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Thank you for installing this latest update to NewTek's LightWave® [8] software! LightWave version 8.5 is the fifth free update in the LightWave [8] series, and includes the 64-bit port for Emmy® award-winning LightWave 3D® for Windows XP Pro x64 OS. Version 8.5 offers hardware support of OpenGL 2.0, the new multi-shift tool with editable history, Photoshop style texture blending modes, improved dynamics, and easier integration of third-party file formats. LightWave's 64-bit version leverages the increased memory available with 64-bit systems plus the power of the new processors and faster RAM access to provide digital artists with a streamlined workflow that allows them greater flexibility and creative freedom. The LightWave v8.5 update is available to registered owners of LightWave [8] by free download.

Numerous software maintenance and functionality issues have also been addressed in this update. Those are also listed in the "readme" and Manual Addendum for this update. We appreciate your feedback, which plays a large role in shaping this 3D animation software's future. Please send feature requests to lwfeatures@newtek.com, and bug reports to lwbugs@newtek.com.

Please Note: LightWave version 8.5 has the following graphics card requirements:

(Required)
Full OpenGL Support (including OpenGL 2.0 support)
Latest drivers from chipset manufacturer

(Minimum)
nVidia FX 5200 series
ATI Radeon 9600
Minimum of 64 MB RAM (per display)
1024x768 minimum screen resolution

(Recommended)
nVIDIA Quadro FX 4000
256 MB RAM
1280x1024 screen resolution

Known issues:
-Some of the functions of the GLSL Hardware Shaders are currently having conflicts with ATI graphics cards. NewTek and ATI are working on this issue, so be sure to keep up with the latest drivers for your graphics card.

- OpenGL 2.0 is not fully supported in Mac OS X, so the option to use the GLSL Hardware Shaders is not available on the Mac at this time.

New for LightWave 3D! LightWave 64-bit software is now shipping.

Please note: It is necessary to have a 64-bit system, with Windows XP Pro x64, to use the LightWave 64-bit software. You can run the 32-bit LightWave on a 64-bit system, but the software will not gain the full advantages of the 64-bit system. NewTek received authorization from Safe Net to supply a Beta version of their 64-bit drivers with the 8.5 release; however, neither Safe Net nor NewTek will be able to offer support for these Beta drivers. Parallel port dongles are not currently supported by 64-bit beta drivers.

LightWave 64 is available to registered LightWave [8] owners at no charge other than the cost of materials and shipping for the required LightWave v8.5 installer CD, $29.95 plus shipping and handling. You can order a convenience upgrade by contacting NewTek Customer Service by phone or from this web site.

Known Issues:

1) You may receive a message saying your 64-bit OS was not automatically detected. You will then receive a message asking you to confirm you have the 64-bit OS so the installer can continue. If you do have Windows XP Pro x64, please select the option to continue with the installation.

2) After installation, your content directory may be labeled "-64\Content" . If this happens, you will need to change your content directory settings in LightWave, or rename the content folder on your hard drive .
Major Updates

Layout :

GLSL Hardware Shader: View light fall offs, blended images on surfaces, procedurals, and even gradients in real-time in OpenGL viewports in Layout. This is all possible with OpenGL v2.0 Hardware Shaders on graphics cards which support the technology.

Geared toward giving you a more accurate preview of your final render, the GLSL Hardware Shaders can speed-up productivity for your projects.

GLSL HW Shading Off GLSL HW Shading On

Particle Dynamics : Improved for accuracy, including interaction with collision planes. A new algorithm also allows large dynamic scenes to load up to 10x faster. The progress of your calculation is now shown in a new Dynamics Window when using FXBrowser.

Photoshop Blending Modes: New blending modes in Texture Editor which resemble similar modes in Photoshop.

Modeler :

Multishift : If you have ever gone through a bevel session and wished you could go back a few steps, while keeping the rest of the work intact, this is all possible with Multishift. With Multishift Mode on, you can move backwards in a work session. You can also save an entire Multishift session as a separate file and apply those edits to another mesh.

Other features include creating new surfaces as you work and new shifting algorithms, which allow more flexibility for complex angles in a mesh.

Make one finger for a hand using Multishift, save the work history…

…and apply Multishift to other polygons for the other fingers.

With a only few adjustments on the mesh, Multishift can speed up your workflow by automating repetitive tasks.

Parts to Surfaces : At some point when using LightWave you may need to import a model from another program into Modeler, but that model might not have surface information. If the model has part names associated with it, you can activate Parts to Surfaces and instantly have a new surface applied to each part.

