The rapid evolution of modo took another leap
today as Luxology LLC (http://www.luxology.com)
announced the immediate availability of its
latest 3D content creation software, modo 401.
With a focus on rendering and animation
enhancements, modo 401 delivers a wealth of new
features and innovative workflows, which enable
users to easily model on top of existing
geometry, see changes in their scene immediately
from the radically improved Preview renderer and
efficiently re-use assets throughout the content
creation process.

These new features benefit customers in a broad
array of disciplines such as architectural
visualization, product design, game development
and advertising image production. "modo 401
continues our emphasis on making the 3D creative
process as fluid as possible for designers and
artists," said Brad Peebler, president of
Luxology.

"This new version is packed with improvements and
is clearly our biggest upgrade of modo to date."

Rendering enhancements include caustics,
dispersion, blurry refraction, volumetric
lighting and Pixar-patented deep shadows. The new
Instance Replicators allow dense amounts of
surface detail like welds, rivets, trees and
barnacles to be rendered with trillion polygon
detail. Light linking and support for multiple
environments provides precise control over how
each part of a scene is individually lit. modo
401 also supports stereoscopic rendering and will
render on up to 32 cores across a network of 50
workstations.

Animation improvements in modo 401 include
inverse kinematics, dynamic parenting, channel
constraints and modifiers. modo's new animation
capabilities facilitate the creation of
sophisticated rigs in modo 401 that can be driven
with a few simple inputs. For example, a tank
model can be rigged to track and turn accurately
across undulating terrain while maintaining
realistic tread and wheel movement. Pre-built
animation assemblies provided with modo 401 allow
users to apply animation to their models
automatically.

Optimized artist workflows are another essential
element of modo 401. Artist feedback during
modeling and other operations is enriched with a
deeply threaded Preview renderer that boasts
extremely rapid updates and progressive rendering
capability. modo 401 boosts artist productivity
by facilitating the re-use of assets throughout
the content creation process. modo 401 ships with
over 1,500 pre-built assets including profile
curves, realistic surface finishes, fur presets,
3D props, vegetation, animated rigs and
professionally designed lighting environments
that light a scene in two mouse clicks. "These
pre-built assets in modo offer us a way to get to
final quality more quickly," said Gary Fitzgerald
of DesignworksUSA. "modo also allows us to
capture and re-use our own design assets for
greater efficiency."

modo 401 boasts a wide array of other
productivity enhancing improvements, including:

° Expanded modeling toolset: Most modeling tools
in modo now support per vertex collision with
geometry. When paired with modo's new ability to
load static meshes that have a lower memory
footprint, users can now leverage modo to
retopologize even the densest meshes into
production ready assets. In addition, new Profile
Presets simplify the modeling of edge-based
details like crown molding or complex bevels.

° More realistic materials: The new Fur material
enables a multitude of material appearances from
hair, bristles and fur to water droplets, string,
grass and tinsel. Carbon fiber and highly glossy
clear coat surfaces lend realism to consumer
product visualizations.

° Data import and export: modo 401 is now even
better equipped to read and write data that can
be exchanged with other 2D and 3D applications.
File exchange improvements include COLLADA, FBX,
3DM and a new SolidWorks 2009 file importer for
Windows.

modo 401 is available immediately for the new
suggested retail price of USD $995. Upgrades from
any existing version of modo remain at $395. modo
401 runs on Mac and PC platforms, and is newly
available for 64 bit Windows. modo 401 is sold
and supported by a network of authorized Luxology
resellers around the globe.