Lightworks Artisan is the next generation product from Lightworks. Dave Forrester, Managing Director at Lightworks commented: “We realized that there are many companies operating on the Mac platform who would like to take advantage of our Lightworks Artisan technology within their own applications and so we responded to this.”  The availability of a Mac version of Artisan means more Mac end users will be able to tap this technology in many of their favorite graphics applications.

IMSI/Design has been an early adopter of this new technology within their popular Renditioner product. Bob Mayer, COO of IMSI/Design explained: “This Artisan Mac upgrade to our popular photorealistic rendering plugin for SketchUp has been both eagerly awaited and well received by our Macintosh users. With the release of version 2, we continue to see the Mac version drive up much higher percentages of Renditioner sales than the installed percentage base of Macs would otherwise indicate.”

For more information visit them online here. www.lightworkdesign.com

Early News

Lightworks – Lightworks, the leading developer of advanced 3D rendering solutions for software developers, will be participating at SIGGRAPH. This year they will be welcoming two customers into their booth and they both support the Mac CAD/3D market with innovative solutions.

IMSI/Design will be in Lightworks’ booth showing Renditioner, their implementation of Lightworks Artisan. Bob Mayer, Chief Operating Office of IMSI/Design said, “Siggraph 2011 is a fantastic venue for us to showcase the Lightworks rendering technologies found in our TurboCAD and Renditioner products. We are particularly excited about the new Artisan rendering technology now incorporated into Renditioner, as this brings a whole new level of, and power to, photorealistic rendering, lighting and materials application for our SketchUp plugin.” To learn more about IMSI go here.

Corel will also be in the Lightworks booth demonstrating their latest new CorelCAD, which links in Lightworks Artisan as well. CorelCAD is a brand new CAD product by the Canadian software giant and it is available on both the Mac and Windows, natively. It is based on the ARES platform.

A&A Co., Ltd, of Tokyo, the Japanese distributor of Vectorworks software, is offering emergency support and services for reconstruction efforts related to the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. As a part of the initiative, A&A announced an offer to contribute 150 free licenses of Vectorworks 2011 and FastTrack Schedule software programs to organizations involved in the reconstruction planning and projects. A&A will also provide free software training, which includes dispatching training staff where needed.

“We are sure that reconstruction projects will take a long time, and we do believe that our computer software will be a big help,” said Kazuko Uchida, CEO of A&A Co. Ltd. “We hope we will be able to assist in the reconstruction process for local people, even if it is a small amount of aid, with help from our staff and from our software users nationwide.”

Vectorworks 2011, developed by Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc, is a very popular CAD software package in Japan and it is localized by A&A for the Japanese market. The Japanese version contains extensions to simulate both evacuations and thermal environments during the design process.

“We have a long-standing relationship with the design community in Japan, and we were shocked and saddened by the recent devastation to so many communities there,” said Stewart Rom, Chief Marketing Officer of Nemetschek Vectorworks. “We are pleased to be able to support our Japanese partners at A&A in providing this technology to assist with the rebuilding efforts.”

AKVIS 12.5 Announced

Useful to visualization professionals, AKVIS has announced the latest version of AKVIS Sketch for Windows and Mac, version 12.5. Sketch converts digital photographs into amazing pencil sketches, watercolor, charcoal, and pastel drawings.

01 - AKVIS Sketch 12.5 offers new batch processing and RAW image support to this popular Adobe Photoshop plugin for visual artists.

New in version 12.5 is batch processing for stand-alone mode. Previously, batch processing was only available using the plug-in as a Photoshop action. RAW format has also been added. To learn more visit them online here: http://akvis.com/en/index.php

Lightworks News – Helps Get HBXL to Market in Two Weeks

Lightworks, of Great Britain, has announced that it has helped get PlansXpress from HBXL out to market in just two weeks by the company’s adoption of Lightworks Artisan rendering software technology. Artisan provides pre-packaged applications that can be simply integrated into OEM tools, providing pre-configuration workflows and easy-to-use applications. By using Lightworks Artisan customers reduce time to market.

HBXL is the UK market leader in construction software for the small to medium sized building firm. The company’s award-winning PlanXpress product is targeted at builders and developers, with the aim of enabling them to produce architect quality plans and 3D visuals quickly and easily. To learn more about Artisan and Lightworks visit here.

