does anybody *actually* do retopo work in Modo?

#1

It’s terrible! Every version that comes out I think it’s going to fix the most basic thing ever- wireframe on selected mesh only. The only thing I can figure is that the retopo features are just a bullet point that luxology can brag about, but in reality nobody actually uses it…

Here’s my basic logic, please correct me if I’m wrong in my line of thinking:

  • If you’re doing retopology work, you want to see your topology (aka wires!)
  • In order to see your topology, you need to turn on wireframe overlay.
  • When you do this, the entire scene (including your reference mesh) gets a wireframe overlay.
  • So now the reference mesh you’re trying to match (which in some cases can be a 1mil poly decimated sculpt from zbrush) is now basically just a black blob, and you can’t see your retopology mesh at all.
  • waste of time, open another app and do retopo work there instead.

ARGH.

sorry for venting, but I just bought the upgrade to 501 after hearing about the ‘awesome new retopo features!!!11’ and now I feel like I want my money back, pixar subd’s or not. i want to love it, i really do, but when it comes to a basic feature like this that every single other modeling app has, I feel jaded.

#2

maybe this will help you >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePoR0SJZAz0

#3

Hi! :slight_smile:

Theres a great project at the Lux-forums with quite some retopo work in modo.
http://forums.luxology.com/discussion/topic.aspx?id=50885&page=1

Cheers,

Colin

#4

look into stuff like object specific display methods. each item can have its own specific shading method. one can have a wireframe, another be simply shaded, another be displayed as a bounding box, etc. if you look at the object properties, you should find the display method for each item. this way you can put your reference objects as shaded, and your topology model as shaded+wire.

( i use another product for retopo though )

#5

it’s under “display” tab for each item. not properties. it’s a good option but it still doesn’t allow you to see what you’re doing. also it doesn’t work with OpenGL and above

#6

it’s funny you mention this thread, because this proves my point- this guy is a modo user, but he’s using topogun to retopologize his mesh. I mean, he doesn’t come right out and say it, but I use topogun at home and I recognize a TG screenshot when I see one :slight_smile:

luxology should really take note when the modelers in its own forum are skipping retopology work inside their favorite modeling app and buying an external app to do it.

@Creeto: Thanks for responding, I’ve actually seen those options before (in 401 in addition to 501) but they don’t seem to do anything at all for me. I’ve tried setting background objects to render “same as active mesh” and everything… to me these options have always been broken. Can’t even change the wireframe color, it just stays black/grey. And regarding the youtube video you linked- thats actually really good information, and I’ve used a similar technique (putting a material at the top of the stack to act like “xray” mode), but the problem is that when background objects overlap with foreground elements in modo, transparency starts to get really broken. I can take a screenshot to show what I mean if i’m not making any sense. Also- the problem with really dense wireframes remains, the wires on your reference mesh are so dense you can’t even see what you’re doing on the foreground mesh.

it’s a shame really… i hate getting frustrated over software heh. especially software that I’m otherwise in love with. It’s like marrying a beautiful woman with a huge wart on her nose… just get it fixed so we can live happily ever after luxology! :slight_smile:

#7

ohhh, good to know. I always work in GL mode, so that’s why the display options have never worked.

wow, that’s dumb as hell… they should either disable the options when you’re in GL mode, or make it work in GL mode. All this time I thought the features were just broken. And I guess in a way they are.

#8

yeah, took me a while to figure that out. i too thought it was a non-fully-working option

#9

Although I personally do my retopology in Topogun, you should have no problem getting the background mesh to display without wires in Modo, just use the “Shaded” mode for them - in fact if you use the pie menu that comes up with CTR + 1 and select “Toggle Background Shading” it toggles the background mesh between Wireframe and Shaded.

Here’s a screen grab with the foreground polys in Advanced OpenGL mode and the background mesh in Shaded mode:

#10

also your polys are selected…

#11

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