About LWA

LWA stands for LightWorks Archive - it is a platform-independent and application-independent digital file format specifically designed for the distribution of elements used to accurately represent real world materials within LightWorks-based CAD applications. This “Content”, can take the form of materials such as Mannington carpets, Benjamin Moore paints and UNS Metals, but also include lighting, backgrounds and scenery. The beauty of the LWA file format is its ability to wrap up any number of these elements into a single archive file that can then be used in any LightWorks-based application.

One of the unique advantages of LWA files is their ability to replicate the real-world in a digital form. The combination of colour patterning, surface reflectance and bump-mapping, along with other key technologies, all tied together inside a single material, not only gives the power to express realism, but the ability to make use of it within an application with a single drag and drop - once loaded, no further editing of the materials is required.

Scaling, lighting, bump-maps and surface properties are already attached and set - all that is required is to choose a surface in your scene, and drag and drop the real-world material onto it. It is as simple as that, and the results are stunning.

Real-world materials don't just stop at surfaces though. They extend into environment maps, physically-accurate lights, BRDF real-world measurements, all of which can have sizes, costs, supplier information and website details attached to them for storage inside the LWA archive, to aid in design specifications.

Procedural materials give the option of creating surface materials that never repeat, show seams, or distort. One of the best examples is granite and marbled surface effects.

Other Renderers: 2D Textures, Difficult to map		LightWorks: Procedural Shaders, Easy to use

They are based on mathematical equations, which have the effect of creating random patterning that looks like natural materials such as wood-grain and marble, but which can automatically map across any modelled surface. They have the additional advantage of allowing product ranges to be easily authored by changing parameters on the fly, e.g. brick companies can create all the different types of brick bond and colours just by changing a single parameter.

Default Shader	Mortar Colour	Brick Width	Side Colour

Without these procedural materials, physical scans are necessary to create a texture map, which can involve a large amount of image manipulation prior to use. Sizes and colours can instead be directly passed from a database into the LightWorks brick shader, and resultant archives end up being much smaller than texture-based ones.

The LWA format is the only solution for defining and distributing procedural shaders that render in both high-quality software rendering and interactively on the latest graphics boards. It was designed and created with input from leading content suppliers in the computer graphics market and suppliers of products to the Industrial and AEC markets.

The LWA format is also a Plug-in mechanism, extending the capabilities of LightWorks-based applications - shaders and modules allow you to instantly add new shaders and add-on rendering functionality to your rendering application. Parametric Geometry - programmable geometry shaders – will also gain prominence as time goes on, having the flexibility to update geometry parameters in real-time.

Partners are already using tools that LightWork Design has created to build LWA archives quickly and easily. We are always working closely with leading material suppliers and standards organisations to bring a constantly increasing collection of real-world materials in the LWA format to users of LWA-Enabled applications. The security of this distribution format and the extremely high fidelity of rendered materials enables LightWork Design to enlist some material suppliers as exclusive partners who would not otherwise even consider publishing their material specifications in an electronic form suitable for design applications. Check out our ever-increasing library of materials available for download on LightWorks-User.com , and for further information about LightWorks, go to the LightWork Design home page.