Pixomondo Relies on LightWave™ to Bring Dinosaurs to Life in "Terra Nova"

NewTek LightWave Delivers Final Pixels Onscreen in Hundreds of VFX Shots for Spielberg's "Terra Nova"

SAN ANTONIO, TX â€”The two-hour premiere of Steven Spielbergâ€™s highly anticipated "Terra Nova" television series, which aired Monday September 26, 2011 on Fox Television, brings visually astounding science-fiction to prime time television once againâ€”and NewTek LightWaveâ„¢ software played a key role in the delivery.

In "Terra Nova," which takes place in the year 2149, scientists discover a rift in time and space that allows humans to time travel some 85 million years into the past, in an attempt to save humanity. But bringing 85 million years of history to life, in a believable world for broadcast, requires powerful vision, artistry, and computer graphics software. To make the vision a reality, the team at Burbank-based Pixomondo, which produced all the visual effects for the premiere episode of "Terra Nova," turned to LightWave to create a large number of visual effects shots and renders for the first episode.

"We found LightWave 10.1 invaluable for our custom pipeline that was developed for the â€˜Terra Novaâ€™ two-hour premiere," explains Pixomondo Supervisor, Eric Hance. "We used LightWave in nearly 200 shots, including all of the dinosaur creature renders, many of the environments, and several of the futuristic earth cityscapes. NewTek was responsive to our needs, and we look forward to working closely with them as we move into the series."

As "Terra Nova" continues to move through the space/time continuum in our living rooms, Pixomondo will continue to rely on LightWave in its pipeline to deliver impressive visual effects.

About LightWave 10.1 Software

LightWave 10.1 enhances creativity with new stereoscopic features that provide access to all major stereo camera rigs, and the ability to dynamically correct for toe-in distortion in the animation pipeline. Additional stereo enhancements include: interactive OpenGL off-axis adjustment of the right and left camera planes, click-and-drag convergence point adjustment in the viewport, and the ability to disable the anaglyph representation of the stereo camera in OpenGL. Also in LightWave 10.1, interocular and convergence points can be dynamically animated over time to track stereo changes within a shot.

The LightWave VPR allows artists to directly interact and easily adjust lights, textures, volumetrics and more, within the viewport. Artists can also use the VPR to view updates, quickly deliver realistic, environmental walkthroughs, and perform virtual location scouts. LightWave 10.1 extends the functionality of the VPR with the support of clip maps in the VPR render, the addition of object and distance dissolve, and improved nodal shaders like the new Skin material node that works with the VPR. The Skin Shader node uses a proprietary model for subsurface scattering for an easier method of replicating realistic skin textures.

In addition, LightWave 10.1, with integrated Autodesk Geometry Cache Support gives artists the ability to include or exclude models, morphs, animations, cameras and lights, upon export. Other workflow features in LightWave 10.1 offer the ability to import joints as LightWave bones for greater compatibility with other programs; multi-threaded mesh evaluation optimization and sub-d mesh freezing acceleration; linear color space workflow improvements, including new support for .ICC/.ICM monitor profiles, and more.

Try LightWave free for 30 days at http://www.newtek.com/lightwave/lwtrial.php. Â

Pricing and Availability
LightWave 10.1 is now available. Upgrade pricing from any previous version of LightWave to LightWave 10.1 is US$695, and a full license is US$1,495. Educational pricing is also available. For more information, please visit www.newtek.com or call NewTek Sales at 800-368-5441. International callers dial +1-210-370-8000.Â

About LightWave
NewTek LightWave 3DÂ® combines a state-of-the-art renderer with powerful, intuitive modeling and animation tools. LightWave 10 is designed to support the creative process, providing the artist with the ability to interact in real time with 3D content, to work seamlessly with the full range of software applications in production pipelines and to render on unlimited render nodes. LightWave is enjoyed worldwide, as a complete 3D production solution for visual effects in film, television, broadcast graphics, print, games, visualization, and the Web, and is responsible for more artists winning EmmyÂ® Awards than any other 3D application.Â

About NewTek
Benefiting producers and artists with cost-effective and groundbreaking technologies, NewTek is a worldwide leader in 3D animation and special effects tools, portable live production and video editing including LightWave 3DÂ®, the TriCasterâ„¢ product line and 3Playâ„¢. NewTek has won numerous industry accolades, including two EmmyÂ® Awards. NewTek products have been used in feature films and television shows, including "Avatar," "TinTin," "Repo Men," "V," "Fringe," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "The Fairly OddParents" and more.

NewTek is privately owned and based in San Antonio.

For more information, please visit: www.newtek.com.

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LightWave 3D is a registered trademark of NewTek.
LightWave, FiberFX, HyperVoxels, TriCaster and 3Play are trademarks of NewTek.
All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders

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