Luxology Launches modo 401 with New Rendering and Animation Features

By DE Editors

Luxology LLC has announced its latest 3D content creation software, modo 401. With a focus on rendering and animation enhancements, modo 401 delivers new features and workflows, which enable users to model on top of existing geometry, see changes in their scene immediately from the improved Preview renderer, and re-use assets throughout the content creation process.

Rendering enhancements include caustics, dispersion, blurry refraction, volumetric lighting, and Pixar-patented deep shadows. The new Instance Replicators allow dense amounts of surface detail like welds, rivets, trees, and barnacles to be rendered with trillion-polygon detail. Light linking and support for multiple environments provides control over how each part of a scene is individually lit. modo 401 also supports stereoscopic rendering and will render on up to 32 cores across a network of 50 workstations.

Animation improvements in modo 401 include inverse kinematics, dynamic parenting, channel constraints, and modifiers. modo’s new animation capabilities facilitate the creation of rigs in modo 401 that can be driven with a few inputs. For example, a tank model can be rigged to track and turn accurately across undulating terrain while maintaining realistic tread and wheel movement. Pre-built animation assemblies provided with modo 401 allow users to apply animation to their models automatically.

Optimized artist workflows are another element of modo 401. Artist feedback during modeling and other operations is enriched with a threaded Preview renderer that boasts rapid updates and progressive rendering capability. modo 401 boosts artist productivity by facilitating the re-use of assets throughout the content creation process. modo 401 ships with over 1,500 pre-built assets including profile curves, realistic surface finishes, fur presets, 3D props, vegetation, animated rigs, and professionally designed lighting environments.

modo 401 includes an array of other productivity enhancing improvements, including:

• Expanded modeling toolset: Most modeling tools in modo now support per vertex collision with geometry.
• More realistic materials: The new Fur material enables a multitude of material appearances from hair, bristles and fur to water droplets, string, grass and tinsel.  Carbon fiber and highly glossy clear coat surfaces lend realism to consumer product visualizations.
• Data import and export: modo 401 is better equipped to read and write data that can be exchanged with other 2D and 3D applications. File exchange improvements include COLLADA, FBX, 3DM, and a new SolidWorks 2009 file importer for Windows.

modo 401 is available immediately for the suggested retail price of $995. Upgrades from any existing version of modo remain at $395. modo 401 runs on Mac and PC platforms, and is available for 64 bit Windows.

For more information, visit Luxology.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company's website.