Modo 701 ("end to end"?)

[rcallicotte]

Modo seems to be on target to have solid animation and solid particles. It might be a couple of more versions, though, but many advancements have been made. Many are hoping for intricate inclusion of Nuke and / or Mari functonality, too.

And, there's an announcement tonight from The Foundry about something revolutionary. It will be interesting to hear it and it has nothing to do with Modo, as I understand it.

[TheBadger]

I have been talking with the MODO people. I think it may be the way for me to go. My only doubts are related to if I can upgrade to 801 for free or not. IF I can, then I will go for it. If not I will... Be back here ranting about software companies, probably Im waiting for a response on the update part now.

But on a note for my OP. I found a video that is of planets and space stuff that should inspire all us TG peeps. IT is good enough (i think) for its own thread, have a look for it.

[rcallicotte]

LWCAD is COOL.   

[Kadri]

LWCAD is COOL.   

Yep

I thought a little more about Modo and Lightwave Michael.
For hard modeling like spaceships,buildings etc. i would easily say Lightwave.
I don't know Modo much to say more but Character modeling like in Zbrush etc. is harder in Lightwave
and you should probably look to Zbrush and-or 3DCoat for this (maybe even if you buy Modo) .
The old architecture of Lightwave makes using models made with high poly counts harder to use.
This will probably dealt with in the next or another version but for now that is one negative aspect that you should be aware.
Especially as i know that you are heavy handed in objects and images in general
I think you are going to go to the Modo route anyway from what i see from your posts.
But i wanted to say this to be more objective.

[TheBadger]

I think you are going to go to the Modo route anyway from what i see from your posts.

Understandable, but no. I have not decided. Actually, I don't feel any more certain than I did a year ago. Its just I have had Maya to occupy my time.

Really I think this will come down to dollars.

MODO=$1495 + Meshfusion=$395 =1890 + some other plugins +500 for full updates= not cheap.

What dose lightwave cost with cad + whatever else you would recommend? IF they are close I am still where I am now. But if there is a big gap, then I will have a much better idea of what I can and should do.

[rcallicotte]

I would wait for sales, if I was you. Newtek just had a really good one and who knows what LW 12 will be like.

Modo 801 might not be out for awhile, but the word is it might be a while.

Have you checked the Quixel Freelancers Suite? It looks sweet.     This deal alongside the Allegorithmic Freelancer deal together could do just about everything you want to do in texturing.

zBrush and 3D Coat might be useful, depending on what you want to do. Everything really depends on your goals.

http://www.wtools3d.com/ - The programmer is very active.

[Kadri]

https://www.lightwave3d.com/buy-lightwave/
http://www.wtools3d.com/product.php  -    http://www.sharbor.com/vendors/WTO.html

995 $ + 299 $ =  1294 $ -lightwave and LWCad-  Lightwave update is $495 . All these prices are at low for now.
There are some very nice free plugin like the Treemaker from Denis Pontonnier etc.
And other good plugins but they depend on what you want and how much you are willing go spend Michael.
https://www.lightwave3d.com/assets/plugins/ and many more.
https://www.lightwave3d.com/third_party/

I am still thinking about to buy or not to buy the "Octane GPU Renderer" (Nvidia only) , "Kray" and "Turbulence FD" for example.
Not altogether of course

And if you have time and want to know much more this thread is like just for you Michael.
Look at the  Subject   "Professional Maya user - why Lightwave and not Modo?"    here :
http://forums.newtek.com/showthread.php?134352-Professional-Maya-user-why-Lightwave-and-not-Modo
19 pages. But i think you will like it.
And the same guy in the Modo forum
http://community.thefoundry.co.uk/discussion/topic.aspx?f=32&t=74429&page=0
4 pages.

[rcallicotte]

Yes, TurbulenceFD is just plain cool in LW, though the TFD developer did say he will someday make it for Modo. Octane Render for Lightwave looks pretty cool and useful. The developer, Juan J. Gonzalez, is one of the best Octane developers (Arnold and LW both). Juan is on top of the latest in everything Octane and has made the LW implementation top notch.  Octane 2.0 is (will be) brilliant (not out yet) and would be a really good renderer to have, I think.

I am still thinking about to buy or not to buy the "Octane GPU Renderer" (Nvidia only) , "Kray" and "Turbulence FD" for example.
Not altogether of course

[TheBadger]

Hi

I got an e-mail from the MODO people. 801 will be out real soon. They are having a preview thing this month. At the very least I think I should wait for that.

And Thanks Kadri. I read through that long LW thread. But lets see what 801 will do. Maybe it will help.

