As I am writing this was 11 years ago Chris Jones show of the Lightwave Renderer in all its glory pushing it to  use all of its node tree shader setups to produce a photo realistic render with the same level of quality and range of motions that now in 2024 is being done in the Metahuman from Epic.

 

It goes to show how far ahead of its time Lightwave actually was and the native renderer is still able to keep up 

with GPU alternatives if you are running the Lightwave Raytracer shader mode only. This is an algorithm that

uses the default lightwave lights to light and render scenes super fast and almost on real time with the right

hardware setups at least a machine with 16 to 24 cores is all you need. to push out HD renders in near realtime

with color grading and post processing right in the lightwave renderer. With 2560 and 4K you would need

more cores 32 to 64 on just one machine to achieve near real time renders.

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I would like to also point out the animation and rigging tools allows you to setup up your own custom control

points for facial animatics shown here - which is something many modern software's have only recently

developed tool as rich and detailed as this in this case of Metahuman Creator you will see 

exactly the facial control points very similar to what is shown below.

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Chris Jones also showcases the powerful modelling tools and simplified workflow the Lightwaves modelling

software called modeller ~ using SubD and clean practices he shows of again the amazing deail in the final renders

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Chris Jones also created a motion graphic piece with Lightwave and Tracpcode show at the very bottom.

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In this one page alone 11 years ago lightwave was proven and even further on a potato machine as Chris says it.

so you do the math. Add 24 cores or 64 cores or 96 core threadripper and see where that gets you in lightwave.

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