MODO is a great choice if you need a tool that’s easy to use and gets the job done quickly and effectively. It’s perfect for 3D modeling, concept design, and industrial visualization, and it’s an excellent choice if you’re working on a tight deadline. Plus, the MODO community is vibrant and full of learning opportunities, so you can always keep expanding your skills.
If you want to learnmodo, check out PixelFondue. William Vaughn and his team offer concise and helpful tips and insights into MODO’s many features. Once you’ve got a few scenes ready, give their render farm a shot – it’s easy! MODO and its customers have a special place in our history as a rendering provider. Our MODO renders farm was one of the first to be added to our list of supported 3d software.
History of MODO Software
MODO is a 3D suite that was created by some of the original developers of NewTek’s LightWave. It was designed by Luxology LLC but is now developed by The Foundry. MODO has gained a reputation in VFX and film making and is hailed by industry insiders as a reliable pre-visualization and asset-building method.
MODO’s annual membership is very affordable when compared to other similar 3d applications. For example, C4d and 3ds Max can cost upwards of $900 to $1500. However, The Foundry provides educational licenses for students and colleges at very reasonable prices of $156 and $188. Additionally, they offer a 30-day preview of MODO that comes with instructional materials to help get you started.
Table of Contents
Curve of Learning
Intuitiveness is highly contextual. What works for one person’s workflow might not make sense to someone with a different way of thinking. There are plenty of MODO tools available online to help you get started quickly. You can find MODO instructional videos on The Foundry’s community website. Learning from these videos and answering questions on the platform is a great way to get started with the software. There are also plenty of training videos available on YouTube.
There’s an active community of MODO users on Facebook that you can join to get feedback on your work and pointers from more experienced users. You can also find helpful MODO tutorials and tips on William Vaughn’s Vimeo channel.
Creating a model
MODO was once the go-to fashion software for many designers. Its modeling tools are well-known for being excellent for both direct and procedural modeling and have been characterized as seamless and intuitive. However, underneath the surface is a complex workflow that makes dealing with meshes and their components even more effective. For example, the workplace is MODO’s way of indicating which coordinate system is being used in a scene. By understanding this hidden complexity, users can get the most out of the software and create truly stunning fashion designs.
MODO makes it easy to select the mesh components you need for your project by providing a variety of selection options. For example, you can use an alternating edge pattern and then use the UP key to expand the patterned selection. To select the loops of those edges, simply use the L key.
With the Select Pattern feature, you can choose various items in the scene using a variety of choices. Geometry restrictions allow you to snap a mesh to a mesh in the background based on an index of all of its components. In a hurry, you can clip those pouches into a character’s utility belt. MeshFusion makes hard surface modeling easier by allowing you to perform real-time boolean operations on subdivision surface meshes and then modify them procedurally using a node network.
Shading and Texturing
With the Variation texture layer, you can add different values to your meshes depending on various parameters, such as mesh bits, particles, and objects. This way, you can see how your model will look without having to unwrap or tint it first.
The Shader Tree is a tool that allows you to control the shading of your model’s surface. It works in a similar way to Photoshop, with each layer enabling you to instantly toggle those shading properties for viewport preview, add material layers to objects or mesh elements, and more. The Shader Tree often comes with a good range of presets for quickly and efficiently identifying surfaces for your models.
Animation and Rigging
Creating complex rigs in MODO is simple and easy to do with the node-based rigging workflow. By using the skeleton tool and allowing “intersection” when adding joints, you can snap bones to the center of volume of any portion of the mesh. This makes it easy to create rigs that can be reused later on.
Weight containers in MODO are extremely helpful because they give you the ability to map weights onto objects that are outside of your mesh. This way, you can use those weights as weight maps for other meshes. Another helpful rigging feature is the order of operations function. This function allows you to force your morph deformations without sacrificing other morph values that you may have set after. Lastly, the setup feature in rigging is great because it allows you to make changes to your rig whilst still maintaining your animations.
You can give your project a more natural flow by animating with MODO’s Actor, Pose, and Action animation method. This allows you to switch clips and poses to fit different scenes. Rather than spending extra time animating between active render cameras, almost all of MODO’s attributes or channels can be animated.
Conclusion
MODO is an excellent tool for anyone who works in 3D modeling, concept design, or industrial visualization. When you’re working on a design or illustration project with a tight deadline, MODO can be a huge help. If you want to learn more about this tool, check out PixelFondue. William Vaughn and his team offer concise and helpful tips and insights into MODO’s many features. Once you’ve got a few scenes ready, give our farm a try. It’s easy!
