Amithlon

 Lightwave 3D

Documentation by Tom Crews (SnkBitten)

Well, what about LightWave?  Amithlon is a speed demon so what about running Lightwave 3D on it…  There are of course cracked versions available that don’t require the Toaster hardware….could I get that to run without Amiga native hardware?  To that the answer is a big fat “Yes!”

I was lucky to find a thread with someone detailing the requirements to Mode Promote (with ModePro)  the numerous LightWave screens and Modeler screens to RTG.   It’s tricky and what was posted was close enough to allow me to find what would work under Amithlon’s Picasso96 screen modes.  Lots of trial and effort with even more completely locked system or instantly rebooting at the click of “Render” and I finally have it working.

You’ll need LightWave 3d 5.2 , CyberGFX Renderer V1.2 and ModePro.

Simplest way is to set ModePro to ask you for each screen and then add them as they pop up. In ModePro’s menu’s, check “ask about unknown screens” and when done adding the screen names, you can uncheck it and save the settings.

Launching Lightwave, ModePro should ask you how to promote, you’ll select Screen Name then promote that with Screenmode, and depending on which screen, you’ll  choose your GFX card for some, and FakeNative: for a few. I use an nVidia card so just substitute yours where you see me listing “nVidia-1”

Install ModePro, LightWave 3d and the CyberGFX Renderer V1.2.

Run the CyberGFX Renderer prefs app and set your Screenmode preferences for what screen you want your rendered output to display on (highest available, 32 bit mode, I have 1280×1204 @32 as the highest available on my machine).

Launch LightWave…

LW Layout 672 x 432 (I’m NTSC, adjust as needed)

Screenmode = FakeNative:HighRes-Lace, Width 672, Height 432, colors 8, AutoScroll

Switch to 1024×768 8 color mode in Lightwave’s layout screen (Option button at the top)

LW Layout 1024 x 768

Screenmode = nVidia-1: 1024×768 32bit, colors 8

**(you could use the 800×600 Layout mode if you prefer but I haven’t programmed in an 800×600 mode in Picasso96Screenmode prefs yet).

You’ll need to load the CyberGFX Renderer V1.2 plugin in the plugins section (also Options button).

Load a scene and then change the Record (Record button at top) Render Display to CyberGFX and click Continue.

Render a scene and you’ll get three more ModePro popups.

LW Render Status

screenmode = FakeNative:HighRes-Lace, 640 x 18 (yes 18), force planar

LW Render Feedback

screenmode = FakeNative:LowRes, 640×480, force planar

CyberGFX Renderer V1.2  - You do not need to promote, this is set using the CyberGFX Renderer Prefs program.  Choose the highest resolution and color depth presented.

When you render a scene or frame, Lightwave will open the “LW Render Status” showing the frame status and the “LW Render Feedback” that would normally give you a quick view of the rendered frame. When completed rendering it will open the 24bit image in the screen mode you selected for “CyberGFX Renderer V 1.2”. ESC will exit that screen and drop you back to the LW Render Status screen. Press Amiga M (Windows M) and you will be on a black screen which is the “LW Render Feedback” screen. Mouse click in the screen then hit ESC to exit back to the Layout screen.

When rendering with Render Display “CyberGFX” you’ll see it render each frame. (Using WayEarth scene it updates the display about every 2-3 seconds with the next frame).  It’ll start blank then show the completed render and then the next completed render.

When rendering with Render Display “None” (if you are saving the 24bit .iff’s instead) you’ll get the “LW Render Status” screen displayed.  The “LW Render Feedback” is still opened but displays are black/blank.  I tend to always render to “CyberGFX” so I can visually check to see where I am in the rendering process.

Important, make sure to save your ModePro settings so you will not have to enter them again.   Have fun!!

I save as 24bit-iff then transfer them over to my Windows PC where I convert them to .png (using Xnview) and assemble them in VirtualDub as an animation.

Animation with audio added, rendered in Lightwave 3d 5.2 on my Amithlon

As converted to an animated .gif, animation itself was rendered as Hi-res (x2) and completed in about 30 minutes.