modo 202 1

User Guide

modo 202 manual

model. paint. render.
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Learning modo
This manual is written as a companion guide to the modo inline training system. The inline training
system contains much of what you will find in these pages and has the added advantages of being
contextual and augmented with dynamic media such as GIF and Quicktime movies. At Luxology we
believe the integrated modo training system is the most effective method for learning the application.
We also understand the value of being able to take a printed manual on a bus, train or plane.
So here we are!

Understanding the inline help system

There are several components to the modo inline training system. The first and most useful from a day to
day perspective is the contextual help system. At any time you can activate Help (“F1”) and simply click
on a button, a command in the menu bar or an Item in a list to get help about that specific element.

The Help Cursor appears as a question mark.

The Help system will open a locally hosted HTML page with text and often images and/or movie clips
about the feature. This provides a very effective and direct method for getting up to speed with modo
or pushing your working knowledge of the app to the next level.
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The Help System opens your default web browser to display text and video help.

Many of the linked pages will refer to other pages with relevant topics.

There are also entire pages dedicated to hosting Quicktime video clips for specific areas of the
application such as the Paint tools or process based tutorial materials such as the hard surface
modeling series. If you want to get to these video pages directly you can choose the Tutorials link
found in the Menu Bar> Help> Documentation submenu.
The Help System opens your default web browser to display text and video help.
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The inline help system provides comprehensive coverage of the modo 202 toolset as well as extensive
process based training material. There are several hours of integrated training videos for you to enjoy
which take you through the major aspects of modo 202 from modeling, painting, texturing and rendering
to in depth customization of the modo interface.
Enjoy!
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Copyright© 2006 Luxology, LLC. The content of this manual is furnished for informational use only and is
subject to change without notice. Luxology assumes no responsibility or liability for errors or inaccuracies
that may appear in this documentation. All products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective holders. Mention of third-party products is for informational purposes only and
constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

Luxology assumes no responsibility with regard to the performance or use of these products. This software
uses the FreeImage 1.0¨ open source image library. See http://freeimage.sourceforge.net for details. FreeImage
is used under the FIPL, version 1.0.

Acknowledgments:

Software Design and Engineering

Joe Angell, Mark Brown, Arnie Cachelin, Matt Craig, Gregory Duquesne, Stuart Ferguson, Allen Hastings, Jason
Hurdlow, Jason Linhart, Brad Peebler, Eric Soulvie, Yoshiaki Tazaki

Stock Content Creation

Radek Nowakowski

Training Materials
Ananya Banerjee, Kriss Craig, Mark Gerhard, Brad Peebler

Testing
Dion Burgoyne, Dave Sherwin

Manual Design
Solid Design, Stephen Mack

Thanks to all of our testers and demo artists who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to make modo
an excellent product.

Special Thanks to
Nicky, William and Anna Brown, Francis Dose, Christine Duquesne-Puppinck, Rhiana Ferguson, April Fisher,
Robin Hastings, Tracie and Parker Linhart, Sandi Spires

Luxology, LLC, San Mateo, California.

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Table of Contents
An Introduction to modo 11
Customizing modo User Interface 33
Mousing Standards in modo 67
Tool Pipe 73
Common Viewports 85
Modeling Tools 123
Falloffs 229
Working with Presets and the Preset Browser 243
Painting in modo 259
Render and Shading Tools 291
modo 202
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An Introduction to modo
The modo 202 Philosophy

Fig. 01 The modo Default Layout

W
hen we designed modo 202 we knew that our users would want and need very different
workflows and toolsets. Some people want to use modo in an existing pipeline and as such
might only use modo for modeling or 3D painting. Others will use modo as a pipeline: creating
models, texturing them and rendering images to take out to Photoshop or a document editing application.
With such a widely varying user base it was critical for us to design a platform that would allow
each person to choose how he or she works with modo. Moreover, for those who want to blend the
disciplines together, it was essential for us to fuse the major technologies at the core.

For users who employ modo as a component in a multi-application pipeline there are various file
format options, which allow modo to interoperate with most pipeline systems. The modo user interface
also allows for the quick remapping of user controls so that as the artist bounces between modo
and the pipeline application, the workflow is not impaired by having to make the mental switch and
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change things as basic as how to tumble a viewport or activate the Move tool. The modo interface
itself is so malleable it is nearly fluid in operation. This allows the user to use a standard interface
configuration and thus utilize modo in a specific focused mode, or to customize and adapt modo
to their most demanding workflow requirements. These options represent a tremendous amount of
research, design and implementation at the Luxology labs and the end result is an application that
can be painlessly inserted into an existing pipeline and enable artists to produce stunning work more
efficiently than ever.

The modo 201 architecture enables a new kind of workflow altogether, a richer and much less linear
workflow. The core fusion of the various technologies (modeling, painting, lighting, texturing and
rendering) allows users to model paint and render at the same time. This deep integration also enables
users to leverage rendering technology while painting or use geometry to create new images which
can later be used as brushes to paint detail onto other models. This interweaving of technologies
makes the modo experience much greater than the sum of its parts.

Tip: Want a quick introduction to modo? Select modo Exploration from the file menu! This is a great
way to accomplish some interesting things right away in modo.

Enjoy it. We do.

Exploring the 201 Default Layout

The Default Layout provides ready access to virtually all aspects of the application be it modeling,
painting or texturing, lighting and rendering. In this hybrid layout you can focus on a single task such
as modeling or you can mix and match modeling, painting and rendering processes simultaneously.
This layout is comprised of five basic regions. At the top we have the Menu Bar, below that on the left
is the modo Tools area and Render Settings, to the right of that area is the Main 3D tabbed viewport,
just above the main 3D section is the modes tool bar for setting selection modes and tool controls.
Finally, over on the right are the data lists and info sections stacked above one another.

Menu Bar

Fig. 01 The Menu Bar, is a familiar site and sits at the top of your screen.
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The menu bar across the top is always a failsafe way to gain access to virtually any of modo’s tools. The
menu bar is most likely a familiar workflow as this method of exposing functionality is standard across
most applications. The categories of the menu bar are mostly self explanatory and make it relatively
straightforward for you to quickly find a tool or command to assist with a specific action. For instance, if
you are looking for the command to select a continuous ring of edges, you would look inside the Select
pull down and will see the Ring option. If you want to edit a UV texture you would most likely open the
Texture pull down to find the various tools and commands to assist. Of course, many of these tools and
commands can be found directly on the tool bars in the various layouts, but with the menu bar you have
a direct method for gaining access to any of them in addition to your visible tool bars.

Tools and Render Settings

Fig. 02 The Tools and Render settings tabs exposed.

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On the left hand side of this layout is a tabbed viewport that contains most direct access to the main
modeling and painting tools on one tab (Tool Bar) and the render and shading settings on the other
(Render Settings). These two tabs give ready access to the key tools for modeling and painting as well
as all controls necessary for setting up and perfecting your renders.

The Main Workspace

Fig. 03 The Main Workspace window, this is where the magic happens.

In the middle of the modo interface is the most important view of all as this is where all the action
takes place. This is the stage, if you will, for your digital creation. When working in modo there are
many processes such as pure modeling, UV editing, 3D painting, or scene layout and render tweaking.
Each of these processes or disciplines benefits from a particular view or style of view(s) for maximum
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productivity. For this reason the main workspace in the default layout is the Tabbed 3D viewport with
tabs that allow you to easily switch between a pure modeling 3D view, UV views, scene layout (Render)
view and even some combination view styles that have more than one style active at the same time. The
tabbed viewport allows you to easily click to different optimized views of your project as you are creating.

Data Lists and Info Views

Fig. 04 The Data Lists tabbed viewports and the Info Views.

The right hand side of the default layout is divided in half vertically. The top half contains a tabbed
viewport with the common data lists and a color picker. The bottom half contains the common Info/
utility style views. In the topmost tabbed viewport you will find the Item List (for quick selection and
control over meshes, cameras, lights and locator items), the Vertex Map list (for selection of UV, morph,
weight and color maps), the color picker (which can be used for servicing tools and items that require
color input), and the Image list. The bottom viewport contains three tabs: the Item Properties, Tool Pipe,
Info and Statistics and the Command History.
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With so much access to tools and settings at your fingertips the 201 Default Layout may be more than
you require for general work. Sometimes, for example, you may simply want to work on a modeling
project and have modo present you with an ideal environment for that. modo provides focused Layouts
for modeling, painting, rendering and UV mapping as well as other custom Layouts. All of these are
available via the Menu Bar— Layouts section.

3D Navigation

Fig. 01 modo uses the LMB (Left Mouse Button) with key qualifiers for Pan, Rotate and Zoom
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3D navigation maybe the single most important aspect of a 3D content creation application. The 3D
viewport is your window to the virtual world in which you may spend countless hours each day. Having
a comfortable and efficient navigation system for this viewport is critical. If you are new to 3D or have an
open mind, you can simply use the modo default navigation style which we are quite fond of. However, if
you have worked with other 3D applications you may have an established workflow for navigating a 3D
view. In that case we can also show you how to remap your input for 3D navigation and even keyboard
shortcuts. modo is all about helping you to work in the way that makes you the most effective.

For the rest of this section we will assume you are working with the modo default 3D navigation. There
are three viewports that are relevant to this topic: 3D viewport, UV viewport and the Preview window.
While the UV view is technically not “3D” it does share some common navigation controls with the other
two. Additionally, navigation of the 3D view when set to “Camera” or “Light” has some differences and
extra settings that we will discuss.

Tip! Every 3D and UV viewport also has handy navigation icons. You can click and drag directly on these icons to
navigate the project. Using the mouse directly in the viewport is far superior, but these are useful when you are getting
your bearings.

Navigation
The 3D viewport has several different “projection” modes including orthographic (top, front, side) and
perspective (Camera, Light, Perspective). The basic navigation in these views is identical.

Alt–LMB = Rotate (in UV and Orthogonal views there is no rotation so Alt–LMB will Pan the view)
Shift–Alt–LMB = Pan
Ctrl–Alt–LMB = Zoom

There are also Pan, Rotate and Zoom icons in the top right hand corner of each 3D viewport for direct
view manipulation.

When using a viewport set to Camera or Light the “Zoom” control (Ctrl–Alt–LMB) will actually move the
item forward or backwards. To perform a traditional Zoom in the Camera view you can use Ctrl–Alt–
RMB. This will leave the Camera in place and adjust the Focal Length. The Preview viewport allows you
to perform Camera view navigation directly within the view. This viewport adheres to the same controls
as the 3D viewport set to Camera.
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More about the Camera and Light view

When you use the Alt-LMB combination to navigate the viewport you are effectively “orbiting” the
viewport around whatever item or element happens to be at the center of the orbit point. This orbit
point is typically set automatically as you move or rotate the view. There are also commands that
assist with viewport navigation such as Viewport Go to Viewport (“G” key) which will move the center
of the viewport to match the mouse cursor location. Commands like this one will also reset the orbit
center. If you are in the Camera view you may want to reset the orbit center without moving the view
center or editing the view in any way as the Camera view represents your “shot”. To reset the orbit
center for the Camera you can hover your mouse over the desired element and press Ctrl–T. Now
when you Alt-LMB rotate the view the center of the orbit has been set.

While orbit style navigation works quite well when you are focused on a specific item or element, often
you may want traditional “first person” rotation of the camera while looking through it. To accomplish
this use Alt-RMB and the Camera will be rotated on its axes accordingly.

Standard Layouts and Controls

Layouts are simply interface setups that streamline the application for various user styles or specific
tasks. There are also tools for creating and saving custom layouts. These layouts are what makes
modo look like modo. Of course, due to our fluid user-interface paradigm you have the power to
modify these layouts while you work or create one you like and save it as a preset that you can recall
at any time. At the end of the day, a layout is nothing more than a collection of viewports organized in
a specific way. One might say these viewports are organized in a…layout. Ahem.

201 Default Layout

The 201 Default Layout is the first layout you will see when launching modo. (Yes we realize this
is modo 202, but the layout was designed as 201. So there.) This layout is a hybrid containing a
series of tabbed viewports that provide access to nearly all aspects of 201 from modeling to painting
and rendering. When used in combination with the Menu Bar the 201 Default Layout gives you
comprehensive access to all of the 201 toolset.

This is a power-user layout as it does bring a lot of functionality to the forefront. For beginning and
intermediate level users the more focused layouts such as Model, Paint and Render are a good place
to get started.

The 201 Default Layout has three main areas of interest. The left-hand side is made up of a full height
tabbed viewport that contains the basic modo Tools tool bar and tool properties on one tab and the
Shader Tree and Render Properties on the other. In the middle of the layout is a Tabbed 3D viewport
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that provides quick access to six 3D and UV viewport layouts. The far right-hand side is divided by
two tabbed viewport groups. The top group contains is the Data List group and contains the Item List,
Vertex Map List, Color Picker and Clip List (Images). The viewport group on the bottom right holds the
Tool Pipe, Info & Statistics and the Command History.

The Default Layout and each of the other supplied layouts in modo subdivide the screen into areas
called “viewports”. These viewports can be dynamically adjusted in size using the LMB. Thus, even the
supplied layouts are merely a convenient starting point for your session. As you create in modo, you
may find it useful to move from one layout to another and also to adjust the relative size of viewports
on your screen. You can also change the identity of any viewport in modo by changing its type via the
viewport widget in the top right hand corner of the viewport. This principle of changing your layout as
you work is fundamental to modo and we encourage you to exploit the malleable user interface just like
any other “tool” in modo.

3D Sparse

Fig. 01 The 3D Sparse layout

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The 3D Sparse layout is popular amongst power-users who prefer to work in a clean workspace
leveraging keyboard shortcuts as well as newer users who prefer the document centric workflow
with the menu bar and floating palettes providing access to tools and commands.

Menu Bar
The menu bar across the top is always a failsafe way to gain access to virtually any of modo’s
tools. The menu bar is most likely a familiar workflow as this sort of functionality is standard across
most applications. The categories of the menu bar are mostly self-explanatory and make it relatively
straightforward for you to quickly find a tool or command to assist with a specific action. For instance,
if you are looking for the command to select a ring of edges you would likely look inside the Select
pull down and will see the Ring option. If you want to edit a UV texture you would most likely open
the Texture pull down to find the various tools and commands to assist. Of course, many of these tools
and commands can be found directly on the tool bars in the various layouts, but with the menu bar you
have a direct method for gaining access to any of them in addition to your visible tool bars.

Accessing Palettes

Fig. 01 The Palette submenu and modo Tools toolbar as a palette viewport.

From the Menu Bar, Layouts pull down, you will find a submenu for Palettes. These palettes are
floating viewports and there are presets available in this submenu for every common viewport. Many
of the palettes are set up as tabbed viewports and as such provide access to more than one viewport
via a single palette. The really nice thing about palettes (especially when working with 3D Sparse) is
that their visibility can be toggled by simply pressing the “~” key (the tilde key).
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When used with the right combination of pie menus, popovers, palettes and keyboard shortcuts, the 3D
Sparse layout can be incredibly powerful and streamlined.

Model

Fig. 01 The Model layout

The Model Layout is nearly identical to the Default Layout of modo 101, 102 and 103. This is a highly focused
modeling environment. As such it is a good choice for work that does not require any painting or rendering
tools or commands for it pushes these out of the way of the artist so that the focus is on modeling.

There is a vast amount of training materials available for modo, some of which is based on previous
versions of the software. The Model Layout allows you to follow along with these legacy tutorials easily
since it matches the older model versions of modo very closely.

This layout consists of a Menu bar, the single Perspective 3D Model View, the modo Modes toolbar, the
modo Tools tool bar, a Tool Properties sheet, a Mesh List, Vertex Map List, Info & Statistics form, Tool
Pipe form, a Command History, a Tools Info and Help Info view.
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Simplified

Fig. 01 The Simplified layout

modo Simplified: This layout consists of a Menu bar, the single Perspective 3D Model View, a buttons
only version of the modo Tools tool bar, a headless Mesh List, Vertex Map List and Tool Pipe, a Tool
Qualifiers form, and a Tool Properties form.

This layout may be of interest to those who prefer an icon driven user interface.
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Paint

Fig. 01 The Paint layout

The Paint Layout looks and feels like a dedicated painting application. This layout pushes modeling and
rendering tools to the background so you can focus on texturing your masterpiece. The layout consists
of the painting tools across the top of the interface in icon form and a large workspace underneath. The
main workspace is a tabbed viewport providing quick access to Render Single, UV Paint, UV Texture
View, Clips and Preview. By default you are in a Camera view.

Paint tools are presented as icons along the upper left and a rapid way to access other useful views is
provided to the upper right. On the right hand side of the layout is a viewport group with the Item list,
Vertex Map list and a color picker for quick access. Beneath that viewport is another tabbed viewport
group containing a Tools Properties section and Render Settings view. The first provides access to the
current paint tool’s properties so that you can control the tool with precision. You can also press the “K”
key with your cursor over the 3D viewport to bring up a popover of the tool’s properties directly under
your mouse. The Render Settings tab contains the Shader Tree and a Render properties form.
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Render

Fig. 01 The Render layout

The Render Layout provides streamlined access to the main options you will need when focusing on
the task of rendering your project. On the left hand side is the Shader Tree and Render Properties
form so you can create and edit the various material and texture items and settings. The main 3D
workspace provides you with the direct control over scene layout using a Camera view. On the right
hand side the Item List allows you to create, select and edit items such as meshes, cameras and lights.
Just above the Item List are three “Quick Access” buttons which open Palettes containing modeling
tools, vertex mapping tools and a preview window, in that order. To render in this view, hit F9 or select
Render from the Render pulldown. The resulting Render Frame floating window can be dismissed
with the Esc key.
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UV Edit

Fig. 01 The UV Edit layout

The UV Edit Layout is provided for intensive UV editing sessions. The layout consists of three major
areas and two smaller sections that can be expanded or contracted as needed. On the left hand side you
will find the selection modes (in icon form or under a Quick Access button), the UV & Vertex Mapping
tool bar and also a Tool Properties section. Just to the right of that section is the main UV edit viewport
and to the right of that is a tabbed 3D viewport. These two views provide ample space for viewing your
UV map and your textured model in the upper right as you edit.

Just underneath the UV and 3D viewports are additional viewports that collapse and hide nicely when
the UV or 3D viewport is expanded. Under the UV view is an Image list and Command History and
under the 3D viewport sits an Item List and Vertex Map List. By dragging the border between the UV or
3D view and the views beneath them you can expand and collapse the viewports as needed.
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UV Edit 102

Fig. 01 The UV Edit 102 layout

This layout consists of a Menu bar and four viewports that flank a central set of tool bars. On the left
hand side are UV Texture and Perspective views. On the right hand side is a Top and Right view. In the
middle of the display is a central UV and Vertex Mapping toolbar, plus a collapsed Vertex Maps toolset
and a Tool Properties section. Rounding out this layout are a Mesh List, and a set of Selection mode
icons accessible under a Quick Access button.
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Layout Controls and Commands

Layout New Window

The New Window command found on the Layout menu creates a blank frame that lets you start to build
your own Viewport.

To create a new window, do the following:

1) On the Layout menu, choose New Window.

A blank window labeled default appears. It has a header marked (none) and a blank area below also
marked (none).

Fig. 01 Using the New Window command creates an empty floating viewport.

You can use the viewport widget to the right of the header to make selections to populate this new
window. Once you have populated the new viewport, you can click on the header to make additional
changes and selections.

You can use the viewport thumb to the left of the header to subdivide the new window and save it once
you have customized it as you choose.
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Layout Save

Fig. 01 Accessed by the main Menu Bar> Layout> Save

The Save command found on the Layout menu will let you save any layout customization you may
have created into a new modo Default Layout.

To save your layout do the following:

1) Customize your layout as you like.
2) On the Layout menu choose Save. (A confirming dialog box appears)

Your layout is then automatically saved to the modo Default Layout.

This layout is now stored in the config file (modo.cfg). Anytime you now choose Layout > modo
default, this new saved layout will be applied.

To return to the original Default Layout from Luxology, you have to delete (or edit) your config file.

Layout Save As
The Save As command found on the Layout menu will let you save any layout customization you have
created to a named layout. This is a powerful way to extend the range of layouts available to you when
using modo.
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Fig. 01 The Save As Option gives you the ability to develop a collection of specific Layout Styles

To save your layout do the following:

1) Customize your layout as you like.
2) On the Layout menu choose Save As.
3) In the Name field give your customized layout the name of your choice. It can be a new name or the
name of an existing layout.

The named layout will now appear in the Layouts list, available to be chosen whenever you want.

This layout is now stored in the config file.

Layout Clear
The Clear command found on the Layout menu will clear everything from the active window. All forms
and viewports are removed when this is chosen, leaving only a large blank window with a blank header.
If you have been working on a customized window and wish to start over this is a handy way to remove
what you have done.

If you use the Clear command on the main modo window, everything except for the Menu bar will
be removed. Use the Layout Restore command to reverse the effect of the Clear command, if you
mistakenly apply this to the main user interface.
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Fig. 01 Windows and Palettes may look similar but have different characteristics

Windows
While all the default layouts have viewports that are embedded, it is also possible to have floating
viewports. When viewports are floating (or detached) they can be Window or Palette style. There are
two differences between Windows and Palettes. The most significant difference is that all Palettes can
have their visibility toggled with the “~” key. The other difference is that Palettes have a thinner header
and only controls for closing the Palette whereas Windows allow minimizing as well as closing.

Palettes
While all the default layouts have viewports that are embedded, it is also possible to have floating
viewports. When viewports are floating (or detached) they can be Window or Palette style. There are
two differences between Windows and Palettes. The most significant difference is that all Palettes can
have their visibility toggled with the “~” key. The other difference is that Palettes have a thinner header
and only controls for closing the Palette whereas Windows allow minimizing as well as closing.

Toggle Palettes
Palette viewports can be toggled on or off using the “~” keyboard shortcut.
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Customizing modo UI
B
ecause of the wide variety of uses and user styles available in 3D modeling, it is critical that the
work environment be flexible enough to conform to the users desired workflow. It is for this reason
that modo offers the user such a malleable workspace. Ergonomics are a very user-centric issue
and so the best method for meeting the needs of a widely varying audience with a single application is
to provide a set of methods for the user to sculpt the program to fit their specific requirements.

Fig. 01 The modo interface is very adaptive and allows an exhaustive amount of customization. Here we see the three
basic layouts in modo and a floating material editor. All viewports can be embedded or detached.

Often when a user interface (UI) is defined as customizable, the definition of UI is restricted to the
graphical user interface (GUI). Many programs allow the user to change some aspect of the appearance
of the GUI. In modo we consider all aspects of the UI including the graphical user interface as well as
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the physical user interface. In fact, in many cases the physical user interface can be more important
than the simple layout or look of buttons. Editing 3D models on a 2D screen is a very complicated and
involved artistic process. Therefore it is critical that the application provide a method for interaction in
the 3D space that is most comfortable for the user.

Modo allows several aspects of the UI to be customized including:

General layout of viewports
Custom toolbars
Keyboard shortcuts
3D viewport navigation mousing
User defined pie menus

General layout of the user interface

The basic framework of the modo GUI is based on a simple component called a “viewport”. You can
think off a viewport as a region of the interface that is treated as a container. By combining a number
of viewports in a specific layout and filling each one with the appropriate content (3D views, mesh
lists, toolbars, etc) you can quickly create a complete interface.

Fig. 02 In this simplified version of modo there are only 2 viewports. The 3D area on the left is a single viewport set
to 3D_Model view and the viewport on the right is set to the modo Tools toolbar.
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Controlling Viewports

To control the viewports there are two main elements, the thumb and the widget. The thumb is found
on the top left hand corner of all viewports and the widget is located opposite on the right. The thumb
allows you to control the location of the viewport as well as operations such as detaching and splitting
the viewport. The widget is used for settting the contents and properties of a viewport such as changing
a viewport from a mesh list into a 3D Model view, or simply changing a 3D model views settings.

Viewport Widget (Triangle)

Viewport Thumb (Dimple)

Fig. 03 This is the viewport header for the modo Tools toolbar. The dimple on the left side is the viewport “thumb” and
the triangle on the right is the viewport “widget”. All viewports have both a thumb and a widget. This allows control
over every viewport in modo.

