Modelling, texturing and rendering app finally gets character animation as part of its ‘most significant release ever’, not to mention dynamics, volumetrics and retopology tools
Luxology has ended years of press and forum speculation by adding character animation to modo 601, complementing the existing modelling, texturing and rendering tools.
“For some reason, people got really freaked out that we didn’t have a character animation system,” said Luxology president Brad Peebler. “It was actually quite insulting to be asked when modo would become a ‘full’ application.”
The new release finally consigns that insult to history, adding additional deformers, bones and a switchable full-body IK solver to modo’s toolset.
As might be expected of a product whose users don’t all come from a conventional 3D animation background, version 601 includes a number of features aimed at making the process more intuitive, including the option to create animations by pulling characters into position with the new Pose tool.
Dynamics and volumetrics and rendering, oh my
Character animation is just one of many toolsets overhauled in this update. Luxology describes modo 601 as its “most significant release ever”, with a product checklist running to over 50 major new features.
Dynamics is one of the other big additions. The Recoil system – formerly a $199 plugin – has now been integrated into modo itself, featuring hard and soft-body dynamics based on version 2.79 of the Bullet engine.
modo 601 also adds a dedicated retopology viewport and a new Topology Pen tool, described by Luxology as the “Swiss Army knife of topology modelling”. Beta testers we spoke to compared it favourably to specialist tools such as TopoGun.
The rendering and shading toolsets have also been significantly overhauled, with the addition of new volumetric rendering capabilities, render-time Boolean and bevelling operations, and new hair and skin shaders. Cel, contour and halftone shaders provide scope for generating renders in a range of non-photorealistic styles.
The Preview Renderer can now be used to progressively refine an image to full quality, with the option to restrict calculation to a specific period of time per frame; and there is a comprehensive new render pass system.
Better, faster, stronger
Modelling and texturing receive a number of enhancements, including blob modelling and the option to ‘paint’ or ‘sculpt’ with particles.
Performance has also been improved, with Luxology quoting reduction in load times of up to 10 times over modo 501 in certain of its test scenes.
However, it will almost certainly be those character animation tools that garner most of the headlines – along with a special place in their developers’ hearts.
“[Using tools like these] one or two people could produce an entire animation,” Peebler said. “That’s very special to me, because it’s what got me into the industry in the first place.”
modo 601 is available now for Windows and Mac OS X, price $1,195.
Visit the Luxology website for more information
In a separate announcement, Luxology also released two dedicated ‘loaders’ for importing CAD models into modo 601. The $495 Basic CAD Loader imports files in XT format, while the Advanced CAD Loader adds support for STEP and IGES files and costs $695.
Updated 7 March 2012:
Watch modo 601: Overview
Watch modo 601: Volume cloud fly thru
Luxology has just posted a new video online showing a quick fly through of the modo 601 volume item
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