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Lightwave LOD

by Michael Cozzolino · in Artist Corner · 07/29/2015 (11:59 am) · 5 replies

Hey guys. I'm using Lightwave 2015 (Trial) only 2 days left and I'm evaluating if this will be my modeling program of choice for Torque and Unity. So far so good. My question is I have no idea how you set up LOD for say a character in LW to get exported to Collada. I actually have been using this workflow: LW Genoma Rig --> Bake IK --> Export FBX --> Bring in the FBX (Fix any anomalies) --> Export to Collada.

I have no idea how to add LOD. Do I add them to different Layers in LW? All one Layer with Tags? ie. Like "bounds" is used?

Thanks for any help. I'm hoping to pull the trigger on LW and hope I can help others with the knowledge I have learned thus far, particularly helping anyone with the little steps to get Genoma rigs to export without funkyness.
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Torque Owner DreamPharaoh
Gods and Nemesis
#1
07/29/2015 (1:32 pm)
I use Blender but I would imagine it is similar in Lightwave. You need to add tags like the bounds named detail128 and detail64. Add 128 to your main model's name and add 64 to the name of the lower mesh version. This will tell the exporter what to do for the layers of detail you need. BTW the 128 and 64 can be changed to anything as long as it is dividable by 32 and you can have more LOD models if desired.

Torque 3D Owner Michael Cozzolino
Big Monk Games
#2
07/29/2015 (5:15 pm)
Thanks! I will try it asap. I should be able to see if they exported when I enter the shape editor in Torque correct?

Torque Owner Caleb
Default Studio Name
#3
07/29/2015 (8:24 pm)
You can always use Torque's shape editor to manually add LODs as well. I'm not sure about Unity though. Let us know how you like the newer lightwave. I'm still using 9.

Torque Owner DreamPharaoh
Gods and Nemesis
#4
07/29/2015 (8:31 pm)
@Michael: That is correct, as you move the camera away you will see that the LOD will change visually and numerically on the GUI system.

Torque 3D Owner Michael Cozzolino
Big Monk Games
#5
08/03/2015 (10:38 am)
Just wanted to update you guys on this. I didn't get the LOD to work straight on export but with the Shape Editor I was able to get it how I wanted. I just exported all detail levels from one Scene to Collada and then edited the LOD with the Shape Editor. Gif below to show. I made it really obvious so I knew it was working.

i.giphy.com/xTiTnoLvRSeaJN2p7a.gif