lol - You sound just like me a few months ago
After using the trial version I succumbed to temptation and scored it to take advantage of the free upgrade offer. I am very much a beginner and modeling is a natural starting point for me. The next version will render stills, and from previews, exceptionally well. The release is not too far away and I may have a model ready to render by then. lol…
modo is my first & only 3D app - I have a long way to go but I’m very happy with this software. 
Chip
hellfish: It depends on how serious you are about it all.
You’ve got to keep in mind that the whole playing field of the CGI-toolset is massive. You could go ahead and purchase something like XSI Foundation for $495 and get a piece of software you could consider to be ‘complete’ from the beginners point of view. Modelling, Character Animation, Lighting&Rendering, you name it and it’s there. To learn all of this will take you a long time. And you might be a bit overwhelmed by it all and perhaps not focus very much on certain key areas, just because there are other parts of the program you’d like to explore.
Modo on the other hand is at the beginning of it’s growth. At the moment it’s just a modeller. Specializing in just one key area. You could see this “limitation” as a good thing for you. This way you could spend all your time learning about modelling and get really good at it by the time Luxology is ready to unveil it’s next addition to modo, which will be the Lighting and Rendering part. Then you could start tackling that area until 301 is released (which is rumoured to be adding Character Animation tools). It would also give you some time to try it out and make up your mind if you really want to take things further (and save up money for future upgrades).
You’d essentially be growing alongside you’re choice of Software at a pace that will give you a decent amount of time to really get to know the tools. If you’re serious about CG you might not want to be rushing into the entire scope of it as a lot of newcomers try (and often fail) to do.
Hope this helps you make up your mind! 
It’s not really possible for anyone else to say whether you can afford it or not.
As you know already, modo has an unbeatable modeler. In a few weeks it’ll have an unbeatable surfacer and renderer (for still frames and non-character rendering).
Later comes the character module.
If you want to do character animation immediately, then you’ll need to get something else first. Otherwise modo would be my recommendation.
Since when limited is good? Why have kickass character animation, industry standard renderer, good modeling toolset, and who knows what more for 495$, when you can have a great modeler for 695$? How reasonable is that for a hobbyst on a tight budget?
well i understand the point about learning slowly. if i bought the full version today, maybe by the time 2.0 comes out i’ll be good enough at modeling to not worry so much about it and be able to focus on learning about lighting and rendering. and then maybe by the time 3.0 comes out, i’ll be good enough with lighting and modeling that i’m ready to learn animation…
but then again, i’m still new, and maybe i’m not super good or really interested in lighting and modeling and only really care about animation, then i have to wait two revisions to learn what i’m interested in.
now like i said, i really do like the program modo and luxology for how they’re treating people who want to test their product, but as i’m new, i really don’t know what i want.
modelling does seem really easy though, and preferred to some other trials i tried…
well, anyone know of an export script so i can take the model i made in modo and load it into something like the houdini trial? that way i can still learn to model and grow with modo, but if i find i like some other aspect better …
Hellfish,
You can also use the evaluation version as long as you need to make your decision or raise the funds. 
The temporary license keys are renewable via your account on our site. We fully appreciate the challenges of the hobbiest trying to get into such a technical and somewhat expensive market.
Hope to see you in the modo-land sometime soon!
BP
Hey man, I’m with you on the, “should I buy or not” I’m a hobbiest as well and I dig this stuff but my problem is, with free solutions out there such as Blender and POV-Ray, should I buy something? Rhino3D has a trial version that seems to not expire too easily. (Gives you warnings about you only have so many saves left but seems to reset all the time.) That has a great exporter and then I take my files from there to POV-Ray. This is a free solution to me right now. Except, Modo seems like I could do things faster and easier.
For me, money isn’t too much the issue. I make an okay living but getting the permission from the “wife” is the tough part. Not to mention the other options out there that are truely FREE. shrugs What to do?
