Making scripts

Although the scripting interface has been vastly improved in MODO 901, for those still using older versions from 801 or earlier, here's a quick and simple, four-part intro series, by Mind over MODO

• Beginners crash course in MODO Scripting

Texture Locators

This month I bring you two related articles that I thought I should write after I received an email asking how to apply an image to a box that wasn't scaling properly. So I decide I would post up links to two older videos created by James Darknell some time back, that explain nicely about texture locator projection types, and about editing number controls.

• Lining up Texture Locators
• Numeric Entry Field Tips

Condensation, camera icons and craziness

This quarter we bring you, condensation, UI adjustments and other helpful neat tips and step-by-step guides for MODO. 

• Making surface droplets that render fast
• Resizing the camera icon
• Getting rid of weirdness

Rendering out image sequences and movies

For our final four-part series for 2014, we cover the pinnacle of all your hard work in MODO. That is, the render. In the first article, we will concentrate on how best to render out movies & image sequences, and the various ways you can approach this task depending on your situation. The second will show you what to do when you have limited time to render, and how to fit within that time-frame, and then various ways to render out individual images that can be converted to a video.

• How to 'playblast' an animation
• Render within a Capped Time Limit
• Rendering animation scenes backwards
• Rendering out a sequence of images in Photoshop

Applying weight maps to a human mesh

In response to a question posted on this site, I thought I'd point out a video I saw years ago that might just address the issue of how to apply weight maps to a human mesh.

Making facial deformations using weight maps 

Is your fur or grass misbehaving?

Fur or grass poking through surrounding surfaces

Have you ever tried applying fur, hair or grass to an item, only to have bits of it poking through where it doesn't belong... through eye sockets, ears or perhaps grass penetrating rocks? Well, this week's article will show you what you need to do to solve this problem.

Tileable textures

Unique tileable textures for man-made patterns such as fabric or wrapping paper are not so easy to find on the web. Why not spend five minutes and make your own, right inside of modo?

How to create your own tileable textures

Best of scripts

quad_caps.py (author: ylaz)

I love when I come across a new script I find written by some generous modo community member. I'm usually busting to try it out because for me they're kinda like magic - either helping us with those repetitive tasks, or transforming our meshes into something totally new in the blink of an eye. And better still is how many of the good ones eventually find their way into future modo releases.

Here you'll find 38+ neat scripts to mess around with, and hopefully incorporate some into your modelling workflow. Over time I will be adding to this list, so keep coming back!

My fave modo scripts

Make yourself a more efficient modeller

Here's a link to Henning Sanden's article where he shares his tips on how to model more efficiently by setting up hotkeys and creating your own pie menus, along with a few of his fave scripts

Faster Modeling in MODO

Synching audio with morph animations

The final article for this year is about audio - and how to synchronise morphs with music beats

Synching audio to morphs 

Focussing on focus

This month's set of articles is all about focus - that is your camera, render previews and depth of field. Hopefully, some of these neat tricks will lessen your frustrations, speed up your workflow and even amaze you!

Focusing your camera using Autofocus and Depth of Field

Zoom in on Render Preview without moving the camera

Using your render passes to adjust your depth of field in photoshop 

This month we're makin' stuff!

Modelling quick generic game props

Creating background assets that aren't the primary focus in a game can be pretty time-consuming, especially when it's something that no-one really looks at, but they can add to the atmosphere of the game. Here's a quick way of creating a simple item that could be used as metal scaffolding, a tower or even a simple bridge in less than 5 minutes, using basic polygon modelling tools.

The launch of MODO 701 and my trip to the USA

Yes I know, I am a little bit late. Actually, a lot late in announcing MODO701 which was released on March 25th, 2013. But I have a good excuse. I was in San Francisco attending the Game Developers Conference (GDC) the very day that Brad Peebler and Greg Brown conducted the 701 webinar - and subsequently launched the latest version of modo!

So why has it taken me almost a month to post anything about MODO 701? Because I've only just arrived back home to Sydney after a whirlwind four-week tour of all things MODO and video gaming.

That first week I was fortunate enough to meet Greg Brown demo'ing MODO701 at the Intel booth at GDC and I also met Brad Peebler and David Tracy there, as well as  modonauts Wes McDermott and Pat Crandley (Obsolete http://modopedia.dtev.com) who dropped by the booth later in the week. The following week I met up with James Guard who runs BAmUG (Bay Area modo User Group) as well as John Hayes (ex Sanzaru) and a bunch of other modonauts and luxologists at the TiedHouse in Mountain View.

Then last week I flew down to Los Angeles for the Game Developers Drink-up - a networking event, and on Saturday attended the Los Angeles modo User Group meeting at Scott Robertson's studio in Culver City, where Greg Brown, Yazan Malkosh and Rob Baldwin conducted a 701 Q&A session and afterwards I got to meet Steve Talkowski whom I first started following on Twitter about two years back :).

So there you go. That's enough name-dropping for one article 😛

Creating seamless textures

How do you make organic textures natural-looking and seamless? Using Texture Replicators, of course!  

Now, there are two methods, known as  Texture Bombing. One using a single texture, and the other using multiple textures.

Texture Replicators using a single texture

Texture Bombing using multiple textures

Importing animation MDDs from Maya to modo

Have you created animation rig in Maya but now you need to bring it into modo for rendering? Well, this script by David Stripinis might do the trick.

Quick rigging

With news of Lukasz Pazera's upcoming Auto Character Setup Kit, if you haven't already tinkered with rigging in 601, I thought now might be a good time to have a quick taste with this month's simple exercise;

Efficient ways to use Contraints

Once you've completed your scene, and you set up your camera, focus, DoF etc., making any positional adjustments before rendering can be a pain, so  this week's series will be covering Constraints that once set-up will allow you to better keep things in place. 

• Constraining Cameras and Lights using Locators

• Create directional constraints for eyes

An intro to Deformers

modo 601 introduced a slew of new tools for deforming items. This week's article eases you into deformers by showing you how to incorporate a few of the available deformers such as magnet and bend into a simple, practical exercise.

modo wins Frontline Award 2012

About time I say!

This week it was announced by the Game Developer Magazine, that modo 601 was the WINNER on the Frontline Awards for 2012, in the category of BEST ART TOOL!

Of course!

Luxology & The Foundry merge

Mike James - Back to Basics

Studio Environment Set 501 Kit

The Gradient Editor

Webinar Date	Dec 20, 2010
Area Covered	Everything you've ever wanted to know about working with the Gradient Editor in the Shader Tree. (Because the Gradient Editor works similarly to the Graph Editor - some of his tips can be applied when animating too!)   Tip: When you want to insert a new key into either the Gradient or Graph editor - it's not obvious how to do it and there's no button. You can either press Ctrl-Alt, or simply press the middle mouse button (MMB).
Presenters	Jim Berton & Yazan Malkosh

Shader Tree #2

Shader Tree #1