Creating 'shockwave' effects with Lightwave 3D
by Paul Hempsall

This tutorial was created using Lightwave 5.5 and hence refers to its graphical user interface setup, but I originally made the discovery using 5.0 so I know it works in the previous version (you may have to mentally convert the 5.5 interface screenshots to 5.0). Users of other 3D modeling programs may also be able to gain some benefits from the tutorial as well, I don't know for sure but there is no harm in looking is there?

 The following tutorial will provide the means of creating a shockwave effect as seen in Star Wars SE, Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, and so forth. The tutorial has been written so that all modelers and animators, no matter what level of experience, can achieve the same result.

 The basic theory behind the creation of the shockwave is described hereafter: -

 To create the shockwave one must make a sample object with several cross sections and apply surface attributes that show the final look of the object. These surface values cannot be applied to an existing ring shaped object because the fractal noise attributes will not automatically curve around the ring. The trick around this is to create the above sample object and then use it to make a ring, hence the use of the cross section, and then morph object 1 into object 2 at "100% morph" from the very first frame. This forces the surface attributes to curve around the ring shape because of the metamorph function.