Top Rated LightWave 3D Alternatives
Ease of use. User-friendly interface. Ability to surface and add textures to models. I prefer a third-party renderer, however. Kray Rendering is my favorite and Lightwave has a plugin for it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Price. It's very expensive, especially for beginners, however, there's a 30-day free full feature trial. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
28 out of 29 Total Reviews for LightWave 3D
features which help us enhance the video and image. It is an excellent software to help you add effects and edit your image. very useful and advanced in today's time Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
nothing specific, it can add similar featured like photoshop to make it more better which will be an added advantage otherwise it's a good version. I prefer this over other software Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Lightwave 3D have a very nice modelling workflow, fast rendering with good results, not required huge hardware and work good with not recently pc too. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Model and scene editor (called layout) are 2 different software, animation and modelling tools not are update to the new "technology" like mesh fusion of Luxology Modo. Lightwave not is supported and is out of production. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Lightwave was very easy to learn and use Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I disliked the help option it offered. It was quite difficult to resolve a issue when I got stuck. Since I was new to this application, it took me a while to get used to it. Once I got the hang of it, it became a breeze. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Very flexible and easy to use. I would recommend Lightwave 3D as an entry level 3d modeling software to everyone who wants to learn 3D modeling. Another very good feature LW has is the separate platform for rendering and animation. Instead of running the entire scene in one window you can work on a different program (LW Modeler) and then dropping the model into the rendering and animation editor (LW Layout), that makes the whole scene editing process more clean and easy to work. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Limited 3rd party rendering software support. Unfortunately, when comes to 3D render Lightwave is not supported by major 3d rendering software such as Vray, even lack the file type support of standalone 3d rendering software like Keyshot. As a result most of the time you will have to convert your model into a different format in order to use any of those software, that might double up or just increase the job of assigning materials, etc.
The Modeler despite is a very powerful tool (this is LW3D modeling platform) was abandoned for a while from the developers I would say, you could only get A-class modeling plugins by using addons (most of the time not free). Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I love LW's surfacing capabilities - nodal editor, more-than-adequate out of the box renderer, modeling capacity, greatly expanded by active community. I actually like that modeler is separate from scene editor (Layout) - while you render your scene out, you can work on modeling :) Customization options are total - you can make this software look as you want it to. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Probably the dreaded undo funtionality, which is very limited. Also we all could use some built in decent particle solver. Lightwave's a bit of an underdog, so you won't be getting mainstream things like VRay (but Octane's there). Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Lightwave features a progressive rendering preview and although rendertimes can get quite high, the native renderer easily produces great images. The node-based shading gives a lot of flexibility.
While Lightwave lacks any parametric modeling approach, this drawback is the same time it's biggest plus. Once you get the hang of it, you can model really fast (especially in conjunction with LWCAD - 3rd party Plugin).
Since Rob Powers is in charge, Lightwave communicates way better with other content-creation tools. Direct links to Unity, ZBrush, etc.
Overall it is a great Allround-3D-package with very good pricing. Especially considering the upgrade policy. No cloud or msa stuff need. You can always upgrade an older version to the current one. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Lightwave is a bit dated and it's natural seperation of Modeling & Layout is a big drawback in current workflows. It should be mentioned, that Newtek is totally aware of this drawback and working hard on a unifed mesh system.
There is lot's of legacy stuff packed in, which results in a steep learning curve for beginners. But once you get the hang of it, common 3D stuff is very fast to produce. But don't try your hands on Hollywood FX with this software. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
It's ease of creating and setting up scenes. The work flow is really great as it allows a lot of flexibility in adopting different types of methods. Lightwave is really good for getting work done faster, specially for visualization and static scenes/products. The material & shaders are pretty easy to use. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
The rigging and animation can surely be improved to perform more effectively. I face a lot of issues when rigging characters, as it requires a lot of trials and errors to get something decently working. Compared to Lightwave, Maya has much more flexible & easier workflow for rigging. The particle & simulation system can be improved to have much for ease while creating effects. Integration with software like Substance painter, Substance designer would be really helpful. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I love Lightwave since the 5.0 version because is simple and easy to learn. With a few lessons you can get some results and also you don't need an Hi-End computer to work with,
But also, after 10-15 years of using it, you'll get surprised from some features, such as render quality with his own render engine or easy rig and IK system. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Maybe some marketing and support for every new feature. Newtek just publish some videos for new features, but there are not good support and documentation. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I like that lightwave is continually seeking to improve the software and consistently updating it. Including the tool-sets and some of the features. I like their aggressive attitude to build on the software and stay competitive. I like hte new features that newtek comes out with on every update. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I think with most of the features they are behind maya and 3ds, so I feel like using lightwave I am at a bit of a disadvantage on most things as a 3d modeler. The training available on the newtek website is pretty confusing and often not real helpful. I feel like the node system and shaders are really confusing as well. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
