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modo 601 delivers character animation, dynamics, retopology modeling and rendering advances, plus a wide variety of workflow enhancements. We hope this tour will show you how modo is the uniquely creative tool for artists and designers.

This runs with Luxology and has a GPU prerender viewer so you can model in Ratrayed environments.
It also has trueSpace similar rigging with true Full Body IK rigs, with joint constraints when needed for traditional FK/IK rigs. Fort he price, this looks like one good package, but I want another opinion.

I am currently sticking to Softimage and it's integrated Mental Ray render engine for my current project, because I have a deadline, but I am researching other cheaper, easier and better alternatives for future projects. This program looks promising, and it's focus of a better user experience is drawing me. It reminds me of what trueSpace used to be, let me know what you think! Seems like a good package.

What do you think?

An excellent software, but I already have more than I can ever use.

I have been using it since 1.01 way back... I stopped upgrading at 4.01... that is till this morning. It looks pretty fun, same basic interface that I am so used to, and than all of the toys from version 5 and now v6... it will take a couple of weeks of noodling around to get up to speed. The videos I am seeing around are great, and the little I have played with the rigging and Posing system I like what I see.

I think they got the inspiration for the rigging and the posing from TS and Messiah, it is really quite interesting. I was wondering if anyone would take the best from each of those programs and incorporate them into their own system. Roman would be proud to know TS bones and rigging are making their way into the 3D market again hehehe. (still not as easy as TS bones, but they are pretty close in some ways)

I don't know if you would like it or not, XSI is a very powerful program, Modo has come a long way over the years, I am not sure if I would get Modo if I had another full featured app like any of the AD programs... Try the demo when they finally release it, maybe it clicks with your brain and the way you enjoy doing things...

Modo with character animation/bones! Sort of TS style bones! If the bones/skinning work then my 3D dreams have come true. Well, except the dream of having $1200 to spend on software.

Does anybody here know where I can purchase time ?
Peter

And if you’re a 3ds Max, Maya, Cinema 4D, Houdini, LightWave or Softimage user, then you can add modo 601 to your existing pipeline for just $795 (normally $1195) for a limited time only – that’s a 33% saving!

I wish...
At some point in your life this stuff becomes a toy. If I was younger and still in the graphic art profession this deal would make perfect sense.
Draise would be a perfect fit with this deal if he could fit it into his pipeline.

richlevy wrote:I have been using it since 1.01 way back... I stopped upgrading at 4.01... that is till this morning. It looks pretty fun, same basic interface that I am so used to, and than all of the toys from version 5 and now v6... it will take a couple of weeks of noodling around to get up to speed. The videos I am seeing around are great, and the little I have played with the rigging and Posing system I like what I see.

I think they got the inspiration for the rigging and the posing from TS and Messiah, it is really quite interesting. I was wondering if anyone would take the best from each of those programs and incorporate them into their own system. Roman would be proud to know TS bones and rigging are making their way into the 3D market again hehehe. (still not as easy as TS bones, but they are pretty close in some ways)

I don't know if you would like it or not, XSI is a very powerful program, Modo has come a long way over the years, I am not sure if I would get Modo if I had another full featured app like any of the AD programs... Try the demo when they finally release it, maybe it clicks with your brain and the way you enjoy doing things...

26
General Category / General Discussion / Re: CA tools in Modo 601
on: March 01, 2012, 01:14:09 AM

Started by FishStick - Last post by FishStick

What I would like to know is how fast the animation feedback is compared to Messiah. I noticed that in the ball mouth guy example, the demo was done with subpatches turned off.

Deformation feed back speed is a big consideration when evaluating the merits of CA animation soft. Something that Messiah handles well. Maybe someone here who has got 601 can chime in here

Hey Rich,
Dare to Share?
TIA

RAYMAN wrote:Does anybody here know where I can purchase time ?
Peter

You can borrow my time machine, Peter.

froo wrote:

RAYMAN wrote:Does anybody here know where I can purchase time ?
Peter

You can borrow my time machine, Peter.

