So, you're an avid part-time MODO user, but you'd still like to be able to keep up-to-date with all the neat tricks and cool ways you can optimize your MODO workflow.
Being a hobbyist sometimes it can be weeks or months before I manage to find some spare time to mess around with MODO, by which time, I've almost forgotten everything. :-/
This site is just as much for me as it is for you. It's a place where all can keep all the tips and tricks I come across, and it's fully indexed, so you should be able to find whatever you're looking for very easily :)
I'm no MODO expert - far from it, but every other month I'd like to be able to present you with a new article that'll become a new string to add to your modo bow.
If you're a longterm 3D artist or professional, then I can't guarantee there'll be much here you don't already know. You can always have a poke around though., or if you are looking for something specific, use the Search menu up the top (and the links with topics, categories and tags underneath) to find exactly what you're after. If you don't have any luck, let me know if there is anything in particular that you're looking for.
- Debi (alphageekgirl)
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.
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=659I 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
| Description | Regular textures like the ones shown above are adequate for most jobs, but occasionally you may want to mix it up a bit and create something a little more unique, yet still make it look organic. So for example, say I wanted to use the grass, rocks and sand above to create a random terrain image. Now, I could go into Photoshop and create a mashup of these three textures, but once I'm back in modo, if I had to cover an expansive area, I'd still have to contend with the tiling issue, and in the real-world, having tiled rocks and grass just doesn't cut it. That's where texture bombing comes in. Texture bombing is a procedural technique that helps reduce regular pattern artefacts. We do this by first placing a bunch of different textures into a Group, and then using modo's Texture Replicators, a small copy of one of the Group's images is randomly placed at each vertex across the mesh. From there you can further randomly scale, rotate, and blend the textures together to make the surface appear seamless and quite natural-looking. |
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| Preparation | It's assumed that you've already created your mesh item that you wish to apply your textures to. | ||
| Step-by-Step |
Apply textureCorrect Gamma
Increase WrapCreate Group of textures
Replace current image with the Group
Note: Make sure you have the Render Preview Window open, as texture replicators do not show up in the Open GL viewport.
Texture Replicator
And this is a quick and dirty random terrain texture created with the three images at the top of the page. 
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| Source | James has recorded two videos on Texture Replicators. The first shows how to make a seamless grass plane, and the second explains texture bombing where you use multiple texture images under a single material. |
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| Author | MutantPixel (James Darknell) |
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| 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) | ||
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