About this site

Alphageekgirl

MODO is a software application from Luxology, known primarily as a Sub-Division Surface Modeller which can be used in many different industries to create three-dimensional models and animations, such as for advertising, architectural visualisation (archviz), medical visualisations, digital video games, and animated movies.

In the scheme of things, modo is relatively new to the scene and not many people are aware that it even exists. However, after the popular release of modo version 601 in March 2012, it started to gain traction and getting the recognition it deserves from those in the industry. Later that year, Luxology merged with The Foundry, a visual effects software development company with headquarters in London, and is now enjoying even more exposure.

So why this site?

MODO is a fantastic program. I love it!

When I first started learning modo during version 302 back in 2009, not coming from an artistic or 3D background, I found it very hard going in the beginning. Not because the application was difficult, but rather because I did not understand any of the terminology. There's so much more you need to know about other areas before you can truly get your head around 3D - a bit about spatial maths (XYZ), color theory, lighting, materials, texturing and UV mapping, render passes, composition, and a bit of photography, as well as anatomy, and animation principles. So, in effect I was trying to learn about all of these principles, as well as about the modo application itself concurrently in my spare time. Because there was so much to absorb, along the way I started taking notes as I was learning and squirrelling away links to articles and every video tutorial I could lay my hands on (to watch at a later date when I was more up-to-speed in that particular area).

But although I have probably watched hundreds of hours worth of tutorials, I am now at the point where I still have over 80 GIGS worth of modo instructional material. To keep track, I had created this unwieldy Google Doc that contains all the notes I've jotted down over the past couple of years which is peppered with some real gems (many of which are now out of date). But over time, and two versions later I found I was no longer on top of things as far as remember how to do something, or even where it is I first learned how.

Four years on and modo is still my passion! I don't use it for my work, I'm just a hobbyist, but I try to squeeze in an hour or two practice every weekend (usually while I listen to the weekly modcast). Despite this I'm still not very good. I think though that I do know enough to be able to share some of my wisdom (and some of the wisdom of others that I've collected along the way ;)). So with this site I plan for it to be a repository of modo how-tos, not just a bunch of URL links (which a few fellow modonauts have already kindly collected and shared with the modo community on the forums), but hopefully, my aim is to be much more than that. I would like to be able to index those gotchas we all encounter from time to time in such a way that it will allow others to be able to track down exactly what they are looking for, quickly and easily. 

You know what I mean? You've seen something done before, or read about it somewhere, and now you want to put it into practice, but you just cannot recall how to get going. This site therefore is not for the total newbie - there's heaps on Lux TV and on YouTube for the brand-new beginner. No, this is more for the weekend warrior, the hobbyist or occasional intermediate user who has probably spent the same amount of time as I have watching those same tutorials in the first place, but has since lost touch and just needs something to jog his/her memory so they don't have to go digging them out and watching them through all over again.

Ultimately though, my dream for the future is to try and recruit as many modonauts as possible - in particular teenagers and younger kids - mainly because they learn fast, and they're like sponges to new knowledge, but more importantly because I think that MODO would be fun for them to learn!

Of course, I'm writing this page - the first page of my website - with very little idea of what I am in for, whether it will even work and whether I will have the time to keep the site relevant and up-to-date. Fingers crossed.

So now I am off to learn some more about how WordPress can assist me in laying out all the material that I've amassed so that I can present it in a nice, easy-to-read format for enthusiastic newbies and intermediate modonauts 🙂

Debi Taylor(aka Alphageekgirl)