Review: Modo 10 series
The Foundry ships the first of three updates
Unreal and Unity materials and shaders are supported in Modo’s shader tree allowing much more reliable workflows for asset creation
T1,459 / $1,799, Upgrade £329 ex VAT / he Foundry has just launched the latest version of Modo: Modo 10.0v1. This not only offers some great new features for games artists, but also a new upgrade and purchase model as well which could leave some users scratching their heads.
It seems like yesterday when Modo 902 was launched, but the developers haven’t been sitting on their hands; they have just released the next major upgrade, Modo 10, which concentrates on game asset creation.
Wait, what? This is a bit of a misnomer, as in fact the release of Modo 10 is to spread across three mini releases, of which the game-engine-centred tools are part one. It’s still not clear what the focus of 10.1 and 10.2 are, but if you are a Modo owner you can access the Direct Connect part of the forum to see some 419 / $499 interesting tech previews, that will give you an idea where things are headed.
But what of Modo 10.0v1? Well there is a raft of new baking tools, as well as a new Game Tools layout, which is my favourite part of the new release. It has quick access to all of the modelling and sculpting toolsets, as well as a new game navigation mode, which lets you explore your assets using the keyboard to give a sense of how it will appear and interact in the game engine, alongside a UV The Foundry Baking View which updates in real time. Both Unreal and Unity are well supported throughout Modo 10.0v1, in terms of baking assets and placing materials and shaders within the engines themselves. In terms of Subdivision modelling tools, Modo is still best in class no matter how much Autodesk pushes and Modo 10 is a lot more stable than the previous version.
However, the weird thing is that although Modo is a comparatively young application compared to Maya, 3ds Max or Cinema 4D, the fundamental UI is starting to feel old.
While this is a good thing in many respects, as it doesn’t break workflows, it does feel that a overhaul of the fundamentals of Modo needs to be addressed.
As good as the Advanced Viewport is – which has been improved with 10.0 – Maya’s The new Game Tools viewport in Modo 10 allows quick access to all the tools you need for creating assets, even if it’s not for game content
Modo 10 offers a full DCC application for a lot less than Maya and Cinema 4D