The other part of me says, it’s cheap now and if I do decide later to buy it, I’ll have to pay more… but then again, will I use it enough when I buy it? Pay all that money and let it sit?
Anyway, I’m right next to you on the it’s expensive for a hobbiest… even at $695. If you use it once a week for 2 hours, that’s like spending $6.70 an hour for the first year. Assuming you use it regularly for the full year. shrugs
[left]dang nabbit brad, you being polite and understading the situation makes me want to support you jerks even more.
i was hoping, you’d come out with the hardsell and tell me you’d steal my car if i don’t make a decision in the next twenty minutes.
is this true that there’s not going to be any animation stuff to version 3?
argh, you’re easy going attitude and quality product are going to win, you know that right?
[/left]
I bought Modo around 102, if i remember right. It was sort of an impulse purchase because of some discount.
Except for several little issues that unfortunatelly haven´t been fixed with 103 i am quite happy with it.
Configuring the interface and shortcuts can be confusing at first, and it may take a while to find your own workflow that best suits You. In that regard Modo is a blessing and a curse at the same time, you can play around with the interface for hours without doing real work
Considering that we can trust this program to evolve into a fullfeatured 3D program over the next 2 versions it may be a good train to jump to for a beginner and hobbyist.
Hi there,
I just bought Modo today, and have been sitting on the fence for a long long time now. thinking will I go for brand X or brand Y, So then I got this email from guess who Mr. Luxology himself Brad Peebler.
And you know what (FOR ME) it all made sense after reading it. A word to the wise, know your budget write it all down then sleep on it for as long as you need to make the wright choice.
BTW, I bought Silo a few days earlier and am very happy to have done that also.
Now is that service, or what! Someone is learning modo but having trouble raising the funds to buy it, and the President of the company lets them renew the key for free.
That’s pretty cool. That’s what I like about Luxology.
I’ve been a ‘beginning hobbyist’ for the last few years
I started with POV-Ray, then moved on (in one huge leap) to Cinema4D, as I found it very intuitive and quick at the time - something I found to help me immensely. Since then, I purchased Realsoft, as I liked the modelling, but unfortunately it didn’t sit quite right with me.
I’ve slowly upgraded C4D to v8.5 over time (and spent far too much on this hobby, for what I actually achieve), and had plenty of fun.
I just bought Modo, because it provides the same things C4D once did, for me at least at the stage I’m at - Great modelling, fast HQ rendering (to come shortly) and a fantastic community-focused development team (something C4D seems to have ‘grown’ over).
If I had the choice again today, knowing what I know, I’d just buy Modo.
But then, that’s me
(And I also picked up a copy of Maxwell Render to improve my C4D output).
I felt the same when I used the Modo trial, but then i compared with my other apps, 3ds max and lightwave, Modo offers far more to us modelers and its easy to use. I’m no expert modeler but using modo it felt natural. I will rid of 3ds max from my work flow once Modo 2.0 out.
Brad says the price is going up in his survey he sent out, so I’m wondering if I should jump on it. I seems the current trend is for pricing to drop on 3D tools and I know that Brad has spoke in the past that he didn’t think that was such a great idea. So I guess Lux is going in the other direction. My problem is that I have not had time to really give modo a good go-around, so I really don’t know if it will fit into my brain. I must confess that the little time I did spend with it was not very fruitful. I wish there was a button to “lock” the interface. I can’t tell you how many times while rotating or activating a tool that I messed up the interface and struggled to get things back in place. For advanced users I think their configurable interface is great, but for a newbie just getting started, I really could care less about how things are arraigned on the screen, I just want to make something. Anyway maybe I’ll just get an Xbox 360 instead, if I can find one!
Snos
I wouldnt be worried about buying modo. I think now is probably the best time to get in. Once 201, 301, 401 etc get released the price will most likely be double what it is now. I admit I was a bit skeptical when modo was announced but I have kept my eye on the team over there and what modo has become. I am VERY excited for modo, and proud to be a modonaut.
