Setting Up in Layout
Ok, we now have our two fishies. One battered (hee-hee-hee) and one healthy.
I opened LightWave Layout and imported both models.
Some of you are probably wondering what LightWave "Layout" is. Well, I'll tell you.
LightWave works in two applications: Modeler and Layout.
Modeler is where you model ("create or modify") your 3D models (objects).
Layout is where you animate (making dem' move!) and render (export) your animation.
I have the models ready, so that's why I'm moving into Layout.
Ok, I get the fish side-by-side and the begin basic rigging.
"Ok", you ask, "What's rigging?".
Well, to make characters move at joints, they have to have joints. 3D joints. To do that, we use 3D invisible bones.
Bones? Yes, bones. 3D objects with joints have bones. When visible, they make the fish look more like a robot than an animal... it's a good thing they are invisible in the final export.
I put a bone to move the head, and a few for the back and tail. As said before, the fin didn't need bones because they are controlled by morphs.
Alright, so I have the bones in place. Now I make sure that the morphs have the right control over the object shape.
Ok, I'm almost ready to animate! One last thing first... lighting.
Lighting? You mean in 3D you still have to deal with lighting?
Yep! 3D actually has virtual lights that you can move, rotate, and adjust in 3D space.
The different lights are:
Distant Light
A light good for a general key light (main light source). These are the lights I am using in this project; one on the left, and one on the right.
Spot Light
These lights are pretty much exactly what they are in real life. They can be just a plain beamed light source, or we can make them project an image like a projector.
Point Light
These are good for when you want light emitting from a certain point in all directions... like a candle, fire, etc.
I won't write anything about the other lights (Linear and Area lights) because... well... I don't know much about them myself. 
Here is what they all look like; click on the image to enlarge.
Well, we have our fish in place, rigged, and lighted.
That's all for now, folks!
Next time Animation 1 !
Good Day, all.
I have been working on a project for a Marine Livestock online store. I will walk through it here as I work.
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I wanted the final result to be a sort of spoof of the Mac Ads [LINK] . So I sat down, and, very quickly, wrote a script. VERY quickly. I revised it very little before I set to work.
The concept was a couple of fish next to each other... one being beat-up looking, and the other looking good.
I skipped the storyboarding phase because, well, a couple of fish in a frame next to each other doesn't take a whole lot of visual planning.
I didn't have to do to much modeling... I simply went to a very good free marine models website [LINK], chose the Yellow Tail Clownfish, and downloaded it.
I use LightWave 3D (much to the chagrin of Blender [LINK] fans) to both model and animate. Yes, Blender is good too... I recommend it to those who would like to learn 3D, but don't have money to spend. Be sure to get some good tutorials to get a good foundation [LINK] .
I pulled the fish into LightWave Modeler, and gave it a basic 3D skeleton and mouth morphs. Mouth morphs are basically the different mouth positions that a character would use as he speaks. I made M-P-B, A-I, E, F-V, L-D-N-Th, O, and OO. Just move your mouth to figure out what each of those look like. 
I also included a few for emotions and basic fin movement... since I didn't really want to use bones for the fins.
I then made a duplicate of this new model file, and a duplicate of the texture. The texture was then modified to look like a beaten, sick fish. This was saved, and put on my new model. I then cut tears on the fins to simulate fin tear.
I then had my two fish... one healthy, and one battered (no pun intended ) and was ready to set them up in Layout.
Part Two: Setting up in Layout coming soon!
Hello,
I am a Christian Filmmaker from the San Antonio area. I'm going to be sharing, as said above, Tips, Tricks, News, and Reviews to help the community.
God bless, and I hope the blog is a help to you all.