April 08, 2008

LightWave Rendition adds new 3D power to Photoshop

I'm pleased to see that NewTek, the folks behind the LightWave 3D modeling, animation, and rendering package, have announced a new product, LightWave Rendition for Photoshop.  This plug-in technology builds on the 3D file format support in Photoshop CS3 Extended, adding on high-quality rendering and lighting manipulation.  In this screenshot they show an image as displayed by Photoshop's built-in renderer, then hit with the LightWave renderer & touched up in Photoshop.  Here's a second example.

According to their marketing docs, LightWave Rendition for Photoshop includes:

  • Slider Controls for Render and Anti-Alias Quality: Allows for quick preview renders up to photo-quality images.
  • Material Preset: You have the option to apply preset or selected Photoshop materials to the surface of your 3D object for complete flexibility in design.
  • Light Environment: Use the default Photoshop Extended lighting environment or add the power of LightWave Rendition for Adobe Photoshop by using any 2D layer as a light map for complete control of the final light environment.


Because the product is in beta form, you can buy it now for $99, discounted from the normal price of $149. The discount ends when the beta does.

For more cool 3D add-ons to Photoshop, see previous announcements from Strata & Daz3D.

Posted by John Nack at 12:06 AM on April 08, 2008

Comments

Scott Valentine — 12:58 PM on April 08, 2008

sweet! One more tool in the arsenal. Anything that lessens the gap between 2D and 3D from a creative standpoint is very worthwhile.

Daniel Schmidt — 05:54 PM on April 08, 2008

The new plug-in GhostPainter 2.5 ( http://www.ghostpainter.de ) that now connects Photoshop CS3 to 3ds Max also has just been released. There is a video too : http://tinyurl.com/6pol5f

Interesting times ahead with all the 2D/3D integration on all fronts.

alex — 04:09 PM on April 15, 2008

off topic (freehand etc, you quite understandibly closed it)

thanks john, it’s been a sad but necessary ride and you are one courageous dude. i hope we will all benefit.

best, alex

[Thanks, Alex. --J.]

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