Why Modo

#1

I am looking for a 3d modeling and rendering program I want to rely on. I have used student versions of 3DSMax, Maya, and Lightwave.

I am primarilty doing it for hobbyist reasons. Max and Maya are a bit expensive, but they are powerful. Lightwave seems to be going thru some cahnges.

From a cursory glance, I see Modo is priced well.

I wanted to get some cgsociety opinions on modo vs some of these other programs.

I use Vue quite a bit, but I also wanted a modelling program that is versitile and not too pricey.

#2

if it is like you said, for 3d modeling and rendering only, modo or LW would be the best cost\features option (both have realtime preview and quite good modeling tools). 3ds max is just to expensive for a hobby, but if you can afford it, my opinion is to go for it. For my taste i did not “understood” Maya for modeling yet. Other apps just have better modeling approach which doesn’t necessarily means maya is bad it just uses a different approach.

Modeling in modo and LW is “straightforward”/linear without the option to change the starting options with which you created/modified an item/poly/edge/vertex after you accept the parameters. 3ds max has the procedural approach which is cool if you get into it (you can stack modifiers and return to each one of them and change the parameters which will update the model). I think maya has something similar like 3ds max.

Also with 3ds max you have more tools for modeling and a bigger community with bunch of scripts/plugins (free or paid) with which you can model anything very quickly. LW unfortunately has deteriorated lately which is sad cause it really is a great tool so there aren’t new updates available (the LW 10 didnt “touch” the modeling tools).

modo is cool but has his weak sides like poor splines, snapping is still confusing (try MoI to see how snapping should be done), torus tool is ahem “broken”, extrusion tools along splines are sometimes weird (i rarely get a shape i want, thank god seneca wrote some scripts for extrusion along edges), you dont have simple drawing shapes tools (like 2d rectangle, circle, arc, basic pen), edge slice tool is cumbersome (you cant cut across more edges), but … modo is still friendly and somehow easy to understand. For 3ds max it took me like 9 months to get used to where the tools are and how to use them.

just a few thoughts … hope it helps, other please jump in

#3

As an ex-Max user (fifteen years dating back to the DOS days) I would personally always choose Modo for modeling and rendering - animation is really the only thing that max still does better.

That’s not to say Modo is perfect, it could do with some more parametric primitives and better spline tools, but it is a much nicer and easier environment to work in, especially for organic modeling.

The texturing and rendering workflow is infinitely faster thanks to Ray GL and the very fast Preview render, and I find I work far more quickly in Modo.

#4

Hi toddd240,

I am also a Vue user and can definitely recommend Modo for modelling too. I added Modo to my digital arsenal a few months back after growing tired waiting for Maxon to upgrade the modelling tools in Cinema 4D, another program I regularly use in production. Modo has some of the best modelling tools on the market and is now easily one of the best value for money 3D apps too. It takes some times getting used to ‘falloffs’ and ‘snapping’ for sure, and definitely has it’s share of stability issues too. However, I still think it’s the best choice for any modelling tasks.

If it weren’t for the fact that Maxon have recently, drastically increased there prices for Cinema 4D. I would have also recommended that as a viable option. However, as it now stands it will be far too expensive for most people doing 3D as a hobby and it’s modelling tools are really dated too. That being said, and if you can afford it. It’s still the easiest of all the 3D apps to use and by far the most stable too. Something you learn to appreciate when working on complex scenes or models.

Hope my advise helps anyway,

#5

Thanks for the reply’s on this. I would love to try modo, but dishing out $1k without even being able to play around with it for 30 days is hard to swallow. I’ll probably have to stick with my lightwave edu license and a copy of Silo I have for now. When Modo gets a trial I will be all over it.

#6

Hi toddd240,

Modo shouldn’t be £1000, it should be around £700 max. Ah, ignore me. I just noticed you are quoting $ anyway. It’s still amazing value compared with the other apps though.

#7

sorry, in US dollars

#8

I’d say Modo is an aquired taste- it will seem strange after other 3D apps and take some getting used to. However for modelling it’s extremely functional and has all the conveniences c4d hasn’t. C4d appears grossly overpriced for occasional users and is way behind on modelling features, also the render is very tricky to handle (in the respect of getting it to look nice) and if you look at the c4d gallery you’ll see that very few are able to get the best from it. C4d render is too contrastey and seems to employ some edge enhancement that makes it look like someone has darkened all the edges- it looks brittle.
Modos render looks much more natural.
The minuses for Modo: nowhere near as reliable and bug free as c4d. C4ds render is much, much faster. C4ds UI, whilst initially possibly confusing is actually clearer to use- in Modo everything looks the same- almost… So if you’ve the cash and you need to carry out a huge complicated job you’ll need c4d to organise and set up your scene and render out a large file, Modo and Rhino to model with, plus Polytrans (if you don’t have the c4d version that carries it) to export and import mesh into c4d.
But Modo is the best bang for your buck, especially if you don’t do CA. The latest version 501 has useful enhancements to rendering speed & quality. Only the very best artists are, in my opinion getting the best and acceptable results out of c4d and both apps have users that make both apps look awful.
I should add that I’m not a ‘fan boy’ for any app and would update to the latest version of c4d if it wasn’t so over priced- and I probably will anyway…

#9

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.