[rcallicotte]

Hey...so you can see MeshFusion in action (can't really use it, but you can watch) -

http://www.braid.com/fusion/help/lab/labp0/index.html

He built this on the side as a side setup for MeshFusion as if MF wasn't enough fun already. You should know some are predicting it could be possible that 801 might break MF for at least the time just before SP1 for 801...but, who knows?

[PabloMack]

You beat me to the punch line. I got the same email. But now I am wondering if The Foundry will do to Modo what Autodesk did to Maya. I don't think that question can be answered by seeing 801. I have 401 and never upgraded because I have never learned how to do a whole work flow in Modo. Perhaps it is because LW's interface works differently. I just use its special tools to supplement what it does better than LW. I know you don't want to hear this but I would recommend getting both. Lightwave has excellent primitive modeling functionality that I use all of the time. For more advanced modeling stuff like painting and better UV map editing then Modo is an excellent complement. I have read that in later versions of Modo you can spray on weight maps which I would love to be able to do. But for animation, I have the impression that Modo has a long way to go before it approaches LW in that department. I am sure a lot has probably happened since 401 so the LUX group will certainly surprise me. My next major purchase will be NevronMotion.

[efflux]

They need to keep the price reasonably for Modo. One benefit is that it's cheaper than the competition.

I'm biased because Modo works on Linux and I love that. What I found was that there is a learning curve (like any app) but Modo doesn't follow all the conventions so you'll have spend a bit of time with it but I think you get a flow going from modelling to rendering that feels really fast. One thing I got into was the high dynamic range lighting. Like Terragen you can make scenes haves natural light i.e. they blow out as they would on a camera but this is always great for realistic outdoor scenes and postworking it. You can go far with Modo for landscapes. I was into this for a bit, doing Terragen like methods. These clouds are Modo. It's a huge box containing 3D clouds but pretty similar to how Terragen renders them:



I had some stuff that was really going somewhere but then I realised I was going to have to pioneer how to do all this in Modo and it was going to be colossally time consuming so I stopped. I think it's the same with a lot in Modo including animation. You'll be pioneering how to do it in Modo but in other apps, there is a huge backlog of tutorials etc.

[efflux]

Badger, in my opinion there is only one way to find the apps you want to use. You'll have to go through some of them and try. This means learning on a basic level maybe as many as three or four different apps. You don't have to master them. You'll find some show stoppers then you can discount certain ones but never just have one app mastered. Have another one to use. You'll find some complement each other. None do everything. I've just been through this with audio sequencing. It's a nightmare but not much you can do. It also helps if you have a definite purpose because then it's easier to eliminate apps that won't do what you want. Another important point is that things learnt in an app that you ditch are never wasted, they mostly translate in one way or another to a different app and you can possibly influence new features  in apps that aren't doing what you want.

[SteveR]

Coming to this thread rather late but just 2 things I'd like to add...

1. Meshfusion rocks. (already said I know) - but it is a paid for plug in so bear that in mind.
2. The next version 801 is being showcased tonight (7PM in the states - 3AM in the UK) - so it will be released very shortly - even tomorrow knowing the team there - but this is probably the first main release under The Foundry banner - so who knows.

I'm just a hobbyist, but I have used Modo since the beginning (v101) - and it has grown in leaps and bounds - and the Luxology team (aka The Foundry now) and the support forums are great.

[efflux]

These are the apps in order of preference that I want to use. Time to do it is another factor and this is environment landscape orientated since that's my preference.

1 Modo
2 3D Coat
3 Wings 3D
4 Blender
5 Terragen

Obviously Modo is the main environment and the others back that up. Currently I can't use all this and Terragen has got the chop for the moment. If people are wondering why I've chosen Modo as top it's because it's a great app for outdoor type environments due to the huge extra capability to do other things as well as design the environment. There are obviously periphery apps for designing terrain, making trees etc but I'm not moving outside of these apps. I'm got a ton of music on the go at the moment and that's a whole other angle of software nightmares to deal with. I can't do all this.

Below is another Modo test render I did last year. I have to attach this here although it's not a Terragen render. Imageshack is what I was using before but now they make you pay.

I'm not posting anything along this line in the Modo forums unless I go back to make images so awesome that I don't need to take flak from the Modo no can do answers. It can and this image just scratches the surface. I improved the cloud glow after this. I personally believe Modo is an awesome app for landscape stuff. Does this mean Modo can do everything Terragen can do? No. Terragen excels at huge distance environments, high altitude cloud shots, planets etc. Terragen would be the go to for that.

The best partner for Terragen is Modo in my opinion but I can't do both if any. It's too time consuming.

The Foundry stuff with Terragen on Linux would be the ideal. That would be everything you need on a great OS.

3D software all uses similar ways to render environments. It's just that Terragen is initially much quicker to set up terrains and skies.