The Renditioner Pro plugin from IMSI Design is a photorealistic rendering plugin for Google’s SketchUp 3D application. Lightworks Artistan provides a pre-packaged application of rendering technology that can be simply integrated into OEM (original equipment manufacturer) tools, providing pre-configured workflow and easy-to-use applications.

Bob Mayer, COO of IMSI Design commented, “Renditioner Pro is a powerful product and by integrating Lightworks Artisan we have been able to set an even higher standard for photorealistic rendering and lighting control within Google SketchUp.”

The Windows version of Renditioner Pro is available now. The Mac version will be available in April. To learn more click here. To visit Lightworks online go here.

Resolve will be showing “best practices” for Vectorworks Architect 2011 on Feb 8, tomorrow. The event will emphasize file organization, 3D workflows and new features in the latest version of the BIM software. This is a half-day session and the seminar will be in lecture format and include time for Q&A. More details on the event can be found here. To register.

Third Guild Tutorial on modo

The Third Guild is featuring a new modo learning tutorial by Martin Krol, titled: modo: UV Introduction. Krol’s tutorials feature four hours of high quality training in HD, plus sample models. The series starts off by exploring various UV projections and tools in modo before moving on to show how to apply these to create UVs for a variety of objects. The price is just 35.USD for the training plus sample models. You can inquire through the The Guild Store.

01 - Martin Krol's modo training.

Also of interest to modo users, the Third Guild’s Channel on YouTube has a series of videos on CADbuddy for modo 501. CADbuddy for modo adds CAD-like functionality to this popular 3D software package. To view these learning videos and learn more about CADbuddy go here.

02 - YouTube videos of CADbuddy for modo 501.

Andrew Parks Wins Lghtworks Image Competition

Andrew Parks is the recent winner of the Lightworks Image Competition. Andrew is a designer at Archimania in Memphis, Tennessee, where he utilizes 3D visualizations as a design tool. He uses FormZ software for his modeling and rendering throughout all phases of the design process.

For his winning prize Andrew will receive a new 16GB Apple iPad. To view the winning image go here.

First a Few Notes About Vectorworks

Vectorworks is the all-around CAD program for architects, landscape architects, civil engineers, mechanical and electrical engineers, theater lighting designers and design in general. From the standpoint of graphics, Vectorworks can be a one stop shop for an architectural office.  It’s a design tool, a production tool and a rendering tool that can also be used for most of the graphic layouts an architect might need.

Vectorworks is well regarded for its short learning curve compared to other CAD programs. Design can be done all in 3D and those 3D drawings will be or can be the same drawings that become the 2D drawings making up the production drawing set.  Client presentations can be rendered printouts, animations, walk-throughs, or even real time views of a 3D model taken on one’s laptop to a client meeting.  And if one needs to do a graphic presentation, a competition board for example, pictures, text, 2D and 3D drawings can all be composed and printed right in the program.

Vectorworks 2011

Nemetschek North America changed its name last year to Nemetschek Vectorworks. Most in the industry, including its users, saw that as a good sign–a sign that they really want to identify with it (the Vectorworks brand) and thus make it the best they can.

The biggest bit of news in Vectorworks 2011 is that they have replaced the rendering engine in Renderworks with the Cinema 4D render engine.  And they have created an easy integration with the actual Cinema 4D program.  This is a really big improvement especially for anyone wanting to take their models to a very high level. The company claims a 5 to 7 times increase in speed. However, we did not verify this in any tests in this review.

The other big feature change is what they call 2D/3D integration.  Vectorworks has for a long time been a very flexible program allowing one to create just about any 3D form.  But now with this integration of 2D and 3D the program is even more flexible and easier to use for preliminary design.  I know there are people who design in SketchUp and import into Vectorworks. Vectorworks’ new modeling technology, with its improved Push/Pull tool, will begin to enable experienced SketchUp and Vectorworks users to simply model all in Vectorworks 2011. We will spend some time digging into the new 2D/3D integration and modeling features as well as many other improvements in the full review.

New Improved 3D Environment

There are some stunning improvements to the new unified 2D/3D environment in Vectorworks 2011. The most important is the way 2D objects can now be drawn in 3D views, complete with text creation and editing abilities.

Most experienced Vectorworks users will delight in the ability and flexibility to manipulate planar objects in various 3D views. Architects and engineers for example might develop connection details in axon views complete with dimensions and extruded connections and members. (see images 01 – 03)

01 - The new unified 2D/3D environment allows all 2D objects, including hatches, fills and gradients inside objects to be planar objects which can be displayed in 3D.