Using the viewport thumb

The thumb gives you a several methods of control. Left clicking and dragging the thumb allows you
detach the viewport or drag it between two other viewports. Right clicking the thumb provides you with
a context menu with all options for the viewport. There are also gestural controls for quickly creating
new viewports.

Dragging viewports into a new location

Using the LMB to click and drag on a viewport’s thumb, you can move it to a new location on the
screen. When your mouse is over the thumb the viewport border will highlight. Clicking on the thumb
and dragging will detach the viewport if you release it away from any viewport borders (Note: This way
you can easily detach a viewport by simply dragging the thumb into or away from the viewport). If you
hold the LMB down while dragging, and position your mouse between two viewports, then release the
LMB, the viewport will be insert between the two viewports. Sometimes a viewport borders more than
one other viewport. In that case, there are two or more insertion points. Watch for the border between
the two viewports to highlight before you drop the viewport. The yellow bar indicates the insertion point
and at one various locations will indicate how large the viewport will be at the time of insertion.
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Fig. 04 This is the Tool Pipe viewport in its default location.

Fig. 05 Dragging the thumb and positioning the mouse cursor between the Info & Statistics and 3D model viewports
creates this insertion highlight bar to let us know where the Tool Pipe viewport will be positioned. Releasing the LMB
will move the viewport to this location.
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Fig. 06 After dropping the viewport you can see the interface has adapted to the Tool Pipe viewport’s new position
next to Info & Statistics.
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Fig. 07 This time we drag the thumb slightly further to the left and the insertion bar changes to indicate that the
viewport will stretch to match the 3D viewport.

Fig. 08 This is the resulting viewport layout with the ToolPipe now stretched to match the 3D viewport on the left.
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Fig. 09 If you release the viewport when there is no insertion highlight on screen the viewport will be detached and
become a floating viewport.

Fig. 10 The RMB context menu of the viewport thumb has many options for controlling the viewports
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Duplicate:
Creates a copy of the selected viewport and deposits it as an embedded viewport on the right hand side
of the layout leaving the original in place.

Copy:
Creates a detached copy of the selected viewport leaving the original in place.
Detach:
Floats the current viewport.

Delete:
Removes the current viewport from the interface.

Save Viewport:
Saves any changes made to the current viewport preset.

Save Viewport As:

Saves a new viewport preset allowing you to set the name and viewport category.

Revert:
Restores the viewport to it’s default preset settings.

Maximize/Restore:
Fills the frame with the current viewport. This is mostly useful in the case of maximizing a 3D viewport
inside a collection of 3D views as in the case of the Mod_Quad preset.

Min Header:
Removes the viewport header leaving mini versions of the thumb and widget. This is very useful when
using viewports for simplified data displays such as the coordinates viewport in the bottom left hand
side of the default modo layout.

Lock Height: Fixes the viewport height at the current setting.

Lock Width: Fixes the viewport width at the current setting.

Split Horizontal:
Splits the current viewport into two viewports of the same type, next to each other.

Split Vertical:
Splits the current viewport into two viewports of the same type, one on top of the other.

Split Quad:
Splits the current viewport into four viewports of the same type arranged in a two by two array.

Using gestures to quickly split viewports

To quickly split a viewport either horizontally or vertically you can use the ctrl-LMB drag gesture. Hold
the ctrl key down while you click and drag a viewport to the right, or downward. Dragging to the right
will split the viewport horizontally and dragging down will split It vertically.
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Fig. 01 The image on the left is the viewport before the gestural viewport split. Ctrl-dragging the thumb to the right
and releasing, creates a quick split of the viewport.

Using the viewport widget

From the viewport widget you can completely control the viewport contents. From switching a viewport
from one mode to another, to simply adjusting some settings on the current viewport mode. You can
even access the layout presets from the widget.

The widget menu contains several subsections. The top of the menu shows a list of optional viewports
that are of the same category as the current viewport. The second section is a list of submenus. Each
submenu is a viewport category. All the viewport presets are available from these categories. If you
create a new viewport preset, you will assign it a category so that it is automatically organized into the
submenus.

Below the categories section is a submenu for Viewport Settings. Not all viewports have additional
settings, so on certain viewports this will be unavailable. The viewport settings allows you to customize
a viewport with various attributes. For example, a 3D model view settings submenu includes the various
projection modes (Front, back, top, bottom, right, left, perspective).

(Tip: RMB clicking on the viewport header will give you quick access to Viewport Settings if any are available
for that viewport type.)
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The final subsection of the widget menu contains two submenus. One is the Viewport Controls
submenu and the other is the Layout Controls submenu. The Viewport Controls is a mirror of the
Viewport Controls you will find by RMB clicking the viewport thumb and Layout Controls is a mirror of
the options found in the Menu Bar > Layouts pull down. These have been added to the widget menu
for convenience.

Fig. 01 The widget menu for the Mesh List starts with all the viewports that are located in the Data Lists category so
that you can quickly switch to common viewports.

Viewport Groups

Some viewports are part of a “viewport group”, this allows you to quickly activate or switch between
several viewports with one click. The most common example of a viewport group is the Mod_Quad 3D
Edit view style. This group consists of four 3D Edit viewports in a two by two grid. Having these four
viewports as part of a single viewport group allows you to quickly change the group to another setting
such as UV_3D_Split or Mod_Single and back again without having to do any viewport splitting. When
the current viewport is part of a group, an extra section is added to the top of the widget menu to allow
you to either change all viewports in the group or only the viewport you have selected. Let’s take a
look at an example.
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Fig. 02 Here we see modo with the 3D Edit section set to “Mod_Quad”. All four 3D viewports are part of the same
viewport group, a viewport preset named “Mod_Quad”.

Fig. 03 The top section of the widget menu for a viewport group allows you to quickly change all the viewports in the
group. The second section only sets the current viewport.
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Fig. 04 Choosing the UV Texture View option from the second section of the widget menu will only change the
current viewport.

Fig. 05 Notice that only the perspective viewport has been modified. It was set to UV Texture View.
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Fig. 06 Choosing an option from the first section will change the entire group. Here we are changing the group from
Mod Quad to UV 3D split.

Fig. 07 The Mod Quad four viewport layout has been changed to the UV 3D Split mode.
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Fig. 08 We can easily switch back to the Quad view layout by selecting that option from the widget menu.

Fig. 09 The Quad Mod preset has been restored.

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Creating A Custom Layout

To create a custom interface you can simply start from an existing layout and move viewports around,
or you can clear the layout and start fresh. In this example we will clear the layout to give you a better
understanding of how the interface is constructed.

Fig. 01 Using the Menu Bar, choose Layout > Clear to clear the entire interface to a single blank viewport.
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Fig. 02 While holding the Ctrl key, LMB drag on the viewport thumb and move your mouse downward, then release.
This will split the view creating a new viewport below the current one.

Fig. 03 Your layout should now look like this. The next step is to drag the header of the lower viewport downward.
Click on the header with the LMB and drag downward.
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Fig. 04 Now use the ctrl-LMB drag to the right gesture on the top viewports thumb to split that viewport to the right.

Fig. 05 The right hand viewport will become a toolbar, so grab the divider between the two top viewports and drag it
to the right to make the rightmost viewport an appropriate width for a toolbar.
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Fig. 06 Now that we have three viewports, let’s begin to populate them. First we will change the top-left viewport
to the Mod_Quad 3D Edit viewport.

Fig. 07 From the viewport widget menu, choose 3D Edit > Mod_Quad.
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Fig. 08 Nice. Before we set the right hand viewport to a toolbar, let’s split it downward so that we can have a toolbar
and a tool properties form on that side. Use the LMB-ctrl drag down gesture on the right-hand viewport thumb.

Fig. 09 Now we are ready to set these two viewports to a toolbar and a properties form respectively.
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Fig. 10 Using the widget on the top right viewport, choose the Toolbars category and select modo Tools.

Fig. 11 Your interface should now look like this.

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Fig. 12 Now from the widget menu on the viewport below the toolbar, select the Properties category
and choose Tool Properties.

Fig. 13 Since no tool is active the new viewport will be blank. However, you can tell if you have the correct viewport
selected as the viewport header should now read “Tool Properties”.
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Fig. 14 Next we want to split the bottom viewport to the right. Again, use the ctrl-LMB drag right gesture to do this
quickly, or RMB click on the thumb to access the option from the context menu.

Fig. 15 Using the widget on the bottom left viewport, select Form View, then RMB click on the black header of a
Form view to gain access to more form presets. RMB click on the header and choose modo modes.
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Fig. 16 Using the widget on the bottom right viewport, select the Status Feedback option.

Fig. 17 The Status Feedback viewport has several different settings. In this case we want to use this viewport to view
coordinates in 3D and tool settings. From the viewport widget menu, select Viewport Settings > Tools.
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Fig. 18 Your new interface should now look like this. Cool! Now for a little polish. The coordinates viewport that we
have set up in the bottom right hand corner looks a little odd with the large black header. Fortunately we can use the
Min Header option to remove it.

Fig. 19 From the viewport thumb RMB context menu, you can choose Min Header to remove the header
from a viewport.
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Fig. 20 Your layout should look like this now. Let’s clean up the size of the toolbar viewport on the right. There is a
little too much dead space between the buttons and the toolbar tabs.

Fig. 21 Click and drag the toolbar viewport border to the right. Your interface should now look like the image above.
Now that the layout is complete, let’s save this as a new Layout preset.
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Fig. 22 Use the Menu Bar to select Save As from the Layout pull down menu. This is where you can save new
Layout presets.

Fig. 23 Type a name for your layout preset in the layout.save requester.
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Fig. 24 Now you can always recall your new layout from the Menu Bar > Layout > Layouts drop down.

That is sweet.
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Creating a viewport preset

By default all viewports in modo are actually considered presets. Viewport presets are simply the
combination of a viewport type, a category and any viewport settings. This combination is given a
name and voila! You have a viewport preset. Of course, you can create your own viewport presets as
well. Let’s take a look at a default viewport preset and then create a new one.

Use the Menu Bar > Layout > New Window to spawn a new floating viewport. From the widget of that
viewport select 3D Edit > 3D Model View.

Fig. 01 The floating window has been set to a 3D Model View.

The default 3D Model view has been assigned to the 3D Edit category, has no custom settings and has
a name of “3D Model View. Let’s create our own preset now.

Change using the 3D view properties pull down (currently should read “Shaded”), choose the Vertex
Map option. Using the projection style pulldown (currently set to Perspective), set the view to Top.
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Fig. 02 The viewport should be looking down at the top of your model, and the model will be drawn with the vertex
map shading.

Let’s change another viewport property to rotate the orientation of the Top view so that it is landscape
rather than portrait style. Once again use the 3D view properties pull down menu and select Properties
from the list.

Fig. 03 The 3D view properties menu allows you to quickly set any single property, or open the Properties dialog to
set many options at once, and/or gain access to some advanced properties.
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Fig. 04 The Properties dialog shows all the options for the current 3D viewport in one easy to use menu. From here
you can change multiple settings at one time.

Use the “Spin” pop-up menu and to rotate the view orientation by 90 degrees. Press the OK button or
hit Return to dismiss the Properties dialog.

Fig. 05 Notice that the Top view has been rotated by 90 degrees putting it in a landscape orientation.
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We now have the basis for our viewport preset. To save this as a new preset, use the RMB thumb
context menu and choose Save Viewport As.

Fig. 06 The viewport controls context menu, opened with the RMB click on the viewport’s thumb.

Type the name of your viewport preset into the Save Viewport dialog and leave the category set to 3D
Edit. The category pop-up is the mechanism for organizing viewports in the viewport widget.

Fig. 07 The Save Viewport dialog.

Now that we have saved the viewport preset, we can easily recall this viewport from any viewport
widget. Close the floating viewport so that you are back to the default modo layout. Choose the viewport
widget for the Info & Statistics viewport and navigate down to the 3D Edit category.
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Fig. 08 From the widget menu of the Info & Statistics viewport we can choose our new 3D Edit viewport preset.

Fig. 09 The Info and Statistics viewport has been changed to the Vertex Map Top Landscape preset.

With viewport presets, you can create your most commonly used viewport settings so that you can
easily access them from any viewport. Super bon bon!
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Mousing Standards in modo

M
odo has two main styles of mouse input, “hauling” and handle manipulation. Hauling is LMB
dragging anywhere in the 3D viewport while there is a tool active, without using the handles.
Handle manipulation is LMB dragging on any of the current tools’ handles.

Single axis Handle

A Haul handle

Fig. 01 Tool handles for Stretch. Dragging a handle constrains the tool to that axis. Hauling off handles allows you to
quickly adjust two or more tool properties at one time.

Modo employs a set of standards for all mouse behaviors depending on the style of tool. These standards
allow us to leverage all three mouse buttons and qualifier key combinations to produce variations on
the tools behavior. There are two basic types of tools, geometry creation tools and geometry editing
(transform) tools. The standards for mousing are slightly different between these two categories so that
we have mapped the most commonly desired behaviors to the primary mouse inputs for each style of
tool. When you activate a tool in modo you can always see the mousing behaviors listed at the bottom
of the modo interface in the ToolTips viewport.
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Fig. 02 The ToolTips viewport can be located at the bottom of the modo Default layout.

The basic rules of mousing are quite simple. Understanding these rules will allow you to take full
advantage of the flexibility and speed of the tools.

LMB Shift-LMB MMB RMB Ctrl-LMB

Reset tool and Continue hauling Clone and haul (none: reserved for Constrain
Transforms
haul parameters parameters w/o reset parameters falloff modifiers) parameters

Reset tool and haul Clone and haul Haul alternate Constrain
Create Haul parameters
parameters parameters parameters parameters

Create new Drag node Move

Curves Delete node none
curve node Child nodes constrained

Transforms Tools

Reset tool and haul parameters.

Definition:
At the mouse click the tool properties are reset. As the mouse is dragged the values are changed.

Example:
When using the Axis Rotate tool with the Automatic Action Center, clicking in the 3D viewport sets the
pivot position for the rotation. LMB click and drag will reset the tool properties to 0 degrees and set the
pivot for the rotation under the mouse. Dragging will then change the amount of rotation.

Continue hauling parameters without reset.

Definition:
The tool properties are edited from the current value without resetting any of the tools parameters or
action center info.
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Example:
When using Axis Rotate, this mode will leave the current rotation amount in place as well as the rotate
tools pivot. Dragging the mouse in this mode will simply increase or decrease the rotation value.

Clone and haul parameters

Definition:
Re-applies the current properties of the tool and allows continued editing from those values.

Example:
The Axis Rotate tool has been used to rotate the selection by 45 degrees. Using clone and haul
parameters will reapply that rotation so the selection will then be at 90 degrees from its’ original
position. The tool widget will still be at 45 degrees since the value was cloned. You are now able to
continue hauling to edit the value.

Constrain parameters

Definition:
Uses initial mouse drag to determine which properties to edit and constrains the mouse to only edit
those values.

Example:
When hauling the Move tool, two properties are edited simultaneously depending on the current Work
Plane. If you are editing on the XY plane, hauling will edit both the X and Y move value. Using Constrain
parameters, the first direction the mouse is moved determines the editable axis. In this case, holding
CTRL and dragging to the right will edit the X move value and the Y value will remain unchanged.

Geometry Creation Tools

Haul parameters

Definition:
The tool properties are edited from the current value without resetting any of the tools parameters or
action center info.
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Example:
Using the Polygon Bevel tool, the first click activates and allows you to haul both the inset and shift
values freely. Subsequent clicks will simply add to the existing edit values. This enables you to click
and drag repeatedly on a single bevel to edit the values.

Reset Tool and Haul Parameters

Definition:
Any current tool action is applied, the tool properties are reset and a new application of the tool
begins.

Example:
When using the polygon bevel tool this behavior allows you to begin a new bevel and immediately haul
the inset and shift values. With this method you can quickly apply a series of bevels, each with its own
inset and shift values.

Clone and haul parameters

Definition:
Re-applies the current properties of the tool and allows continued editing from those values.

Example:
The polygon bevel tool can be applied repeatedly with the same inset and shift properties by using
Clone and haul parameters without additional dragging.

Haul alternate parameters

Definition:
Some creation tools provide hauling edits for secondary properties via the RMB.

Example:
The Cube primitive tool allows the segment value to be edited by dragging the RMB while the tool is
active. The axis is determined by the orientation of the work plane.

Curve tools

Create New Curve Node

Definition:
LMB clicking with a curve-type tool (Curve, Bezier, Tube, etc) will create a new curve point after the
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currently selected point. To add a point between two existing points, first select the point that you intend
to be “behind” the new point. LMB click/dragging on a curve point will edit the location of that point.

Example:
The Tube tool allows you to click repeatedly in the 3D viewport to define new tube control points. Clicking
on an existing point will select it so that you can add new points in the middle of the tube.

Drag Node and Child Nodes

Definition:
Holding down the Shift key while using the LMB to move a curve node will also move any nodes that
are “children” of that node.

Example:
When using Solid Sketch you may want to move an entire “branch”. To do this, simply hold the Shift
key while LMB dragging the node.

Delete Node
Definition:
MMB clicking directly on a curve handle will delete it immediately.

Example:
When working with the Curve tool you may add more nodes that you need. Simply MMB clicking on a
node will delete it from the curve.

Move Constrained

Definition:
Ctrl-LMB dragging a curve control point will constrain your movement along the first axis you drag
toward.

Example:
When using the Tube tool, hold the CTRL key down and click on a control point in the tube. Dragging
along an axis will “constrain” the move to that axis so that you can not adjust the position of the point
on the other axis.
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Tool Pipe

T
he Tool Pipe viewport is a seemingly simple, yet incredibly important aspect of modo. Much
of modo’s power and flexibility comes from the ability to compose tools with various action
centers, axes, falloffs and snapping. The Tool Pipe is where all of this is managed, and much
more. The Tool Pipe is essentially the air traffic controller for all tools in the system. It decides which
tools are active, how a tool should draw, if a tool should be auto-activated on selection, if selections
can change while the tool is active and whether a tool modifier should be persistent or transient
between tool selections. These options are managed automatically by the Tool Pipe and can also be
overridden by the user.

Fig. 01 The Tool Pipe currently populated with the Soft Drag deformation tool preset.

In the default modo layout you will find the Tool Pipe viewport in the bottom right hand side of the
interface on a tab labeled Tool Pipe (Clever!). The viewport is divided into several columns and
depending on the currently active tool preset, falloffs and other modifiers, several rows as well. Each
entry in the tool pipe receives its’ own row. The columns are labeled E, V, A, Tool and Preset as you
can see in Fig. 01 above.

E: Enable
The E column indicates the state of the enable/disable toggle. When the checkmark is visible in this
column the tool or modifier is enabled. This can be very useful when working with modifiers such as
falloffs or guides as it allows you to quickly disable the effect of the modifier without removing it from
the tool pipe completely so that you can re-enable it with its settings intact.
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Fig. 02 The Screen Falloff has been disabled by clicking on the checkmark in the E column. This column is a toggle
so each click will switch between enabled and disabled.

V: Visibility
The V column indicates the handle visibility settings for the current tools and modifiers. There are
several visibility states available to most tools. RMB clicking on this column opens the visibility
context menu. The default setting, “Preference” uses the Tool Handles Draw Style setting on the
Preference editor. This allows you to globally set the tool handles to a specific style. The Advanced
setting will, in many cases, add extra handles and/or HUD sliders for the tool. Basic uses the core
set of tool handles for the primary controls and Invisible will hide the handles altogether for users
who prefer simple hauling behaviors. You can quickly toggle between Invisible and Preference by
LMB clicking in this column.

Fig. 03 The Visibility context menu can be used to customize the tool handles for the selected entry in the tool pipe.
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Fig. 04 LMB clicking the column quick toggles between Invisible and Preference.

A: Active
The A column indicates the current “active” state of the tool or modifier. This column has three states,
manual (m), automatic (a) or inactive (blank). When a tool or modifier is activated it is either set
directly by the user (manual) or automatically by the system (auto).

Fig. 05 The Soft Drag tool has just been activated. The Action Center, Axis and Falloff parameters are currently derived
automatically and the Active state is set to Auto. The Move tool is using user input and is therefore set to Manual.

Fig. 06 When the user modifies the falloff radius using the RMB hauling option, the falloff is switched to Manual mode.
During this edit, the Move tool is inactive so the falloff can trap the mouse input.
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Fig. 07 LMB clicking in the 3D view to use the tool reactivates the Move tool in manual mode. Since both the Move
tool and Screen falloff have had direct user input they are set to manual.

Tool Column
The tool column shows a list of the tolls and modifiers that currently occupy the tool pipe. Using the
RMB in this column reveals the tool preset context menu. This context menu allows you to activate,
apply, reset or remove a tool in the tool pipe as well as create and load new presets and set activation
and locking states.

Fig. 08 RMB clicking on the Tool column reveals the tool presets context menu.
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Apply Tool
This option will apply the current tool using the parameters in the tool properties form. This does not
result in the tool being in interactive mode as Activate tool does.

Example
With the Cube tool selected, utilizing Apply Tool will create a cube with the current parameters found
on the tool properties form. This does not activate the tool.

(Tip: Many of the transform tools are set to Auto Activate so the Apply Tool option is irrelevant. However, in some
cases where the data is very large and interactive edits are not desirable, disabling Auto Activate for that tool allows
you to select the tool, numerically enter the desired parameters in the Tool Properties form and then use Tool Apply.
This allows you to use any of modo’s tools in a non-interactive manner.)

Reset Tool
Resets the properties of the currently selected tool or modifier to the preset defaults.

Example:
After dragging out a custom cube, you may wish to return the tool to the default 1 meter cube. Use the
Reset Tool option to set the properties back to the defaults.
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Remove Tool
This option will remove the currently selected tool or modifier from the tool pipe. You can use this
feature to remove a falloff or other tool modifier from the tool pipe without changing the state of the
rest of the tool pipe inhabitants.

(Note: An Action Center and Axis must always be in the Tool Pipe. As such, using the Remove Tool
option on an Action Center of Axis will merely replace the current Center or Axis with Auto Center
or Auto Axis respectively.)

Example:
Activating the Soft Drag tool will populate the tool pipe viewport with Screen Falloff and the Move
tool. If you would like to leave Screen Falloff in place, but switch to the Rotate tool, you can use
Remove Tool on the Move tool. This will leave the Screen Falloff in place and allows you to add Rotate
to the pipe.

Save Preset
This option allows you to save any tool/modifier composition as a preset that can be recalled like any
tool in the system. Once you have saved a tool preset you can recall it with the Load Preset option,
or via the command tool.set.
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Load Preset
Loading a preset will insert the contents of the preset into the currently active tool pipe. If there are
components of the preset that collide with the current tool pipe contents, the loaded preset takes
precedent. Any tool pipe contents that do not overlap with the loaded preset will remain in place.

Auto Activate
This is a toggle option. When there is a checkmark next to Auto activate the currently selection tool
pipe option is set to activate immediately upon selection. Activation means the tool, when selected,
will be reset and set to the active state. Tools that are have Auto Activate disabled require manual
activation. Manual activation can be accomplished by clicking in the 3D viewport or by RMB clicking
in the tool pipe and choosing activate tool. Activating a tool sets the tool into interactive mode and will
display any handles available for the tool.
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Example: Using Auto Activation, or not.

You may wonder why you would ever want a tool to have Auto Activate disabled. After all, if you are
selecting a tool, presumably you want to interact with it, right? Well, there are actually a couple very
good reasons why you might not want a tool in Auto Activate mode. As discussed earlier, there are
two actions that occur when a tool is in Auto Activate mode. First the tool properties are reset and
then the tool is set to interactive mode. The properties are reset so that the tools handles are in a
reasonable position and so that when the tool is set to interactive mode (activated) those parameters
are not applied to your mesh (wouldn’t that be annoying!). These two actions are exactly the reasons
you might NOT want a tool to auto activate. There are times you might want to keep the previous tool
settings around to repeat the tool exactly as you have just used it and there are times when you might
want to use the tool in a non-interactive manner (working with very heavy meshes).

