3D Animation I

Let’s Get Started

Start Lightwave Layout
Select File > Clear Scene
Command N
This allows

The Interface

What you see
Tabs on top
Selectable items on left
Based on tab

The Interface

What you see
Every new scene starts with a light and

Let’s Look at Something

Make sure the Items tab is selected
On the

Let’s Look at Something

In the Objects directory, open the Animals folder

Looking Around

Different views
Displaying 3 dimensions on a 2D screen
Top, Bottom, Back,

Have a Look Around

Click on the View pop-up menu and choose

Looking Around

Changing your point of view
Selected item always center
Click on this

Looking Around

Changing your point of view
Dolly & Truck
Moves your view forward,

Looking Around

Changing your point of view
Rotate
Allows you to swing around the

Looking Around

Changing your point of view
Zoom
Allows you to zoom in

Have a Look Around

Click & hold on the Dolly button and

Have a Look Around

In the View pop-up menu choose Perspective
Keyboard shortcut

Have a Look Around

In the View pop-up menu choose Light
Keyboard shortcut

Have a Look Around

In the View pop-up menu choose Camera
Keyboard shortcut

Manipulating Objects

Use the Modify tab
Allows you to move, rotate, scale and

A Better View of Our Dino

Select the Modify tab
Select Rotate
Shortcut (y)
Click

Manipulating Objects

Numerics
Bottom left
Allows you to set specific settings to the type

Tweak the Settings

Using the Numerics, click on the <> button and

Timeline – Left Side

Timeline Slider
Drag this slider to the desired frame

Timeline – Left Side

Item Type
Allows you to choose the kind of

Timeline – Left Side

Current Item pop-up menu
Once you have chosen the

Timeline – Left Side

Item Properties
This allows you to change features of

Timeline – Right Side

Total frames in scene
This is how long the

Change the Scene Duration

Select inside the Scene Duration window and type

Timeline – Right Side

Auto Key
When checked, every time you change an

Timeline – Right Side

Create Key
Allows you to manually create a key

Let’s Make a Simple Animation

Make sure the Timeline slider is at

Let’s Make a Simple Animation

Move the slider to frame 300
While Move

Let’s Make a Simple Animation

Move the slider to frame 150
While Move

Timeline – Right Side

Navigation Controls
Allows you to move your slider to

Timeline – Right Side

Navigation Controls
Handy keyboard shortcuts
Go forward or backward 1

Zip to Your Key Frames

Use the navigation controls to go to

Timeline – Right Side

Preview pop-up menu
Allows you to make a preview

Make a Preview

Click on the Preview button and select Make Preview
1st

Play the Preview

Click the play button to play your preview
You can

Timeline – Right Side

Viewport playback
Plays the scene forward or backward
Playback speed

Rendering

Render tab
Render the current frame
F9
Render the scene
F10
Can render a selected range

Render a Frame

Using the timeline slider, select a frame you would

Rendering

Render Status Window
Shows you what Lightwave is doing when rendering your

Rendering

Render Frame
In its own window
Allows you to save the image if

Save a Frame

On the Render Window, select Save RGBA > LW_JPEG

Save Your Scene

Select File > Save Scene As…
Select the Scenes folder