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RTFM
NewTek has finally listened to the user and has done away with multiple manuals. Well almost--there is a small fifteen-page pamphlet devoted to Motion Mixer. This manual does contain valuable information about Motion Mixer, but because of its small size, it could easily be "misplaced" amongst all your "stuff". For those who don’t appreciate the printed word, NewTek has also included PDF versions of the manuals on the installation CD. However, during the install process the PDF file becomes corrupt, so in order to access these documents, manually move the PDFs from the CD to the appropriate directory. Adobe has done an excellent job of integrating a PDF manual (complete with keyword/topic searching) with their programs, and I wish more companies would do the same. When you have a 1000+-page manual to sift through, easy searching conventions become important. [an error occurred while processing this directive] While the manual is good and covers how all of the features work, it certainly lacks in walking the user through how to apply these tools for various purposes. For those that need inspiration on how to use all of the tools and features in LightWave, there are literally hundreds of tutorials floating around the Net (many of them right here on Digital Media Net sites), and books written by people who know the ins and outs of this robust application.
Install woes
One never knows what kind of gremlins will show themselves when upgrading or installing a new version of software, and a user might discover that the problems encountered will be a hindrance to using the new version in production. To be on the safe side, I recommend that you install LightWave 7.0b so that 6.5 and all of its settings remain in tack. NewTek has released a series of steps to accomplish this for both the PC and Mac platforms, and it’s better to be safe than sorry. Following these instructions or doing a full install if you are a new user should get you up and running in no time flat.
In the previous release of LightWave, NewTek began shipping USB dongles for the Mac platform, and have now made the USB dongle a standard for both platforms. If you do not have USB, make sure you let your dealer know before ordering as you can still purchase a serial dongle. The main drawback for the new USB dongle is that it is not a pass through USB device, so if you are on a Mac, you had better get a USB Hub, or make sure you have plenty USB ports available on your system to accommodate your other USB devices.
Even with the dongle, you must register your version, in order to fully unlock the program. If not done in fourteen days, you will have to run in demo mode. Your best bet to register the program is to call NewTek directly. The online registration seems to take forever and mailing in a registration card can easily take longer than the time allotted for the process.
A demo version of the software is available and floating around in several print publications. This is a fully working demo of the software except that it does not allow you to render out an animation without putting a checkerboard pattern across the final image.
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