I can tell you why. Yesterday a new minor update appeared for Lightwave 3D. Just have a look here:
http://www.newtek.com/lightwave/benefits.phpThe update manual showing only the new features is more than 100 pages thick. And please look at the amount of work they have done in the link above. This is only a minor update. It is LW9.6. This means they already made 6 FREE updates for their customers. They are listening to bug reports, to complains and they are getting crash reports and remove bugs.
This is the way you get a stable robust software with the tools you just need to work. And it shows a very good alternative to the yearly and expensive upgrades from Autodesk. A Lightwave user only has to pay for the next major upgrade (LW 10). And this takes a few years.
Look what they have done, they have soft IK to prevent IK popping. This is the first animation software in the world providing this feature. They have great in- and output now. FBX, OBJ and Collada are tested with ZBrush, Maya and other tools. I also did some tests with 3d-engines and it runs perfectly.
I compared the lighting system of LW lately with Blender and there is a huge difference. Sometimes it is worth to spend money for a good software, support and future development.
