We'd like to take this opportunity to wish all of our finest customers a Happy New Year 2019.

It's been an interesting ride for us, this 2018 thing. ;)

We have just released exrTrader and exrTrader Pro 2018.1. exrTrader 2018.1 is a free update for exrTrader 2018.

exrTrader Pro 2018 adds Cryptomatte support to exrTrader.

exrTrader Pro 2018.1

exrTrader Pro adds Cryptomattes to exrTrader.

Cryptomattes - originally devised by Jonah Friedman and Andy Jones from psyop - allow you to store automatically generated mattes for all items or surfaces in a single OpenEXR image.
These can then be extracted in a compositing application using freely available plugins.

Cryptomatte in exrTrader Pro allows you so save all Cryptomattes in a single or in separate files.
The levels determine how many different mattes may be stored per single pixel. 6 is usually a sufficient number.
You can also decide if the manifest - the file containing the names of the mattes - is stored embedded in the EXR image or as a separate file.
exrTrader also allows you to select any of the OpenEXR compression types that are compatible with Cryptomatte.

Mattes can be extracted in compositing applications using freely available plugins, available both for Nuke or Fusion - a free plugin for After Effects is currently in beta as well.
Cryptomattes combine the mattes with the names of the surfaces or items they store. This allows you to re-use selections across scenes if those names don't change.

exrTrader Pro uses the same plugin file as exrTrader, but requires a new license to unlock the exclusive functionality.

We have just released qckPck 2018, a navigation system for Lightwave 3D Layout. Its aim is to speed up navigation and common tasks drastically by providing super quick access to often used functionality. 

qckPck 2018 includes a panel optimized for shortcuts coupled with menus optimized for specific tasks, such as opening the surface editor for selected surfaces, picking items or adding and removing plugins.

You will be surprised by how much quicker you will perform your day-to-day tasks in Layout.

We have just released nodeMeister 2018.2, a free update for nodeMeister.

The focus on this release has been the general workflow of using nodeMeister, including presets, working with multiple scenes as well as compatibility with überPass.

One major change is the ability for the nodeMeister node to host a local graph. This makes it behave like a compound - but still allows you to add controls for the inputs of the underlying graph.

You can copy from a local to a global graph or vice versa. This allows you, for example, to create locally use the copy of a global graph if you need it tweaked in one specific case.

The node settings can now be stored in a preset and recalled again. We've also added a button to open the master plugin from the node for convenience.

Presets in the master plugin now allow you to either load a preset as a new graph or replace an existing graph.
To make this possible, the nodeMeister node handles changes in the graphs it references much more robustly.

We have worked closely with Oliver Hotz from Origami Digital to make sure that überPäss and nodeMeister work together seamlessly.

We want take the db&w Tools to the next level and we want you to be a part of it. Support us on Patreon.

As of November 1st 2018, all future version will only be available to our Patrons on Patreon.

db&w Tools are a collection of plugins for LightWave 3D. Previously these were available as a free download.

What We Intend to Do

With your support we want to make db&w Tools even better:

• Add a new plugin to the db&w Tools every month. We will allow you to choose between different ideas that we propose.
• You will be a part of development - we'll keep you posted as we progress.
• will host a Q&A stream per month as well as one live development stream per month.
• If we meet our stretch goal, we can up the ante and add two plugins per month - or work on a single, larger one.
• The builds you get will be personalised (your name in the about section) but not dongle locked.
• You will get a discount of 1% on our regular products per month that you're pledged - up to 12%.
• Join us on our Discord server, in a section exclusive to patrons.

You can be a patron for as little as US$3 per month.

We have just released nodeMeister 2018.1.1, a minor update for nodeMeister.

Changes in 2018.1.1

• Optimized the evaluation of the node leading to substantial speed improvements in some cases
• Added a node menu to switch from the node to the nodeMeister graph and back.

nodeMeister 2018.1.1 is available for registered users to download now, an updated demo version is available in our demo section as well.

nodeMeister 2018.1.1 is available for LightWave 3D 2018.0.3 and higher on Windows or MacOS for 89€ (excl. VAT).