NewTek announced the release of LightWave® v9.6, a major update to its award-winning 3D application, LightWave 3D®. LightWave v9.6's new capabilities include improvements to animation, rendering and workflow, with FiberFX cloning, Layout snapping and automatic drag-and-drop file loading. More than 625 feature requests and reported issues have been implemented and resolved between 9.5 and 9.6. LightWave v9.6 is the fifth free update in the LightWave v9 series.

"The amount of work that NewTek has put into 9.6 is nothing short of incredible," said Matt Gorner, Senior Industrial Designer, Creactive Design, UK. "The stability, features and render speed make this release, without a doubt, the finest version of LightWave ever released, period."

"This LightWave update again illustrates NewTek's ability to quickly provide artists with the latest innovations to stay at the top of their games and do their best work," said Jay Roth, president 3D division, NewTek. "Now more than ever, LightWave's many benefits, including the ability to be used in tandem with other applications, make it a necessary part of the pipeline for those doing 3D projects of any kind."

Numerous visual effects projects benefit from LightWave's world-class capabilities, including the 2008 Visual Effects Emmy-winning "Battlestar Galactica" and National Geographic documentary "Inside the Living Body."