Category Archives: News

Recovering From Hack

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Image by pixelcreatures

DigiSprawl, along with another blog I maintain, were hacked and out of commission for a couple of days. As far as such things go the event was a not a sinister attack, but more of a tagging. No malicious software or code was installed (other than changing the site’s homepage), but the fact that the hack happened, and that it went unnoticed by me for so long, is a wake-up call.

While removing and repairing all affected files, I identified and eliminated several potential vulnerabilities, but I confess, this is not an area I have strong knowledge of. I’m not a web security or engineering expert. Luckily I don’t have to be. We don’t keep, or have access to any sensitive data. Our subscription services are handled by WordPress and Google Feedburner, both companies I do trust in terms of security.

YURdigital Closing Down

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ClosingBanner

Yet another brokerage is closing its doors. I have to admit, with how out of the loop I’ve been for the last several months, I wasn’t aware this was going on til just now. YURdigital close their doors on the 31st of this month, and aren’t taking orders after the 28th, so there is still some time to get in and grab anything you’ve had an eye on, download, and backup your content.

YURdigital has been around for seven years, which is pretty impressive, and it’s sad to see them shutting down. I wish the YURdigital team best luck in their future projects.

DigiSprawl deviantArt DAZ Studio/Poser group

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DigiSprawl DeviantArt banner. Rendered in Iray and modeled in Lightwave.
Another quick post today to let everyone know there is now a DigiSprawl deviantArt group. It is open to artists of all levels and genres, and is primarily directed at DAZ Studio, Poser, Carrara, and Bryce users. It has been up for a little over two weeks and is continuing to grown. There are regular submissions, and I’m on there at least once a day to accept new submissions and comment.

Check out our gallery and join up. If you have no idea what deviantArt is then you’ve been missing out. It is a pretty lively arts community (all genres and mediums). It is home to a couple of large DAZ/Poser focused groups, though some others have come and gone. I’m hoping to make DigiSprawl into one of the most active and vibrant community groups.

I’m new to running groups, so any feedback and suggestions are always welcome.

LightWave Goes PBR With 2016

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lightwave voulmetric logoLightWave is my go-to modeler. Since taking up studies I’ve acquired a number of student licenses for various programs, but I keep coming back to LW. This is at least equal parts, “easier to do in LightWave”, and “creature of habit”. Be this as it may, I’ve been thinking that a move to MODO (sometimes known as new LightWave) is inevitable.

While LW 10 and 11 have both been positive releases, the core program infrastructure is ancient and there are lots of modelling tools I’d love to see added. MODO has many of the modelling features I want, with an interface easy for LW users to adapt to. Adding to this there seems to be a long culture of impending doom on the LW forum, and indeed, there is a good deal of anecdotal evidence suggesting that some LWers have jumped ship.For this reason I’ve been on the fence about upgrading to 2015, but recent teasers from the LightWave3D Group are giving pause (and a whole big pile of speculation).

lightwave 2016 volumetric effect

Physically Based Rendering, Unified Geometry Engine And More

It seems big things are happening with LightWave 2016. A recent post on the LW forum by Rob Powers (President of the LightWave Group), showed off some very pretty physically based volumetric renders, with the promise that more news and a blog would be fourth coming. Since then we have seen an initial blog post with hints at something referred to as the “unified geometry engine”, which will be implemented in the next version of Layout (LW’s animation and rendering component).

Just what this new geometry engine does has not yet been revealed, but it could be a step in the direction of unifying Modeler and Layout (pretty high on the LWer wish list), or bringing new modelling tools to layout. Of course, it could be something else entirely. Rob indicates that there are more new features for 2016 yet to be announced.

A native LightWave PBR render engine is very cool, and given LW’s positioning as a budget generalist program, with a historical popularity with indie and lower budget studios and productions, this makes good business sense. While biased renderers have remained king (LW packing one of the best natively incorporated engines), PBR engines are set to take over. With LW’s included 999 free render nodes, this could well entice some studios to adopt or move back to the program.

LightWave New PBR Three volumes

A post in the previously mentioned thread on the LightWave forums (by an individual presumably in the know) suggests that the new physically based engine is pure CPU. This seems strange when PBR seems to be moving to GPGPU with CUDA and OpenCL, but apparently this new engine is fast as it is. I suspect GPU options are still on the table for future iterations.

So, sounds good so far, but I’m more interested to see what, if any, modeller enhancements are coming. In the mean time I have to decide to update to 2015 and save on 2016, or if it’s better to wait and see. For me, a new render engine, given the wide variety of choice out there, just isn’t enough. Updated GPU dynamics would be welcome, but for me, it is all about modelling tools.

Discount on upgrades and crossgrades

Right now you can crossgrade to LightWave 2015 from everything from Adobe Photoshop to Maya for $695. Those with existing LW licenses can upgrade for $395. Given that upgrading to LW 2016 from versions prior to 2015 will cost $795 there is a saving to be had by upgrading now (offer ends 15th October).