preview Start Frame, Preview End Frame, Preview Step Frame outputs to Render Info node.

Changes made in the 0.33 (13-Jun-2015)

  • Added Vertex Map Weight Map node.

Changes made in the 0.17 (26-Apr-2012)

  • Added GreyColor node.
  • Added GreyMaterial node.

Changes made in the 0.16 (24-Apr-2012)

  • A lot of new nodes added.
  • The first official Windows 64 bit release.

Changes made in the 0.15 (12-Dec-2009)

  • Fixed Normal Pass shader and node.

Changes made in the 0.14 (23-Sep-2008)

  • Fixed Normal Pass shader and node. They will now support bump mapping!
  • Added Speed to Extended Item Info.

Changes made in the 0.13 (11-May-2007)

  • Added Color Invert node, Normal Pass node and shader, Split Material node and Setup Normal Pass tool.

Changes made in the 0.12 (21-Jan-2007)

  • The first official Windows release.

Minimum Windows Requirements

  • LightWave v9.0+
  • Pentium or better
  • Windows 32 bit

Installing the product

In order to install the program, please extract the archive to some location on your hard disk.

On Windows ®, the archive is in the ZIP format. You will need 3rd party software such as WinZIP, which you can download from http://www.winzip.com (it's not included in the package), or other compatible software to decompress the archive.

Windows XP ® has built-in ZIP support (simply right click on the archive�s icon, and choose �Extract all files...�).

On Macintosh ®, the archive is in the SIT format. You will need 3rd party software such as StuffIt, which you can download from http://www.stuffit.com (it's not included in the package), or compatible software to decompress the archive.

The LightWave ® plugin does not require files to be in specific locations, which is a very nice feature. But for easier file management it is recommended that the plugin files (i.e. those with .p extension) be copied to your LightWave ® plugins folder (f.e. LightWave\Plugins\).

Installing LightWave ® Layout Plugins

Run the LightWave ® Layout executable. Select pop-down menu Layout > Utilities ® Add Plugins..., then find the folder containing the new plugin files and select them. You should see a message from LightWave telling you that the plugins have been added successfully. The changes will be saved to your configuration file when you quit the program.

Click on the image to see it at full resolution.

Uninstalling the product

Uninstalling LightWave ® Layout Plugins

Run the LightWave ® Layout executable. Select pop-down menu Layout > Utilities > Edit Plugins..., then select the plugin files and press the Delete button. The changes will be saved to your configuration file when you quit the program. Now you can safely remove the files from your hard disk.

Click on the image to see it at full resolution.

Price

The price for a single license (product installed on the one machine) is 50 USD (United States Dollars).

On-line ordering

This is the preferred ordering method. It has several advantages:

  • Easy. You just need to type your personal and credit card details into the order form, and you will receive your goods within max. 48 hours.
  • Fast. Usually, you will receive the purchased products within an hour (depending on the time difference between where you live, and the hours we are working)!
  • Safe. You are sure your order won�t be stolen in transit, or held up by postal strikes etc.