Before I begin this review I want to take this opportunity and thank everybody at Luxology for giving us the exclusive review of the modo 203 update.
My review of Modo 301 picks up where 203 left off. For an introduction to modo, please see my previous review.
Interface:
Modo has been known for having a very sleek and easy to use interface. With the new addition of tools in Modo 301 one would think the interface would start to get cluttered but it is simply not the case. The new features fit nicely in the Modo interface with the simple addition of tabs to select the different set of tools. In the render tab you will now notice a time line similar to many animation packages on the market making animation scrubbing a very seamless process. Luxology has definitely succeeded in packing powerhouse features into a familiar interface without altering workflow.
Sculpting
Sculpting is very much the "new thing" in the latest generation of 3d modeling applications so it was only natural for Luxology to want to take a bite of the market. With other applications that have made their place firmly in the sculpting market it's always a risk to bring features like this into an application with risks of not performing well enough to be compared negatively with those other applications. Modo has fantastic sculpting tools. I will admit, I was skeptical as I'm sure you are reading this right now but I was more then pleasantly suprised. There are two sculpting methods to Modo that both have great qualities. The first is just normal subdivided sculpting which is what you find in most other sculpting programs. You can subdivide and sculpt each level of detail and then retopologize to create a low polygon cage. One notable downside to this method is that once you subdivide you are not able to step back down to the lower level. This could be a problem if you need to change the overall shape of a portion of your model but to flesh out ideas it is not that big of a deal in my opinion. The second method (which you can use with the first) is image map based sculpting. This is a very fantastic way to sculpt detail in your model without having to use huge polygon counts. With a nice UV map and a large enough image map you can create some very intricate details on your model without sacrificing system performance. A very nice feature with using image based displacement painting is vector displacement mode. Using this (which is default) acts as a normal map in that you are not limited to just height and depth like standard grey scale displacements. With vector mapping you are able to use all three axis of 3d space to push, pull, and move your model as you see fit. A very great feature when using Image based displacement is that you can use them in layers and turn them on or off to show and hide detail while working.
The sculpting tools in Modo are similar to most applications as you would expect. You have your push tool, smooth, move, inflate, and pinch. Other tools that Modo offers that most do not are the Carve tool which is similar to the scratch tool in Mudbox, the Fold tool which is usefull for creating deformaties in an organic character such as wrinkles and folds of skin. The spin tool is great for breaking symmetry in a model or creating great subtle details in a model or cranked up to create some great designs. The Emboss tool acts like a stamp which lets you use an image map or standard brush to push and pull out the details. All in all a very full toolset for all your sculpting needs.
There are very awesome videos of sculpting in Modo on Luxology's website that are definetly worth a look at http://www.luxology.com/training/
Painting
With 301 Luxology has greatly enhanced 3d surface painting for your projects. Since my last review (of Modo 203) the painting within modo has become much more responsive and incredibly easy to use with some very handy tools. Combined with the sculpting tools Modo 301 is an incredibly usefull all around painting application. The procedural noise brush and jitter options make creating detail, dirt, grime, and other random textures a breeze! 301 has definetly become more of a one stop shop for modeling, uv mapping, and painting your models without having to export, import, export and so on with other applications. That being said, Modo still "Plays well with others" if you do prefer your current workflow.
Another great new feature introduced in Modo 301 is the animation toolset. Now, even though in this version you are not able to rig and animate characters like other programs out there this is just Luxology's first installment of animation to their application. WIth Modo 301 you are able to do keyframed animations and pretty much every aspect of the application can be keyframed which can make for some very intereting effects and animations. You are able to animate areas of a material just by clicking on the keyframe button next to the item, camera movements and lens distortion, there's really so much you are able to do with 301's animation tools. One thing that I personally enjoy with the animation tools is that they feel comfortable. There wasn't much to learn to start working with animation and being able to create Mograph animation inside Modo is incredibly fun. As I mentioned before there are really no character animation tools with 301 that does not mean you can not render character animations in Modo. With the use of the MDD format you are able to animate in other applications and export the MDD file that Modo can read once you import the character model or what ever it may be you are working with. This is a great alternative for Luxology to allow character rendering inside Modo until they begin working with their own Character Animation toolset.
Here is an example I created using the new Text creation tool which is something that may be minor but will be useful for many Modo users.
Double-click to play.
Rendering
Rendering has been enhanced in 301 and with new fun features. Network rendering is one of the new features that is probably the easiest network rendering system I have used in my time as a 3d artist. It really takes no effort to set up Modo clients to render your current masterpiece. Install Modo on the machines you wish to use as render nodes and they will be set as Slave Mode. Set the shared directory, and from there you are able to call up the machines from your main rendering machine and call your render slaves for your fast rendering delight. This is just another great example of how Luxology makes things simple for the end user which other companies can learn a thing about. In the lighting department Luxology has introduced the use of IES (Photometric) lighting in Modo. IES lighting is a light that uses an external IES light file that you can find on the internet and vairous other ways to create your own, that gives a more realistic lighting simulation. This lighting style seems to give a more acurate light effect that is great for interior scenes with artificial lighting. Museums, street lights, things of this nature are great for IES lights. The over all rendering power of Modo has been improved with 301 notably the blurred reflections have very much increased in render time.
Bottom Line:
The bottom line is that Modo 301 is a brilliant release for Luxology. The sculpting is up to par with any other sculpting application on the market, the introduction of animation is incredibly fun and easy to use. I personally can not wait to see what the Modo community comes up with using this release!
