HD PumpIt is a modeler plugin for LightWave 6.5 and up that pumps up your objects. It adds real thickness to polygons or metanurbs! For example, you can build the outside of a hollow object and pump it up to create the inside, or vice-versa. It uses a fancy algorithm developed right here at Happy Digital, providing you with great pumped up models every time. Plus, it's a fully interactive modeler tool, so you can make adjustments and see the results in real time!

A simple object before and after HD PumpIt is applied.

Copy the file "HD_PumpIt_b.p" from the "hd_pumpit" directory into your Lightwave/Programs/Plugins/Model directory.

Now, fire up Modeler. Open the Modeler->Plug-ins->Add_Plug-ins panel and add the "HD_PumpIt_b.p" plug-in. A menu should appear that says "1 plug-ins found in 1 files." Exit Modeler to save these changes.

Voilą!

HD PumpIt adds new geometry to your model. It makes a new copy of the selected polygons, shifted away from the existing polygons by an adjustable distance. The shifting is done neatly and evenly, handling any kind of geometry. If the polygons are not a closed shape, HD PumpIt will close up the open edges between the old and new polygons, using an adjustable number of segments. What's more, these new edges are made of quads, so the whole thing is metanurb friendly!

The interface in LW 6.5

HD PumpIt Options

HD PumpIt is an interactive modeler tool, so its options appear in Modeler's numeric panel. Here's what the options mean in a nutshell:

Actions - This popup menu allows you to activate the tool, or reset the tool's settings.

Pump Thickness - This controls the thickness of the pumped up geometry. You can adjust this using the slider in the numeric panel, or by holding the left mouse button and dragging in any of the modeler viewports. Both negative and positive values are acceptable, with negative values creating an object that is inside-out. You can flip the polygons of such an object to turn it right-side-out. The initial value is 0 meters.

Edge Segments - This controls the number of segments used to close up open edges. Using more than one segment will make the edges more pronounced if your object is made of metanurbs. The default value is 1 segment.

Edge Surface - This lets you select the surface that will be applied to any new edge polygons that are created. If you want HD PumpIt to use the same surface as the existing polygons, leave this set to "<none>". If you want a different surface to be used, you can type in a new surface name, or select an existing surface from the pop-up list. If you type in a new name, the surface will be created for you automatically.

Back Surface - This lets you select the surface that will be applied to the back polygons that are created. This option works similarly to the Edge Surface option.

HD PumpIt applied to simple nurb object using 1, 2 and 3 edge segments respectively.

Known Bugs:

• None.