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Modeler Tips
1. Holding the alt key down and selecting Save As will save all of the active layers as one Modeler object and preserve the layer order. This object will not load into Layout, so use it in Modeler to save as you go along.
2. Buy a visual dictionary.
3. If you use the right mouse button and lathe something, it will be performed immediately.
4. Hold the alt key and you can scroll the view port with the left mouse button.
5. If you hold the ctrl key and move an item, it will be constrained to one axis.
6. When using weld, the last point selected will be used as the control point. All points will be welded to that point and it's location.
7. When creating meshes you can pick a row of points, move them to the next location, press c, then v, then move the selected points to their original location. This puts a new set of points directly in front of the points, then counterclockwise select 3 or 4 points and press p. This method comes in handy when modeling faces and heads, especially the forehead and side of the face.
Layout Tips
1. The + key will add a light in light mode, a load object when in object mode, and a bone when in bone mode. Pressing the = key will add a child bone. The - key will remove a light or remove an object
2. To create a view with no perspective distortion, which is useful for creating photoshop image maps, move the camera way, way, way back, then zoom way, way, way in. You can also set the ambient light to zero, change the surface color to bright blue, or bright pink, and set luminosity to 100%, then render the image. When you export to photoshop you'll have a nice clean template to paint on.
3. In Layout, Object, Lights, and Camera bounding box colors can be changed by clicking on their icons in the scene panel.
4. When using IK in bones mode P brings up the bones panel, it's the fastest way to get there.
5. To make sure bones always work well memorize this; Place bone, Apply rest length, Rotate bone, Keyframe bone.
6. To set contsraints quickly, use shift left bracket to set the minimum (the lowest number, positive or negative), use shift right bracket to set the maximum (the highest number, positive or negative)
7. I learned traditional animation first, so I try to relate Lightwave to that, think of tension as velocity, continuity as bounce, and bias as anticipation.
You can contact Fred Townsend at ftown@earthlink.net