Consider the first case of reusing tools settings. One interesting benefit to the modo tool preset
system, is that modo treats all tools as presets. Each time you work with a tool, modo remembers the
tool properties for the next time you select that particular tool. With auto activate turned on, however,
the tool properties are immediately reset, so those settings are cleared before the tool is activated.
But what if you wanted to move a selected polygon exactly 1.2 meters on X, and then repeat that
move several times after selecting different elements of the model? Since the move tool uses Auto
Activate, you would need to numerically enter 1.2m in the X field each time you selected the tool.
Instead, you could disable Auto Activate after the first time you enter 1.2m. Now each time you select
the move tool, the properties maintain the settings from the previous session. Now you can simply
use the Apply button on the tool properties form to trigger the tool. Using the Apply command does
not put the tool into interactive mode, only activating the tool (clicking in the 3D or UV viewport or
using Activate in the toolpipe) sets the tool into interactive mode.

The other case of using tools with Auto Activate disabled occurs when working with large datasets.
If you happen to be working with very heavy meshes, using tools in the interactive method may not
be feasible (or at least not very pleasant). In this case, you may have better results by dialing in
precise values for a tool in the properties form, and the using the Apply command. This can often
result in a much more accurate use of tools.

The default setting for Auto Activate varies between tools. The general rule for the default
configuration is that basic Transform tools have auto activation enabled and any tool that creates
geometry has auto activation disabled. Examples of transforms are Move, Rotate, Size and Stretch.
Examples of geometry creation tools are primitives, bevel and slice. Changing the auto activation
state of a preset is persistent between tool sessions. If, for example, you prefer to use the Move tool
with Auto Activate disabled, you only need to toggle Auto Activate in the Tool Pipe once. Each time
you select the Move tool from that point forward, the Auto Activate state will be disabled as this flag
is stored as part of the tool preset.
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Lock
In some instances, you may want to “lock” a tools’ properties so that each time you select the tool its’
settings are always in the originally “locked” state. In this case you would use the Lock option.

Example
If you have created a Cube with specific dimensions and you would like that to be the “default” settings
for the Cube tool each time you select it, you can use the Lock option in the Tool Pipe. Typically, each
time you interact with the Cube tool, these current settings will be remembered and applied the next
time you select the tool. However, using the Lock option will reset the tool to these locked parameters
regardless of any interactive session with the tool. Try this exercise.

Step 1: Select the Cube tool from the modo Tools toolbar. Notice that the default settings are set to
a 1 meter cube centered on the X, Y and Z axes.

Step 2: In the 3D viewport, drag out a custom cube. Perhaps a nice long rectangle on the X axis.

Step 3: Look at the Properties form and make a mental note of your settings.

Step 4: Drop the tool by pressing the Space Bar.

Step 5: Delete the mesh by pressing Ctrl-X.

Step 6: Select the cube tool again. Notice that the settings from the previous tool session are in the
Properties form. Cool! If you want to recreate the exact same box, you can RMB click on the Cube
Primitive entry in the tool pipe and choose Apply Tool.

Step 7: Drag out a new box in the 3D viewport. Make sure it is noticeably different than your last
box. Again, note the tool properties for this box.

Step 8: Drop the tool by pressing the Space Bar.

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Step 9: Select the Cube tool and note that the settings were persistent.

Step 10: In the Tool Pipe viewport, RMB click on the Cube Primitive and select the “Lock”
option.

Step 11: In the 3D viewport, create yet another cube with completely different dimensions than the
previous. Note the settings in the properties viewport.

Step 12: Drop the tool.

Step 13: Select the Cube tool.

Step 14: Notice this time the settings were reverted back to the cube that you created when you
set the Lock flag on. These are now the “default” settings for the Cube primitive each time it is
activated.

Auto Drop
This option “completes” the tool action with each mouse-up. This is mostly useful for tools that have
a “stroke” action such as painting or sculpting tools. Without the Auto-drop option adjusting tool
parameters after a paint stroke will undo the stroke or change its’ effects which in the case of these
tools is undesirable. With other tools, such as Bevel, being able to numerically adjust the tool parameters
after interactively setting them roughly is beneficial and in this case Auto Drop would be disabled.
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Select Through
There are two very different workflow methods for 3D artists as it applies to 3D tool use. Some
applications rely solely on the use of tool handles, while other applications allow the user to “haul”
tool values by clicking and dragging away from the 3D handles. There are advantages to both methods.
“Hauling” advocates proclaim the relative merits of being able to quickly drag out a result without
having to precisely grab a tool handle. Further, the use of “hauling” allows the user to set the Action
Center by clicking the mouse in 3D space. This allows quick and easy customization of the tools
center position. On the other hand, users who rely solely on the tool handles like to preserve mousing
off handle for changing selection. This workflow allows you to quickly change selection while the tool
is still active. When combined with the Transform tool which encompasses move, rotate and scale in a
single widget this can be very fast way to tweak a mesh. modo goes both ways and “Select Through”
is the gateway to get you there.

When Select Through is disabled, clicking off handle can both reset the Action Center (when in Auto
mode) and “haul” tool values. Since 3D tools need to know which parameters are being adjusted,
“hauling” uses the active WorkPlane to determine which values are being modified.

Enabling Select Through will allow you to keep the tool active and change the selection by clicking or
click-dragging away from the handles. This mode disables the ability to “haul” and quickly reset the
Action Center. To set the Action Center to a custom location with Select Through active you will need
to directly edit the Action Center handle.
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Common Viewports
Item List

Fig. 01 The Item List viewport

T
he Item List has a number of functions. First, and most obviously, it lists all of the “locator” type
items in your project (For more info about Locators and lists see “Item List versus Shader Tree
section below). In the Item list you can create and edit the following Items: Mesh, Group, Camera,
Directional Light, Spot Light, Point Light, Area Light, Dome Light, Cylinder Light, Texture Locator and
Backdrop Item.
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Fig. 01 Clicking (new item) in the list opens this dialog.

The functionality of the Item List includes, simple selection of the Items in the list, creation and
deletion of Items and entire scene files, re-ordering items in the list, creating parent/child hierarchies,
setting visibility, edit item properties and creating item groups for general organization.

Auto Visibility
There are two very different workflows between modeling and layout/rendering processes. When
modeling you often want to focus on a single mesh item whereas the layout process demands a
complete view of the project. modo offers a solution for both via “Auto Visibility”. By default this option
is off. The Auto Visibility mode will automatically turn visibility on for the currently selected item and
hide all deselected items. In this way you can easily set the focus to a specific mesh item. Once the
item is visibly isolated you can use the Shift or Control key to add to the selection. If you want to have
one layer active but another layer visible and inactive you can Control click on that Items visibility
column to override the Auto Visibility setting at that time.

To access the Auto Visibility option you can either RMB click on the viewport tab or header or you can
use the Viewport Widget and navigate to the Viewport Settings.
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Fig. 01 RMB on the viewport Tab or using the Viewport Widget allows you to set Auto Visibility from the Viewport
Settings sub-menu.

Creating Groups in Item List

As your projects become more complex you may find your flat list of Items becoming unwieldy. modo
provides Item Groups to help organize your project. To create a group you can choose “new item>Group”.
With the new Group item created you can begin to drag and drop items into the group to clean up your
list. If you have several items that you want to add to a group quickly you can select them all and press
Control-G. This will create a group and move all selected items into that group in one step.

Let’s collapse the Chair mesh items into a single group container.

Select the first item in the list.

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Holding “Shift” click the last mesh item you wish to add to the group. Holding Shift while clicking will
select all items in between. If you wish to select only certain items use the Control key and click on
each item independently.

Press Control-G to create the group item and all of the selected items are automatically swept into
the group. Poof!
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To keep the project usable, give the group a reasonable name. You can RMB click on the group item and
choose Rename, or “Click-pause-click” to invoke an inline edit.

Now the long list of items composing the chair is nicely tucked into a group logically named “All Chair
Items”. The long list of mesh items is out of the way, but easy to get to by simply unfolding the group
with the arrow widget to the left of the group items name.

Groups can contain items of any type. In other words, you could include texture locators, lights and
meshes in a single group.
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Creating Parent/Child Hierarchies with the Item List

Parent/Child relationships amongst items have several benefits. First, if you are exporting to an
animation system you already know the power of these hierarchies for animation. Since setting them
up in modo is so simple this is a first step at rigging your project for animation. However, even within
the modo-sphere there are advantages to creating these hierarchies. The two main areas of advantage
are “gang-manipulations” and organization.

Creating hierarchies in modo is a simple drag and drop operation. In the Item list, drag and drop one
item onto another and that item becomes the child item. That’s it really. Well there are some nuances.

Fig. 01 With a flat list even simple projects can get lengthy.

Fig. 02 We Shift-click on these two items to select them both.

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Fig. 03 Dragging the two items up onto the “Top Section” mesh item.

Fig. 04 Now the two selected items are “children” of the Top Section item.
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Fig. 05 We repeated those steps for the Bottom section items and collapsed both Parents to visually
clean up the list significantly.

Fig. 06 Double clicking on the Parent item in the Item list will automatically select the parent and ALL children. Handy!
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Fig. 07 While our project consists of 6 items, we can easily select the entire top or bottom by simply double clicking
on the parent items in the list.

Manipulating Items in a Hierarchy

It is important to note that there are some ramifications to editing items in Item mode when you have
a hierarchy established. (The following section is only relevant when the selection mode is set to
Item.) For instance, when you translate the Parent item the children will receive the same amount
of translation. However, if you select the parent AND child items the effect of the transform will be
doubled on the child. Additionally, if there are Item level transforms applied to the Parent item before
the relationship is set up the Child will move to match the Parents transforms. If the Item Transform is
changed prior to the child relationship being severed the child item will also move. There is a simple
solution to maintaining the child’s current position during parenting or un-parenting the item. Simply
hold the Control key down when you drag and drop the child to or from the parent item. This will adjust
the child item’s Transform values such that the item does not move from its original world location.
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Fig. 01 The Parent has Item level transforms applied as we can see in the Item Properties to the right. Also note that
when the parent item is selected, the children shade in a light blue to indicate the relationship in the 3D view.
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Fig. 02 Un-parenting the top section moves the item back to the world space location. Note the transforms for this
item are all at defaults.
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Fig. 03 In this case we held the Control key while un-parenting the item. This triggered modo to apply transforms to
the item so that it remains in the same location after the parent/child link was broken. Have it your way.
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Hierarchy Navigation Quick Tips

Often when you have created hierarchies it may be arduous to expand the various parent items to dig
down to the level where you can see the item you are looking for. If you change to Item selection mode
and click on the item in 3D view (where it is most likely in plain sight) you can press the “F” key to
“Find” the item in the list. The list will auto-expand to reveal your item. Fancy.

You can also quickly expand/contract an entire hierarchy branch with a single action. Holding Shift
when you click to expand or contract a hierarchy will expand/contract the current item and all items
down the branch.

The Item Context Menu

There are several options available via the Item List context menu. Simply RMB click on any item to
open the menu.

Fig. 01 The Item List context menu from the Item level.

The Item list context menu provides quick access to a number of useful controls.

Properties:
Mesh items have options for renaming, setting the subdivision and spline patch levels, adjusting the
curve refinement angle, visibility and toggling between smooth SDS UVs or linear UVs. All other items
only have the option to set their name as the other options are irrelevant to non-mesh items.

Add to Group:
This creates a group item and tucks all currently selected items into said group. The same can be
achieved with Control-G shortcut.
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Rename:
Allows you to rename the item.

Duplicate:
This command will create a duplicate of the current item.

Instance:
The Instance command is only relevant for Mesh items. The result is a “duplicate” of the current mesh
that is simply a reference to the mesh. Instances can be transformed at the item level and can have
their own materials and textures applied to them via Item level masks. However, they can not be edited
at the mesh level as they derive all mesh information from the original mesh item. The advantage is
that all mesh changes made to the original mesh item will propagate to its instances.

Delete:
This will delete the currently selected item(s).

Load Preset:
This will load an item preset into the project.

Apply Preset:
The Apply preset command will apply values from a compatible item preset to the currently selected
item. (Note: Mesh items cannot be saved as presets. Nor can preset values be applied to meshes.)

Preset Browser:
This option will open the preset browser so that you can quickly choose a preset to load or apply.

Save Preset:
For non-mesh items you can save Presets that can be reloaded or applied to existing items.

Create Item Mask:

This option will create a mask group in the Shader Tree with the current Item as the filter. This allows
you to quickly add a material/texture mask at the mesh item level so that you can isolate material
changes to that specific item.

Change Item Type:

With this option you can quickly convert an item into another item type. For instance, you can convert an
Instance mesh into a real mesh so that you can edit the item at the component level. Another example
is to convert a Directional Light into an Area Light. It should be noted that certain parameters would be
lost if you were to switch back to the original item type. Common parameters should be preserved.
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Project Item Context Menu

RMB clicking on the file name in the Item list will open the file context menu. This is a very convenient
place to perform routine tasks such as Save, Save As, Export, Close and Revert.

Fig. 01 The Item list context menu from the Project level

Item List modes

The Item List has three UI modes depending on the size of the viewport. When the Item List is fully
expanded it shows all Items and acts as a complete project manager. When the viewport gets collapsed
it morphs into a “Mesh List” allowing a very compact user interface for quickly selecting the various
meshes in your project. The “Mesh List” mode has two sizes, Medium and Small depending on the
amount of screen space available to the viewport. This allows you to compress the list into a very small
space on your screen to make room for other UI elements.

Fig. 01 The Item List in medium “Mesh List” mode.

The Medium view shows the current project in a popup at the top of the viewport and has large check
boxes for each mesh. In this particular project there are 6 mesh items. Currently the first item in the list
is selected and the other meshes are visible but inactive (this is also known as a Background mesh). In
both the medium and small versions of the viewport there are two rows. The top row (as labeled in the
medium view) is the Active (aka Foreground) mesh and the bottom row (aka Background) is inactive but
visible. To toggle visibility of an inactive layer simply Control click on the bottom cell of the mesh item.
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Fig. 02 The Item List in small “Mesh List” mode.

The Small view shows the current project popup to the left of the mesh selection list and the available
mesh items in small cells on the right. The top row is for Active mesh items and the bottom cell indicates
an inactive (but visible) mesh item. Ghosted dots in the top row indicate the mesh item contains
geometry. White dots indicate that a mesh item exists but contains no geometry (an empty layer).

Item List versus Shader Tree

You may have already noticed that some modo items appear in both the Item List and the Shader
Tree. The Item List is generally used to select Locator type items. “Locator” type items are items that
can be selected and edited directly in the 3D viewport. There are items that are not Locator type. For
instance, materials, masks and texture layers are also items but are not directly editable in the 3D
viewport. These items are accessed via the Shader Tree rather than the Item list. There are some
crossover items that appear in both the Item List and the Shader Tree. This is because they may share
common linked items such as a texture layer and its locator item (texture positions are set by Texture
Locators which can be manipulated in 3D), or items that can be modified by textures (Lights have a
material and can be textured within the Shader Tree).
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Vertex Map List

The Vertex Map List view lists vertex maps for the current mesh in groups: UV, Weight, Morph, and
Other. The “Other” list includes the type of the vertex map as well as just the name. The list of maps
available is the union of the named maps in all the active meshes.

From within the Vertex Map list viewport you can select (new map) regardless of the viewport size. If
the viewport is compressed such that you are presented with a single or multiple pop-ups, you will find
the (new map) option inside the pop-up. If you accidentally choose (new map) from the wrong map
type pop-up, you can simply change the map type on the new map dialog that appears when creating
a new map. When the viewport is expanded to its full size, expanding any of the vertex map types in
the list will present you with the (new map) option. Again, selecting this option in the list will open the
Create New Vertex Map dialog.

When working in the vertex map viewport, the current selection is maintained even when selecting new
mesh layers, if each layer contains a vertex map with the same name. For instance, if you have a mesh
layer with a texture map named “SteelMap” selected in the vertex map list, changing layers to another
mesh that also has a texture map with the same name will automatically select that vertex map. This is
very handy when working on objects that have been broken up into multiple layers.

When the Vertex Map List viewport’s size is changed, it will automatically change its appearance so that
the viewport is more appropriately displayed for the space available. The viewport has 3 size settings:
Compact, Medium, and Expanded.
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Compact:
The viewport is minimally displayed as a list of four buttons W,T,M, and O (Weights, Textures, Morphs,
Other) next to a pop-up list. The four buttons allows you to quickly set a filter for the pop-up list. If W
is selected, the pop-up list will display all Weight Vertex Maps in the current mesh layer. To see the list
of Texture maps, you would click on the T button and so forth. The “Other” vertex map list contains
color vertex maps as well as Pick maps or custom vertex maps added by 3rd party extensions or
foreign data formats.

Medium:
The viewport is displayed as four pop-ups stacked vertically. The type of vertex map is clearly labeled
next to each pop-up.

Expanded:
The viewport is displayed as a tree with four categories with expand/contract widgets on the left side
of the text. In this view it is possible to view and select multiple vertex maps from the four vertex map
groupings.
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Color Picker

The Color Picker provides a non-modal method for exploring color space on various elements. The
Color Picker is essentially a global service that can be used by tools and item control alike. The current
“client” of the Color Picker is determined by selection order. If you select a Material Item, the Color
Picker will be communicating with that Material so that you can use it to set any of the base colors
(Diffuse, Specular, Reflection, etc). If you choose a tool like the Airbrush that allows color input the
Color Picker will service that tool. If both a Material and color ready tool are selected, the most recently
selected will take precedence.

At the top of the Color Picker are a number of adjacent “cells”. These are used when the current Color
Picker client can accept multiple colors. Once again we will use the Material Item as an example. With
the Material Item selected, the first 6 cells become white. These cells represent the following color
settings (in this order): Diffuse, Specular, Reflection, Transparent, Subsurface and Luminous color.
Clicking a cell makes it the active setting and any clicks or drags in the color area will set that attribute
with the selected color. Next to the cells is a small button labeled “S”. This is the Swap Color button
which will swap the current colors (or cycle them in the case of clients with more than two color
cells). This is a very useful option when working with painting tools as it allows you to quickly swap
the foreground and background colors. There is also a tool-specific keyboard shortcut (“S”) so that you
can toggle these colors when using tools such as the Airbrush and Paintbrush.

At the bottom of the Color Picker are two horizontal ramps. The first sets the brightness for the current
color and the second (checkered one) sets the alpha amount.
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Tool Pipe

The Tool Pipe is a very powerful component inside modo that allows the combination of tools and tool
modifiers. It is also useful as a simple view to the currently active tool combination. There are many settings
available through the Tool Pipe interface via context menus on the specific Tool Pipe components.

The Tool Pipe also acts as a list that shows all the tools in the current preset, with the action tool at
the bottom. The selected tool in the list is the haul tool, and selecting it again asserts the haul state if
it has been cleared.

Tools can be made visible or invisible, enabled or disabled. They can also be removed, renamed, or reset.
Tools required by downstream tools cannot be disabled. The attributes are shown as sub-tree lines.

In the Tool Pipe the E column enables the entry. The V column controls its visibility, and the A column
indicates whether or not it is activated.
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There are several options from the Tool Pipes RMB context menu.

Apply Too0l:
You can fire any tool by right-clicking on it in the Tool Pipe and choose the Apply tool. This is a good
alternative to using the tool interactively in the 3D Model View.

Reset Tool:
Will revert all the tool’s attributes back to their default state.

Remove Tool:
Will simply remove the selected tool from the Tool Pipe.

Save Preset:
Allows the current state of the Tool Pipe to be captured as a preset for loading during later sessions.
Many of the default modo tools are simply tool presets such as Element Move which combines Element
falloff and the Element Action Center with the Move tool. To reload presets you can use this context
menu, create a custom button on the interface or assign the preset to a keyboard shortcut.

Auto Activate:
Is a useful toggle. When active, a tool will become active immediately upon clicking its button or pressing
the hotkey. All of the transform tools in modo are set to Auto Activate and this is why their handles
appear immediately. Geometry creation tools such as the Cube or Bevel tools are not Auto-Activated so
they require an initial click in the 3D viewport by the user. This allows the user the opportunity to set
values on the Property viewport prior to activating or simply applying the tool.
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Lock:
Will keep the current state of the tool properties as the default setting each time the tool is reactivated.
For instance, if you use the Cube tool to drag out a 1 meter cube and then activate the Lock flag,
whenever you activate the Cube tool the numeric properties will be setup for a 1 meter cube. Without
Lock on each time you complete the Cube tool will set the values for the next activation.

Auto-drop:
Is most useful for painting style tools such as Mesh Paint or 3D painting operators. With most tools
when you release the mouse the tool is still active and will allow you to edit the current values. For
instance, if you activate Bevel you can click and drag repeatedly in the 3D view to edit the same Bevel
settings. If you Shift-click you will start a new bevel. If the same were true of Mesh Paint each time
you clicked the previous mesh placement would jump to your mouse rather than creating a new mesh.
With Auto Drop active each new stroke is a new Mesh Paint. If you set the Bevel tool to Auto Drop you
could quickly click and drag multiple times to create complex bevels.

Select Through:
Is a highly useful option for a specific workflow where users do not want to drop tools to change their
current selection. In the default mode modo uses any click away from a tool’s handles to “haul” the
primary values. If you set the tool to Select Through you will no longer have “hauling” behavior but
will get selection events instead.
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Info and Statistics

The Info and Statistics viewport provides information about the mesh geometry in the viewport. It also
provides you with powerful selection and precise editing functionality. There are two tabs: a Statistics
tab, and an Info tab.

The Statistics tab is an integral part of the modo workflow, giving you a wide range of tools to use
for selection. This is a very powerful alternative to manually selecting vertices, edges, polygons and
Locator items in your 3D viewport using your pointing device.

The Statistics tab displays total count and number selected of all vertices, edges, polygons and materials
in the scene. You can use this for very fast selection of the desired components in your scene. Click
in the plus column to select, the minus column to deselect. Expanding the entries in the Name column
gives you access to numerous methods for geometrical selection. Some of these include the ability to
select vertices by the number of edges or polygons they connect, by vertex map, or by named selection
set. For Edge Selection you can also select based on boundary. For polygon selection you can select
polygons by type, # of vertices, by named part or selection set, or by material.
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The Info and Statistics viewport provides information about the geometry in the viewport.

The Info tab displays vertex indices, subdivision weights, texture UVs and position in X,Y and Z. This
tab also allows inline editing of the displayed values for precise numeric edits. When the view is
stretched wide horizontally it reorganizes into a spreadsheet view. Click on any cel you wish to type
in new values for.
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The spreadsheet view also allows multiple selections and inline editing for quickly setting an entire
column to a specific value.

Use the Filter command to limit the display in the list by Vertex map selection, weights, UVs, etc.

Command History
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The Command History viewport provides a running list of the previously executed commands. This
view is useful for quick undo/redo operations, managing macros, quickly assigning keyboard shortcuts
to specific commands and many other utility functions.

Shader Tree

The Shader Tree is the main interface for adding materials and textures to projects. The layered
approach to texturing allows a simple to use and very powerful method for assigning textures exactly
where you want them as well as creating complex looks for surfaces. The visual impact on your scene
is from top to bottom; an image layer with 100% opacity that is placed above a procedural checker
pattern will obscure the checkers in the rendered frame.

There are three top level items inside the Shader Tree by default; Render, Environment and Directional
Light. Currently you can only have one render or environment item but you can add as many lights
as you wish. These items represent the items within modo that can be textured. By opening an item,
layers can be added via the Add layer button to add both procedural materials and image-based
textures. There is a visibility toggle in the left hand column - click on the eye to turn off the visibility
of the corresponding item.
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Using a right click in the Name column on most items will bring up a context menu with options for
deleting, renaming and other common operations. A right click in the Effect column will let you select
what type of impact you want to have on the appearance. An image map can be made to effect the
bumpiness of an object for example.

Gradient Editor

The Gradient Editor lets you control Gradient textures in modo. Once you have added a Gradient texture
in the Shader Tree and indicated what effect it will have on the material, you can invoke the Gradient
Editor from the Render Properties. Select the Input Parameter before invoking the Gradient Editor. A
floating Gradient Editor will appear with amounts and percentages along the left side and bottom (the
values will vary according to what parameter you are adjusting). A color picker is provided.

Key Creation
Keys can be added to the currently selected curve(s) by MMB clicking either on the curve itself or
anywhere on the background.

