Review : Lightwave 9.3 - New Features

Motion Blur

In adition to the Classic and Dither motion blur, there is also a new Photoreal Motion Blur mode. When this blur mode is selected the motion of objects, lights and the camera will appear within a single motion blur pass.

The quality of the streaks is determined by the antialiasing settings. Instead of rendering a new pass for each motion blur sample, Photoreal Motion Blur allows for multiple samples within each render pass. A new feature has been added to viewport menus to preview Motion Blur.

New Setting for Global Illumination Mode

All radiosity types have had an Interpolated mode added as an option. Interpolated only works with the primary rays (surfaces seen directly from the camera). It can use either Monte Carlo or Final Gather rays to generate a radiosity illumination value at the point hit. It generates a hemisphere of these rays, which are evenly distributed but randomized to some extent. The distance between the Interpolated samples is also controlled with the Minimum Evaluation Spacing and Tolerance.

The Directional Rays option defaults to on in existing and new scenes. When this option is enabled, the radiosity will include illumination from directional sources such as reflections, refractions, transparency and fog. When the option is disabled, the only illumination will come from non-directional sources such as diffuse.

 Cache Radiosity saves radiosity data for subsequent render passes and frames, which can significantly reduce rendering time. The results can be inaccurate if objects or lights are animated, but this option works particularly well with scenes like a walk-through in which only the camera moves.

Rendering Options : Ray Trace Occlusion

Allows you to enable occlusion when the ray recursion level is reached. If the ray is occluded, the background will not be seen by the ray. This should work for all reflection, refraction, transparency and dissolve rays regardless of their origin