*******************************************************************************************************
*  This is a list of Lightwave tips and tricks from the www.cgtalk.com thread:
*  http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=47617
*
*  Compiled by: Donald McDade (fourd)
*
*
*  - I have not included the submitters name for ease of the copy+paste and is it really necessary?! :)
*  - Also, anything not specific to LW is ommited.
*******************************************************************************************************

*

The most recient is the EPS_Exporter. I've known about the importer for ages, but I have either never noticed the exporter, or just never
realised it's potential and mentally skipped over it.

Damn this thing is useful  , all this time I've been using the "ALT_Print Screen function to take screen grabs to for the base for texture
painting and then crop off the waste in Photoshop, and if I ever wanted a really big texture I would scale the screen grab up and all the lines
would get really blurry.
But damn, this EPS_Exporter is scale independant (no more fuzzy lines), and you can either select one window or the entire screen to export.

*

F11 renders not just a single selected object but multiple selections too.

*

Lw renders used with image world and backdrop radiosity at low sampling cause virtually no grain instead of photos or HDRI, saves one hell of a
lot of render time.

*

Point snap!  - shift+G

*

lock the keys on a gradient so that their values and paramters are locked in place.
You do that by right clicking on the little arrow on the left side of the key on the gradient ramp.

*

If LW's not doing what u expect it to do, you're probably doing it wrong. :)

*

if u make a bezier line(s) with 3 control points and want the transition from one line to the other to be smooth, hold Ctrl while u move the
handles of the middle control point.

*

click on the RBG values in the Surface Editor and manually drag them around to adjust them.

*

Try right clicking on the RGB values first. HSB! yay!

*

you can assign a Numpad hotkey to different Viewport presets (i.e. Perspective with Wireframe, Wireframe Shaded, Smooth Shaded, etc). This is
specially helpful for me when I'm working in the Perspective Viewport, and I need to switch between Wireframe/Wireframe Shaded/Smooth Shaded
quickly. I don't have to go to the dropdown and change the modes.

For those interested, here's the procedure:
1. roll mouse cursor over viewport+presets of choice
(i.e. Perspective viewport + Wireframe)
2. hold CNTRL + NumPad#
(i.e. CNTRL + 7)
3. 7 on the NumPad is now your hotkey!!

with the numeric pad "0"key being the viewport full-screen mode toggle. That makes 9 other different customizable views at your
disposal--great, right?


Wrong! you even have more view options, baby! Up to 36 unique viewport flavors. Just remember to use these commands:

shift+F1 (back/front)
shift+F2 (top/bottom)
shift+F3 (right/left)
shift+F4 (perspective/uv)

The great thing about these additional hot keys, is that it will take your customized viewport setups(guides, normals, grids, cages, textures,
wireframes, etc.), and throw them into these view orientations. you have a lot of view options immediately at your fingertips. give it a try.
( http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=47058 )

*

holding ctrl and shift and hitting different mouse buttons call up all your menu items like MAYA's hotbox.

*

single-quote swaps BG and FG layers.

*

to turn on motion blur and DOF preview in OpenGL - Shift+F9

*

you can view multiple weight maps at the same time. This is great when weighting up a mesh as each map is displayed in a different colour. This
is done by shift selecting the listed weight maps in the Vertex Map Window (Ctrl + F6)

*

To switch layers in Modeler press a the number (not NumPad) that corresponds to the layer that you want. Holding down the Shift key will allow
you to select more than one.

Also holding down the Alt key and doing the same selects the background layer.

*

Before your do a Bool or Drill on a complex model, select the FG faces that you intend to cut and it will speed up the process. This way
Modeler knows only to work with the selected geometry instead of having to make calculations for the entire model.

*

The Mirror Tool has rotate handles. Use the numeric panel

*

in Modeler, by using the middle mouse button (or hold down CTRL + LMB), you can move/drag things while constrained to one direction in the
Perpective window!

*

Hold your mousepointer over the area you want to focus on, then hit the "g" key.

*

ctrl-alt-left mouse button. Zooms in and out (very Maya like)

*

To deselect just hit the / key.

*

Ctl + E gives you a magnifying glass, you can focus on one are for increasing zoom and the spot you click in stays in the center.

*

If your sick of having to open some master scripts the long way and just wan'ted a gineric script on the menu bar to open you'r master script
or a shortcut key to you master script, use this temple.
Where you see the words (put name here), type the name of the master script exactly as it is shown in the masterscript panel, save with the
extention .ls and load it into layout.
Thats it.

Here.

@version 2.5.1
@script generic
@name Put name here

generic
{
commanderActive = false;
curScene = Scene();
applied = curScene.server("MasterHandler");

if(applied)
{
counter = size(applied);

for(x = 1; x <= counter; x++)
{
if(applied[x] == "Put name here")
{
commanderActive = true;
break;
}
}
}

if(!commanderActive)
ApplyServer("MasterHandler", "Put name here");
openServer = string("EditServer MasterHandler ",x);
CommandInput(openServer);
}

*

How to line up points so that they share the same axis instead of going into the "info" panel?
Select the points, choose the scale tool, hold down Ctrl key, point and click the mouse over the axis where you want the points to align, then
drag. Easy.

*

Or, if you know where you the points to be, select the points and then Set Value (CTRL+V). Nice to rest things on the floor, for example, or
align to X=1m.

*

vertex paint is realy great! i've learned recently really cool things

-for more easy painting in subpatched models (that in non subpatch mode are messed up) you can make a new morph of your object and apply it
smooth (shift M) with strengh 1 and iteration 10 (thats gives you a smoother version of your model)then change to that morph when working in
vertexpaint

-you can even make new morph in vertex paint - just rotate your bones as you like and then choose new from the morph list - its like save
endomorph in layout but more fast and can be used for tweak or pose your model or even for making joint morphs

-it is really good to know the shortcuts (like 'c' for copy and 'V' for paste -x ) - check the shortcut list

*

you can animate a gradient by using a control null for it.

*

Are you running Windows 2000 or Windows XP?

Hit Ctrl+Alt+Del to bring up the Task Manager (Click Task Manager for WinXP). Then click the Processes tab. Scroll down to Lightwav.exe. Right
click on it and Set its Priority to BelowNormal or Low (BelowNormal seems to work great, Low will work better for slower CPUs). You should now
have a system you can actually use with pretty snappy response time.

Render goes a bit slower when your working* but at least your not staring at a nearly unusable box.

* What's great is that if you are not touching your system (step away for coffee break?), your render will go just as fast as if you never
changed the Priority setting.

*

you have to un-weld your model and THEN manipulate the uv's on a uv map then weld them back...

*

holding down ALT and clicking on the time line in layout lets your shuttle the timeline space

*

I had been using Noisy Channel to get some randomness to my camera movements, but I wanted the noise to fade out over time. I found if instead
of Noisy Channel, use Texture Channel and set the texture's Opacity to fade over time with an envelope.

Gives a better "randomness," too.

*

I'm sure you know the "a" key will center & zoom your view to fit everything in the layer(s), but hitting Shift-A will center and zoom up to
only your selected data in the layer(s).

*

When adding points or polygons to a selection the middle mouse button works exactly as shift + left mouse button.

*

Using "band saw" or "band saw pro" use the "auto" way to select or cut on the direction of two consecutive selected polys.

*

To limit the bandsaw... select a row of polys to cut and flip the normal before applying band saw. Every cut poly are selected so only hit f
again to flip them back.

*

to go to a specific frame in layout, hit the f key, a dialog box pops up where you enter the frame number you want to go to.

*