Thank you ! Thats what I need !
Peter

After watching the video and seeing some of the other tutorial out there the software is quite amazing.

jeffroig wrote:After watching the video and seeing some of the other tutorial out there the software is quite amazing.

Lets put it that way the software is very very good BUT......if you want modelers you can get a few out there some even free and very good..
as a sculpting and painting program its also good but if you compare it to Sculptris+Zbrush+3DCoat .. well you get the idea.....
same with the render engine .. its very good no doubt but there ´s a lot of other choices too.....
many of you guys have a lot of tools that together are very good and can be used to make the same thing that you would do if you spent 1200 $
more......
Look at what Daz offered for free a few days ago ! Its quite amazing.......and i said in the above post... in the end all you need for all
these applications is enough time to make the best out of what you already got....and what you can get for low money and free....
my 2 cents....
But dont get me wrong.. Modo is awsome !;) Its a super all in all package...
Peter

RAYMAN wrote:

jeffroig wrote:After watching the video and seeing some of the other tutorial out there the software is quite amazing.

Lets put it that way the software is very very good BUT......if you want modelers you can get a few out there some even free and very good..
as a sculpting and painting program its also good but if you compare it to Sculptris+Zbrush+3DCoat .. well you get the idea.....
same with the render engine .. its very good no doubt but there ´s a lot of other choices too.....
many of you guys have a lot of tools that together are very good and can be used to make the same thing that you would do if you spent 1200 $
more......
Look at what Daz offered for free a few days ago ! Its quite amazing.......and i said in the above post... in the end all you need for all
these applications is enough time to make the best out of what you already got....and what you can get for low money and free....
my 2 cents....
But dont get me wrong.. Modo is awsome !;) Its a super all in all package...
Peter

You are very correct in the statement Peter.
I have Maya and use it more for the animation side than modeling.
I use TS for initial modeling and some basic editing, I then use Argile for sculpting and texturing and depending on what the final result is for I either use Poser or Maya.
For designing trees I use SpeedTree and TreeMagik.
I have the ability to do Facial motion capture and Full body capture.
To add more toys to the ones I already have would be just more confusion as I would not be able to add anything into my pipeline.
For those that are still developing their pipeline it may be a tool for them.

Hey True

As for realtime deformations to the characters, I have only been playing around with some low poly stuff; one of my own creations and one from the library (some Orgre character). My uneducated guess is, they are equivalent... take that for whatever you think it is worth. They have a pretty cool realtime preview in Modo, it appears to be doing a good job, again, I am by no means pushing the technology though lol.

I agree, for the hobbyist, Modo, LW, C4D and the AD collection are a bit pricey, I would not have any of them if I were purchasing today. I very seriously considered sticking with the older v4 Modo and just using Blender... this is just fun for me... the next version I "may" consider would be version 8 (skipping 7)... but by than, Blender will probably be more than sufficient...

One of the considerations for me, on this laptop 3DCoat does not work, nor do a couple of other programs; Modo keeps chugging along, as does Messiah, so why spoil one of the few things that is bringing me some joy in this life

I gotta get back to studying for exams, it hard enough prying myself away from the new toys...

Rich

Thanks Rich!
Still curious if you get a chance please do post your results puting them both through a stress test.
TIA

Well *@#!*

As always Modo looks great but you know if I were to purchase it then a week later it would be free! Then I would still not know how to use it as well.

DanX wrote:Well *@#!*

As always Modo looks great but you know if I were to purchase it then a week later it would be free! Then I would still not know how to use it as well.

Oh, you missed it!

It was free the week before 601 came out!