Setting Colors for Keys

The color of selected keys can be set or adjusted by either clicking and dragging on a Color Picker
viewport or from the RMB context menu. Selecting ‘Key Color’ from this menu will open the Color
Picker from which a color may be chosen. In both cases additional keys may be created on associated
curves at the key Input value.
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Deleting Keys
Keys can be deleted from curves in two ways:
To delete only the currently selected keys press the ‘Delete’ shortcut key.
To delete the currently selected keys and keys at the same Input value on associated curves select
‘Delete Key’ from the RMB context menu.

Selection
LMB – Selects a key under the cursor, holding the Shift key while selecting adds to the selection,
and holding the Control key removes a key from the selection. Clicking on the background deselects
all keys.

LMB & Drag on the background starts box selection. Drag out a box to enclose the keys you want to
select and release the mouse button. All keys within the box will become selected, and any outside
the box will be deselected. Holding down the Shift key adds the keys within the box to the selection
while the Control key removes them.

LMB click on a curve in the background (dimmed) will select the curve. Curves can be added to the
selection by holding down the Shift key and clicking on a curve and can be removed from the selection
by using the Control key.

Curves may also be selected from the menu at the top left of the viewport, this menu lists all the
curves associated with the currently selected Gradient item(s).

Editing
LMB & Drag on a key selects the key if it’s not already selected and allows quick editing of both Input
& Output values at the same time. If there are several keys already selected and you click drag on one
of them then all the selected keys will be modified.
MMB & Drag on a key works in a similar way except that editing is constrained to the Output value.
Similarly RMB & Drag constrains the edits just to the Input Parameter value.

MMB & Drag vertically on the background adjusts the Output value of all selected keys.
RMB & Drag horizontally on the background adjusts the Input value of all selected keys.

Control–MMB & Drag on the background provides constrained editing of Input & Output values for
selected keys based on the initial direction of movement.

LMB Double click on a key selects all the keys on the curve.

Context Menu
The Gradient Editor context menu is accessed by RMB click & release. If the cursor is over an un-
selected key when the menu is opened the key will be added to the selection. Operations performed
from the context menu will affect all the currently selected keys.
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Navigation

Panning & Zooming behavior in the Gradient Editor is similar to the 3D viewports with a few
additions:

Alt–MMB Drag adjusts the start value of the Input (horizontal) range displayed in the editor, while
Alt–RMB Drag adjusts the end value of the Input Range.

Alt–Shift–MMB zooms the Output Range displayed in the editor, while Alt–Shift–RMB zooms the
Input Range. In both cases the zoom is centered on the initial cursor location.

Alt–Control-RMB provides box zooming.

Mouse Wheel – Zooms in and out around the cursor location.

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Preview

The Preview viewport uses the modo render engine in a progressive refinement mode that allows
you to see all changes to your scene in a fully rendered image. This viewport is thread-aware so that
when it is not the current viewport it will not interrupt interactivity from other views. This allows the
user to work on their project without performance degradation yet anytime there are “free cycles”
the Preview viewport will begin a progressive render starting at low quality and filling it in to higher
quality as time permits. In the Preview viewport you can view changes to the geometry, materials,
textures, cameras, lights and even render settings such as ray tracing and radiosity.

In traditional systems the OpenGL viewport gives a proxy view of the project in real-time and a
separate offline render engine (if available) is summoned periodically to generate a full quality image.
This offline rendering is a modal effect which requires the artist to completely turn over control of the
system to the render engine until the image is complete. This “start and stop” process is a complete
workflow killer. Even waiting a several seconds to review a change takes the artist out of their creative
“flow”. The Preview window enables the artist to simply pause to glance at the progress of their
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project and then continue the process of refining their vision resulting in a much more fluid and art
positive process.

The Preview viewport has three Type “modes” and several options for how much of the project to
render interactively and which channels to view. The Types are Auto, Shaders and Clips. The Shaders
mode tells the Preview to perform a full project evaluation or render whereas the Clips mode only
allows the Preview to display images or texture maps that are loaded and selected inside modo. Auto
allows the Preview to display the most recently selected Clip or render item.

The Preview options provide extensive opportunities to optimize the performance of the render by
limiting or focusing the rendered data. The first option allows you to choose between a full scene render
or a sample primitive including Sphere, Plane and Teapot. These will give lightning fast results and are
also very useful for creating material/texture presets before you have any geometry in a project. The
next option, “All Layers” or “Up to Current Layer”, allows you to determine how much of the Shader
Tree the Preview will display. In the default mode all layers are rendered giving the most accurate view
of the final image. If you want to focus on a specific texture or material layer for editing you should
use the Up to Current Layer setting. In this mode the Preview will only display the currently selected
texture or material layer and any that are beneath it in the Shader Tree. This can yield both improved
performance as well as improving the focus when editing a particular layer.

There are several visibility toggles for various Effects. They include Shadows, Global Illumination,
Reflections, Refractions and Displacements (with an option for “Draft” or low res displacements) By
default these are all set on. Disabling specific effects will typically improve performance. The Draft
Displacement option will force modo to use a smaller amount of micro-polygon tessellation in the
Preview viewport. Micro-polygon displacement can generate millions of polygons at the time of render
and as such has a significant setup time requirement making it difficult to Preview this effect interactively.
Draft displacements will reduce the total amount of polys generated improving performance. Also, once
the mesh has been tessellated the Preview can display lighting, camera and shading changes very
rapidly. Only mesh edits will force the tessellation to occur again.

It should also be noted that when working with Global Illumination in the Preview viewport the render
engine will always use Monte Carlo style GI rather than Irradiance Caching. The IC style of radiosity
requires a significant setup pre-pass which makes it less useful for the Preview style progressive
render view. Keep this fact in mind when you work with GI in Preview as the number of Rays used to
calculate radiosity will be coming from the Indirect Rays setting and NOT the Irradiance Rays. Therefore
Preview rendering may appear much grainier than traditional rendering when Irradiance Caching is
active. To improve the grain in the Preview you should increase the Indirect Rays value.

Automatic Geometry Updates indicates to the Preview to constantly keep the mesh data in sync with
the current state of the mesh. Deactivating this setting will “lock” the mesh in its’ current state and only
allow material, lighting and camera edits.
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Never Stop Rendering allows the Preview render to continue to add refinement to the image even
when the maximum number of visible pixels has been achieved. In this case the Preview will begin
to add antialiasing effects to the image. It should be noted that the direct rendering in modo (Render
command) will generally yield better results in a shorter overall render time.

Use Multiple Threads will allow Preview to render with multiple cores or processors. However, since
the idea behind Preview is to allow it to co-operate with the modeling, lighting and painting processes
it is recommended to leave this option off so that the other cores or processors are available for
interactive work.

The Selected or Visible option allows you to chose which items will appear in the Preview render. The
default Visible setting will render all items in the project that have their visibility setting on. To remove
an item from Preview in this mode you simply click the eyeball icon in the Item List. When the Selected
Items setting is on, the Preview will only render the currently selected items. This is a very convenient
way to isolate certain item(s) for Preview.

Reset View will simply reset the render state including refreshing the mesh data.

Save view will save the current state of Preview to an image file.

Pause View stops rendering and leaves the view in the state at which the view was paused.

Render Window
The Render Window appears when you first invoke a render (F9) and has many controls for viewing
your current and previous renders and various statistics. The view will cache up to 10 rendered
images, their alpha channels and corresponding render statistics for quick recall. These cached
images are stored to disc so they are persistent between modo sessions. The Render Window also
allows you to adjust gamma and define a limited region for rendering.

Fig. 01 The Render Stats bar

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Fig. 02 The Render Window

The statistics fields at the top of the window are divided into four cells; Status, Settings, Geometry and
Memory Usage.
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Status:
The Status cell provides information about the current frame, percent complete, elapsed time and
estimated remaining time to render. The Frame number is mostly useful when rendering multi-frame
turntable renders.

Settings:
This cell contains the size of the current image, number of threads (CPUs, Cores or Hyperthreading
enabled) to render the image, number of anti-aliasing samples per pixel and the number of indirect
rays used for radiosity rendered images.

Geometry:
The geometry cell can be a bit more cryptic. The Surfaces value indicates how many different
materials were used in the project. In particular this refers to the number of “pieces” the project is
divided into based on the material assignments.

Segments:
When modo renders the project is “diced” into segments for internal data management from the
“tableau” render-preprocessing system to the render engine itself.

Vertices:
The vertices field simply shows the total number of vertices created to render the final image.

Polygons:
The polygon count indicates how many polygons were used to create the final image. modo performs
adaptive subdivision by default, so any SDS polygons will be tessellated according to the subdivision
limit on the render item. As a result the final number of polygons used to render the project may often
be many times greater than the polygon count of the mesh itself in modeling (or OpenGL space).

The Status Update Field:

Beneath the various information cells is the Status bar to indicate what process the render engine is
currently performing.

Image Cache Buttons:

The horizontal row of numbered buttons allows you to switch to any of up to 10 previously rendered
images. These images are stored on disc as their raw frame buffer including alpha channel. You can
use the Page Up and Page Down keys to quickly step between the frames sequentially or use the
numeric keys on top of your keyboard to jump immediately to a given frame. For really large images
the load time can result in a slight pause as the image is spooled from disc. Keeping the images as their
raw frame-buffer ensures that you can save them at a later time and maintain full quality/fidelity.

Color/Alpha:
The Color/Alpha toggle buttons allow you to view either the color or alpha channel of the
current image.
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Limited Region:
The 3D process is one of constant iteration and refinement. Rendering entire images repeatedly is
a significant waste of time and disruption of the creative flow. To alleviate some of this pain modo
provides the Limited Region rendering functionality. To activate limited region you can simply drag out
a box in the Render View around the area you wish to focus on. This will result in a yellow outline
around the area of interest.

Fig. 03 Drag out the box to define the limited region render.
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Fig. 04 Note that only the area inside the region was rendered with the new settings. Also note the significantly
lower render time.

The Limited Region area is defined by a set of channels on the Render Item. You can adjust these
numerically by selecting the Render Item and opening the Render Properties form. To disable
Limited Region rendering you can either click without dragging in the Render Window (as you
would to drop a selection marquee in Photoshop®) or you can click on the toggle on the Region
tab of the Render Properties
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Fig. 05 The Region settings allow numeric definition of the limited region as well as a quick toggle to disable the region
without losing your settings.

Gamma adjustment:
Using the Up/down arrow keys you can pre-view an increase or decrease in gamma values respectively.
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Modeling Tools
I
n modo many tools serve multiple purposes for the various tasks of modeling, texturing, painting and
rendering. The tools found in this group are mostly focused on the modeling process. However, some
of these tools are also used in some or all of the other disciplines.

Transform Tools

Transform Tool

The Transform tool combines move, rotate and scale into a single tool. By using the various handles the
user can quickly position, rotate and scale from one convenient tool. By default the tool uses the “Select
Through” mode via the ToolPipe settings so that you can also change selections without dropping the
tool. It should be noted that using Select Through replaces the ability to “Haul” the tool. The Transform
Tool has several options. Holding the CTRL key when activating the tool will activate the Item selection
state so that the tool directly transforms the current item rather than performing component level edits.
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The Translate, Rotate and Scale check boxes allow certain aspects of the tool to be disabled. When the
check box is deactivated the corresponding handles will disappear from the tool in the 3D viewport.

The Position, Rotation and Scale Offset values allow direct numeric control over each of the tools
settings including direct input of simple equations and distance units such as cm, ft, m etc.

The Haul popup control is only useful when the Select Through setting is deactivated via the Tool
Pipe. When Select Through is off, clicking and dragging in the 3D viewport can adjust one of the three
components of the transform tool according to the workplane’s orientation. By default the tool is set to
“Haul Translate” which allows the tool to behave like the Move tool when dragging in the 3D viewport.
When hauling a tool only 2 axes can be modified simultaneously. The edited axes combo is determined
by the current orientation of the workplane.

(Holding Alt, CTRL or SHIFT changes to the alternate commands)

Keyboard Shortcut: Y

Move

With the Move tool you can reposition the currently selected mesh or selected mesh elements. The
move tool can be operated via hauling or direct manipulation of the tool handles. If you are using the
hauling option, the axis of movement is determined by the currently selected action center. Using
direct handle manipulation you can easily edit the X, Y or Z position by dragging the appropriate
handle. The green handle moves along the Y axis, the red handle along the X axis and the blue handle
along the Z axis.

The move tool also provides “planar” handles which allow simultaneous editing of 2 axes such as
XY, ZY and XZ. These planar handles appear as small color coded discs. The green disc allows XZ
manipulation, the red disc ZY and the blue disc XY.

When hauling, LMB performs the basic move. Subsequent LMB hauling will reset the action center
to the mouse and begin a new haul move. Shift-LMB continues the move operation with the existing
action center. Ctrl-LMB will constrain the move tool in the first direction you drag the mouse. MMB
clicks will re-apply the previous move amount. This is useful for repeating an edit multiple times.

(Holding Alt, CTRL or SHIFT changes to the alternate commands)

Keyboard Shortcut: W
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Rotate
The Rotation tool allows you to freely rotate geometry in X, Y, Z and screen orientation. The viewport
manipulator displays red, green and blue circles for X, Y and Z rotation, and a neutral grey circle for
rotation aligned to the plane of the view. Free Rotate displays the Rotation Angle in the Tools Info panel
during the rotation, so you can watch this value while you rotate the object freely. This is in contrast to
the Planar Rotate (or Axis Rotate) transform, which provides a single circle for rotation, and lets you
type in the values for the rotation for precision.

(Holding Alt, CTRL or SHIFT changes to the alternate commands)

Keyboard Shortcut: E

Axis Rotate
Axis Rotate is a tool to rotate geometry around a given point in space. The tool is quite simple to
use as you only need to click and drag (haul) in the 3D viewport to activate a rotation. By default the
rotation axis is set to pivot around your mouse pointer position when you click down in the 3D view. By
changing the action center you can easily rotate around the selected elements, the origin, or the pivot
point for that layer.

You can edit the rotation values directly in the tool properties sheet, you can haul the value in the
3D viewport, you can edit the HUD slider for the tool (HUD sliders require advanced handles to be
activated), or you can click directly on the rotation widget to jump directly to a particular rotation
amount. The blue rotation disc can also be used as a direct access handle to adjust the tool. Rotation
is achieved in this case by dragging the mouse in a circular motion in the direction you wish to rotate
the selected element. When using this handle the rotation sensitivity is adjusted based on the distance
the mouse is from the handles as you drag. This can be thought of as extending a lever. The longer the
lever, the more mouse movement is required to rotate the element and thus the granularity of control
is increased.

When using hauling to edit the rotation amount, the LMB will both set the action center when you click
down and dragging right or left will increase or decrease the rotation value. If you release the mouse
button and wish to continue adjusting the value of the rotation tool without resetting the action center
you can either adjust the HUD slider directly, edit the numeric control on the tool properties sheet,
or hold the shift key and LMB drag in the 3D viewport. The Shift-LMB combination will allow you to
continue the hauling behavior without resetting the tool axis with any selected tool.
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You can use the MMB click to reapply the current rotation value. The MMB click will reset the tool,
and reapply the previous value immediately. For example, if you set the rotation angle to 10 degrees,
you could then MMB click to rotate the selected elements 10 degrees on each click. This behavior is
consistent across all tools.

(Holding Alt, CTRL or SHIFT changes to the alternate commands)

Keyboard Shortcut: Shift-E

Scale
The Scale tool allows you to make the selected geometry larger or smaller by changing the “Scale
Factor”. This value can be set numerically in the tool properties, or you can haul the value in the 3D
viewport, or simply drag the HUD* slider to the desired value. The Scale tool uses the action center
setting to derive the center from which the scale will occur. By default this center is set when you
click down with the mouse. If you wish to scale from the origin of the model view, or from the center
of the selected geometry, you can change the Action Center to Origin, or Selected.

*HUD (“Heads Up Display”) sliders are only active when the tool handle visibility is set to Advanced.
This can be done globally via the Preferences panel (Tool Handles section) or by RMB clicking on the
handle visibility column for the tool in the Tool Pipe viewport.
Keyboard Shortcut: Shift-R

Stretch
The stretch tool allows you to scale your geometry arbitrarily on either the X,Y or Z axis or a combination
of the three. While the Size tool sets all three axes uniformly, the scale tool let’s you set each one
independently or two axes at a time. You can set the Stretch Factor on either axis numerically by
entering the desired stretch amount on the tool properties sheet. You can also adjust the scale amount
by using the stretch handles in the 3D viewport, or by hauling. When hauling the stretch factor, the
axis is selected based on the direction you drag the mouse.

The Stretch tool also provides “planar” handles which allow simultaneous editing of 2 axes such as
XY, ZY and XZ. These planar handles appear as small color coded discs. The green disc allows XZ
manipulation, the red disc ZY and the blue disc XY.

Additionally the light blue handle at the center of the tool allows all 3 axes to be adjusted in concert.
This handle effectively allows the stretch tool to function identically to the Scale tool.

(Holding Alt, CTRL or SHIFT changes to the alternate commands)

Keyboard Shortcut: R
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Center

On the Edit menu > Center moves any selection to the center of the world (0,0,0).

The Center tool is very handy for repositioning geometry quickly. Center works on any selection of
vertices, edges or polygons. The Center option found on the Menu Bar: Edit pulldown defaults to “All”
which centers the selected data on X,Y and Z axes. However, the Center command can be used to
center the selected data on any single axis as well. On the modo Tools tool bar under the Basic Tab the
Center popup requester provides direct access to all of the center options (X, Y, Z or All).

The behavior of Center depends on the selected data and the command arguments used. If a single
vertex is selected, Center will move the vertex to position 0 for the defined axis (or axes). When an edge
is selected the center point of the edge will be placed at the centered axis (or axes). With a polygon
selected the polygon will be moved so that the center of the polygon rests at the center of the defined
axis (or axes). When there are more than one vertex, edge or polygon selected, the center of the
bounding volume of that selection will be placed at the center of the defined axis (or axes).
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Deform Tab

Element Move
The Element Move tool provides you with a very fast method for editing individual elements in your
mesh (vertices, edges and polygons). The tool uses your first mouse click to determine the element
directly under the mouse. That element will become highlighted while your mouse click is down. You
can simply drag the mouse to move the element in 3D space, or you can release the mouse button and
use the handles to move the element along that axis.

There are two modes for the tool, Manual and Automatic. By default the tool works in Automatic mode
which means the element type to be edited is determined at mouse down. If you click on an edge
you will edit the edge and if you click on a polygon you will edit the polygon. This allows you to edit
components of the mesh independently of the current selection state.

The Manual mode forces the tool to act only on the component type defined by the current global
selection mask. If selection is set to Vertices and the tool is in manual mode, you will only be able to
edit vertices.

The Element Move tool leverages Selection pre-highlighting so you can see exactly which element will
be edited upon clicking.

The Element Move tool also has a Falloff value which will create a spherical area of influence around
the element under the mouse. This value can be set via the properties panel for the tool or by RMB
dragging in the 3D viewport. The falloff is represented in the 3D view by a yellow wireframe sphere
so you can interactively adjust the region.

Using Element Move with Symmetry active provides an incredibly efficient way to model bilateral
characters or objects quickly.

Keyboard Shortcut: T

Soft Move
Soft Move is a tool preset that consists of the Move tool with Radial Falloff. This lets you select
vertices, edges or polygons and move them, affecting their neighbors to a greater or lesser degree
based on radial falloff. Use the right-mouse button to define the radial falloff.

Soft Move can be found on the Deform tab of the modo Tools toolbar, or on the Edit menu under
Deform > Soft Move.
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Soft Drag
Soft Drag is a tool preset that consists of the Move tool combined with Screen Falloff. This lets you
select vertices, edges or polygons and drag them, affecting their neighbors to a greater or lesser degree
based on screen falloff. Use the right-mouse button to define the screen falloff circle.

You can access Soft Drag from the Deform tab of the modo Tools toolbar, or from the menubar by
choosing Edit > Deform > Soft Drag.
Turn the Transparent button on in the Screen Falloff section to allow the Soft Drag selection to happen
through the mesh. With this off, only geometry facing the view will be affected.

Shear
The Shear tool combines the Move tool with a Linear falloff. At first click the linear falloff is set
perpendicularly to the mouse position and automatically scaled to match the currently selected geometry.
Dragging the mouse at this time will deform the object with a shearing effect.

To precisely place the falloff you can either use the handles to manipulate the falloff after it has been
autosized or you can RMB drag away from the handles to reset the falloff and drag it out interactively.

For more information about the shear tool see: move and/or linear falloff.

Smooth
The Smooth tool causes modo to try to smooth any jagged surface (jittered polygons).
The settings to achieve this vary depending on the mesh geometry, be aware that even relatively low
Strength values can quickly distort an object. The parameter for Iterations specifies how many times
the smoothing algorithm is repeated.

The Smooth tool will operate in the 3D and UV viewports making it an excellent tool for smoothing
overall topology or specific areas of a UV map.

To use the smooth tool, try this example:

1. Make an unit sphere by holding down the CTRL key and pressing the Sphere button on the modo
Tools toolbar.
2. Click the Deform tab, then click the dropdown arrow labeled (none) under Shear, and choose Jitter.
3. Click the Apply button in the Tool Properties form to jitter the sphere.
4. Again click the same dropdown arrow and choose Smooth.
5. Haul using the left mouse button left to right to increase the Iterations.
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The jittered surfaces will be smoothed.

Keyboard Shortcut: Shift-S

Symmetry Tool
The Symmetry tool allows interactive correction of minor symmetry errors. The tool uses a distance
tolerance to decide if vertices have a corresponding vertex on the opposite side of the symmetry axis
(Symmetry must be active for the tool to perform). If the tool locates a vertex within the tolerance
amount it will move that vertex to match its’ partner on the other side of the mesh.

To use the tool, activate symmetry on the desired axis then select the tool and click in the 3D viewport.
You can interactively adjust the Threshold value by dragging in the 3D viewport. Or you can set
the threshold value precisely by entering a numeric value on the properties form. When a vertex is
adjusted it becomes highlighted with a large yellow square.

Jitter
Found on the Deform tab of the modo Tools toolbar (located by pressing the More button under Shear),
Jitter is a Move tool that procedurally repositions selected entities based on a seed number and a
range value for X, Y, and Z.

You can interactively apply the Jitter by dragging in the viewport, or you can numerically enter the
values in the Tool Properties Range fields, then click the Apply button in the Jitter 3D section.

Use this tool to randomly move geometric elements that appear too even and orderly.

Quantize
Quantize is a deformation tool that evaluates the contour of the selected geometry and shuffles the
vertices to align to a three dimensional grid. As the Step value for each axis is increased “voxel” size
(the size of each block in the 3D grid) increases. Each vertex is moved to the closest matching point
in the voxel.

Quantize can be found on the Deform tab of the modo Tools toolbar by pressing the dropdown arrow
directly under Shear and then choosing Quantize from the list. You can also access this tool from the
menu bar by choosing Edit > Deform > Quantize.
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Twist
The Twist tool combines the Rotate tool with a linear falloff. At first click, the linear falloff is set
perpendicular to the mouse and autofit to the current geometry. Dragging at this time will create a
twisting effect.

You can more precisely set the effect of the tool by RMB dragging out the linear falloff to a specific
position and then using the LMB drag to effect the rotation which will create a twisting effect down the
linear falloff so long as the rotation axis is perpendicular to the falloff widget.

For more information see: planar rotate and/or linear falloff

Bend
The Bend tool allows you to quickly deform the selected geometry in such a way as to simulate “bending”
the mesh. The simplest example would be to take a straight cylinder or tube and bend it over as if you
were bending a flexible pipe. The Bend tool consists of a bend “spine” and the bend amount disc. When
activated the Bend tool uses the current action center and axis settings to determine the handle position
and orientation. The spine handle position is set based on the selected geometry.

There are two main components to the properties of the Bend tool; Angle and Spine position (X,Y,Z).

Angle:
This value represents the amount of bend that is received by the geometry at the end of the spine. The
bend tool automatically fades this amount down towards the base of the bend tool to accomplish its
intended effect.

Spine (X,Y,Z):
This triplet value sets the end of the spine handle. The handle can be adjusted interactively in the 3D
viewport or numerically on the property form.

Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl-E

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Vortex
The Vortex tool combines the Axis Rotate tool with the Cylindrical Falloff. At first LMB click the falloff
region is created in a 2D plane centered on the mouse position and automatically scaled to match the
current geometry. The Rotate widget is also centered on the mouse position and any dragging at this
time will create a vortex effect on the mesh.