02 - In order to maintain associative dimensions one must associate the dimension to the 2D planar object prior to it forming the basis of a 3D object.

03 - This axon view was actually rotated. Notice how the text and leader lines exist in 3D. They were drawn on the workplane which was set to the face of the column.

Vectorworks 2011 allows you to work with text blocks in 3D just like in 2D. One caveat however. If you create a viewport of a 3D view or 3D object, you cannot place text in 3D in the annotation layer of the viewport. Therefore, you must first add that text on a design layer prior to the creation of the viewport. That is the method for establishing a detail like above. (see third image above).

Vectorworks 2011 now allows you to utilize, view and edit fills, gradients and hatches in isometric views. This will greatly expand the possibilities for presentation drawings.

New Technology – New Product Names

“We’ve changed the format of our product names for our latest release which reflects our goal to continue offering enhanced new functionality to our customers,” said David Forrester, Manager Director of Lightworks. “We already know how important new features are to customers and our new Perceptual Tone Mapper and Real-time Image Based Lighting will be of tremendous benefit to them as they strive to add that extra touch of realism to their work.”

01 - Example of Image Based Lighting in Real-Time, with Lightworks Author 2011.

The key developments in Lightworks Author 2011 include:

• Perceptual Tone Mapper – This latest shader technology closely mimics the action of the human eye in converting the real-world luminance levels calculated by Lightworks Global Illumination (GI) to those which can be displayed and viewed on a computer screen.
• Image Based Lighting – Support for environmental lights in image based lighting has been added to the Lightworks Real time product.

To learn more about all the new technology in Lightworks Author 2011 visit them online here.

Graphisoft has announced this week that the Swedish version of ArchiCAD 14 has been released. It marks the 13th of 26 localized versions of ArchiCAD 14 planned for global release. Sweden is home to several top architectural firms whose practices rely on Graphisoft’s leading BIM (building information modeling) software application. To learn more about the Swedish version click here: www.graphisoft.se/

Hans Zijffers wins Apple iPad in Lightworks Rendering Contest

Lightworks has announced the latest winner in its ongoing rendering context. Hans Zijffers, who resides in Rotterdam and uses trueSpace software has won an Apple iPad for his winning entry. Hans explains: “After my experiments with Lightworks renderings, I introduced the use of 3D because it has so much more to offer then just making drawings by hand alone.” Hans receives a 16GB wireless iPad. To learn more visit: www.lightworksdesign.com

Dosch Design – New Hollywood Openers Product

Dosch has announced a new media product titled Dosch Audio: Hollywood Openers. With its audience of experts and professional users, plus the proximity to Tinseltown, the Siggraph 2010 in Los Angeles was the ideal place chosen by Sebastian Dosch, the CEO of DOSCH DESIGN, in order to introduce DA: Hollywood Openers.

The audio product contains what the title promises: 11 music pieces delivering a firework of emotions. Sentimental, theatrical, dynamic, riveting and even dramatic – those are only a few of the adjectives which characterize DA: Hollywood Openers. Specifically for this recording DOSCH DESIGN booked the “Archi dello Spirito” orchestra from Hungary, which extensively rehearsed all 11 pieces together with the chorus “Pro Pace”, for the full, lush sound Hollywood movies are known for all over the world. The result speaks for itself: Every piece connects though its high-quality and extraordinary interpretation.

Dosch is a leader in stock media for visualization and media arts projects. To learn more visit them online here.

Previewing Lightworks at SIGGRAPH

Lightworks is previewing the next OptiX-based Lightworks product at SIGGRAPH. They use the power of Nvidia’s CUDA architecture and latest GPUs for significant performance improvements (see booth #225 and #717).

Bob Mayer, COO of IMSI Design remarked: “Lightworks has some great technologies coming out soon this Fall and we’re particularly excited about the new OptiX product and looking forward to being able to integrate it into future versions of TurboCAD.”

Dave Hutchinson, Product Director at Lightworks, commented: “Using the OptiX engine in both our Lightworks Artisan and Lightworks Author products gives us the ability to handle larger and larger models and to generate compelling, high quality renders.”

A pre-release of the new OptiX-based Lightworks solutions will be available to Lightworks customers in October. The full product release is planned for December 2010. To learn more about Lightworks go here.