Figures

I'm happy to have TS and the free Daz stuff and I got the cheap Messiah offer. Sculptris would finish that set nicely. However, If I had so much money that I could spend that much on a hobby I'd get Modo instead of using several other programs. Learning one good interface/style instead of many, program quality and reliability, manuals/info/support, product and company longevity, integration of program abilities without transferring between programs, possibility to grow to greater levels of skill than with some cheaper less pro programs, would be some of the factors. Also some level of industry acceptance is there in case of business/job opportunities. If money was no problem at all then I'd get Vue too since Modo doesn't have some of its abilities.

Anytime i check modo, it looks more like truespace.. and that's why i didn't jump to modo..

Great render engine

Prodigy wrote:Anytime i check modo, it looks more like truespace.. and that's why i didn't jump to modo.. Great render engine

Hi Exalted Leader! Modo's TS similarities are another reason I'd like it.

Nice to see you out and about Prodigy!

I am not so sure I would say Modo and Truespace are too similar gui is very different for each, though they do have a similarity in the basic design approach... though that might be a bit of a stretch hehehe.

THe rigging in Modo does have a familiarity to it though, considering the time I spent testing TS bones it is a nice feeling. The system is solid, but it ain't there yet. For me a number of crashes, I just reloaded the program to correct some inconsistent behavior, and their are tools that need to be added (audio, and pose blending technology), these are things that Messiah does well, so it's not a big deal...

Still, I am having a good fuzzy warm feeling here, and I am only playing around with the character animation tools, there are still many new features I have not even looked into yet

I still have not really gotten to far into any keyframe animation, that will come soon enough, after some more playing around in the rigging section

I am posting from my cell phone so watch out for errors .
I spent the better part of the day checking out modo. Even downloaded and installed the demo. It is not an app that you can easily feel your way around in AT least for me. Soit does have a bit of a learning curve even for someone who is comfortable with numerous 3d apps. Also I am having a hard time finding official tutorials for it. This is a downer for a 1100 dollar app. Also it doesn't play well with Vue or at least any better than any other app that will export .dae. Collada sometimes works well when imported into Vue and sometimes not so well depending on the version and the parent app.
And there is currently no good way to use Vue power other than composite methods inside of Modo. And I think it has a better render engine than Vue at least so far as I have tested.

The last problem I have with it is that it currently is not that well accepted yet. So if you needed a job its not as likely you would even be allowed to use it in an already established pipeline.

Don't take this the negative way this is an impressive app.

Not that I want to be the defender for Luxology and Modo...
Plenty of tutorials on Lux's sit, free and pay, and the last time I checked there were a good number of them on YouTube and Vimeo. This is not a company like PMG, they do a lot of tutorials for their product and the user base is even better at getting the message out with good walkthroughs. Sites like Lyndas, and DigitalTutors have some great pay content. Also there are a number of sites that are just for getting links to free and pay tutorials. http://www.luxology.com/learning_resources/" lists many different sources, the site Source3d.com is a good one for free and pay tutorials.

As for ease of use, that is always very subjective and a personal decision, that is why companies should provide demos to try the software. It took me some time before I was comfortable with the software, it is nothing like TrueSpace. It is more similar to what XSI was like when I was using that package (before AD bought them out). That may not be your cup of tea, but few companies are looking to hire artists that only know TS , so from an employment perspective, it is good to be familar with many of the bigger packages.

A good number of the artists on the Lux site are freelance artists, they usually have experience with several packages, this allows them to be more resourceful with what types of projects they are capable of handling, as well as more employable if they need to fit into a specific pipeline for a larger studios.

As for what software a studio will let you use or require you to use, you are better to have Maya experience, than probably 3Dmax if you are looking for employment oppurtunities. I have heard some places do allow artists to use other packages, but that would depend on what you are doing, modeling is modeling no matter what the program, if they have animation and rendering requirements they are probably going to want you to use their pipeline...

I wish all software would import and export all of the same formats, and do it so that other packages would work, unfortunately that is just not the case. Some do it better than others. Vue and Modo do play well with each other, though I am not sure what it is you are looking to do. Animation can be brought into Vue, but I tend to use Vue to Modo more than the other way... ymmv.