For more precise control of the effected region, use the RMB to drag out the falloff area first and the
LMB drag to affect the rotate.

For more information see: axis rotate and/or cylindrical falloff

Swirl
The Swirl tool combines the Axis Rotate with a Radial Falloff. The first mouse click will automatically
fit the radial falloff to the current geometry. Dragging in the 3D view will apply a rotation modulated by
this falloff. For more specific control over the region of influence you can use the right mouse button
to quickly define the falloff region, then use the left mouse button to apply the rotation.

To precisely place the falloff you can either use the handles to manipulate the falloff after it has been
autosized or you can RMB drag away from the handles to reset the falloff and drag it out interactively.

For more information about swirl see: axis rotate or radial falloff

Push Tool
The Push tool is a Deformation tool that simply moves the selected geometry along the normals.

The Push tool can be found on the Deform tab of the modo Tools toolbar, or on the menu bar by
choosing Edit > Deform > Push.

The Push tool can be applied interactively by clicking in the viewport to activate the tool, then LMB
dragging to increase the push distance. The tool can also be adjusted numerically with the Push
Distance in the Tool Properties form. If the tool has not been activated (usually done by clicking in
the 3D viewport) you must click “Apply after setting the value numerically (You can also right-click
the Push entry in the Tool Pipe, and choose Apply Tool). This is a useful method when working with
meshes that are very dense as it avoids interactive adjustments.
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Sculpt Tool
Sculpt is a tool preset that gives you the ability to interactively paint geometry deformation in the 3D
viewport. Sculpt combines the Push tool with Airbrush falloff. To use the sculpt tool you must set a
distance value on the tools property sheet and then simply click and drag over your model to paint on
the deformation. To set the radius of the Airbrush Falloff, use the right-mouse button and you will see
a visual indicator of the airbrush.

The following settings are available to the sculpt tool:

Center:
This value is adjusted in real time as you paint across the model.

Size:
This value controls the airbrush radius and is expressed in pixels. The value can be adjusted directly on
the property sheet for the tool or interactively in the 3D viewport with the RMB drag.

Strength:
This percentage value controls the “flow” of the tool. The lower the number the slower the tool affects the
mesh and conversely higher numbers cause the tool to affect the mesh more rapidly. Setting this value to
100%, for example, would cause a vertex to be pushed the full Distance setting as soon as the airbrush
passed over it. The default 10% value is tuned to provide a smooth and natural brushing style effect.

Transparent:
Activating this option will cause the tool to transform vertices that may be hidden by front facing
geometry. This effectively tells the tool to consider the mesh “transparent” so the tool can see through
it to apply its effect.

The Sculpt tool can be accessed from the Deform tab of the modo Tools toolbar, in the Scale Tool. Or
you can choose the tool from the menubar by clicking Edit > Deform > Sculpt.

Taper
The Taper tool combines the Stretch tool with a Linear falloff. At first click the linear falloff is set
perpendicularly to the mouse position and automatically scaled to match the currently selected geometry.
Dragging the mouse at this time will deform the object with a tapering effect.

To precisely place the falloff you can either use the handles to manipulate the falloff after it has been
autosized or you can RMB drag away from the handles to reset the falloff and drag it out interactively.

For more information about the taper tool see: stretch and/or linear falloff.
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Bulge
The Bulge tool combines the Stretch tool with a Radial Falloff. At first activation the radial falloff is
auto-fit to the current geometry and the Stretch tool is activated at the center of the mesh. Using the
Stretch handles causes an apparent “bulging” of the object. You can easily define a custom area of the
mesh for applying the bulge by using the right mouse button to drag out the radial falloff region. The
left mouse button will apply the stretch tool.

Factor:
This XYZ triplet value allows direct numeric control over the scaling amount on each individual axis.
These numbers can be positive or negative.

Radial Falloff Center:

This XYZ triplet value sets the center position of the falloff widget.

Radial Falloff Size:

This XYZ triplet value sets the bounding region of the falloff effect.

Auto Size:
This button will automatically fit the bounding area of the falloff to the selected geometry.

For more information see: stretch and/or radial falloff

Flare
The Flare tool combines the Push tool with a Linear Falloff. The result is the quick ability to “flare” out
a specific portion of the mesh using the linear falloff as the modulator.

Distance:
The actual amount each vertex is moved out away from its original position. The vertex will be moved
directly along its own normal. This value can be positive or negative.
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Tack Tool
The Tack Tool allows you to quickly move and rotate a polygon and/or all connected vertices to any
other polygon in the model. To use the tool simply choose a single polygon in the mesh you wish to
move and re-align. With the tool active, click on another polygon in your project. The initial mesh will
move and rotate so that the selected polygon is aligned to the polygon that you clicked on.

Options for the tool are:

Center XYZ:
This triplet is automatically set with each click of the tool. The value will represent the 3D coordinates
of the element clicked on. After the value has been set automatically it is possible to edit the values
directly to move the mesh on any of the three axes.

Align:
With this option active the mesh is moved and rotated to align to the surface normal of the target
element. Disabling this option will result in the mesh only moving to the target element.

Rotate XYZ:
This triplet is automatically set with each click of the tool but only when the Align option is active. After the
value has been set automatically it can be manually edited to offset the rotation from the element normal.

Move connected vertices: By default this option is active so that the selected polygon and all connected
vertices will be moved and aligned to the target element. When this option is disabled only the selected
polygon will be transformed.

Slide Tool
The Slide tool moves selected mesh elements (vertices, edges and polygons) along their connected
edges. There are two main modes to the tool (Radial and Linear) which can be used depending on the
style of selection and intended result.

Radial Mode:
This mode is most useful for sliding entire edge loops such as widening or narrowing a selected edge
loop around an eye. When this mode is active the direction fields are disabled as the only relevant input
is Distance/Percentage which will indicate how far to slide the selected loop between the next and
previous loops.
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Linear Mode:
This mode is provides a method to slide elements along either of two intersecting edges and is most
useful when sliding vertices or polygon selections. When this mode is selected, the Direction XYZ
triplet is activated. When interacting with the tool in a 3D viewport the direction of the handle will
determine the edge to slide along.

Interpolation:
This pop-up option allows you to choose between Distance and Percent methods for sliding the
geometry.

Distance:
The Distance option allows the tools numeric entry to be a specific distance based on the current unit
system so that geometry can be moved a specific number of feet, inches, meters etc.

Percentage:
The Percentage option slides the selected geometry based on a percent from it’s initial position (0%)
to the neighboring edge or edge loop (-100 or 100%).

Merge Vertices:
When this option is active, vertices will be merged if the slide tool results in vertices sharing the
exact same coordinates. For example, sliding an edge 100% with this option on will result in that
edge being merged into the neighbor. This can be particularly convenient when combined with the
Stop at Edges option.

Stop at Edges:
With this setting active the selected the tool will stop the slide when the selected mesh elements reach
the surrounding edges.

Duplicate:
When active the Duplicate option will create a new edge rather than simply sliding the selected
edge. With this option active it is simple to create new edges or edge loops and place them along the
existing curve.
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Creation Tools

Box Primitive
The Box primitive provides the user with a simple method for creating boxes or cubes. There are many
parameters available to the user to create variations on the default 1 meter cube. By dragging in the 3D
viewport with the Box tool active modo the user can create the initial plane for the box. Once the initial
plane is created, clicking away from one of the handles will snap that handle to the mouse position so
that the user can add dimension to the shape, or simply change the current values.

There are also “Alternate” commands assigned to all of the Primitive Tool icons. The alternate commands
allow you to CTRL click on the icon to quickly create a unit primitive without interacting with the tool or
SHIFT click the icon to create a unit primitive inside a new Mesh Item.

(Holding CTRL or SHIFT changes to the alternate commands)

The parameters for the box tool include:

Center X,Y,Z:
These three values establish the 3D location for the center of the cube.

Size X,Y,Z:
These three values are used to establish the dimensions of the cube. Set to 1m, 1m, 1m by default,
provides us with a 1 meter cube. If you want to create a 6 foot plank that is 2 inches by 4 inches, you can
type into the X,Y, and Z numeric fields respectively: 6’ 2” 4” and modo will perform the measurement
translation to the current unit mode (Metric, SI, or English).

Segments X, Y, Z:
By default the primitive box uses a single segment on each axis. By increasing this value you can
increase the number of “cuts” in each side of the box. This is useful if you plan to deform the cube as
these segments act as “hinges” during deformation operations.

Radius:
This distance value sets a curved edge amount. When radius is set to a positive non-zero value, the
edge of the box is rounded off via extra segments added to the geometry. The number of segmets is
determined by two additional settings; Radius Segments and Sharp.

Radius Segments:
When the Radius value is set to a positive, non-zero value, additional segments are added to round the cube.
The radius segments field allows the user to set how many edges are added to smooth out the corners.
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Sharp:
This will add an extra set of polygons to the edge of the rounded edge so that the adjacent faces are
not affected by surface smoothing. This allows the surface material to use smoothing to further round
the edges without losing the flat appearance of the faces of the cube.

Make UVs:
When this button is active a UV map will be automatically generated for the geometry created with the
tool. This is a very useful option if you plan to UV map the model you are creating from the primitive
as it provides a baseline UV map that you can massage later in the modeling process. In many cases
this can reduce the amount of work required to map the model.

The primitive tool buttons located on the modo Tools tool bar also have Alternate Commands assigned to
them. By holding the CTRL key each of the relevant primitive tools are changed to Unit mode. Clicking on
the icon while holding the CTRL key down will instantly create a one meter version of that primitive.

Sphere Primitive
The sphere primitive provides the user with a simple method for creating balls or spheres. There are
many parameters available to the user to create variations on the default 1 meter sphere. By dragging
in the 3D viewport with the Sphere tool active you can create the initial plane for the sphere. Once
the initial plane is created, clicking away from one of the handles will snap that handle to the mouse
position so that you can add dimension to the shape, or simply change the current values. If you wish
to drag out a perfect sphere, hold the CTRL key while dragging in the 3D view.

There are also “Alternate” commands assigned to all of the Primitive Tool icons. The alternate
commands allow you to CTRL click on the icon to quickly create a unit primitive without interacting
with the tool or SHIFT click the icon to create a unit primitive inside a new Mesh Item.

(Holding CTRL or SHIFT changes to the alternate commands)

The parameters for the sphere tool include:

Position X,Y,Z:
These three values establish the 3D location for the center of the ball.

Radius X,Y,Z:
These three values are used to establish the dimensions of the sphere. Set to 1m, 1m, 1m by default,
provides us with a 2 meter ball.
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Sides:
The sides are the latitudinal edges of the sphere running from top to bottom. By default the primitive ball
uses 24 sides. By increasing this value you can increase the number of “cuts” in the ball. This is useful
if you plan to deform the ball as these segments act as “hinges” during deformation operations. This also
increases the smoothness of the sphere by adding extra facets. If you plan to apply subdivision surfaces
to the mesh, you can use a lower number of segments as the subdivision will smooth out the shape.

Segments:
The segments are the longitudinal edges of the sphere running from right to left. By default the primitive
ball uses 12 segments. By increasing this value you can increase the number of “cuts” in the ball.
This is useful if you plan to deform the ball as these segments act as “hinges” during deformation
operations.It also increases the smoothness of the sphere by adding extra facets. If you plan to apply
subdivision surfaces to the mesh, you can use a lower number of segments as the subdivision will
smooth out the shape.

Sphere Mode:
Globe, Quadball and Tessellation options.

Globe:
The default setting creates a ball with the controls described above.

Quadball:
This option creates a SDS sphere made entirely of polygons containing only four vertices (quads).
When this option is active the Sides and Segments settings are disabled and the Subdivision Level
control activates. Increasing this value will add complexity to the quadball primitive surface.

Tessellated:
By default the ball primitive is composed of mostly quad polygons with some triangles at the poles.
Activating the Tessellated flag will create the sphere from all triangles. When this is active the Tessellation
Level sets the resolution of the mesh created. Using a tessellated sphere with a high tessellation level
will create a more perfect sphere than the default sides and segments, but with many more polygons.
Tessellated spheres are not recommended if you plan to use subdivision surfaces.

Make UVs:
When this button is active a UV map will be automatically generated for the geometry created with the
tool. This is a very useful option if you plan to UV map the model you are creating from the primitive as
it provides a baseline UV map that you can massage later in the modeling process. In many cases this
can reduce the amount of work required to map the model.

The primitive tool buttons located on the modo Tools tool bar also have Alternate Commands assigned to
them. By holding the CTRL key each of the relevant primitive tools are changed to Unit mode. Clicking on
the icon while holding the CTRL key down will instantly create a one meter version of that primitive.
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Cone Primitive
The Cone primitive provides the user with a simple method for creating conical shapes. There are
many parameters available to the user to create variations on the default 1 meter cone. By dragging in
the 3D viewport with the Cone tool active you can create the initial plane for the cone. Once the initial
plane is created, clicking away from one of the handles will snap that handle to the mouse position so
that you can add dimension to the shape, or simply change the current values. If you wish to drag out
a 3D cone, hold the CTRL key while dragging in the 3D view.

(Holding CTRL or SHIFT changes to the alternate commands)

The parameters for the cone tool include:

Position X,Y,Z:
These three values establish the 3D location for the center of the cone.

Size X,Y,Z:
These three values are used to establish the dimensions of the cone. Set to 50 cm, 1m, 50 cm by
default, provides us with a cone that is 1 meter tall and 1 meter across at the base.

Sides:
The sides are the latitudinal edges of the cone running from top to bottom. By default the primitive
cone uses 24 sides. By increasing this value you can increase the number of “cuts” in the cone.This
also increases the smoothness of the cone by adding extra facets.

Segments:
The segments are longitudinal edges of the sphere running from right to left. By default the primitive cone
uses 1 segment. By increasing this value you can increase the number of “cuts” along the cone. This is
useful if you plan to deform the cone as these segments act as “hinges” during deformation operations.

Axis:
This X,Y,Z choice allows you to quickly change the orientation of the cone.

Make UVs:
When this button is active a UV map will be automatically generated for the geometry created with the
tool. This is a very useful option if you plan to UV map the model you are creating from the primitive
as it provides a baseline UV map that you can massage later in the modeling process. In many cases
this can reduce the amount of work required to map the model.

The primitive tool buttons located on the modo Tools tool bar also have Alternate Commands assigned to
them. By holding the CTRL key each of the relevant primitive tools are changed to Unit mode. Clicking on
the icon while holding the CTRL key down will instantly create a one meter version of that primitive.
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Cylinder Primitive
The Cylinder primitive provides the user with a simple method for creating cylinders or tubes. There are
many parameters available to the user to create variations on the default 1 meter cylinder. By dragging in
the 3D viewport with the Cylinder tool active modo the user can create the initial end cap for the cylinder.
Once the initial cap is created, clicking away from one of the handles will snap that handle to the mouse
position so that the user can add dimension to the shape, or simply change the current values.

(Holding CTRL or SHIFT changes to the alternate commands)

The parameters for the cylinder tool include:

Position X,Y,Z:
These three values establish the 3D location for the center of the cylinder.

Size X,Y,Z:
These three values are used to establish the dimensions of the cylinder. Set to 50 cm, 1m, 50 cm by
default, provides us with a 1 meter tall cylinder.

Sides:
This value determines how many edges are used to define the cylinder’s circumference. The larger the
number of sides, the smoother the cylinder will appear. If you plan to use subdivision surfaces on the
cylinder, use a low number.

Segments:
By default the primitive cylinder uses 12 segments. By increasing this value you can increase the
number of “cuts” along the cylinder. This is useful if you plan to deform the cylinder as these segments
act as “hinges” during deformation operations.

Radius:
This distance value sets a curved edge amount. When radius is set to a positive non-zero value, the
edge of the box is rounded off via extra segments added to the geometry. The number of segments is
determined by two additional settings; Radius Segments and Sharp.

Radius Segments:
When the Radius value is set to a positive, non-zero value, additional segments are added to round the
cube. The radius segments field allows the user to set how many edges are added to smooth out the
corners.

Sharp:
This will add an extra set of polygons to the edge of the rounded edge so that the adjacent faces are not
affected by surface smoothing. This allows the surface material to use smoothing to further round the
edges without losing the flat appearance of the faces of the cube.
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Make UVs:
When this button is active a UV map will be automatically generated for the geometry created with the
tool. This is a very useful option if you plan to UV map the model you are creating from the primitive
as it provides a baseline UV map that you can massage later in the modeling process. In many cases
this can reduce the amount of work required to map the model.

The primitive tool buttons located on the modo Tools tool bar also have Alternate Commands assigned to
them. By holding the CTRL key each of the relevant primitive tools are changed to Unit mode. Clicking on
the icon while holding the CTRL key down will instantly create a one meter version of that primitive.

Capsule Primitive
The Capsule primitive provides the user with a simple method for creating capsules or rounded edge
tubes. There are many parameters available to the user to create variations on the default 1 meter
capsule. By dragging in the 3D viewport with the tool active you can create the initial plane for the
primitive. Once the initial plane is created, clicking away from one of the handles will snap that handle
to the mouse position so that you can add dimension to the shape, or simply change the current
values. If you wish to drag out a 3D capsule, hold the CTRL key while dragging in the 3D view.

There are also “Alternate” commands assigned to all of the Primitive Tool icons. The alternate
commands allow you to CTRL click on the icon to quickly create a unit primitive without interacting
with the tool or SHIFT click the icon to create a unit primitive inside a new Mesh Item.

(Holding CTRL or SHIFT changes to the alternate commands)

The parameters for this tool include:

Position X,Y,Z:
These three values establish the 3D location for the center of the primitive.

Size X,Y,Z:
These three values are used to establish the dimensions of the capsule. Set to 50cm, 1m, 50cm by
default, provides us with a 1 meter tall, 1 meter wide capsule.

Sides:
The sides are the latitudinal edges of the capsule running from top to bottom. By default the primitive
capsule uses 24 sides. By increasing this value you can increase the number of “cuts” in the shape.
This is useful if you plan to deform the capsule as these segments act as “hinges” during deformation
operations. This also increases the smoothness of the capsule by adding extra facets.
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Segments:
The segments are the longitudinal edges of the capsule running from right to left. By default the primitive
uses 12 segments. By increasing this value you can increase the number of “cuts” in the capsule.
This is useful if you plan to deform the shape as these segments act as “hinges” during deformation
operations. It also increases the smoothness of the shape by adding extra facets.

End Segments:
This value is used for creating the rounded end caps on the capsule. This value sets the number of
longitudinal edges on the end cap. Increasing this number produces a more round cap. The default
value is 5.

End Size:
The end size determines the height of the cap. The default value is 50cm.

Axis:
This X,Y,Z choice allows you to quickly change the orientation of the primitive.

Make UVs:
When this button is active a UV map will be automatically generated for the geometry created with the
tool. This is a very useful option if you plan to UV map the model you are creating from the primitive as
it provides a baseline UV map that you can massage later in the modeling process. In many cases this
can reduce the amount of work required to map the model.

Torus Primitive
The Toroid primitive provides the user with a simple method for creating toroids or “doughnuts”. There
are several parameters available to the user to create variations on the default torus. By dragging in the
3D viewport with the tool active you can create the initial plane for the primitive. Once the initial plane
is created, clicking away from one of the handles will snap that handle to the mouse position so that
you can add dimension to the shape, or simply change the current values. If you wish to drag out a 3D
torus, hold the CTRL key while dragging in the 3D view.

(Holding CTRL or SHIFT changes to the alternate commands)

The parameters for this tool include:

Position X,Y,Z:
These three values establish the 3D location for the center of the primitive.

Size X,Y,Z:
These three values are used to establish the dimensions of the torus. The tool is set to 50cm, 50cm,
50cm by default.
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Sides:
The sides are the latitudinal edges of the torus running from top to bottom. By default the primitive
uses 24 sides. By increasing this value you can increase the number of “cuts” in the shape. This
is useful if you plan to deform the mesh as these segments act as “hinges” during deformation
operations. This also increases the smoothness of the capsule by adding extra facets. If you plan to
apply subdivision surfaces to this shape you can use a lower number of sides.

Segments:
The segments are the longitudinal edges of the torus running from right to left. By default the primitive
uses 12 segments. By increasing this value you can increase the number of “cuts” in the shape.
This is useful if you plan to deform the shape as these segments act as “hinges” during deformation
operations. It also increases the smoothness of the shape by adding extra facets. If you plan to apply
subdivision surfaces to this shape you can use a lower number of segments.

Hole Size:
This value sets the radius of the hole in the middle of the torus.

Axis:
This X,Y,Z choice allows you to quickly change the orientation of the primitive.

Make UVs:
When this button is active a UV map will be automatically generated for the geometry created with the
tool. This is a very useful option if you plan to UV map the model you are creating from the primitive
as it provides a baseline UV map that you can massage later in the modeling process. In many cases
this can reduce the amount of work required to map the model.

Ellipsoid Primitive
The Ellipsoid primitive provides the user with a simple method for creating ellipses or “pills”. There
are many parameters available to the user to create variations on the default ellipse. By dragging in
the 3D viewport with the tool active you can create the initial plane for the primitive. Once the initial
plane is created, clicking away from one of the handles will snap that handle to the mouse position so
that you can add dimension to the shape, or simply change the current values. If you wish to drag out
a 3D ellipse, hold the CTRL key while dragging in the 3D view.

(Holding CTRL or SHIFT changes to the alternate commands)

The parameters for this tool include:

Position X,Y,Z:
These three values establish the 3D location for the center of the primitive.
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Size X,Y,Z:
These three values are used to establish the dimensions of the ellipsoid. The default values are 50cm,
50cm, 50cm

Sides:
The sides are the latitudinal edges of the ellipsoid running from top to bottom. By default the primitive
ellipsoid uses 24 sides. By increasing this value you can increase the number of “cuts” in the shape.
This is useful if you plan to deform the ellipsoid as these segments act as “hinges” during deformation
operations. This also increases the smoothness of the shape by adding extra facets.

Segments:
The segments are the longitudinal edges of the ellipsoid running from right to left. By default the
primitive uses 12 segments. By increasing this value you can increase the number of “cuts” in the
primitive. This is useful if you plan to deform the shape as these segments act as “hinges” during
deformation operations. It also increases the smoothness of the shape by adding extra facets.

Bulge Top:
Increasing this value will change the shape from an elongated sphere to a rounded capped cylinder.

Bulge Side:
Increasing this value will push the edges to the corners of the shape converting it into a flat sided ellipse.

Axis:
This X,Y,Z choice allows you to quickly change the orientation of the primitive.

Make UVs:
When this button is active a UV map will be automatically generated for the geometry created with the
tool. This is a very useful option if you plan to UV map the model you are creating from the primitive as
it provides a baseline UV map that you can massage later in the modeling process. In many cases this
can reduce the amount of work required to map the model.

Tube Primitive
Using the Tube primitive you can quickly click down a number of control points and modo will create a
tube based on the a spline curve interpolated through them.

(Holding CTRL or SHIFT changes to the alternate commands. In the case of the Tube Tool there is no
option for a Unit Tube so the SHIFT click will create a Ground Plane in a new mesh layer.)
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The tube tool has several options.

Mode>Add:
In this mode (default) each click on the 3D viewport creates a new control point in the tube. Clicking
on an existing control point allows you to move it freely in space. To add a new control point between
two existing points, select the first point of the desired pair and then click between them.

Mode>Edit:
This mode disables the ability to create new control points so that existing control points can be edited
quickly without the concern of accidentally adding a new control point by simply missing one of the
points when clicking to edit it.

Mode>Delete:
Clicking on a control point will delete it immediately.

Point XYZ:
This value triplet is set interactively as you drag a control point in the 3D viewport. If you wish to set
a control point to a very specific location you can also use the tool property sheet to enter the X,Y and
Z coordinates directly.

Sides:
This value determines how many polygons (sides) will be used to make the ring of the tube. If you use
a low number such as 3 you would create a triangular tube, whereas a higher number such as the
default 12 would create a very round tube. If you plan to use subdivision surfaces on the tube once it
is created, you can lower the number of sides to 4 or 5 and the resulting mesh will still be very smooth
once subdivision surfaces are active.