PixPlant 2 for Mac is software application for generating seamless 3D textures for your visualization needs. Based on photos you can easily generate seamless, repeatable 3D textures for your 3D modeling and rendering needs. PixPlant comes in a standalone application for Windows and Mac and a Photoshop add-on plugin for Windows. PixPlant 2 for Mac OS X is 195.USD. To learn more visit this page.

T-Splines News

T-Splines has announced a new partnership between RhinoCAM and itself. The two companies have partnered to provide best-in-class surface modeling and machining solutions, all inside Rhino 3D. RhinoCAD is a powerful, easy-to-use, and affordable machining program. There is afree webinar on this topic on July 21 (register here).

Also the company has announced five new T-Spline videos.

Lightworks at SIGGRAPH

Lightworks, the world’s leading supplier of rendering software solutions to application developers in the 3D computer graphics industry, will be presenting a paper at the SIGGRAPH Conference later in July.

Manuel Gamito, one of the company’s developers, will be presenting the paper at this year’s event in Los Angeles. The SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Conference is renowned for being the leading conference in its field and Lightworks is delighted that Manuel will be taking part in this important event. His paper, entitled, “Accurate Multi-Dimensional Poisson-Disk Sampling” is co-authored with Steve Maddock from the University of Sheffield, UK, and presents research on techniques for increasing the performance of Global Illumination and Anti-Aliasing processes in real-world situations.

Manuel commented: “The technique that I will be presenting has already been implemented in the new rendering software that Lightworks is developing. It addresses the efficient generation of Poisson-disk sample distribution in a space, with any number of dimensions.”

To learn more visit this page.

The competition is open to all users of Lightworks rendering technology, covering any market, them or style. To check to see if your own application qualifies, visit our website at: www.lightworkdesign.com/customers. The prize for the winning entry, as selected by the judging panel, will receive one of the brand new Apple iPads, a 16GB wireless version, which launches in April, worth 500.USD.

The competition starts off in April and is open until June, with the winning entry being announced in July. Runners up will receive iTunes vouchers and the best entries will be featured on the Lightworks website. To learn more visit this webpage.

iPad ships in early April. You can win yours by winning the 2010 Lightworks Image Competition.

You can look at images from the Lightworks gallery to see the capabilities that are possible by users of Lightworks technology. Here’s a link to the architectural gallery.

Lightworks technology has long been held in high regard for the application of interior design applications. Many of the leading software applications used by professional interior designers utilize this software technology. Key to KBB visitors will be able to see new products based on the latest Lightworks technology:

• ArtiCAD (H28) will be demonstrating ArtiCAD HD lighting module which incorporates global illumination and other advanced rendering technology
• 2020 Fusion (K44) will be launching Fusion Bathrooms Solution
• Vision House Software (E60) will be launching their brand new ‘Nexus Snapshot’ visualizationi and rendering application which is based on the very latest Lightworks Artisan technology

For more information about Lightworks go to: www.lightworkdesign.com.

For more information about KBB follow this link here.

DAZ 3D and Gizmoz have merged companies recently and are now bringing together DAZ’s 3D technology and Gizmoz’s leading face recognition technology to create the industry’s best personal avatar platform. DAZ 3D has been the software house for DAZ Studio, Bryce, Carrara and Hexagon.

DAZ 3D and Gizmoz join forces to create ultimate personal avatar platform.

With Gizmoz’s photo-realistic head reconstruction technology the two companies can better serve the virtual goods market which is expected to be in the $3 billion dollar range by the end of 2010. To learn more visit them online and read the full press release here.

Unity releases Third Generation of Powerful Game Platform

Unity Technologies has released Unity 3.0, the next generation of its market-leading Unity development platform for 3D interactive content on multiple platforms, including Web, PC, Mac, Wii and iPhone. The company will showcase its latest wares at Game Developers Conference (GDC) this week. (GDC takes place March 9-13, 2010).

Unity and iPad, et al

Unity will be expanding its target platforms for Apple’s new iPad as well as Google Android and Sony Playstation 3. With XBox 360 support announced last year the company’s mantra “Author Once, Deploy Anywhere” vision now includes all major consoles and two of the fastest growing platforms in the mobile space.

Unity 3 with full pixel shaders on iPhone 3GS. The Apple iPhone is fast emerging as the leading most technologically advanced mobile gaming platform in the world.

“Since our first version in 2005, Unity Technologies has been focused on the democratization of interactive 3D and delivering an impressive list of technological advances making it the technology of choice for more than 100,000 developers today,” said David Helgason, CEO of Unity Technologies. For more info.

