date: 12:19pm, 13.02.2004 (gmt+12).

one of the things i find most amazing (and intimidating) about sidefx's houdini, is it's nodal structure for just about everything it does. it's an extremely powerful way to control everything from animation to texturing. unfortunately it doesn't lend itself to user-friendliness too well, but i guess you have to draw the line somewhere.

while lightwave will never be that kind of 3d tool, some very crafty developers are bringing elements of the nodal workflow into lightwave by way of plugins with great success.

meet sabre. created by a man by the name of psycho-graph, this node-based shader system has been making a few small ripples around the lightwave scene, and for good reason. i suggest you have a look, but be aware that his site is in japanese (and currently empty) so you'll have to dig a little to find the goods.

oh, and its completely free. thats always a plus.

 

also of note is a program by the name of genetica by spiral graphics. while not strictly a plugin for lightwave, it is certainly worth mentioning. genetica is a nodal-based texture generator, and quite a powerful one at that.

“All elements of a texture can be edited and rearranged in any order you want, leading to a significant increase in productivity. No change to a texture is permanent, eliminating costly mistakes...”

there's a demo available so grab it and have a play.

 

- adrian