Full three-part release features updates in direct and procedural modeling, rendering, animation, and rigging; update review webinar set for November 17.
Media, entertainment, and digital design software developer Foundry has launched Modo 14, the complete three-part series update. With a focus on accelerating artists’ workflows, the release rounds up the 2020 updates delivered with several new features, such as USD support, Rig Clay, Grease Pencil, MeshFusion Embossing, and Ghost/Xray Viewport.
Alongside these new features, many aspects of the existing workflows for modeling, procedurals, UV tools, and rendering were refined for not only increased creative control but also boosted performance, with notable gains of more than 10x speed improvements with booleans, selections, and rendering.
“This year, more than ever, we are committed to supporting artists to boost their creative potential,” commented Shane Griffith, Director of Product - Digital Design, Foundry. “Engineered to accelerate everyday workflows, Modo 14 focused on meaningful features and enhancements requested by our customer base. More than 60 new unique features and workflow enhancements round out this final instalment and complete Modo 14 as an essential part of any 3D Artist’s Toolbox.”
Watch the Modo 14 overview:
Modo 14 improvements:
Direct Modeling
- The direct modeling toolset known for its shared focus on workflow and technical innovation continues this emphasis with its array of direct modeling with over 17 total features and enhancements in this area. New upgrades include the new Mitering Offset and Sharp Corner options for Edge Chamfer, as well as the new Chamfer Edit tool for direct or procedural modelling, providing artists the flexibility to revise the offset, depth, or direction of their work creatively.
Procedural Modeling:
- Introduced in Modo 10, the procedural modeling toolsets have provided a system built for the future of modeling. These releases brought improvements in all the direct modeling features including meaningful additions to MeshFusion, Procedural Vmaps and Keep Vertices for Deleted Geometry.
Rendering & Shading:
- mPath has received an array of upgrades- GPU acceleration via Optix 7, the addition of intel embree support, cryptomatte for intelligent and lightweight automated masking, and shading workflow enhancements from the PBR Loader and Shader Tree Scale Groups.
UV Enhancements:
- UV Relax has been added to the procedural system; with the addition of Real World Size, the Modos UV tools have become an important part of any 3D design arsenal.
Animation & Rigging:
- By adding streamlined IK/FK switching for planar IK, Rig Clay for animators allows more interactive manipulation of shapes or set keys, and USD import/Export for industry-standard exchange.
Performance:
- The advanced viewport has been optimized for faster shader tree processing. Booleans have been accelerated by as much as 380x in complex examples. Component selection is twice as fast, and edge removal operations have shown improvements as high as 100x. Furthermore, Edge Relax is now 5x faster.
Viewport:
- Upgraded Transparency rendering accelerates and improves the quality of these complex effects. Ghost and Xray offer practical visualization options to improve everyday tasks like modeling, layout, and rigging. The new Topology Presets provide a dramatically superior retopo experience, and Markup enables artists to intuitively notate scenes in the viewport for improved communication and collaboration.
Workflow and User Experience:
- Modo 14 continues to expand on its workflow-focus with many relevant enhancements like Trackball rotation, Form Presets, and Alt-Click for Inactive Mesh.
The Foundry will host a webinar about the latest updates of Modo 14 on November 17:
‘Foundry Webinar: Modo 14 -The Completed Series’
Hosted By:
- Foundry director of product-digital design, Shane Griffin
- Foundry product-designer, Greg Brown.
About the webinar:
- Modo 14.2 completes this year’s series with even more features and enhancements to accelerate your creativity. Ongoing modeling improvements to Edge Chamfer and Boolean performance improvements, improved topology views and Vertex Map support in AVP, USD import, and a wide range of mPath and Denoising improvements are some of the features that make Modo 14 an unmissable release.
Register for the Foundry Webinar: Modo 14 -The Completed Series here.
Source: Foundry