Spatial Launches Industry Partner Program

Spatial has launched an industry partner program aimed at supporting third-party developers who integrate its Spatial 3D modeling components into their program. Some key customers Architosh readers may recognize include Lightwork Design and T-Splines, Inc.

The program is aimed at bolstering the Spatial community of developers enabling them to understand the technology needs of third-party developers and improving cooperation. An example case is the use of both Spatial technologies with Lightworks. To read the full story go here.

LightWorks Artisan will be applicable to existing Lightworks customers wanting to easily add new functionality to their existing implementation. Artisan incorporates Lightworks SnapShot an exciting new Lightworks technology which provides views with materials and lighting conditions, and can be saved with the model and recalled later, bringing in the same applied conditions as previously stored. LightWorks SnapShot is a key feature of the new Artisan product set. 

Partnership with Caustic Graphics

Lightworks is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with Caustic Graphics, creators of CausticRT, an interactive ray tracing application platform, giving users the ability to create photorealistic images in a computationally fast and economic way. A demonstration of Caustic working with LightWorks is being shown in the LightWorks booth, number 2635. 

Now in its 20th anniversary year, Lightworks has been given a new corporate “look and feel” for the future. The new look will be unveiled at SIGGRAPH as part of the worldwide launch. 

To learn more click on this link: http://www.lightworkdesign.com/our_company/siggraph_2009

This new product uses LightWorks pre-set materials and lighting, a fully developed user interface and is even simpler and quicker to integrate, enabling customers to get their products to market even faster. 

LightWorks will be demonstrating the latest release of its primary product, LightWorks 8.1–at the LightWork Design booth–highlighting some of the exciting new features recently introduced. 

The company will also be announcing a new strategic partnership. Now in its 20th anniversary, LightWorks has been given a new corporate “look & feel” for the future and this too will be unveiled at SIGGRAPH as part of the worldwide launch. 

To learn more about LightWorks go to: www.lightworkdesign.com

Focus of Version 8.1

The main focus of this latest 8.1 update is the development of the LightWorks Real-Time rendering product, alongside some improvements to EPix output. 

New functionality includes soft shadows and shadow catching in the real-time rendering functionality using programmable shading. Programmable shading itself is now supported for several more LightWorks material shaders, for example multilayer paints and leathers. This gives real-time results which are closer to the software implementation. 

Additionally, version 8.1 includes better EPix output with new support for EPix with anti-aliasing for more defined and accurate rendering. 

David Forrester, Managing Director at LightWorks commented: “We appreciate that globally, many companies are experiencing difficult economic times at the moment and we want to help our customers to increase the value of their products. The release of LightWorks 8.1 comes quickly after the release of LightWorks 8.0 as we have accelerated our development plans to bring new functionality to our customers even more quickly.”

LightWorks customers are already seeing the benefits of these product advancements:  Roland Roeder, PTC GmbH commented: “The real-time shadow catcher support in 8.1 is great news for us and the leather shaders work really well!  We’re also finding that the added support for real-time soft shadows is making a big difference when we use LightWorks real-time rendering.”

For more information about LightWorks 8.1 go to: www.lightworkdesign.com

e-on Software has released its long anticipated Vue-7.5 xStream and Vue 7.5 Infinite software for the creation of natural 3D environments. This latest software will help 3D artists, animators, and landscape and building architects create stunning renderings and animations of complete 3D environments for their visualization projects. 

The list of new features for Vue 7.5 is too long to list here but highlights include: color and alpha masks of single clouds and cloud layers; camera mapping; spherical cloud maps; EcoSystem populations that can evolve over time; improved OpenGL sky and cloud views and more. 

Vue 7.5 xStream is their non-standalone professional application that works inside leading 3D production suites including Maya, 3ds Max, LightWave, Cinema 4D and Softimage XSI. To learn more visit their website here.

LightWorks Design Announces Winner of First Rendering Competition

The winning entry came from Aaron Smithey, an architectural renderer based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Aaron uses formZ software from auto-des-sys, Inc., with its integrated LightWorks rendering engine. 

Upon hearing the news Aaron commented, “I have been using formZ since 1994. formZ is a great modeling tool but is also a great rendering tool due to its integration of the LightWorks rendering engine.” 

“The LightWorks rendering engine has proven itself,” Aaron continued, “as an invaluable tool to me and my clients.” To learn more visit: www.lightworkdesign.com and to view the gallery from this competition go here.