Segments:
This value determines the number of polygons that are used to span the gap between each control
point. If you set this value to one, you will see that the tube looks very linear as there are not enough
connecting polygons to interpolate a smooth curve. Lower numbers such as one or two can work if
you plan to use subdivision surfaces after creating the tube. Using larger numbers will create a more
smooth flowing tube at the expense of additional geometry.

Radius:
This value sets the thickness of the tube. It is important to keep in mind that if you plan to use
subdivision surfaces, the resulting mesh will be somewhat smaller than the original cage polygons. In
this case, you may wish to increase the radius prior to completing the tube so that when you activate
subdivision surfaces, the resulting mesh maintains your intended thickness.

Caps:
This boolean button option determines whether or not the ends of the tube are closed. By default this
setting is turned on so that the tube is closed on both ends. You can remove the caps by turning this
button off.
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Closed:
Activating the Closed flag will create a curve loop rather than a curve line so that the resulting tube has
its first and last points connected together via another set of segments.

Make UVs:
When this button is active a UV map will be automatically generated for the geometry created with the
tool. This is a very useful option if you plan to UV map the model you are creating from the primitive as
it provides a baseline UV map that you can massage later in the modeling process. In many cases this
can reduce the amount of work required to map the model.

Teapot Primitive
The teapot primitive in included with modo due to its’ historical significance. In the early years of 3D
modeling and rendering, Martin Newel created a computer generated three dimensional teapot. The
original “Utah teapot” was actually taller than the famed teapot we see so many places today. Legend
has it that during a demo using a system with non-square pixels Jim Blinn scaled the teapot rather than
scaling the image. As this dataset became more widely distributed than the original, his edit changed
the aspect of teapots in 3D software for years to come. If you are interested in following teapot lore,
simply type “Utah Teapot” into your favorite search engine.

(Holding CTRL or SHIFT changes to the alternate commands)

The teapot primitive has 3 main controls; position, size and axis.
Position X,Y,Z:
These three values establish the 3D location for the center of the primitive.

Size:
This value is used to establish the dimensions of the teapot.

Axis:
This X,Y,Z choice allows you to quickly change the orientation of the primitive.
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Solid Sketch
The Solid Sketch tool provides a quick method for “roughing” out organic shapes. By clicking down
“nodes” Solid Sketch connects the dots with a smooth flowing mesh. Each node can spawn new
branches to create complex shapes quickly and easily. For instance, you might create a hand by
starting with a single node that branches to five new nodes each having a series of nodes that follow
them to create fingers.

When a mesh is created with Solid Sketch, the tool also places two point lines inside the mesh so that
when you reactivate the tool it can recover the state of the tool from these two point lines. It should
be noted that any additional geometry in the mesh item at that time would be deleted as it clears all
polygons prior to activating the tool.

When you click to create a node you can immediately drag to the right and left to scale the node. Once
you have released the mouse button you can use the various handles to move, scale, rotate and twist
the node. Additionally, holding the Shift key and dragging on the center handle will scale on all three
axes. The handles are as follows:

Move:
Center handle that is always visible even when the node is not selected. This is also the handle you
click on to select the node for editing. Clicking and dragging this handle will move the node in the two
axes defined by the current workplane. As mentioned earlier, Shift-dragging this handle will change
the behavior to scale the node on all three axes uniformly.

Rotate:
The rotate handles are the Red, Green and Blue rings around the selected node. These represent
rotation around the Z, Y and X axes respectively. To rotate the node simply click and drag on the
desired ring handle. The affect of using the rotation handles is to actually move the children nodes of
the current node as if the selected node were being reoriented.

Stretch:
The red, green and blue squares just outside the rotation rings are used for scaling on the three axes
individually. To scale the node on all three axes hold the Shift key while dragging the center most
handle.

Twist:
The yellow handle allows a simple twisting effect to the node. Twisting the node will not affect the
position of the nodes connected to it.

All of these values can be controlled via the tools property form. Further there are additional controls
available via the tool properties.
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Edit Mode:
The default value of “Create|Move|Scale” allows you to create and scale the node on initial click-drag
and then use the various handles to control the node further. In this mode you can delete a node by
MMB clicking directly on the node. You can also set the Edit Mode to Destroy if you want to quickly click
on several nodes to destroy them.

Subdiv Mode:
This setting determines how many tessellation levels to apply to the mesh using the SDS algorithm. Setting
this value to 0 reveals the polygonal cage. Increasing the value to two will create additional edge loops at
each node. This can be particularly useful when creating complex branching from a single node.

Auto Align:
With this active each node reorients the geometry it creates to more smoothly blend with the geometry
segments around it.

Auto Merge:
Since each node typically generates a cube of polygons around it, bunching up nodes close together
would cause the mesh to pinch. The Auto Merge setting will reduce a nodes created geometry by
merging it into other nodes once they are too close together.

Negative:
Off by default, this option causes a node to repel neighboring nodes geometry. This can be useful to
create divots in the mesh.

Make Poly
The Make Poly command will use the currently selected vertexs to create a polygon. The order in which
the vertices were created (or selected) will determine the direction of the normal. If an edge loop is
selected, a new polygon will be created from those edges and selection order is not important.

This command can be found on the modo Tools toolbar on the Polygon tab.

Pen Tool
The Pen tool allows you to create geometry vertex by vertex by clicking in the 3D viewport. You can use
the Pen tool to create Polygons (default), lines, vertices, spline patches or subdivision surface polygons.
There are 4 controls for the Pen tool.
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Type:
This pop-up button allows you to select between polygons, lines, vertices and spline patches. When
you are in Polygon mode, each click of the mouse creates a new vertice in the polygon currently
being created by the tool. The Line type will create two vertex polygon line segments (useful for
populating a mesh with hairs or whiskers). The Vertices mode will simply create new vertices with
each click leaving you with a vertex cloud. Spline patch mode acts exactly like Polygon mode but
creates polygons of type Spline Patch.

Current Point:
You can change this setting to change the current vertex to be edited by the numeric values listed as
Position X, Y, Z. Since the tool may have created several vertices, it is useful to be able to choose one
numerically. The vertices are numbered in sequence as they are generated by the tool.
When the tool is active, you can also click directly on any of the vertices it has created in the current
session and drag them in 3D space for direct editing. Clicking away from a vertex will create a new
vertex in that location.

Position X, Y, Z:
This numeric entry field allows you to precisely edit each vertex created by the tool. Simply set the Current
Point value to the vertex you wish to edit and enter the numeric values for the X, Y and Z positions.

Flip Polygon:
This option will simply invert the surface normal of the polygon(s) created.

Make Quads:
This option will automatically place vertices to create quads with each new click after the first two
vertices have been set. This mode makes it very simple to create polygon strips.

Sketch Tool
The Sketch tool allows you to quickly draw out a spline curve by dragging in the 3D view. To use the
tool, click and drag in a 3D viewport. Use the mouse or tablet to draw the curve and modo will convert
your sketch into a spline curve, polygon, or series of 2 vertex polygon line segments according to the
active Type control. The Type setting is the only control for the Sketch tool.

Type:
This pop-up allows you to choose between Curve (default), Face and Lines. When set to Curve, the
Sketch tool creates a spline curve based on the sketch path you create. Set to Face the tool creates a
polygon by drawing a straight line from the end of your sketch back to the beginning so as to close the
loop. Setting the Type to Line will generate a series of 2 vertex polygon lines that follow the contour
of your sketched curve.
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Bezier
A Bezier Curve is a type of curve defined by control vertices. Bezier Curves were originally developed
for computer modeling in automotive design. In modo, the Bezier tool is found on the Curve tab of the
modo Tools toolbar. Each vertex is controlled by two other points that control the endpoint tangent
vectors. Bezier curves have control handles that are used to adjust curvature.

To draw a bezier curve do the following:

1) On the modo Tools toolbar, click the Curve tab.
2) In the Tools section, click the Bezier button.
3) Click in any 3D Model View to place the initial point of the Bezier Curve.

4) Move the mouse and click again to set the next point. Notice that you can move to any viewport
and continue clicking, you are not limited to the initial viewport.

5) If you press and drag instead of clicking you can adjust the curve interactively, stretching out the
bezier handles. You can also go back to any curve vertex you have placed and adjust the position
or the handles at this point.

6)Hold down the CTRL key while dragging a handle to break the continuity of the curve and produce
sharp corners in the line.

7) If you want to close the curve, turn on the Closed checkbox on the Tool Properties form. Otherwise
hit the spacebar to drop the tool.

Bezier Curves support 3 modes: Add, Edit and Delete. You can use these modes to create additional
points, edit them, or remove them from the curve, during the drawing operation.

Points on the Bezier Curve can be positioned precisely by using the Point XYZ fields or by using Snaps.

To draw a bezier curve on the surface of some mesh geometry do the following:
1) Make a new mesh layer.
2) Define the mesh geometry layer as background by clicking in the BG column of the mesh list.
3) Activate the new layer (not the background layer).
4) on the modo Modes toolbar, set Snap to Geometry.
5) Draw in the viewport. The curve will snap to the background geometry.
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Curve Tool
The Curve tool allows you to create a spline curve by clicking down a series of control points through
which the curve is interpolated. This is a hermite curve type and can be very useful for creating
modeling guides, quickly roughing out a shape, or setting up an outline for lofting with the extrude,
lathe, or other multiply tools. Once you have clicked to create several control points, you can also click
directly on an existing control point to drag it around, allowing you to change the shape of the curve.

Adding new control points so the curve is simple. Clicking anywhere on the screen, so long as you are
not selecting an existing control point, will create a new control point in the curve. It is important to
note that the new control point will be added after the currently selected point. Therefore, if you wish
to add a point in a specific location on the curve, be certain to first select the point that would be on
the curve before where the new point will be located.
The Curve tool has several parameters including: Mode, Point Position (XYZ), Closed toggle, Start
Control, End Control, and Make UVs.

Mode:
This popup choice allows you to change the behavior of mousing. The options are Add, Edit and
Delete. The default Add setting behaves as described above. When set to Edit the ability to add control
knots is removed and the focus of the tool is entirely on editing the existing control points. The delete
mode provides a simple method for deleting existing control points. When the delete mode is active
clicking on a control point will remove it from the curve.

Point Position:
The X,Y,Z values of the currently active point can be set precisely by typing in the desired 3D
coordinates.

Closed:
Activating the Closed toggle causes the spline curve to complete the loop by connecting the first and
last points in the curve. Rather than create spline curves, this sets the tool to generate spline loops.

Start Control:
This toggle converts the first point in the curve to a control point that does not contribute to the actual
curve length, but acts as a handle so that the curvature at the new “first” point can be modified. When
activated the curve length from the control point to the next point is drawn in the handle color to
indicate that it is no longer part of the geometry, but simply a handle.

End Control:
This toggle converts the last point in the curve to a control point that does not contribute to the actual
curve length, but acts as a handle so that the curvature at the new “end” point can be modified. When
activated the curve length from the control point to the next point is drawn in the handle color to
indicate that it is no longer part of the geometry, but simply a handle.
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Make UVs:
This toggle activates auto-generation of UV texture coordinates along the curve.

Spline Patch Tool

Patching generates a grid of polygons making a smooth surface defined by 3 or 4 edge curves.

To make a spline patch do the following:

1) Use the Curve drawing tool to draw curves that cross correctly.
2) On the modo Tools toolbar, click the Curve tab.
3) On the Tools section, click the Patch button.
4) In the viewport click the curve edges, then use the patch handles to drag out the patches.
5) The user can click on a sequence of edges to define each patch area.

You can interactively adjust the control points on the curve while the patches are remade to follow the
new contours. You can pick edges and set the number of segments for that edge as the patching updates
to match. Patching should generate UVs that follow the grid of quads generated for each patch.

Patch tool options include:

Define Patch
Extend: Extend selected edge.
Move Knot: Move selected knot.
Move Edge: Move selected edge.

Knots:
The number of knots for sides to extend.

Start Control Vertex:

The flag for side curves to extend.

End Control Vertex:

The flag for side curves to extend.

Perpendicular:
The number of division along to perpendicular side.

Parallel:
The number of division along to parallel side.
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Save Boundaries:
Make the boundary curves.

Freeze:
Make spline patched polygons.

Make Open Curve

Make Open Curve creates a curve through selected vertices.

To make an open curve do the following:

1) Create vertices in the 3D Model View. You can use the Vertex tool to create these quickly.
2) With the vertices selected, click the Curve tab on the modo Tools toolbar.
3) In the Commands section, click Make Open Curve.

An open curve is drawn through the vertices.

Keyboard Shortcut: SHIFT+O

Make Closed Curve

Make Closed Curve creates a curve through selected vertices.

To make a closed curve do the following:

1) Create vertices in the 3D Model View. You can use the Vertex tool to create these quickly.
2) With the vertices selected, click the Curve tab on the modo Tools toolbar.
3) In the Commands section, click Make Closed Curve.

A closed curve is drawn through the vertices.

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Vertex Tools

Vertex Tool
Using the Vertex tool, you can quickly plot points in 3D space. To use the tool simply click the left mouse
button on a 3D viewport to create a point under the mouse. To change the position of that point, either
click directly on the current vertex and drag or hold down the SHIFT key and drag anywhere in the 3D
viewport. To numerically edit the most recently created point, you can change the X,Y, or Z values in
the tools properties sheet.

Vertex Bevel
Vertex Bevel replaces each selected vertex with 3 vertices which are moved away from the original
position. The Roundness option will generate more vertices to create a rounding effect.

This tool is accessed from the Vertex Tab of the modo Tools toolbar. If you select vertices you can also
select this tool from the Geometry menu > Bevel option. Unlike Bevel Polygon, only a single handle is
available when beveling vertices.

The tools options include:

Inset:
This value determines the distance of the generated vertices from the original vertex location.

Use Material:
With this option on all new polygons created will automatically be assigned a Material polygon tag. The
Material name is chosen from the popup just beneath this control.

Material Name:
This popup is only active when the Use Material flag is enabled. Use this popup to choose any Material names
that already exist in the project and this will be assigned to all polygons created by the bevel operation.

Round Level:
Increasing this value will add additional vertices to the newly created edges and apply a rounding effect.

Keyboard Shortcut: B
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Vertex Extrude
Found on the Vertex tab of the modo Tools toolbar, Extrude Vertex shifts the selected vertex along
its normal, away from its original position and creates three additional vertices and edges around the
original vertex location.

Settings include:
Extrude:
This distance value determines how far out the vertex is shifted away from its original location.

Width:
This distance value determines how far the newly created edges that surround the original vertex are
pushed out away from that location.

Use Material:
Determines what material group to assign the newly created geometry. If this is disabled, the new
polygons will not have a material group and will use the base material.

Keyboard Shortcut: X

Vertex Merge Tool

The Vertex Merge tool allows you to interactively adjust a distance threshold value by dragging in the
3D viewport or using the mini-slider. Any two or more vertices whose proximity to each other falls
within that range will be merged together.

The options for the tool are:

Distance:
This is the value that determines if vertices will be merged together. Any vertices whose distance
apart is less than or equal to this value will be merged together.

Keep 1—Vertex Polygons:

With this toggle enabled the merging process will leave behind single and two vertex polygons. This
value is off by default so that the tool can clean up these error causing polygons. However, there are
some cases where a user may want to use the resulting 1 and 2 vertex lines as a starting point for
additional geometry.
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New Vertex
Found on the Geometry menu under Vertex > Create, the Create New Vertex dialog lets you create
vertices one at a time by specifying their location in 3D space.

To create an individual vertex do the following:

1) On the Viewport Shading popup choose Visibility Options > Show Vertices.
2) On the Geometry menu choose Vertex > Create.
3) On the Create New Vertex floater, specify the X, Y and Z coordinates for the vertex location.
4) Click OK.

The vertex is visible in the 3D model View.

Set Value
The Set Value tool is used to quickly and accurately set the value of a particular vertex map, or a group
of selected vertex maps. Since much of the data in a 3D model is stored as a vertex map, this is quite a
powerful tool. While vertex maps are typically referred to when discussing things such as morph maps,
weight maps, or UV data, vertex maps are also used for storing the basic position information for all
vertices in a mesh. When using Set Value, the dialog changes to reflect current conditions. So if there
are no selected RGBA maps, then there is no RGBA choice in the popup. Also the component popup
changes to match the type of the vertex map which has been selected.

To use Set Value, simply use the “Type” popup to choose the desired vertex map class. The contents of
this pop-up may change depending on what types of vertex maps are active in the currently selected
data. Now you can use the lower pop-up to choose the setting you wish to change. Finally, enter the
desired value for the vertex map.

With this tool you can manage many different aspects of your model data quickly. For example, you could
use this function to quickly set the UV coordinates to U = 0 for an entire set of selected vertices so that
they snap to an edge. Or you could use the command to quickly set the selected vertices weight map to
100%. You could even use this tool to set all of the selected vertices to an absolute location such as X=0.

Set Position
The Set Position command lets you reposition an existing vertex using numeric input.

Set Position can be accessed from the Vertex tab of the modo Tools toolbar on the Commands section.
Or you can choose Geometry > Vertex > Set Position.
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To set the position of a vertex do the following:

1) Select the vertex in the 3D model View.
2) On the modo Tools toolbar, click the Vertex Tab.
3) In the commands section choose Set Position.
4) Select the Axis you want to affect, then change the Value field and click OK.

Geometry Remove
Geometry Remove deletes the selected vertices, edges or polygons from the 3D Model View.

You can use the Remove command from the Vertex or Edges Tab of the modo Tools toolbar, or choose
Geometry > Remove. You can use the Backspace key or Delete to also remove vertices, edges or
polygons. Geometry Remove works on individual or selected vertices, edges or vertices.
Keyboard Shortcut: Backspace

Collapse
The Collapse function removes the selected element without destroying the integrity of the geometry.
Any select polygon, edge or vertex is deleted but no hole is left behind. Instead, the mesh heals,
closing any gaps by merging the neighboring elements together.

The collapse feature can be found as follows:

Vertex:
On the Vertex tab of the modo Tools toolbar > Commands > Collapse.

Edge:
On the Edge tab of the modo Tools toolbar > Commands > Collapse Edges.

Polygons:
On the Polygon tab of the modo Tools toolbar > Commands > Reduce > Collapse.

You can also select whatever geometry you wish to collapse and then choose Geometry > Collapse.
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Join

Join welds the select vertices to the last vertex chosen, and moves them all to that position. Join works
on multiple vertices as well.

Available on the Vertex tab of the modo Tools toolbar, the Join command launches the Join Vertices
dialog.

Average:
When this is turned on, the selected vertices are welded into a single vertex positioned at an averaged
distance between the selected points.

Keep 1—Vertex Polygons:

When this is turned off 1 vertex polygons are automatically deleted. When this is turned off, if the join
operation leaves a single vertex behind, it is allowed to exist.

Join Average
Join average welds two vertices together at a central position between the two vertices. Join average
can weld multiple vertices as well.

To join average multiple vertices do the following:

1) Select the vertices you wish to join together into one vertex.
2) On the modo Tools toolbar, click the Vertex tab.
3) In the Commands section click Join Averaged.
4) In the Join Vertices dialog, you should see a message telling you how many
vertices were joined into one. Press OK to close this dialog.

Split Vertices
Split Vertices is the opposite of the Join Vertex Command. Instead of combining multiple vertices into
a single vertex, it takes a single vertex and creates multiple vertices in the same location, based on the
number of polygons that share the point.

Unlike the Join command, Split Vertices creates the multiple vertices in their original location, it doesn’t
move them apart. Select any polygon or edge and move that to separate the split vertices.

Split Vertices can be found on the Vertex tab of the modo Tools toolbar, under the Commands section.
Or you can select the vertices, then choose Geometry > Vertex > Split.
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Merge Vertices
The Merge Vertices command measures the distance between vertices in the currently selected
geometry to see if any fall within a specific distance threshold to one another. If any vertices are
within that range, they are combined into a single vertex. The resulting vertex is positioned at the site
of the most recently selected vertex of the vertices merged.

By default the merge vertices function uses a Range setting of Automatic. This means that only
vertices that share the exact location on all three axes will be merged. To increase the distance
allowed between two vertices to be merged, use the Fixed option. When the Fixed option is selected,
the Distance field allows you to set a distance threshold. For example, if the Distance value is set to
one meter, any points that fall within one meter of another point will be merged together.

The “Keep 1-Vertex Polygons” flag is active by default as well. Often when merging vertices within a
certain threshold, polygons become flattened into only one vertex. In this case they become 1-vertex
polygons. These single vertex polys can cause rendering anomalies, and other issues in the model
file when exporting to other systems. You can simply disable this option and all resulting single vertex
polys will be removed.

The Merge Vertex command is found on the Vertex tab of the modo Tools toolbar in the Tools section.
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Duplicate

Radial Sweep
The Radial Sweep tool creates geometry by revolving the selection (often a profile) around a central
point. This is the common method for creating simple objects like bottles or goblets. Radial Sweep
also be very useful for creating objects such as springs by using the offset control to not only spin the
selected geometry while sweeping it but also move the new elements along the tools axis.

Count:
This value determines the number of new segments generated by the tool.

Axis:
Determines along which axis to create the helix.

Axis XYZ:
These three values determine the location of the tools Axis control handles. If the values are set to 1
meter on all axes the handles ends will have one end at –1 X, –1 Y, –1 Z and the other at 1 X, 1 Y, 1 Z
creating a skewed off axis plane for the array.

By default the Start and End Angles go from 0 to 360 degrees. This creates an array that completes a
circle. Changing these two values can create an array that revolves many times or one that leaves one
side of the circle open. Setting the end value to greater than 360 degrees is very useful when combined
with some non-zero offset value.

Start Angle:
This degree setting determines the rotation placement for the first lathed geometry.

End Angle:
This degree value determines the rotation placement for the last lathed geometry.

Offset:
Moves each successive segment a user defined distance from the previous along the tools axis. This
value is very useful when combined with an End Angle greater than 360 degrees so that the array
creates a spiral for items such as a spring or telephone cord.

Sweep UVs:
Determines along which UV axis to span the newly created geometry.
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Invert Polygons:
This toggle will simply flip the polygons created by the tool. In some circumstances lathing geometry
will turn inside out. In this case simply activate the Invert Polygons control and they will face the
correct direction.

The Cap controls are only useful when the start and end angles do not result in a perfect 360 rotation
since in this case the start and end segments are joined together.

Cap Start:
Creates a cap on the start of the lathe to avoid a hole in the mesh.

Cap End:
Creates a cap on the end of the lathe to avoid a hole in the mesh.

To sweep a profile do the following:

1) Create a profile using tools such as Bezier or Curve.
2) On the Duplicate tab of the modo Tools toolbar, click Radial Sweep.
3) In the 3D Model View, click the profile. The Radial Sweep appears in the 3D Model View.
4) Adjust the handles or numeric fields to control the lathe appearance.

Keyboard Shortcut: SHIFT+L

Mirror
Using the mirror tool you can create a duplicate of the selected geometry in the active layer. When
the mirror tool is active, it creates an axis, across which the geometry is duplicated in a flipped or
“mirrored” orientation to the original. With the tool active you can interactively position the mirror
plane to change the distance of the mirrored geometry, or change the rotation of the plane to adjust
the orientation of the duplicated geometry.

The mirror tool has the following options:

Axis (XYZ option):
Sets the axis for the mirror plane.

Angle:
This degree value determines rotation of the mirror plane around the Axis. The default value of 180
degrees created a perfect mirror flip. By increasing or decreasing this value, you can skew the mirror
plane to create a acute or obtuse angle between the original and new geometry.
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Free Rotation:
The default setting of this toggle is off, in which case the major axis of the mirror is set by the Axis
setting (see above). When this option is activated, you can pivot the main axis to any arbitrary setting
by dragging the topmost handle of the mirror tool.

Center (XYZ values):

The center values set the position for the main mirror plane. This value can be set numerically, or by
direct manipulation of the mirror tool handle. To adjust the position, you must drag the bottom corner
of the handle.

Merge Vertices:
When active this option will attempt to merge any vertices overlapping between the original and new
geometry.

Range:
The Range option depends on Merge Vertices being active. If Merge Vertices is inactive, this option will
be ghosted and is thusly unavailable. When this option is activated you can set a Distance value for the
merging. Any points within the user determined range will be merged together.