As I mentioned, if you are looking for employment opportunities, go with the AD stuff, they have a great student discount program also, that is the cheapest way to get the seat time with their software for very little or no money...

Hope this message was of some use for you.

Rich

Can i chirp in on this ,i have modo 501 which has no organic rigging, shame,
i use zbrush models then rig them in blender this works perfect with vue for animation and rendering,
i would like to know if the rigging in modo 601 works in vue infinite.
I always update my apps because of the bug fixes and new tools but with modo
i dont know if it is worth it when blender does it good .one prob may be if blender bin the collada export
which i read somewhere. to update modo it will cost me 300 euros ,blender is free
Ralph

My question is..... in the animation in Modo 601 only Keyframe based? With Fcurve posibilites? Or can we also use animation clips/mixer and/or animation layers? Also, does it have audio support for lipsyncing?

Do any of you know?

I think full body IK is handy, but not handy if you can't sophisticatidly animate it.

Draise- I think it is all going to depend on how sofisticately you want to handle it. Right now, I am not that far into the system, and frankly the docs, while well written, do not seem to cover ever minor piece of the puzzle, at least not all from the rigging part of the manual where I have my face buryied most of the time... no audio for right now, but that appears to be a BIG concern for many and there are people working on it... I think Lux may have a solution in the works also, but that is only based on what I am reading over at their forums and posts from the president of the company Brad Peebler... but they have not mentioned it will be in a point upgrade specifically...
Animation is keyframed and deformers (which appear to be VERY powerful) also, procedural appears to be possible, again, it is very early into this thing, so, it will take some time for all the goodness to become evident

Pugman- only based on the posts I am seeing in the Lux forums, I have not yet tried it. it appears there is a problem with the collada right now... I am guessing Lux will be spending some time getting the kinks out of the system. People using the Unity engine say it is working fine for them, I think they are using the FBX format though... but I do not know any of this first hand, just reciting what I have read...

I don't want to sound like I am promoting this software, I like it, and I am hoping for a couple of point upgrades to flesh it out. It has some really cool features, and I think when they get the kinks ironed out it will be more than sufficient for my needs... what it does not do Messiah does, so I can work around most of the kinks... ymmv


Rich

HEHE It is good to see a lot of opinions on this. It helps to talk about these type of things. The five minutes I played with the modo DEMO. One thing I did notice is that it was extremely fast with any thing I did. Just doing pushing and pulling and bridging faces ect. Also very smooth as well. Again the little render was so fast but I had nothing complicated just the default lighting. It seems to be a great app.

The animation is what I was talking about importing into Vue. This seems to always be a problem and I am not sure if it is eon or everyone else. But Collada seems to have issues when imported into Vue from some applications (all of Daz 3d apps). They loose animation data or only retain parts of it. And I believe Collada is the only file format that can be exported out of MODO and imported into Vue that holds animation data. Is this correct?

I did read a post in the MODO forums about how it plays with VUE but the post I read used 3rd party software to convert file formats before the transfer. My point is that from first look it seem to not be any more compatible with Vue than any other 3D app out there not that Vue is something that cannot be done without. It is just important to me because I have a large investment with that package.

As long as FBX exports well from MODO then you can use it to import into Unity for game content but then Daz studio can do the same even with the new genesis figure and its not 1100 bucks.

A question for long time modo users? How would you compare MODO's modeling toolkit to something like Hexagon or Silo? I am guessing that with the obj format Modo like many other apps would play well with Z brush?


It would be nice to use one package to do everything but I am just trying to justify the cost and the images being produced with modo are insanely impressive. It just seems like its over priced if the only thing you are getting out of it is the render engine. Because with a little patience you can produce good quality images from many packages even free like Blender. What are the benefits of MODO that make it worth the money to a new user?

DanX wrote: What are the benefits of MODO that make it worth the money to a new user?

You get soar knees and your wife gets a heartattack when she hears the price.....

Granted yes.. I think the price is a bit high..