Escape Studios to Host Luxology modo 401 Road Show

Luxology LLC, in partnership with Escape Studios, is bringing its modo 401 Roadshow to England with an exciting event scheduled in London June 3, 2009. 

This event will showcase the latest version of Luxology’s award-winning 3D software, modo 401. 

The modo 401 demonstrations, using Roadshow sponsor Wacom’s latest Intuos tablet technology, will be given by Andy Brown, Luxology’s training division manager. Speaking at the event  is freelance artist Robin Konieczny, whose work at various prestigious VFX studios appears in music videos for The Gorillas, visual efffects for the BBC and the Discovery Channel, as well as various shots in “The Da Vinci Code,” HBO’s “Rome” and more. 

Attendees must pre-register and space is limited. Please visit the event page at Escape Studios’ website here.

To learn more about modo 401 go here.

Also new in this version are more shader materials. David Forrester, Managing Director at LightWork Design commented, “We are pleased to see the addition of LightWorks technology within TurboCAD Pro and to see the real advances that this makes to the product.”

To learn more visit: www.imsidesign.com or www.turbocad.com.

Want to learn more about the benefits of BIM, check out Graphisoft’s upcoming Webinars. Graphisoft is having Webinars (online seminars) to learn more about the following. All times are Eastern Time:

• Affordable BIM for Small Firms- ArchiCAD Start Edition (Wednesday) -Feb 18, 12-1PM 
• Overview of the New MEP Modeler (Tuesday) – Feb 24, 3-4PM
• BIM and Commercial Design (Wednesday) – Feb 25, 3-4:30PM
• BIM and Historical Design (Wednesday) – Mar 18, 3-4:30PM

For a list of events and registration see Graphisoft North America

LightWorks 7.9 Service Pack 1 released

LightWork Design announced the release of its Service Pack for LightWorks 7.9. The Service Pack is available as a download for both Windows and Mac platforms from www.lightworkdesign.com/support 

“We’re very pleased to bring this first Service Pack release of LightWorks 7.9 to our customers” said Graeme McCarthy, Director of Product Services at LightWorks.  “With this Service Pack, we’re providing a host of fixes for our customers and their users that will deliver a marked improvement in render quality, such as improved gamma correction for texture input as well as numerous other enhancements including improved Japanese dialogs.”

Escape Studios offering Course on Camera Tracking for VFX

The course delves deep into the professional camera tracking techniques required by aspiring 3D artists. The course has 12 hours of tutorial software using industry standard software such as Maya and PF Track. Each tutorial is suppose to cover all aspects of camera tracking. The online course is $299.00.USD.

For more information visit Camera Tracking for visual effects at Escape Studios

Software for Software Makers

At the time what they were attempting to do seemed revolutionary, for many other graphic software companies were only focusing on end-user software. The current idea of designing software for designers by designers or for user by user was unheard of.  Software was designed for the consumer or “end-user”, not for their makers. But these experts got to work revolutionizing that very idea. And thus, the LightWorks rendering engine was completed by its first birthday in 1990. After making its debut and demonstrated at the Autofact exhibition in Detroit, the first licenses were shipped in early 1991.

LightWorks rendering sample in the early years, circa 1993. This is a very nice image of a conference center in Leipzig.

Over the follow years LightWorks would grow up fast. It would sign its first major CAD developer in 1993 and the first Japanese customer in 1994. In 1996, it  would launch its Machine Tool Simulation arm (now MachineWorks) and its large model product in 1997 (now NavisWorks from Autodesk). By 2000, LightWorks passed the 500,000 end user mark and launched its own content archive format- LightWorks Archive or LWA. New offices were built in Japan and the LightWorks was not so little anymore. In 2006, it’s original parents were looking to retire, and the management team led a buy-out of both LightWorks and MachineWorks businesses. 

LightWorks rendering sample from 2009. Notice the use of glossy plastic shader, tested circa 2009.

Over the past 20 years, LightWorks has become a worldwide rendering solution with over 2 million users worldwide. It has formed 4 separate stand-alone businesses while remaining financially independent. It is also integrated in over 80 software applications. All grown up, LightWorks continues to grow from the dream of those four very smart computer graphics experts. Now that LightWorks has hit 20, the world awaits what it will do next.

To learn more about LightWorks Design visit them here: http://www.lightworkdesign.com/our_company/lightworks_20