Lightwave a good choice for Torque?

#1 I love Lightwave. David's exporter is so far awesome. Much easier it SEEMS than the Max and Blender exporters.. but I won't know for sure because i haven't had first had experience with them.
imho Lightwave is a very good choice for you but get some more opinions before jumping in.

#2 LIGHTWAVE, GOOD.

#3 The exporter works with lw9, it doesnt work with some of the older versions (which shouldnt be a problem for you).

Here's a tutorial for character rigging in lightwave.
www.drewfx.com/Torque/tutorials/PlayerSetup.zip

And some videos (xvid codec):

www.drewfx.com/Torque/tutorials/LW_Tut_XVid_UnwrapUsingEndomorphs.avi
www.drewfx.com/Torque/tutorials/Modeller_Skelegon1_XVid.avi
www.drewfx.com/Torque/tutorials/Modeller_Skelegon2_XVid.avi
www.drewfx.com/Torque/tutorials/Modeller_Skelegon3_XVid.avi

#4 I've been using Lightwave recently to create Torque models for TGE and am pleased with the results. I'm quite familiar with Lightwave so it was my first choice for creating Torque art. I can confirm:
1) The LW2DTS exporter is very stable on Mac OSX Dual G5 running Lightwave v9.
2) The LW2DTS exporter does indeed work with LW version 9 (I haven't tried the 9.2 Beta yet).
3) Are the any limitations of the LW exporter that I should be aware of? The Torque engine doesn't support all of Lightwave's features, so it's subject to similar limitations as the other Torque-capable packages. I haven't used the other DTS exporters and can't offer an objective comparison between them but would like to add:
- "Tri stripping" is not supported as Lightwave doesn't use it. Morph maps aren't supported as they aren't part of the standard TGE 1.5 animation implementation.
- I have exported player and object meshes, UVs, materials with transparencies, LoDs and character animations successfully.
- I have successfully exported animations using an IK character rig with weight maps.

For me using Lightwave for Torque art was a far smaller gap to jump than learning another package, it offers me the flexibility and tools that I use often in my other lines of work, and I haven't yet identified anything that has significantly limited what I can make using the LW2DTS exporter. In addition:
- It took me a few weeks to figure out Torque model caveats. When learning the basics a few months ago my observation was that there is slightly fewer up-to-date Torque resources available for users of Lightwave compared to Max.
- Exchanging models between packages can deliver variable results. If you are planning to do any work that requires a lot of collaboration or plan to sell your source files, it could be argued that using whatever is the most widely used package will maximise compatibility.
- Check out the Newtek site for further info on the Lightwave modelling and character animation tools. They are very flexible but I've found them to be quite difficult to use at times, especially IK rigging.
- Lightwave has a very strong support culture and user community. My impression is that of a mature product, with a well established customer base.
- Price vs features for an all-purpose animation package - very good indeed.

Everyone will have their favourite tools. I hope this thread doesn't turn into a flame-fest.

#5 Timothy,

I used LightWave to Create all of the 3d content for two large content packs. You can check them out at the links below.

Dave's exporter is excellent, and once I learned how to use it, my work flow from concept to in-game asset was very fast and smooth.

I have not tried the Maya or Max exporters so I can't comment on them.

Links

www.garagegames.com/pg/product/view.php?id=104
www.garagegames.com/pg/product/view.php?id=82

#6 This may also be of interest:

http://tdn.garagegames.com/wiki/DTS/FeatureChart

#7 I know it's a very old thread, but does someone probably still have the character rigging tutorial for lightwave? The one from the link above always ends up with a corrupted zip.
So does anybody probably still have PlayerSetup.zip?

#8 @Andy: I made a upload to my webspace.
www.darkware.de/LW2DTS_Tut.zip

By the way: I got the newest LW2DTS-Exporter from David Wyand (beta test). The exporter works with Lightwave 9.6 (32bit) very well.

#9 Thomas, thanks a lot ;-)!

#10 thomas, the newest LW2DTS exporter, is it the one from the gnometech website from 06-07-04? Or is there a newer one? If so, where can I get it?

#11 The exporter is newer than 06-07-04 but not downloadable. David Wyand will release the exporter when he is ready.

The created DTS-files are also working with T3D. In the future, the exporter will also support the newest DTS-Version (DTS26).

#12 ok, thanks a lot for the info and quick help.

#13 Can use the dae2dts.exe ( Collada to DTS ) as well. It's downloaded from your Products page, under Torque 3D.
This works very well, I've used it a number of times without issues.

#14 Thanks for the info Scott. I still hope Wyand releases a new lw2dts. I've got 9.6 adn LW10 and I haven't tried the current exporter with LW10 but, I will. It should work - not much has changed in that regard.

#15 Hello,

There is an idea for the availability of the new version of the exporter?

Otherwise it's also possible to go through Ultimate Unwrap 3D:

www.unwrap3d.com/u3d/index.aspx

It helped me out more than once for the correction and conversion.

#16 Thomas,
Is there a time frame of when the new exporter will be released? Thanks!
Glen

#17 Unfortunately, David Wyand said nothing about that.

#18 Hmmm interesting but i new about unwraps exporting skills....Better to run with cinema 4d ....as unwrap can import and export it.....so exporting to dts through unwrap looks easy. Pity fbx is not supported in plain old torque 3d :(

#19 @ Thomas Bang

Is the new LW2DTS Exporter by David going to be 64-Bit compatible? Thanks.

Glen

#20 hope so