LightWave / TVPaint / ImageFX on Sam440 videos

[Ral-Clan]

I would love to know how to get the Lightwave Layout app to work in a higher screenmode than the default under UAE.  It works fine under UAE, but only at the "regular" resolution which is something like 652x456 (close to that - I'm just making those number up from memory).  Lightwave has options for an 800x600 and another high resolution screen in its preferences, but those just blow up the screen and make portions of it run off the edges.  I don't even understand why they are included or how to use them properly.

[Ral-Clan]

Maybe you can use a screen promoter like the one included in OS4.
Check http://aminet.net/package/util/cdity/NewMode_V39

Thanks.  NewMode did promote the Layout interface very well into any RTG screenmode I wanted.  I was using Lightwave Layout at 1024x768 UAE RTG mode. However, as you noted, the preview did not display.  Also, trying to render did not work (GURU).  I could only render to a file, not to screen.  What render mode did you use on your SAM?

[Ral-Clan]

PicassoII.
The screen which opens at this time (while rendering) is smaller than the current screen resolution. I suspect this is a 640x480 resolution.

How can you get it to render on a Picasso II screen when you don't actually have a physical Picasso II card installed in your SAM440?  I am trying this on UAE with Picasso96 RTG software installed and all I get is a black screen.

[Ral-Clan]

@klx300r

Sorry, I don't have a PM from you :-/ But I just sent you one with the reply.

@ral-clan

Let me explain better. In order to do the speed test Crom00 asked me, I didn't need to display the image on screen so I selected Picasso2. Like this the display is garbled when the image is displayed, but the IFF image which is saved on disk is perfect.

Now I tried to select these render settings:
- HAM6 and HAM8 works nicely. Both are displayed correctly thanks to the native modes of OS4 (they are called FakeNative modes).
- CyberGFX, it doesn't work as LW says "CyberGFX-preferences not found".

Ah yes, thanks.  I experience the same thing under UAE.  The Picasso II mode render from Lightwave is visible when promoted to a UAE RTG graphics screen, but it is badly garbled.  

Ham-8 and Ham-6 modes work nicely.

Using NewMode (a screen promoter) I can start the Layout tool in any high-res RTG modes (like 1024x768 UAE RTG) and it is fully useable (except for Preview animations), but I must make sure to tell NewMode to NOT promote the native Amiga screens generated while rendering.

After the RENDER button is pressed in Lightwave, the program opens three screens (a non visible 640x18 pixel one, a greyscale 640x480 pixel one which is the one you see when Lightwave is calculating antialiasing, and the final HAM-8 or HAM-6 screen which shows the fully rendered object in full colour).  I must tell NewMode to NOT PROMOTE these three render screens or the program will crash.  Fortunately, NewMode allows me to save these settings so in future everything occurs seamlessly.  In this way, you can use the Lightwave Layout tool under UAE or any RTG Amiga quite nicely.  The only sacrifice in promoting the Layout tool is the aforementioned loss of the preview animation (which will not be visible when Lightwave Layout is promoted to an RTG mode).  This is unfortunate as I find the preview animation mode quite useful

Seems like that's the best we can get until someone programs software to emulate a Picasso-II or Video Toaster card in UAE (since the Toaster design has been open-sourced this may actually happen one day).

[Ral-Clan]

Some news.  I have found that the Lightwave Plugin "Cybergraphix Renderer" or "CyberGFXRenderer" by Imaginative Systems will allow one to render Lightwave's output directly to a RTG screen!  I am able to render to various UAE RTG modes between 800x600 and higher!  So I guess all that's left is for someone to figure out how to get the animation preview to work with promoted screenmodes (RTG in particular) and Amiga Lightwave will be fully useable on modern Amiga systems, like UAE, SAM, or whatever else comes...

[Ral-Clan]

Is it free? Where I can find it?

I think it was a commercial product about ten years ago or more.  It's no longer being supported or commercially available.  There's damn little about it on the internet, too.  

So it's not free, but it's also not available commercially.  You have to find it from "other sources". ;-|

[Ral-Clan]

>So I guess all that's left is for someone to figure out how to get the animation preview to >work with promoted screenmodes (RTG in particular)

I think winuae is able to do this.
You can go to expansion Page in winuaepref on start winuae and choose a diffrent pixelmode and or activate 24 bit.

to do this change (24bit) to all or a Pixelmode.When done well also the screenmode requester offer you 24 bit modes.When you select all you get 2 Modes.

i dont have lightwave, maybe you can upload a screenshot how the animation preview look in picasso2 display.or tell me a program that i can test and have same problem when use picasso2 mode.

I tried what you suggested, but it doesn't help.  Animation wireframe preview mode does not offer you the choice of any screen modes.

Just so I am being completely clear, we have been talking about two different preview modes is this discussion threat.  There is full colour render mode, which renders your image on a custom screen (usually HAM) in full colour.  That problem has been solved with the CyberGrafx Renderer plug-in mentioned above.

The second problem comes with the Wireframe Animation Preview in Lightwave Layout: this gives you a simple, moving, wireframe view of your animation on the Native (642x768 NTSC) screen.  This animation is shown within a portion Lightwave Layout's user interface, not on it's own custom screen. It is a quick way of showing the user an animation in Lightwave without wasting time doing a full render.  This mode highly dependent on the native Amiga graphics chipset.  While you can successfully promote Lightwave Layout's user interface to an RTG screenmode when you generate a preview wireframe animation, the animation simply doesn't show up - although all the controls for the animation are still visible and you can click on them.

I hope that description helps.

@ Elwood: Hey, Elwood, in your YouTube video you said that you were running Lightwave on OS4 but couldn't see the preview.  Have you seen this patch for OS4?

http://aminet.net/package/gfx/3d/lightwave_rtg_patch

It claims to fix the preview issue (but only on OS4 - I wish the author could fix this for classic Amigas). It's not clear from the language the author uses whether he means the animation preview, or the render preview when he refers simply to "preview" in the description.  I suspect it is the latter.

If it's the former meaning, though, it seems to me that with this patch and the Cybergrafx Renderer plugin you'd have pretty much full functionality of Lightwave in RTG modes under OS4 (but unfortunately us classic users are still waiting for a preview patch).

[Ral-Clan]

>It's not clear from the language the author uses whether he means the animation >preview, or the render preview when he refers simply to "preview" in the description. I >suspect it is the latter.

What happen when you run the patched Version on classic ?
I dont believe that there is a special OS4 function need 68k not have, also when code 68k code in OS4 the new OS4 functions cant use.

Well, that patch actually does not modify the Lightwave Layout binary, it is a patch you run from CLI before you start up Lightwave Layout.  I did try it in OS "classic" (3.9) and it said something about a command error.

But I did think like you originally....if this patch can be made for OS4, why not classic systems?