Distance:
This function depends on the activation of the Range option. The Distance is a simple measurement to
determine the threshold for merging points from the new and original geometry.

Paste Tool
The Paste tool allows you to quickly stamp down copies of any geometry currently in the clipboard buffer.
Activating the tool will initially create a “live” copy of the geometry in the clipboard. At this time the copied
materials can be edited using standard tool handles for position (Center) and scale (Size). Additionally
the Paste Tool offers options for Bias X,Y and Z so that the mesh can be shifted inside the handles.

Options for the paste tool include center XYZ, size XYZ and bias XYZ.
Center XYZ:
The center triplet allows precise numeric placement of the center position of the paste tool handles. You
can interactively set the center position by dragging the center handle in the 3D edit viewport, or you
can enter the numeric position directly in the property form.

Size XYZ:
The size settings allow you to scale the original clipboard mesh interactively with the tool handles or
numerically via the tool properties form. The size setting is entered as a percentage value where 100%
equals the original size of the geometry in the clipboard.
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Bias XYZ:
This triplet allows you to shift the mesh inside the tool handle cage. This is very useful when you want
to paste a mesh onto existing geometry such as pasting rivets on to a mechanical model. By default
the paste mesh is centered on the tool handles. As a result, if you were to paste the mesh with the
center handle constrained to existing mesh the pasted mesh would be inset into the existing geometry.
Using the Bias control you can easily shift the mesh so that it rests on the center handle rather than
being centered on it.

Mesh Paint
The Mesh Paint tool provides an easy method for directly applying one mesh layer onto the surface of
another. For instance, with Mesh Paint you can quickly drag a bolt along the hull of a ship or quickly
brush copies of a whisker onto a characters face. Mesh Paint can create actual geometry or mesh
instances and can be used to accurately place a single copy or apply hundreds of copies with brush
strokes.

To use Mesh Paint there must be at least two mesh items in the Item List. The currently selected item
is the target of the tool and the inactive, but visible item will be painted onto the target. With this set
up you simply click and drag across the selected mesh item and the background mesh will be applied.
In the default mode Mesh Paint will apply a single copy of the background mesh item and slide it along
the surface. There are many controls on the Mesh Paint tool property form that allow you to modify
the tool to create brush strokes full of geometry with variable size, scale and rotation based on input
from the geometry itself, from a tablet or modulated with a falloff.

The options include:

Create Instances:
With this toggle activated Mesh Paint will create Instance items while painting. In the default Slide
mode the tool creates a single instance item but in the Strokes mode the tool can create hundreds of
mesh instances with each stroke.

Geometry Source:
This popup controls the input source mesh to be painted onto the selected mesh item. The options
are Random BG layer and All BG Layers. When Random is selected modo will randomly cycle through
all visible but deselected (background) mesh items and place them in turn onto the selected mesh. In
Slide mode this cycling happens each time the tool is reactivated such as using SHIFT click to create
a new mesh to paste down. In Stroke mode the various meshes are cycled through with each ray that
is sprayed out of the brush and onto the surface beneath. In All BG Layers mode the tool places all
mesh items onto the selected mesh as you operate the tool.
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Y Offset:
This value shifts the pasted geometry along its Y axis as it is painted or placed onto the selected mesh.
This is useful for creating a more accurate placement on the target surface or to create meshes that
float above or intersect the surface.

Paint Mode:
There are two paint modes; Slide and Strokes. Slide creates a single copy of the background mesh item
and moves it along the surface whereas Strokes creates a constant “flow” of copies based on the brush
size and density settings.

Brush Size:
This value determines the radius of the brush in screen space pixels and is only active when using Strokes
mode. All copies painted by the tool will be placed inside the brush as you stroke over the mesh.

Brush Density:
The density controls the flow rate of brushed on geometry. Setting the value to 100% would result in the
brush area being filled with copies as you stroke across the mesh. The default value of 10% provides a
nice even flow of mesh data.

Center XYZ:
This triple value represents the 3D coordinate location of the brush as you stroke or slide over the
mesh. When using Slide mode you can directly control the numeric position of a mesh copy by editing
the numeric fields or by using the mini-sliders.

Size Mode:
The Size mode options include Adaptive, Uniform, and Random. The default setting of Adaptive controls
the size of the copied mesh item based on the current polygon under the new item. Larger polygons
yield larger mesh items and smaller polygons result in smaller copies. Uniform mode keeps the scale
of the original mesh item and multiples it by the Size XYZ scalars. Random randomly selects a value
based on user input and multiplies that to the original scale.

Size XYZ:
This triplet control affects the scale of newly created geometry. The values act as scalars depending
on the Size mode you have selected. In Adaptive and Uniform mode the values are simply multiplied
times the normal scale before the copy is created. In Random mode the value can range between plus
or minus the random value added to the base. For instance, a setting of 50% could result in the mesh
being 50% or 150% the original scale.
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Rotation Mode:
The Rotation mode options include Adaptive, Uniform, Random and Align + Random. The default
setting of Adaptive controls the rotation of the copied mesh item based on the normal of the current
polygon under the new geometry. Uniform mode keeps the rotation of the original mesh item and
multiples it by the Rotation XYZ scalars. Random mode uses a value based on user input and multiplies
that by the base rotation. Align + Random first aligns the mesh to the surface beneath the mouse and
then applies the random variation based on user input.

Rotation XYZ:
This triple control feeds the Rotation mode. When set to Uniform these values are the absolute rotation
amounts for the new geometry. Using Random or Align + Random will multiply a random number with
the range of + or - the value set by the user.

Many of the settings in Mesh Paint can be modulated by tablet input, falloffs or geometric data such
as slope or altitude of the base mesh. There are two parameter control available so that they can be
mixed together such as using Pressure to modulate scale and Slope to affect Density. Parameters
include Falloff, Pressure, Slope, Altitude, 1 - Slope and 1 - Altitude. These input parameters can
modulate the following effects: (none), Density, Size, Rotation, Size + Density.

Simply choose an input parameter and effect for Parameter 1 and/or Parameter 2 and begin painting.

Curve Clone
The Curve Clone tool allows you to quickly clone geometry by clicking down control points for a curve.
If you wish to begin with a pre-created curve, simply put the curve in visible but deselected mesh item
prior to activating the tool. Once the curve has been created with the tool active the clone effector will
create geometry along it using the various controls.

Automatic:
This toggle control will force a computed number of clones based on the Smoothing Angle value such that
a “particle” is placed along the path to maintain a level of smoothness at or above the user set level.

Steps:
Active only when Automatic is off this is the number of particles generated along the curve path to
feed into the Effector.

Align:
When enabled the generated particles will include rotation data so the newly created mesh components
can align to the surrounding geometry.
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Start at Source:
Often a curve used for cloning will have its initial control knot imperfectly aligned with the geometry to
be cloned. With Start at Source active the curve is used as a relative guide using the original geometry
as the true starting location. Disabling this option may cause the newly created geometry to move away
from the intended original location.

Mode:
By default the mode is set to Add. In the Add mode clicking on a curve point and dragging will edit the
curves position. Clicking anywhere in the 3D viewport other than the handles will create a new curve
control point. To avoid creating new control points when dragging existing points around you can set
this mode to Edit. Delete mode allows quick removal of control points by simply clicking on them.

Closed:
This toggle option will cause the curve to become a closed loop.

Start Control:
Enabling this toggle will cause the first knot in the curve to become a control point but not an actual segment
of the curve. This provides a simple method for changing the curvature at the start of the curve.

End Control:
Enabling this toggle will cause the last knot in the curve to become a control point but not an actual segment
of the curve. This provides a simple method for changing the curvature at the end of the curve.

By Length:
This option forces the newly created geometry to be evenly distributed across the entire length of the
curve rather than spacing based on the control knots.

Create Polygon:
This toggle option will generate a curve type polygon that remains after the tool has been dropped. This
is useful if you want to re-use the curve you create with the current tool with additional curve based
tools later in your project.

Flip Polygon:
This toggle will invert the faces of the generated polygons.

Make UVs:
When this toggle is active the tool will populate the current UV map with data for the generated polygons.

Replace Source:
This control will replace the original mesh with a generated mesh that is perfectly aligned with the
initial control point. This is very useful when the Start at Source option is off and the initial curve point
is located far from the original geometry.
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Curve Extrude
The Curve Extrude tool allows you to quickly clone geometry by clicking down control points for a
curve. If you wish to begin with a pre-created curve, simply put the curve in visible but deselected
mesh item prior to activating the tool. Once the curve has been created with the tool active the clone
effector will create geometry along it using the various controls.

Automatic:
This toggle control will force a computed number of clones based on the Smoothing Angle value such that
a “particle” is placed along the path to maintain a level of smoothness at or above the user set level.

Steps:
Active only when Automatic is off this is the number of particles generated along the curve path to
feed into the Effector.

Align:
When enabled the generated particles will include rotation data so the newly created mesh components
can align to the surrounding geometry.

Start at Source:
Often a curve used for extruding will have its initial control knot imperfectly aligned with the geometry
to be extruded. WIth Start at Source active the curve is used as a relative guide using the original
geometry as the true starting location. Disabling this option may cause the newly created geometry to
move away from the intended original location.

Mode:
By default the mode is set to Add. In the Add mode clicking on a curve point and dragging will edit the
curves position. Clicking anywhere in the 3D viewport other than the handles will create a new curve
control point. To avoid creating new control points when dragging existing points around you can set
this mode to Edit. Delete mode allows quick removal of control points by simply clicking on them.

Closed:
This toggle option will cause the curve to become a closed loop.

Start Control:
Enabling this toggle will cause the first knot in the curve to become a control point but not an actual
segment of the curve. This provides a simple method for changing the curvature at the start of the
curve.
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End Control:
Enabling this toggle will cause the last knot in the curve to become a control point but not an actual segment
of the curve. This provides a simple method for changing the curvature at the end of the curve.

By Length:
This option forces the newly created geometry to be evenly distributed across the entire length of the
curve rather than spacing based on the control knots.

Create Polygon:
This toggle option will generate a curve type polygon that remains after the tool has been dropped. This
is useful if you want to re-use the curve you create with the current tool with additional curve based
tools later in your project.

Flip Polygon:
This toggle will invert the faces of the generated polygons.

Sweep UVs:
This popup control allows you to choose between the U or V axis when placing UV data for newly
created geometry.

Cap Start:
This toggle will force the front end of the extruded geometry to be capped or closed.

Cap End:
This toggle will force the back end of the extruded geometry to be capped or closed.

Clone
The Clone tool will create duplicates of the currently selected geometry in a linear offset determined by
user input. The tool is controlled by the following settings.

Number of Clones:
This numeric value determines the number of copies of the original geometry to be created.

Offset XYZ:
These distance values determine how far each clone is from the previous. Setting this value to 1
meter would place each successive cloned object 1 meter away from the previous clone or the original
geometry in the case of the first clone.
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Scale XYZ:
These three percentage settings control the relative size of each clone to the one before it. Setting the
value to 50% would force each clone to be half the size of the previous.

Rotate XYZ:
The rotate control allows you to set a rotational value in degrees for each of the three axes. This
rotation amount will be applied to each clone. This can be very useful for creating objects such as
spiral staircases etc.

Replace Source:
This toggle option will cause the tool to delete and replace the original source geometry. This can be
very useful when using scale and rotation values.

Clone can be accessed on the Duplicate tab of the modo Tools toolbar, or by choosing Geometry >
Create > Clone.

Array
Found on the Duplicate Tab of the modo Tools toobar, the Array tool creates copies of the currently
selected geometry in an ordered pattern.

Holding the Alt key before clicking the tool active will convert the tool into an Instance Array generator
which will create instances of the mesh in the array rather than creating new geometry in the existing
layer.

To set the number of copies in the array, adjust the Count X,Y, and Z values in the Tool Properties >
Array section.

The Offset settings allow you to control the distance from the original geometry to the copies created
by the tool. This value can be controlled directly on the property form or by using the handles in the
3D viewport.

The Jitter controls allow some random variation to be added to any of the three axes (X,Y or Z). Each
copied mesh will be positioned with the offset and a random variation using the Jitter distance as the
maximum possible offset variation.

The Scale XYZ values allow you to have the cloned geometry be scaled differently than the original.

Replace Source will delete the original geometry and replace it with a copy of the geometry made by
the tool. This is very useful if you are using any Jitter or Scale values other than the defaults.
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Radial Array
The Radial Array tool copies the selected geometry into a circular or helix pattern. There are a variety
of controls that allow precise control over the count, placement, angles and spiral.

Count:
Controls the number of clones created.

Axis:
Determines along which axis to create the helix.

Axis XYZ:
These three values determine the location of the tools Axis control handles. If the values are set to 1
meter on all axes the handles ends will have one end at -1 X, -1 Y, -1 Z and the other at 1 X, 1 Y, 1 Z
creating an skewed off axis plane for the array.

By default the Start and End Angles go from 0 to 360 degrees. This creates an array that completes
a circle. Changing these two values can create an array that revolves many times or one that leaves
one side of the circle agape. Setting the end value to greater than 360 degrees is very useful when
combined with some non-zero offset value.

Start Angle:
This degree setting determines the rotation placement for the first cloned geometry.

End Angle:
This degree value determines the rotation placement for the last coned geometry.

Offset:
Moves each successive clone a user defined distance from the previous along the tools axis. This value is
very useful when combined with an End Angle greater than 360 degrees so that the array creates a spiral.

Replace Source:
When this toggle is active the original mesh elements cloned by the tool will be replaced with an
additional clone.
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Scatter Clone
The Scatter Clone tool generates a random point cloud onto which clones of the original geometry are
placed. Controls include:

Count:
This numeric value determines the total number of clones (including the source).

Center XYZ:
This triplet determines the center position of the scatter clone effect.

Range XYZ:
This triplet distance value determines the maximum distance on each axis the clones can be from the
center of the effect.

Scale XYZ:
This triple percentage value determines the maximum amount of randomized fluctuation for any given
clone.

Rotate XYZ:
This triple degree value determines the maximum amount of randomized rotation for any given
clone.

Replace Source:
When activated, this control will remove the original geometry and create a replacement clone for it at
the center of the scatter clone effect.

Instance Clone
Instance Clone can be triggered by Alt-clicking the Clone icon on the modo Tools toolbar. Instance
clone is functionally identical to the standard clone with the single exception that it creates mesh
instances rather than cloning the raw polygons.

Number of Clones:
This numeric value determines the number of copies of the original geometry to be created.

Offset XYZ:
These distance values determine how far each clone is from the previous. Setting this value to 1 meter
would place each successive cloned object 1 meter away from the previous clone or the original
geometry in the case of the first clone.
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Scale XYZ:
These three percentage settings control the relative size of each clone to the one before it. Setting the
value to 50% would force each clone to be half the size of the previous.

Rotate XYZ:
The rotate control allows you to set a rotational value in degrees for each of the three axes. This
rotation amount will be applied to each clone. This can be very useful for creating objects such as spiral
staircases etc.

Parent:
This boolean option will cause the generated instance meshes to automatically be created as children
to the original mesh item.

Curve Instance
The Curve Instance tool is functionally identical to the standard Curve Clone tool with the single
exception that it generates mesh instances rather than simply cloning raw polygons.

The Curve Instance tool allows you to quickly create instance meshes by clicking down control points
for a curve. If you wish to begin with a pre-created curve, simply put the curve in visible but deselected
mesh item prior to activating the tool. Once the curve has been created with the tool active the clone
effector will create geometry along it using the various controls.

Automatic:
This toggle control will force a computed number of clones based on the Smoothing Angle value such that
a “particle” is placed along the path to maintain a level of smoothness at or above the user set level.

Steps:
Active only when Automatic is off this is the number of particles generated along the curve path to feed
into the Effector.

Align:
When enabled the generated particles will include rotation data so the newly created mesh components
can align to the surrounding geometry.

Start at Source:
Often a curve used for cloning will have its initial control knot imperfectly aligned with the geometry to
be cloned. WIth Start at Source active the curve is used as a relative guide using the original geometry
as the true starting location. Disabling this option may cause the newly created geometry to move away
from the intended original location.
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Mode:
By default the mode is set to Add. In the Add mode clicking on a curve point and dragging will edit the
curves position. Clicking anywhere in the 3D viewport other than the handles will create a new curve
control point. To avoid creating new control points when dragging existing points around you can set
this mode to Edit. Delete mode allows quick removal of control points by simply clicking on them.

Closed:
This toggle option will cause the curve to become a closed loop.

Start Control:
Enabling this toggle will cause the first knot in the curve to become a control point but not an actual
segment of the curve. This provides a simple method for changing the curvature at the start of the
curve.

End Control:
Enabling this toggle will cause the last knot in the curve to become a control point but not an actual
segment of the curve. This provides a simple method for changing the curvature at the end of the curve.

By Length:
This option forces the newly created geometry to be evenly distributed across the entire length of the
curve rather than spacing based on the control knots.

Create Polygon:
This toggle option will generate a curve type polygon that remains after the tool has been dropped.
This is useful if you want to re-use the curve you create with the current tool with additional curve
based tools later in your project.

Flip Polygon:
This toggle will invert the faces of the generated polygons.

Make UVs:
When this toggle is active the tool will populate the current UV map with data for the generated
polygons.

Parent:
This boolean option will cause the generated instance meshes to automatically be created as children
to the original mesh item.
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Polygon Tools

Bevel
The Bevel tool performs a shift and inset on the selected polygons. The shift pushes the polygons away
from their starting positions, and the inset scales the polygons. New polygons are created to bridge the
gaps that would be left by moving the original polygons from their starting positions.

Both inset and shift can be set to positive or negative values. When the values are positive inset and
shift work as described above. When the values are negative, shift will move the original polygons back
behind their original location and inset will scale the polygons to be larger than their original size.

Each of the Shift and Inset values can be edited by hauling in the 3D viewport, dragging tool handles or
by using the HUD sliders (HUD sliders require advanced handle viewing to be active). You can also edit
these values numerically on the tool properties sheet. On the properties sheet you will find the following
for the bevel tool.

+/- :
Under Inset and Shift this field allows you to set a random value range for the Inset or Shift value. If you
have a Shift value of 1 meter and a +/1 value of .5 meters, the resulting bevel(s) will be between .5 and
1.5 meters. This can be useful when beveling many polygons simultaneously.

Edges (Inner/Outer):
This toggle option determines whether the resulting polygons are created in such a way as to allow
them to fall inside the original polygons boundaries, or so that they are outside the original polygon. The
default, inner setting is the preferred choice for most bevel scenarios. The outer option is very useful
when beveling polygons that are not attached to other polygons. The classic example of using the outer
option is for beveling text. In this case you may want the original text polygons to maintain their scale,
but would like to bevel an edge “outside” of the original polygons. Activating outer will do just that.

Use Material:
This option will also enable a text field. When this option is active, any new polygons created by the
bevel tool will have the material name from the text field assigned to them.

Group Polygons:
This simple toggle provides a quick method for beveling contiguous polygon selections. This is incredibly
useful for adding fine fillets around selections by creating a series of bevels.
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Make UVs:
This pop-up option allows you to choose three UV creation methods. The default “none” option will
simply create the UVs for the new faces inside the existing UV coordinates attempting to bevel the
UV data along with the mesh. The U and V options will create a completely new set of UV data in the
negative UV coordinates with the newly created polygons fanned out in the user selected axis (U or
V). These options can be tremendously useful when beveling the geometry results in overlapping UV
data as it will create a more manageable starting point for the UV set.

Extrude
The Extrude tool in modo provides the ability to extrude vertices, edges and polygons.

Vertex Extrusion:
Found on the Vertex tab of the modo Tools toolbar, Extrude vertex shifts the selected vertex away
from its original position and creates three additional vertices on the edges where the original was
formerly located.

Edge Extrusion:
Found on the Edge tab of the modo Tools toolbar, extruded edges are shifted outward along the
average normal of their two neighboring polygons. New faces are added between the edge and their
neighbor polygons so that their neighbors can remain in their original plane. Neighbor polygons are
shrunk by the same amount and in the same manner as for edge bevel. Hauling left/right defines the
distance of the extrusion, hauling up/down defines the distance of the width.

Polygon Extrusion:
Found on the Mesh Edit tab of the modo Tools toolbar, polygon extrusion repositions the selected
polygon in space, based on the three tool handles. Additional polygon surfaces are created between
the new location of the polygon and the original location of the selected faces.

Use the Sides field to control the number of loops created with the polygon extrusion.
Use the Extents fields to precisely reposition the extruded polygon.

The Make UVs option allows you to control if the tool creates UVs for the new polygons in the existing
space or fans them out on the U or V axis.

The Mode setting is set to Auto by default. In this mode the tool will evaluate the geometry to determine
if it should remove the original selected polygon after the extrusion. In that case the tool automatically
chose the “Shift” mode. In the case of a mesh where that polygon would be left “inside”, the tool will
remove it. If the selected polygon(s) are single sided and will not be encased by existing geometry the
tool will leave the polygons in question in place. In this case the tool automatically set itself to “Thick”.
You can override this behavior by simply setting the tool into one of these modes directly.

Keyboard Shortcut: X
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Smooth Shift
Smooth Shift is a Deformation tool that smoothes out sharp edges in polygonal geometry based on a
smoothing angle. When the angle between polygons is greater than the assigned smoothing angle, the
edge is replaced with two edges which are scaled and offset to round the sharp corners of the mesh.
Two handles in the viewport individually control the offset and scale.

Smooth Shift is found on the Polygon tab of the modo Tools toolbar, under the Tools group, or you can
access this tool by choosing the Geometry menu > Polygon > Smooth Shift command.

Smooth Shift can be used interactively in the 3D Viewport, or by pressing the Apply button in the Tool
Properties form.

Keyboard Shortcut: S
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Thicken
The Thicken tool allows you to quickly add dimension to flat geometry. This functionality is often
referred to as Shell. The Thicken tool can be used to add thickness to the outside of the volume making
the object larger or to the inside of the volume creating an inner surface.

Thicken has two controls; Offset and Scale. When you invoke the thicken tool it creates a new set of
polygons at the same location as the originals. Setting a positive Offset value moves the selected or
original polygons in the direction of their normals. At the same time a set of polygons are created in
the exact original location but facing the opposite direction. These two sets of polys are connected
with a row of polygons that are roughly perpendicular. Using a negative Offset value will push the
original polygons opposite the direction of their original normals and flip them at the same time to
avoid the object turning inside out.

Fig. 01 This geometry is lacking in depth. We need to add some thickness.

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User Guide

Fig. 02 Activating Thicken immediately creates another layer of geometry in the same location as the original polys.

Fig. 03 Adjusting the offset value moves the original polys up from their initial position.
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Fig. 04 Pushing the Offset in the opposite direction will flip the normals to keep the mesh right-side out.

Sketch Extrude
The Sketch Extrude tool allows you to extrude selected polygons by drawing in the viewport.

To use this tool, select a polygon, then choose the Sketch Extrude tool on the Polygon tab of the modo
Tools toolbar. Click in the viewport to activate the tool handle, then press and drag on the handle to
initiate the sketch. The handle turns to a yellow circle widget. The polygon extrusion will follow the
movement of the mouse cursor as you draw in the viewport. The tool has several options available.

Modes:
The modes popup provides a number of useful options for controlling the tool.

Sweep
The default mode is “Sweep” which allows the user to click and drag on any of the visible handles to
“sketch” out the path for extrusion of the selected polygons.

Edit Path
This mode reveals the control points on all user created paths. Clicking and dragging these control
points allows further adjustment of the sketched curves.
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Delete Knot
In this mode, clicking on a control point will remove it from the curve path.

Delete Path
When this mode is active clicking on the path control handle will delete the path entirely pushing the
handle back to the location of the original polygon.

Uniform Spans
This mode shows handles only at the end of each path. Clicking on any handle will adjust the control
knots along the path such that they are distributed uniformly across the path.

Straight
The Straight mode allows you to quickly straighten a path by clicking on the end handle.

Additional controls for the tool include:

Move by Path
This toggle option is only available when using the Edit Path mode. When the option is activated dragging
any control point will also move the “children” points that are between the selected control point and
the end of the path.

Uniform
This toggle option will constrain all newly generated geometry to be uniformly distributed between the
original polygons position and the end of the path.

