Modo is 3D modelling software developed by the company Foundry.
Although it was first launched in 2004, its first stable release wasn’t until September 2020, which is why you might only recently have been hearing about it. The software is available on Windows, Linux, and macOS, and it has capabilities for polygon modelling, sculpting, texturing animation, and rendering.
The software’s developers focused more on creativity, concepts, and beauty, rather than technical aspects. With that said, Modo also boasts a number of tools to get technical with shadows, visual effects (VFX), mesh size, and such.
Although it’s possible to do the complete design pipeline – from modelling or sculpting through animation to rendering – Modo’s core strength lies in modelling and rendering (which has a lot to do with the mindset of its target audience). Modelling in Modo combines three techniques, which makes the process very fluid.
Modo’s rendering tools allow the model to have good lighting and shadows, vibrant colours, and interesting camera angles when possible. That’s why Modo is considered to be more focused on the artistic side of things.
In this article, we’ll introduce you to its features, and some resources where you can learn more about the program.
Modelling in Modo is a little different from other modelling software because it combines polygon modelling, sculpting, and procedural modelling all in the same environment. This makes the modelling process flow easily.
Polygon modelling consists of editing the polygons that make up the mesh of the object, by scaling, rotating, and performing other modifications. You can edit polygons by selecting vertices, edges, or faces. Modo provides additional functions such as splines and loops.
The sculpting functions work similarly to those in any sculpting program. Starting with a sphere, as if it was a ball of clay, you can model shapes with the help of different tools that flatten, broaden, pinch, and smooth the model. Advanced sculpting tools can also be found in the Paint layout.
Finally, procedural modelling means using algorithms to create a model rather than focusing on the shapes first. For example, L-system lets you achieve realistic renders by programming a set of parameters. This is ideal for objects such as detailed trees or grass, which you don’t want to model parts one by one. Instead, you give the general parameters, and the software creates the model for you.
This combination of techniques lets you have a lot of creative freedom in the modelling process and frees you from worrying about the limitations of the program.
UVing refers to working with vertex and mesh maps, which is the result of unwrapping an existing mesh. This means you can take an object’s mesh and convert it into a 3D map. This is useful for creating textures, as UVing lets you see very clearly where each spot of your texture will be applied.
Beyond UV unwrapping, Modo also lets you paint directly in your 3D space onto an object. Instead of creating a texture and applying it to the model, you can directly paint on the model without having to import an image. For this, Modo has a selection of brushes and colour palettes.
The animation workflow, in short, consists of creating your model, adding a camera and lights, and adding keyframes in your timeline with the key poses of your character. Then, Modo is able to interpolate the frames in-between to obtain a smooth animation.
This is the process where Modo’s rendering engine interprets the settings for your objects’ lights, colours, and materials, as well as the camera you’ve set up for your scene. You can add textures, colours, and materials to any objects present in the scene to change how they will behave. You can also have warm and cold lights, as well as many other coloured light sources.
Modo users praise its rendering capabilities because it uses very vibrant colours, with high quality and complex textures.
This is a unique function that we haven’t seen in many other modelling programs. If you’re working on a project that’s intended to be used with a VR headset, Modo has a specialized layout to set it up.
Even cooler, Modo lets you work on the model while using the headset. This is mostly used to check proportions and lights without having to exit the program, render it, and then load it onto your VR. Instead, you can do everything while still inside Modo.
We hope this article was helpful to teach you the basics of Modo. However, the best way to learn is to get creating yourself! So, here are some good tutorials to help you get started in your Modo journey:
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