Layout & Modeler :

78 new Hotkey selections are now available. New key combinations are Caps_Lock+Letter, Alt+Letter, Shift+Alt+Letter, and Shift+Ctrl+Letter combinations.

IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ

Before installing LightWave [8] Update 8.5, back up any content in the LightWave [8] folder on your hard drive. This includes the default LightWave content in the LightWave [8]/Programs folder.

Mac users: The download is available in .ZIP format, which Mac OS X uses natively. After downloading, the .pkg file will extract the necessary files.

There is a new Registration process that was implemented with LightWave [8]. If you have registered LightWave [8], no further registration action is required. If not, you will need to register LightWave [8] to download the [8.5] update. NewTek has provided an easier system for online registration, and the ability to register over-the-phone with Customer Service.

Step-by-step on-line registration instructions can be found at:
http://register.newtek.com/howto/index-lw.asp

If you have registered LightWave [8] with NewTek Europe, you must login and download the update from NewTek Europe.

NewTek can only verify stability issues with the default installation of LightWave [8] when releasing updates and upgrades. NewTek cannot guarantee that the stability of 3rd party plug-ins/LScripts will not be affected by such changes. If you make use of third-party plug-ins/LScripts, we recommend checking with the respective publishers for compatibility issues before updating your installation of LightWave [8].

The version 8.5 downloadable update, on either platform, is a ZIP compressed executable file with .zip extension. You can download the appropriate file to whatever location on your hard drive you choose.

While this update does not place new configuration files nor replace the license.key file, as a safety precaution it would still be wise to make a backup copy of any files or folders you may have modified since installing LightWave. These can include your configuration files, the license.key file, the Plugins folder, the Presets folder, and any content folders.

Default locations for Windows configuration files "LW8.CFG", "LWM8.CFG", "LWEXT8.CFG", "LWHUB8.CFG":

Win2K: <yourdrive>:\Documents And Settings\<username>
WinXP: <yourdrive>:\Documents And Settings\<username>
Default locations for Mac configuration files "LightWave Layout 8 Prefs", "LightWave Modeler 8 Prefs", "LightWave Extensions 8 Prefs", “LightWave Hub 8 Prefs”:

OS X: <yourdrive>/users/<username>/Library/Preferences
Once you have downloaded the appropriate file, navigate to the folder where you placed the file, and double-click on the file to execute the installer. When you are asked where to install the update, be sure to select the folder in which your current copy of LightWave [8] is located. This is required in order for the installer will place all the new files in the proper locations within that folder.

Be sure to read the ReadMe for important information about changes to the software.

LightWave [8] Version 8.5 has completed rigorous beta testing, and is stable.

Software Fixes:

Modeler:
Models which would not load in 8.3 but could in 8.2 should be able to load now
Keyboard shortcut for Make Poly has been fixed to work with new Make Poly tool
EPSF Importer has been fixed to work with pathnames longer than 32-characters
Modeler & Layout:
The correct image file types will now be listed in the configuration file
Layout:
Window resizing should not cause memory leak
Image Filters without a user interface are now saved with the scene file
Fog settings are now saved even if fog is turned off
Fog should now respect transparency settings
OpenGL should now display large image files
Selecting a camera, light or bone while playing the timeline after a dynamics calculation should not crash Layout
IK Booster Custom Color should save settings
Trail.ls now has a trap for out-of-bounds indexing
Lens Flare panel adjusted to appropriate width
Item Comment Display for Custom Object will default item it is displayed on
Edge Tiling should render correctly when pixel blending is activated
Render Status should work when Magnification set to 400%
LWBUF_SPECULAR & LWBUF_SPECIAL buffers should return valid buffer pointers
Surface Voxels should not ignore background layer
IK Booster handles should no longer switch to wireframes when changing object size
MD_Metaplug should now recognize absolute paths for a cage object
Surface Editor:
Save Library should no longer crash when editing
Adjusting Bump Texture values should no longer crash LightWave
Alpha channel should be copied when copying Gradient Layers
Changing Gradient Parameters (for example, from Distance to Surface Thickness) should retain the scale of the gradient
Graph Editor
Correct frame value should be calculated when high frame rate is used
Image Editor:
PNGs should now work properly with Image Edit controls
VIPER:
HyperVoxels should now preview correctly in VIPER window
Background images should render correctly in VIPER window
Hypervoxels:
F9 render should work correctly when Blending is OFF for HyperVoxels and Raytrace Shadows ON
SDK:
Targa index files with an alpha channel should no longer cause a crash
Configuration:
Library File Types are now saved correctly in default configuration
Other:
Motion Y and Motion X in PSD Exporter are now labeled correctly
Particles can now be affected by other collision objects after "sticking" to one