NewTek has announced two major changes to LightWave 3D, its 3D rendering and animation program. The first is the release of v9.3, a free update aimed at improving the rendering engine: lines can now be assigned motion blur, and two sub-surface scattering shaders have been added that should improve both quality and speed. Performance tweaks have also been made elsewhere throughout the program. The software development kit, meanwhile, has been enhanced for easier creation of custom effects and plug-ins.

Coinciding with v9.3 is the first Universal Binary edition of the program, enabling better performance on Intel Macs, particular in regards to multi-core processing. It also uses new menu and screen-drawing code for a faster interface, and has further been given a new audio core, with scrubbing features that allow users to match animation to a soundtrack. As with v9.3, the Universal update is free.

Until October 31st, NewTek is bundling Lightwave together with SpeedEDIT, its video editing program. Together the full package costs $895, cutting $495 off the normal cost; owners of previous versions of LightWave can buy the bundle for $395.