News importanti riguardo Lw 8,5 e 9.0
Da newtek forum :)
Dear LightWave Users,
SIGGRAPH was a very exciting show for LightWave and NewTek. As you may know, we introduced two new products at SIGGRAPH this year: LightWave 8.5, a free update for previous LightWave 8.x customers; and we previewed LightWave 9.0. We also lowered the MSRP of LightWave from $1595 to $795, taking LightWave back to it roots as the most powerful and affordable professional 3D application on the market.
The response we received from all of these announcements was, to put it bluntly, incredible! I can't tell you how the LightWave development team felt upon such a wonderful reception, not just the recognition for their very hard work, but also for the many changes that NewTek has put in place to make LightWave the most versatile and powerful 3D app on the planet. All of us at NewTek are gratified that you have given us your loyalty and attention. We know we have been given an awesome responsibility of shepherding LightWave into a new era, and, based upon your reactions; most of you think we are headed in the right direction. To simply say "thank you" just doesn't seem enough, but "thank you" it is.
I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know how things are going. We are just finishing the final beta testing for LightWave 8.5. In addition to new features such as Open GL shading in Layout, improved performance and precision in dynamics and particles and, of course, LightWave 64, included for free, we have continued in our quest to improve workflow and stomp out irritating bugs. We should have LightWave 8.5 ready to roll shortly after you read this.
For our Mac users, many of you have asked why some of the improvements in the Windows version are not also in the Mac version of LightWave, such as support of OpenGL 2.0 and 64-bit. Let's take each feature separately. In the case of the 64-bit port, LightWave needs to run in either a completely 64-bit or completely 32-bit environment, as most applications do. Apple has for the initial OS generations for Mac 64-bit processor systems implemented only core operations in 64-bit, leaving the graphic user interface in 32-bit space. Like most other applications, LightWave cannot work this way, for the reasons mentioned above. Once Apple implements a completely 64-bit version of the OS, then we can conclude our implementation.
OpenGL 2.0 support for the Mac requires updates to the graphics card drivers, and as Apple has yet to implement the OpenGL 2.0 specification, LightWave for the Mac will not be able to take advantage of those features. We sincerely regret this, but please rest assured that we communicate regularly with our contacts at Apple regarding these and all other issues that affect our development on the Mac platform. Our sense is that Apple is doing their best to properly prioritize and address such issues, and that they do take into account the feedback that they receive from customers as well as from developers.
Work has also progressed on LightWave 9.0, and we have several new additions to the development team that have really helped to round out our abilities. In fact, we just concluded a team meeting at our headquarters in San Antonio, and everyone on the team from all over the world came and worked side by side, with some meeting face-to-face for the first time. I have never seen a more excited group of engineers, all of them eager to work together to make LightWave shine. Each revision that this team creates gets LightWave that much closer to being the ultimate 3D app. Thats not to say we don't have a lot of work to do you, more than anyone, know that. But, rest assured, that work is being done by a very talented and driven group of people. Should you have any doubts about that, just look at the release schedule, and the quality of releases, that we have produced this year... and the year is not over yet.
Very soon, we will begin the beta cycle on LightWave 9.0 in earnest. We were able to release a "sneek peek" to our beta team just prior to SIGGRAPH, and that got many excited. They are all chomping at the bit to start putting LightWave 9.0 through its paces. The sum of the changes in version 9.0 constitute a profoundly new LightWave 3D. This was the reaction of some key users that we made acquainted with these developments, including Ron Thornton, who was our guest at a recent development team meeting in San Antonio.
The list of features that we revealed at SIGGRAPH is not exhaustive. There's even more very cool stuff we didnt show at SIGGRAPH that will be in LightWave 9.0. This revision will touch on virtually every aspect of LightWave and affect how every user works. It will change the way you use LightWave, making it simpler, more powerful, and faster. But it will still be the LightWave that you know and love, and won't take you very long to get up to speed. If you have seen any recent screen captures, you will see that we haven't changed that much of the user interface, though in all fairness, we are still working on workflow optimizations, and likely will be until the last possible moment.
We are also totally revamping the LightWave documentation and help system, and giving it a workflow-based approach, as opposed to the menu and control approach of previous releases. We think that this will help you to find answers more quickly, and make it easier for new LightWave users to get up to speed.
Last but not least, I want to remind you of our latest promotions: if you purchase a new license of LightWave from August 1, 2005 until the time we ship LightWave 9.0 (projected 4th quarter 2005), it will come bundled with a license of Vue 5 Infinite, the incredible landscape generation program from e-on software (retail value of $595) and will include a free upgrade to LightWave 9.0, all for the price of $795! PC and Mac LightWave users with v7.5 or earlier may also take advantage of a LightWave upgrade special for as low as $395, and will get Vue 5 Infinite bundled with the upgrade and receive a free upgrade to v9.0; LightWave [8] owners may also purchase an upgrade to v9.0 bundled with Vue 5 Infinite and receive their copy of Vue 5 today. As NewTek's CEO Jim Plant likes to say, "Those are the best deals in 3D!" And he's right.
Best regards,
Jay Roth
President, 3D Division
Insomma.. mi sembra che la volontà di sviluppare a dovere il nostro programma preferito ci sia tutta e che le notizie siano molto positive,
problemi mac a parte. spero sinceramente che Lw 9.0o costutuisca una vera svolta per Lightwave!! :yt: :yeah: :yt:
