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Animated walk cycles
For anyone who is not a full-time rigger or animator, but has tried to create a simple walk cycle, you'll no doubt remember all the time and effort you put in, only to have your character walk like a zombie. Well, a fellow MODOnaut, Michael Gass, has created this animated walk-cycle script for ACS rigs that will help you out immensely. Even if it's not perfect, it will get you well on your way!
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May 26, 2015
Posted by Debi in All Articles, Layouts, Neat tips, Texture Locators, Textures, Tutorial Video IndexLining up texture locators
Most people think that Texture Locators are just those widgets that get in the way while you're trying to work on your scene, but James Darknell takes some time to explain how they work and offers a different way to quickly align them to your item's surface.
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Numeric Entry Field Tips
One of the handiest things you can use in your everyday workflow is the versatile way you can approach entering numbers into MODO.
Here in this video, James Darknell explains a variety of ways that even many MODO experts are unaware of.
http://community.thefoundry.co.uk/tv/training/view.aspx?id=659
I particularly like the Gang Edit. 🙂
In addition to being able to edit the number fields by typing in numbers, users can gang edit all three fields simultaneously by LMB+Clicking the icon to the left of the mini-slider enabling the feature.
INDEPENDENT - The default is i 'Independent', controls are edited independently.
COPY - The first click changes the field = 'Copy', will make whatever you type into the first field, the same in the other two fields.
PROPORTIONAL - The second click changes to ∞ (infinity) 'Proportional' where value changes are applied proportionally to all like controls.
RELATIVE - The third click changes to + 'Relative', the value change is added to all like controls. For instance if you divided the first field by /2 the other two fields would recalculate dividing by two as well.
When entering numeric values, you can use keyboard equivalents as well, such as;
'Ctrl'+'Alt'+'Enter'for Copy
'Ctrl'+'Enter' for Proportional
'Alt'+'Enter' for Relative
Related Images:
| Problem | When applying images to a surface, they may appear in the rendered frame as being a bit too light or washed out. This is because modo always renders internally at gamma 1.0 (linearly), and then applies the user's specified output gamma when displaying or saving the rendered result. Bitmapped images typically have automatic gamma applied to them in an image editor or digital camera (otherwise, they would look too dark to most users); and because of this, rendering with modo’s default gamma value (2.2) will make your images appear light or washed out as they have received double gamma. Therefore, it is important to de-gamma your images. |
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| Solution |
This can be done by inverting the gamma amount, simply by dividing the Render Output gamma amount, whatever it may be (but 2.2 is the default), by the image map's item 1.0 value. This can be done directly in the value input field using mathematical shorthand. For instance users can simply type “1.0/2.2” into the dialog box and press enter, and it will return the value “0.4546” (modo does the math for you!). Now the rendered image will produce the correct result. And if you are interested in a general understanding of gamma and how it works on your computer, Richard Yot has made this video that might fill in some of the gaps. |
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| Source | modo 601 User Guide | ||
| Author | James Darknell (MutantPixel) | ||
| Description | On the odd occasion I have experienced modo deciding all of a sudden to want to select-through my mesh when I don't want it to. So how do I fix it? |
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| Step-by-Step |
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| Problem | Have you ever been modelling and you accidentally hit the tab or shift-tab key changing your model from regular faces, to Sub-D, or Pixar-SubS without realising it? If half your model was in P-Sub and the other half, in Sub-D, could you tell which was which? Well there is a way, even if it is very subtle. |
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| Solution | Just run your mouse over the affected polys and you'll see that when you pre-select the different types of subdivision surfaces that, sub-d is shaded purple, regular faceted polygons (faces) are shaded blue, and P-Subs are shaded green. I wish they were a little more pronounced though.
Edit: As I mentioned earlier, the colors are quite subtle. But when I went to change them from their default settings to much darker colors, via > Preferences > Display > Colors >Selection Rollovers, you can still barely discern any difference.  
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So, this article is more for me than for you, because about once a year I have to go delete my 'config' file because something gets messed up in modo, and I end up looking all over the place for them via the Finder when I could have easily found them from within modo.
Now, I realise that most of you will have encountered this at some point or other, but unlike me, I bet you'll remember where the files are located. It's not that I have a bad memory, it's mainly because on my Mac, the folder where my preference files reside is hidden and I send myself nuts looking for it.
For those modo users who are not aware and have not had to do it before... If your modo ever messes up, the standard procedure is to go and delete your config files (they are actually called preferences - configs are something totally different which adds to the confusion). Then the very next time you open modo, Voila!, it will regenerate a new preference file and hopefully everything will be back to normal.
As a reminder for Mac users... below are the paths to the various files/folders used by modo.
Configs (plist & modo601)> YourMachineName > Users > You > Library > Preferences > com.luxology.modo.plist > YourMachineName > Users > You > Library > Preferences > com.luxology.modo601 How to access them from within modo if they are hidden in your Finder > System > Open User Folder and then navigate up the tree to the Preferences folder |
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Scripts and Configs (.pl, .py & .CFG)How to access them via Finder > YourMachineName > Users > You > Library > Application Support > Luxology > Scripts > YourMachineName > Users > You > Library > Application Support > Luxology > Configs How to access them from within modo > System > Open User Scripts or Open User Configs |
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Content (.lxl, .lxp, .lxe, .lxf etc.)> YourMachineName > Library > Application Support > Luxology > Content However, most of this can be accessed quickly via the Preset Browser. |
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