But compaired to AD software at 3000 to 3500 dollars, it's not a bad catch.

DanX- if you ask anyone that uses Modo about the modeler, you are going to get a very positive response, that and it's renderer are it's 2 strongest points. The sculpting tools are good for getting general form but ZBrush and 3DCoat are far better. It's painting tools are good, but ZBrush and 3DCoat are better (by far)... As a modeler though, very fast, lots of flexibility and now better deformers than before so it can really do a nice job. Add to that volumetrics, cel shading, dynamics, new deformers and modeling enhancements.... it's some nice toys... is it better than others? Only you can decide for sure.

And as always, my disclamor if I were buying new, I would just go with Blender and deal with it. If I had been upgraded to 5 as in Pugman situation, I probably would have let this one slide, waiting for the next upgrade in 18 months or so... The new animations tools look like they have a ton of potential, but I am running into little niggles and I am sure others are also... not many animations are popping up yet in any of the forums or on Youtube/Vimeo, so I am thinking most are dealing with the same things I m right now. My trust in Lux is greater than my faith in PMG , but Messiah only cost 40.00 dollars, that is just a cheap date around here hehehe...

This is from Rich Hurrley, a Pixar character TD and modeler. He is the most knowledgeable rigger in the Modo system right now. THe stuff he has been showing it pretty awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asy9g_Sk ... C8A4F404D7"

I think if you are looking for a all round app to buy for your work
Modo is a good but has a hard learning curve if you only use it for your hobby
The i would say get blender it can do more and has the same hard learning curve
I still must learn modo ,no time while im trying to keep up with zbrush

Cool

Modo is a nice tool set. So I am back where I was when 501 came out. Its just to high a price right now for me. But some day I may cough it up . As long as I can keep my day job. I wish I had bared down hard last year in Z brush and really got to know it well because there is a local job opportunity that I am just a bit shy of being qualified for. At least I am not confident enough to gamble my kids future on it

The US military has a 475 million dollar video game budget this year and a local company has won a 59 million contract to develop two games. One will be classified and for training purposes and the other a commercial game headed up by the Call of Duty guy.

You can read about it here if you want to move to Florida for a job http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/army-47536--.html In the article it tells you what website to apply at. you can just buy me MODO if you get the job

apply here http://www.Goldrush77.com.

RAYMAN wrote:

DanX wrote: What are the benefits of MODO that make it worth the money to a new user?

You get soar knees and your wife gets a heartattack when she hears the price.....

Even though its winter the rug here isn't thick enough....

Long time no see! I hope everyone here is doing well!

I've been keeping my eye on modo for a couple of years now, and have really been digging around the past couple of days. I think with the CA tools finally being implemented, I will take the plunge when I get a chance.

Of course for me it's most important that it plays nice with Unity, which as I understand it does. I currently have a pipeline with several packages that works (Silo>> UVLayout>> 3DCoat>> messiah>> Unity), but I'm always worried that could break. Although it's a good modeling app, I particularly don't like that Silo has been all but abandoned. So for me, the more I can do under one roof, the better. Unity does support modo's native LXO format too, so that will make transferring/updating objects a bit faster and easier. I think the current CA tools will work fine for Unity content when exported via FBX (hopefully this will eventually work with native LXO as well). I have used messiah to create animations for Unity, but the rigging isn't really optimized for game development. It looks like modo's CA tools might make it a bit easier to create lighter skeletons.

As I said, I like the idea of doing as much as possible in one app. Modo looks like it's got some great tools that will make for a smoother pipeline to Unity. The rendering engine looks really good too... the new skin shader... Ooooo perty!

This video was posted on the Unity forums. Looks like a pretty good setup for modo/Unity goodness.
http://vimeo.com/37877007

Love Silo but agree with Délé on the abandonment thing. And Nice video on Modo and Unity another + for Modo. FBX is a stable format or at least it seems to be but Unity will suck up just about any format that holds animation data.