Chapter 6
The Preset Shelf
Creating and Using LightWave Surface Presets
LightWave ships with a number of predefined surfaces that you can use on your models, contained in a library that you can access by pressing “s” when the Surface Editor is open or by pressing the Presets button (found under Window>Presets Panel). This opens the Preset Shelf, a sizeable window that contains all of these presets, as well as presets that you have created and saved in the Preset Shelf ’s libraries.
Figure 6-1
NOTE: The Presets button is context sensitive, in that it will open up the appropriate Preset Shelf for whatever you are working on. If the Surface Editor is open, the Surface Preset shelf will open, whereas, for example, if you are working on HyperVoxels, the HyperVoxel Preset Shelf will open.
The Preset Shelf contains all of its settings within different libraries. Libraries are simply groups of presets. You can select the library that you wish to access by choosing it from the drop-down menu at the top-left corner.
Figure 6-2
The Preset Shelf is not contained simply within your scene or object. It survives as an entity on its own, so that no matter what scene or model you are working on, all the libraries that you create will always be there, regardless of what scene or model you were working on when you made them.
Adding to the Surface Presets
To add surfaces to the Surface libraries, simply select the library that you wish to add the surface to, and then double-click on the preview window for that surface in the Surface Editor. This will add the surface to the Surface Preset library that you currently have open. Alternatively, you can also right-click on the surface sample window and select Save Surface Preset from the contextual menu.
Assigning Surface Presets
The quickest way to apply a preset to a currently selected surface in the Surface Editor is to simply double-click on the desired preset. You are prompted to confirm that this is what you wish to do.
Figure 6-3
Clicking Yes will apply all the settings from the preset onto the surface you have currently selected in the Surface Editor. Selecting No will cancel the operation. You can also load presets by right-clicking on them and selecting Open.
If you wish to only apply certain parts of the preset to the currently selected surface (when using presets that are more complex than just attribute values), you can do so by right-clicking on the preset preview and selecting Open with Parameters.
This option allows you to choose which parts of the preset you would like to load by letting you select them in a new window.
Figure 6-4
Figure 6-5
The different options obviously correspond to the different tabs in the Surface Editor and the settings that each contain. So if, for example, you don’t wish to load the environment settings assigned to the preset (such as a reflection map or reflection blurring), simply deselect the Environment option.
Organizing and Maintaining Your Presets
When right-clicking on the different preset previews, you also have a few options for organizing your presets and libraries.
You can change the name of a preset by right-clicking on it and choosing Set Name. This presents you with a window in which to enter a new name for the preset.
Figure 6-6
Figure 6-7
Entering text into the Description field results in the description being displayed at the bottom of the shelf window when your cursor goes over the preset’s preview.
Figure 6-8
If you want to move the preset to another library within the Preset Shelf, you can choose the Move To option and select the destination from the list. This will remove the preset from the current library and move it into the selected one.
Figure 6-9
If you wish to move the preset to another library without removing it from the current library, you can use the Copy To option, and select the other library from the list.
Figure 6-10
If you wish to totally remove the preset from the Preset Shelf, select the Delete option. You will be prompted to confirm that you wish to do this with a new window.
Figure 6-11
Select Yes to confirm the deletion or No to cancel.
Creating New Preset Libraries
Of course you will feel the need at some stage to create your own libraries within the Preset Shelf. You can do this easily by right-clicking inside the shelf window and selecting Create Library.
A new window will appear for you to enter in a name for the new library.
Figure 6-12
Figure 6-13
If you wish to remove all the presets from the current library, right-click in the window and select Discard Presets. This totally removes all the presets inside the current library, though, so use it with caution.
Figure 6-14
Oddly enough, there is no way within Layout or Modeler to remove libraries or edit their names. To do this, you have to access the folders directly within your OS Explorer.
CAUTION: Make sure that you do so only when Modeler and Layout are not open. Changing the names of the folders or deleting them while the programs are running will cause them to crash.
To edit the library names or to remove them from the Preset Shelf, find the Surface Preset folder inside the Presets folder, located within the Programs folder of your LightWave installation.
Figure 6-15
Here you will find all the libraries that currently exist in your Preset Shelf, and you can edit them or remove them as you wish. You can even create new libraries simply by creating new folders here.