As a user of many several 3d products, Lightwave, Silo and modo I don’t think you will go wrong following the modo path. If you are just a beginner it is far better for you to focus on one element a time. That is your modelling capabilities. When you have mastered that and believe me there’s a lot to do modo might have the 301 available and you will be set.
Don’t be in too much of a hurry to get into animation. Many people just like to model.
Have fun and be very careful 3d is an addiction for which there is no antidote!
Hellfish. I can certainly understand where you’re coming from. Three things I can say is this:
One, if you really enjoy using Modo, then BUY it! Decisions like this really should not be made based on money alone. You must remember that these tools require time, in order to learn how to use, as well as money. Time is NEVER replicable! Therefore, when you find a 3d program you like, do whatever it takes to acquire that program (legally). Especially if the president of the company states that he’s willing to give you time to save the money, and will let you continue to use the demo until then. Buying a program that you enjoy using will (almost) always is cheaper than buying one just based on money alone. Why? Because of the satisfaction you’ll have from owning that program. I think you’ll be excited about learning this wonderful hobby because you would using a program that you know you like, not just one you could afford, but really isn’t the one you really like.
Second, understand this: This hobby has three main parts. Modeling, texturing & lighting, and finally, animations. It takes a long time to fully master all of these elements. Right now, choose one aspect and go from there. Modo will allow you to concentrate on just modeling. Its got a great toolset for that. V201 promises to be even better. I really look forward to the spline modeling enhancements. It will also allow you to light & texture your model. Just the included feature of a 3d painter is worth the price of admission. And the really cool feature is Modo is designed to be a part of what workflow you have now, or will design in the future. After this modeling project is finished(a huge one), I will then integrate Modo w/Softimage for animation and Lightwave for rendering. There are many options with using this program. I cannot say enough good things about this program. When I think about the money that I spent on this program, it is really nothing compared to the enjoyment I get out of using this program. Again, that goes back to quality of time. Workflow in this program just makes sense! From what you’ve said, you really like Modo. Again, your time, and the quality of it is NOT replicable.
Finally, even though this is a hobby for you right now, you never know where this hobby can lead. I started this as a hobby. Then I started telling some friends that I did 3d graphics. They were curious enough that they looked at some of my work that I was doing as just a hobby, and then they asked me to do some things for them. Even though this is still a hobby, it has become somewhat of a paid hobby. I actually work as a pilot. One reason I got this program was because I needed to work on my laptop computer as well as my workstation. It is such a relief to be able to do this w/o worrying about some dongle. The way I’ve gotten most of my business is that whenever I’m in between flights, I whip out my computer and start modeling using Modo. People see me using this program and they come over and watch me. Then they’ll start talking to me and the next thing I know, they’re asking me to contact them about a project they would like me to work on. Now, I’m working on project that I really do expect to make money. I’ll post work on website as soon as project opens for business later this year. But, I say all of this to say that you never know when this wonderful hobby can take you.
Best of luck to you in your decision. Whatever you choose. But don’t be afraid to buy Modo. I felt that way at first. But now, I’m so glad I bought this program! It really is doing what I originally wanted it to do. I’m really looking forward to v201 with its 3d painting and especially the enhanced spline-modeling capabilities! Honestly, when I look at what I wanted originally wanted in a program, Modo pretty much fits the bill. While I do have some issues with the current set of spline-modeling and spline-patching toolset, again, v201 promises to fix that. But, overall I’m very glad that I didn’t settle for something else and take a decision based on money alone. As my father would say “Take the plunge. Come on in, the water is just fine!”
well with 201 youll be getting a fantastic renderer along with what i believe to be THE best in game paint tools on offer coupled with photoshop like layering to make it simple yet super effective.
i wont be animating so this is a perfect package for me. in the future modo will have animation, and who knows how much the full price will be? best to pick it up now and get the 201 update soon, then buy a cheap upgrade to 301.
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