Is Modo the right tool for this job?

#1

Hi there,

I’m looking for a 3D package that will allow me to do feature films VFX level CGI in the form of set extensions, digital sets, city escapes etc. I do not need character animation or character modeling (so don’t need hair, fur etc). It will be mainly buildings, vehicles, objects, interiors, environments etc. Water and weather effects my be necessary. The only animation I would need are camera animations, fly throughs, vehicle animation like cars driving, neon lighting animation, traffic light animation etc. Imagine a scene of a city at night with cars and all the stuff. Yes, there may be the need of pedestrians but it will be in long shots so I was thinking of using something like Poser to add the people in.
Is Modo the package for me for this kind of work? I always heard Modo has no character animation, but I don’t need it. What I need is something easy to model in, with a great and realistic built-in render and something that would work with architecture models, vehicles etc I would buy on 3D stock websites to help build scenes.
Thanks for your input.

#2

Technically, all of the things you mention are possible.
Modo’s renderer also is one of the better around when considering quality, speed, simplicity and overall value for money. Stabilitywise the program is also solid.

However a concern would be to what extent you need to do compositing of render passes, post-work and/or pipeline from/to other programs (to add effects etc).

However this is just a small opinion - you could ask your question over at the luxology.com forum where the user community for Modo is considerably larger - including professional users.

#3

Thanks. Just did that.

#4

Download trial, buy Dan Alban’s 501 Courseware and spend 3 full days with both, that will tell you 100s times more than any answer that you will get on the forums. :slight_smile:

#5

Thanks. But I’m starting to think I will just stick with my original choice, which was getting Lightwave. I’m concerned with the lack of proper render passes and also I heard Modo can’t handle the weather effects either. Does it have photometric lights?

#6

Photometric lights are included. Also you may download more from the “Share” section on luxology.com (Share > Items )
Weather effects (outside basic fog and a physical sun implementation) and particle effects in general… not included.

Physics not included but available via “Recoil” a plugin that is a good, very easy to use and stable implementation of Bullet physics.

Wheel motion via “assemblies” very possible and some ready-rigged cars are also shared on the lux web (Share > Assembly).

LW is undoubtedly more full featured from a viewpoint of making a complete movie. Even Blender is more full featured (although very variable in stability, function quality and useability) - IF you can handle Blender’s GUI and general oddities.

#7

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