LightWave 2024 introduces the integrated modular character rigging system RHiggit, which was previously a third-party plugin, along with new toolsets for weight painting and fluid simulation.
This release marks the second major update of the software in the past eight months, following a three-year hiatus during which development was paused under the previous owner, Vizrt, who acquired NewTek—the longtime developer of LightWave—in 2019. The current owner of the software, LightWave Digital, is a startup led by individuals closely associated with the program during its NewTek era, including former NewTek employees and key LightWave plugin developers and users.

The new features in ProGeo (Procedural Geometry Nodes), a node-based modeling toolkit introduced in LightWave 2023, include a new node called Tendril. Its primary function is to draw procedural vegetation, such as vines or ivy, on surfaces in the scene, similar to ivy generator plugins available for other CG software. However, in pre-release livestreams, developers also mentioned other potential uses, such as annotating screen marks while reviewing snapshots. ProGeo also received more familiar modifiers, including Thicken and Lathe.
While ProGeo is available in Layout—the scene composition and animation application of LightWave—a new tool called Edge Slide has been introduced in Modeler, LightWave's dedicated modeling application. This tool allows for moving points or edges along the surface of a model to alter its topology, including the ability to create folds.

In addition to ProGeo, Layout has received three major new toolsets: RHiggit, WeightBrush, and Flow. RHiggit, named after its developer Craig 'RebelHill' Monins, is a modular character rigging system that was originally a paid third-party plugin. It enables the creation of rigs for characters or creatures. The initial version supported quadrupeds, arachnids, and birds, as well as bipedal characters, through a semi-automated workflow.

It is complemented by WeightBrush, a new weight painting toolset. The most apparent role of this tool is to paint character skin weights directly in Layout, eliminating the need to switch to Modeler. However, LightWave Digital claims that it has a broader range of applications, including creating weight-aware surfaces and generating instances, making it useful both as a scene composition tool and as an assembly tool.

The final new toolset in Layout is Flow, a new simulation system. In the online documentation, it is described as a "unified physics plugin," though its primary focus appears to be on simulating small-scale fluids. Potential use cases include "pouring liquid into a glass, splashing water on the floor, and bouncing and deforming jelly cubes." It is based on the open-source physics library Newton Dynamics and NVIDIA's FleX, a real-time particle-based physics toolkit, and, like FleX, is intended for Windows only.

LightWave now includes OctaneRender for LightWave, an integration for Otoy's OctaneRender graphics engine, which is now developed by LightWave Digital. In LightWave 2024, it has been updated to Octane Render 2023.1 with key changes including a new standard material and a standard environment for creating volumetrics. Additionally, a new high-performance photon tracing core and a Post Volume node for creating fast fog effects have been introduced. The built-in LightWave renderer has also seen performance improvements: anti-aliasing is now 30% faster, and motion blur for clip maps has been enhanced.

The final major new feature in LightWave 2024 is the Unified Surfacing Tool, also referred to in the online documentation as Kit Surfacer. The latter term is more descriptive, as it is a semi-automated system for converting asset sets from online libraries, including KitBash3D, Megascans, and Substance 3D Assets, for use in LightWave. It also supports 3D plants from Maxtree. Integration of the OpenVDB library for volumetric data in LightWave has been updated to OpenVDB 11.0, which has improved performance.

In addition to importing VDB files from DCC applications like Houdini, users can now export VDB files from Turbulence, a smoke simulation tool integrated into LightWave 2023. The Unreal Bridge, which provides real-time connectivity between LightWave and Unreal Engine, now supports Unreal Engine 5.4, the current version of the game engine and real-time renderer.

LightWave 2024 is compatible with Windows 10 and above, as well as macOS 10.15 and above (macOS 11.0 and above for Apple Silicon Macs, and macOS 13.3 and above for using Octane Render). The price for new licenses is approximately $1020.