Align to Path
With this toggle option active the geometry that is created along the path will also be rotated such that
it is aligned to the curve. When this option if off all new polygons have the same world rotation as the
original polygon.

Precision
The precision value determines how often control points should be created while the path is interactively
“sketched”. This number represents a screen space pixel count so that if the value is set to 30 (default value)
a new control span will be created each time the mouse travels 30 pixels on screen during the sketch.

Scale
The scale percentage will vary the thickness of the generated geometry along the path from the original
polygonal location to the control handle at the end of each path.

Spin
This value in degrees will rotate each generated span along the path providing a twisting effect along
the sketched curve.
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Make UVs:
These options provide control over the method of UV generation for the new polygons in the mesh.
The default option attempts to create the UVs inside the existing UV space amongst the corresponding
geometry. Selecting the U or V Repeat options will overlay each new segment over the last along the
selected U or V axis.

Keyboard Shortcut: ALT + B

Bridge Tool
The Bridge tool will create polygons to bridge the area between selected edges or polygons. There are
several options for the Bridge tool including the number of segments, a twist amount, interpolation mode
(Linear, Curve, Smooth), and options to remove the original polygons and/or flip the new polygons.

Segments:
The segments option allows you to set the number of polygons that are created to the bridge. This
value can be set interactively by dragging in the 3D viewport while the tool is active, or numerically
on the tool properties form.

Twist:
The twist value is used when bridging polygon selections. When the value is set to a non-zero number
it will turn the bridge polygons between the original connection points. This is very useful in cleaning
up bridges between disparate polygon selections where the bridge can become overlapped. In that
case using the Twist value will often allow you to “untangle” the bridge manually.

Mode (Linear, Curve, Smooth):

This popup provides a simple method for setting the interpolation style of the generated bridge
polygons. Linear will create a bridge in a straight line between the original selection. Curve will create
an arc between the original selection points. Smooth creates an “ease in/ease out” blend between the
original selection sections.

Remove Polygons:
This will remove the originally selected polygons used to create the bridge. This is on by default and
is the most often preferred behavior.

Flip Polygons:
When activated this option will flip the normals of the newly created polygons in the bridge.

Tension:
This percentage value provides some additional control over the bridge path used when the Curve
mode is active. Increasing this value will accentuate the curved effect and decreasing it will mute the
effect toward the linear path.
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User Guide

Spikey
Spikey is a polygon tool that takes selected polygons, adds a vertex to the center of the polygon and
then repositions that vertex away from the original polygon based on the spike strength setting, to
create a spike. Spikes are created based on polygon face normals for each selected polygon.

Spikey can be accessed by clicking the Polygon tab of the modo Tools toolbar.
Spikey can be fired interactively in the viewport, or by using the Apply button on the Tool Properties
form.

The Spikey tool is not available form the menu bar, only from the modo Tools toolbar.

Shift
The polygon Shift tool performs an extrusion on selected polygons along their individual normal axes.
This tool is similar to the Extrude tool found on the Mesh Edit tab of the modo Tools toolbar, except that
it allows you to extrude multiple polygons in different directions in a single operation.

The polygon Shift tool can be accessed from the Polygon Tab of the modo Tools toolbar under the Tools
group > Shift.

Inset
Inset is a polygon creation tool that takes selected polygons and subdivides them to create new geometry
within the original selection. The new polygons are scaled duplicates of the original. For example,
selecting a single polygon on the side of a cube, and then firing inset, will create a smaller quad polygon
framed within the original. Using negative values for inset will force the duplicated polygon to scale
larger than the original.

Inset can be found on the Polygon tab of the modo Tools toolbar under the Tools group > Inset.

The Inset value can be specified using the Inset numeric field, then use the Apply button to fire the
command with those values.
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Reduct
The Reduction tool works by iteratively removing edges from the mesh while trying to maintain as
much of the original contouring as possible. There are three options to the tool: Number, Material
Border Weight and Boundary Weight.

Number:
When the tool is first activated this field will contain the total number of polygons in the currently
visible mesh layer. Clicking and dragging will adjust this number in the tools property and in the mesh.
Of course, you can also simply type in the exact number of polygons into the property field.

Material Border Weight:

Determines how much emphasis should be given to using polygons to preserve the integrity and detail
of the mesh along edges which define a boundary between materials groups.

Boundary Weight:
Determines how much emphasis should be given to preserving the details around boundary areas of
the mesh.
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Subdivide
Subdivide will break the currently selected polygons into smaller polygons at a rate of 4 new polygons
per original. The method of subdivision depends on the “Type” option that is set by the user in the
Subdivide Polygons dialog. The dialog offers the following options.

Fig. 1 The Subdivide Panel can be accessed by going to Geometry > Polygon > Subdivide or by pressing (Shift D)

Type (Faceted, Smooth, SDS):

Faceted:
This option will create new polygons whose vertices are perfectly aligned with the plane of the original
polygon. Visually there will be no significant change to the shape of the model (unless these polygons
are subdivision surface polygons), other than added vertices for further deformation.
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Smooth:
This option uses the Max Smoothing Angle option to determine where there are edges in the model
that are beyond the sharpness threshold and should not be rounded. All other polygons that meet with
edges below the max smoothing angle will not only be broken into 4 additional polygons, but will the
resulting vertices will be moved slightly to round out, or “smooth” the surface of the mesh. This can
be illustrated quite nicely by creating a sphere with a low number of sides and segments, and then
applying Subdivide using the Smooth option.

SDS:
This option is similar to the Smooth option except that all points in the mesh, including the original
points, are moved towards the limit surface that was derived using the original mesh as the control
points. This method of subdivision will give you a similar result to simply activating subdivision
surfaces with a subdivision level of 1 and then freezing the geometry. SDS is very popular for adding
uniform density to an entire mesh when working with subdivision surfaces.

Fractal:
This value allows you to add some randomization to the position of points after they are subdivided.
This is sometimes useful when creating organic objects such as asteroids or rocks.

Max Smoothing Angle:

This value is used to determine when the Smooth option should move the newly created vertices. If
the angle between the original vertices is greater than the Max Smoothing angle, the new vertices
will fall in the same plane as the originals. It is helpful to think of a cube in this case. Since the cube
consists of right angles, if the Max Smoothing Angle is set to be less than 90 degrees, the new
vertices will be in the same plane, without any rounding affect.
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User Guide

Toggle SDS
This command will toggle polygons from the type “Face” to type “Subdivision Surface”. By default, this
command can be fired with the keyboard equivalent Tab. To convert a “face” polygon to a subpatch
polygon (subpatch polygons are included to mimic the surfaces seen in LightWave 3D, and thusly can
not handle edge weighting or n-gon), you can trigger the command (poly.convert “patch” “face” (1)).
This command will only convert face polygons to subpatches. Both commands are toggles, so firing the
command a second time will revert the polygon to its former state.

Keyboard Shortcut: Tab

Split

The Split Poly command works on selected polygons plus selected points. Polygons are divided by new
edges connecting selected points. If no polygons are selected all polygons that include the points are split.

To split a poly do the following:

1) Select the polygons you want to split.
2) Change to Vertices selection and select the Vertices for the new edges.
3) On the modo Tools toolbar, click the Polygon tab.
4) Click Split Poly in the Commands section.

This tool is best used with Shade Options > wireframe > Colored turned on. That way you can see the
new edges on planar surfaces.

Keyboard Shortcut: CTRL+L

Triple

The Triple command will subdivide any selected polygon with more than 3 vertices so that it consists
only of triangle polygons. This can be very useful for preparing data to be saved in a format that does
not support polygons with more than 3 vertices per polygon. It can also be useful for quickly breaking
an n-gon down into triangles for similar export issues.

Keyboard Shortcut: Shift+T

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Spin Quads
Spin Quads will change where your edges are attached within the geometry. For example, if you
select two adjacent polys, this command will spin them so that they attach to different points while
leaving them in place. It will change the flow of your polygons while maintaining the surrounding
mesh. Spin Edges does the same thing on an edge level, however you can select one edge and spin
it so that it bisects two polygons differently. Spin quads only works with two polygons with the same
edge number.

These tools are found on the Edge and Polygon tabs of the modo Tools toolbar, under the Commands
groups.

Keyboard Shortcut: Alt+V

Flip

The Flip tool will reverse the direction of selected polygons. Polygons are typically single sided, and
as such are only visible from one direction. The visible side is determined by the direction of the
“normal”. The direction of a polygon is initially determined by the order in which it’s vertices were
created, or selected, to make the polygon. The Flip tool will effectively reorder those vertices so that
the polygon faces the opposite direction. For linear polygons, such as curves, the Flip tool reverses
the order to force the curve to run the opposite direction.

Keyboard Shortcut: F

Align
The Align Polygons tool attempts to automatically make all polygons face the same direction. Use this
when you have mesh geometry with polygons that have face normals facing both toward and away
from the view. Align Polygons uses the 1st polygon you select as the model, it will attempt to match
the face normal direction of that polygon.

To use align polygons do the following:

1) Select one polygon with the face normal that is correct.
2) Hold down the CTRL key and select additional polygons that are facing the wrong direction.
3) On the Polygon tab of the modo Tools toolbar, press the Align command.

The polygon face normals will attempt to align to the first selected polygon.
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Set Material
Set Material lets you assign a material polygon tag to any polygons selected in the viewport. Later, you
can assign additional Material attributes using the Shader Tree.

Set Material also lets you quickly adjust the Color, Diffuse and Specular percentages on the fly, without
going to the Material Editor. To adjust color, select the polygons to get a material and hit the letter ‘M’.
Then pick one of the triplet values in the color bar and adjust the color by holding the left mouse button
down and moving the mouse to the left and right. Alternatively, you can left click in the color bar and
the Color Picker will appear as a floater.

Keyboard Shortcut: M

Merge Polygons

The Merge Polygons option combines selected polygons into a single polygon of n number of sides.
Essentially it removes all interior edges, so the multiple polygons can be treated as a single polygon.
This command can be found on the Polygon tab of the modo Tools toolbar, in the Commands sections
on the Reduce pulldown. Expand the Commands section to see Reduce, then press the dropdown arrow
and choose Merge.

Or on the menubar choose Geometry > Polygon > Merge.

More complex selections will merge as many polygons together as necessary to remove the target
edges. If all the edges that use a vertex are deleted, then the vertex is deleted as well. It may be possible
for you to specify selections that cannot all be consistently deleted. In that case the operation does the
best that it can without leaving “spikes”, which are edges entirely internal to a single polygon.

Remove Polygon Vertices

The Remove Polygon Vertices tool shrinks any polygons that include those vertices.
Deleting vertices will remove the point, but leave the polygon otherwise in existence. So deleting one
vertex of a quad leaves a triangle.

In the System menu > Preferences > Data > 3D Editing form, there is a Vertex Deletion setting. When
Remove Line Polygons is turned on (the default), deleting the vertex in a triangle will result in the
polygon being deleted automatically. If Keep All Polygons is chosen, then two vertex and one vertex
polygons will remain unaffected by the deletion of the third vertex.
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Remove Vertex can be found on the Vertex tab of the modo Tools toolbar, under Commands > Remove,
or on the Geometry menu > Remove.

This is a very commonly used command.

Keyboard Shortcut: Backspace

Unify
Unify Polygons lets you merge two polygons into a single polygon when you have two polygons that
are in exactly the same space and the polygons share the same vertices.

To access Unify Polygons click the Polygon tab of the modo Tools toolbar, then click the dropdown
arrow next to Reduce and choose Unify. The selected polygons in the viewport will be unified.

Freeze
Freeze, found on the Curves tab of the modo Tools toolbar, in the Commands section, will convert
all the selected polygons which are not faces into faces using the mesh generation method for the
polygon type. Curves become faceted polygons, and subdivision surfaces become quads at the current
resolution. Works with Bezier, Curve and Sketch tools as well as the Illustrator importer.

Parameters for the Freeze tool include:

Freeze Curves as Faces:
Faces are generated when this is turned on.

Make Holes:
Interior nested closed curves will create holes when this is turned on. You can define the direction of
the hole using the Drill Axis.

Drill Axis:
Controls the direction of the hole when Make Holes is turned on.
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Edge Tools

Edge Bevel
When applying Edge Bevel, selected edges widen into quad strips of a uniform, specified width. New
polygons are centered over the original edge and are oriented with the average normal of the two
polygons on either side. Surrounding polygons remain in their same plane, simply shrinking on their
affected edges.

Parameters for edge bevel are:

Mode:
Select either Inset or Width.

Value:
Controls the amount of the bevel in either percentages or distance values depending on the Mode option
setting.

Use Material:
When this option is de-activated the tool will use the neighboring material. When activated the user can
choose an existing material to be applied to all newly created geometry.

Round Level:
This value allows the tool to create additional edges between the original pair generated. Each new
edge will be placed in such a way as to create a “rounding” effect between the outer most edges.

Exceptions:
For edges shared by 3 or more polygons, modo groups the polygons into pairs and creates new faces
between each pair, ignoring polygons not part of a pair. At junctions between 3 or more edges, extra
polygons are inserted to bridge any gaps created by the extrusion. Extra polygons are also inserted at
the bare ends of edge to keep the shape closed and planar as the edge bevels.

Keyboard Shortcut: B when in edge select mode

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Edge Extrude
With the Edge Extrude tool, edges are shifted outward along the average normal of their two neighboring
polygons. New faces are added between the edge and their neighbor polygons so that their neighbors
can remain in their original plane. Neighbor polygons are shrunk by the same amount and in the same
manner as for edge bevel.

Extrude:
This distance value determines how far the edge will be shifted out away from its original position.

Width:
This distance value determines how far the newly generated edges will be shifted away from the
original edge location.

Use Material:
Turn this on to apply a specific material group to the polygons created with the edge extrusion.

Material Name:
Specifies the material group for the Use Material command.

Keyboard Shortcut: X
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Edge Extend
Edge Extend creates a simple surface by sweeping the edges through a line, creating a simple shelf
for example.

Edge Extend can be found on the Edge tab of the modo Modes toolbar, or on the Geometry menu > Edge
> Edge Extend Tool.

To extend an edge, do the following:

1) Select the edges in the 3D Model View.
2) On the modo Tools Toolbar, click the Edge tab.
3) Click the Extend button.
4) Drag in the viewport to extend the edges. Use the tool handles to control the position of the edge.

To quickly add a series of edge extends you can hold the shift key down and each time you click a new
edge will be created. This is a very quick method for creating profiles by holding shift and click-dragging
each new span into place.

Keyboard Shortcut: Z

Spin Edge

The Spin Edge tool turns the current edge or edges to reorganize the way they separate the two
adjoining polygons. For example, if you select an edge, this command will spin it so that it attaches
to different vertices while leaving the two bisected polygons in place. It will change the flow of your
polygons while maintaining the surrounding mesh.

Keyboard Shortcut: V

Remove Edges

The Remove Edge command can be used to delete edges from the mesh geometry. This differs slightly
from the Geometry > Remove tool in that it doesn’t remove attached vertices, it only removes the
selected edges. The vertices remain behind.

To remove the edges and vertices, select the edges and then on the menubar choose Geometry > Remove.

To remove ONLY the edges, select the edges, then on the modo Tools toolbar, click the Edge tab, then
Remove Edges on the Commands section. The edges will be removed, the vertices will remain.
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Vertex Mapping

Apply Morph
The Apply Morph tool allows you to interactively blend an existing
morph map into a new one, or directly onto the base mesh. By selecting
a Morph from the pop-up and dragging in the 3D viewport, you can
directly apply the selected morph.

Morph:
This pop-up choice reveals all available morph maps currently available
in the mesh. Simply click on the pop-up and select the desired map
from the list.

Amount:
This percentage entry allows you to set an exact numeric amount of
the currently selected morph map to be applied. You can achieve more
dramatic results by driving the value over 100% or completely different
results by taking the value to a negative number.

Background to Morph
Using the background layer as the target shape, the Background
Morph tool moves the vertices of the mesh layer toward those of the
background geometry layer. The tool is very useful when combined
with various falloff modifiers.

The single control is a percentage that determines how closely the

foreground mesh should match the vertices in the background layer.
This value can also be set to negative values or beyond 100%.
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Vertex Map Clear

Vertex Map > Clear resets the values of the vertex map edits. If you make changes to your weight map, for
example, then press Clear, those values are discarded and the weight map is returned to its initial state.

Clear can be accessed on the Vertex Map menu by choosing Clear. You can also fire the Clear command
by right-clicking on the Map name in the Vertex Map List and choosing Clear.

Vertex Map Copy

Copy and Paste let you take the information from one vertex map and apply it to another.

You can access the Copy and Paste commands from the Vertex Map menu, or by selecting the map in
the Vertex Map List, right-clicking on the map and choosing Copy. Select a different map in the same
list, right-click again and choose Paste to complete the operation.

Cull Vertex Map Values

The Vertex Map Cull command removes extra vertex map values. It clears the values below the Cutoff
setting.

If Hollow Area is set, then only values that have non-culled neighbors are removed. It will limit culling
to ‘isolated’ values, or values which are below the threshold and are not connected to any vertices with
values above the threshold.

Delete Vertex Map

To completely remove a vertex map from the Vertex Map List and the current modo session, select the
map in the list, then use the Delete command.

You can right-click the entry in the list and select Delete, or from the menu bar choose Vertex Map >
Delete.
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Vertex Map Math tool

Vertex Map Math Tool is a generalized tool that operates on multiple vertex maps.

You can use it to do things like scaling values, composing maps in different ways and converting
map types. Examples of things you do with this tool include: generating a weight map from a U or
V coordinate; making a weight map from the magnitude of a morph map. You can also create a map
with the max, min, sum or difference of two maps, or clear one map’s entries based on the values in
another map.

The attributes for the Vertex Map Math Tool are as follows:

Dest:
The name of the destination vertex map. The map will be created if
needed

Amount:
The amount (%) of the computed value that will go into the destination
vertex map, blended like alpha

Combine:
Specifies the math operation used to combine the terms (Source A,
Source B)

Then for each source (#):

map# - the vertex map index

Scale:
A multiplier to apply to the offset vertex map value: src# = scale# * (val#
+ offset#)

Offset:
An amount to add to the vertex map value

Mode:
The way to deal with multi-dimensional vertex map values. if src# is morf and dest is uv:

Direct: copy direct component to component, so morf.x->uv.u, morf.y->uv.v

Component: pick a single component (index#) so morf.index#->uv.u, morf.index#->uv.v
Magnitude: The ‘vector length’ of the source vertex map value
Maximum, Minimum: The max. or min. of the components of the source vector
index# - the component of the source map that will be used
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This tool can be used to make weight maps of morph magnitude, go between weights and UVs, invert
vertex maps, etc. The destination map can also be a/the source. If no map is specified, the value is 0,
but the offset and scale are applied, so a constant value term is available.

Sew
The Sew UV command allows you to quickly connect matching pairs of discontinuous UVs. To use
the command, select an edge or vertex that is currently discontinuous and press the Sew button. The
command will move both matching UVs to an averaged UV coordinate and convert them into a single
UV. This is very useful for mending UV maps that have been broken apart either manually, or via
mapping tools such as an Atlas Map projection.

When working with Edge selections you can simply select one of the two corresponding UV pairs to
use the command. However, to use the sew command on vertex selections you must have both vertices
selected before firing the command.

It is very helpful to massage the UVs somewhat prior to using the command so that the UVs are not too
far apart before they are “sewn” back together.

Create
This command lets you define a new vertex map. In the Create New Vertex Map you can give the map
a unique name by entering the name of your choice in the Vertex Map Name field.

You can also select the type of map in the Vertex Map Type field. The dropdown arrow provides the
following choices:

Weight Map
Subdivision Weight Map
UV Map
Relative Morph Map
Absolute Morph Map
RGB Map
RGBA Map
Pick Map

Once the map has been created you can access it through the Vertex Map List.
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UV Delete
The UV Delete tool lets you delete UV selections from your UV map. This doesn’t affect the mesh
selection in the viewport, it only deletes the UV information from the UV map displayed in the UV
Texture view.

To delete UV selections do the following:

1) In the 3D Model View, select the geometry.
2) Change the layout to UV_3D_Split.
3) In the UV Texture window, select the UV map components you wish to delete.
4) On the Texture menu in UV Operators, choose Delete.

Peeler Tool
The Peeler Tool is used for manually fixing UV maps. User ‘cuts’ a seam of edges in a well-behaved
quad mesh, the Peeler Tool spreads UVs out perpendicular to the seam, trying to loop back to the cut
from the other side. The region of UVs produced can be controlled. This tool can be useful for tedious,
manual-style atlas mapping, or other cylinder unwrapping tasks.

Tool attributes include:

UV position, UV scale (uvcoord). Normally 0,0,1,1, these define a box in UV space where all the grids
will be positioned.

Uniformity:
Controls the size of the UV polygons in proportion to the size of the 3D space polygons. At 0% every
polygon’s size in UV space is proportional to its size in 3D space. At 100% the polygons all have the
same size, making a nice regular UV grid.

The Peeler tool can work well on meshes that have uniform quadrangular polygons organized with
adequate edge loop flow. For meshes that have more complex topology it is recommended to use the
UV Unwrap tool which provides a far more sophisticated algorithm to untangle the UVs.
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User Guide

View project UVs

Found in the Texture menu, the View Projection Tool creates a UV map from a mesh based on viewport
projection.

To use this tool, do the following:

1) Setup a 3D Model View and UV viewport.
2) Create your mesh and choose View Projection Tool from the UV menu.
3) Click the 3D Viewport with the middle-mouse button and you will see the
projected UV mesh update in the UV Viewport.

This works with selected polygons or the entire mesh.

Weight Adjust Tool

The Weight Adjust Tool lets you adjust the Vertex Map Weight percentage. This gives you control over
edge weighting.

Weight maps are discontinuous 1D Vertex maps holding weight percentages. These vertex maps can be
used to modulate the strength of tools when combined with a weight falloff operator. They can also be
exported in LightWave or Maya data files for use in texture or deformation modulation.

When a 3D viewport is set to a V-Map shaded mode, weight shading (hot to cold=red>green>blue) is
visible in the viewport.

To use weight mapping do the following:

1) Select the ‘Subdivision’ map in the Weight Maps section of the Vertex Map List window.
2) Convert your object to a subdivision surface (use TAB)
3) Select some edges on your model
4) Activate the Weight Tool and start dragging

At this point, you should see your selected edges start to tighten up. Increasing the subdivision level in
the Layer properties will allow for a smaller radius on your rounded edges, since there’s more geometry
in the display to work with.

Fun Fact:
The Weight Tool plays nicely with all the falloff types. Try using the Linear Falloff with the Weight Tool
to blend your creases into the rest of the model.

Keyboard Shortcut: SHIFT+W

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UV Align
The Align command on the Texture menu takes the bounding box of the selected UV vertices, and
moves all of them either in U or in V, to the line in the box that’s indicated by the other argument (the
Align to field).

The parameter choices on the align UVs dialog include:

Direction:
Up and Down both move the vertices in the V direction. The Left and Right directions both move
vertices in U.

Align to:
Low is the minimum value of the box. Average is the average of all the values, Center is the center of
the bounding box. High is the max value of the box.

The UV Tools tool bar contains easy to use preset buttons that will quickly align UVs up, down, right
or left.

Vertex Map Paste

Copy and Paste let you take the information from one vertex map and apply it to another.

You can access the Copy and Paste commands from the Vertex Map menu, or by selecting the map in
the Vertex Map List, right-clicking on the map and choosing Copy. Select a different map in the same
list, right-click again and choose Paste to complete the operation.

Vertex Map Quantize

Vertex Map Quantize is a tool that reduces the vertex map selection values mathematically. It evaluates
all the selected components and simplifies them based on the Amount values set in the Quantize Vertex
Map floater. Increasing the Amount value will result in fewer diverse values in the Vertex Map.

Quantize can be found on the Vertex Map menu.

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Vertex Map Jitter

Found on the Vertex Map menu, Vertex Map Jitter is a tool that procedurally affects selected vertex map
values based on an Amount numeric field.

Vertex Map Name

The Name command on the Vertex Map menu lets you name or rename any vertex map.

To rename a vertex map do the following:

1) In the Vertex Map List, highlight the vertex map you wish to rename.
2) On the Vertex Map menu, choose Name.
3) On the Set Vertex Map Name dialog, change the name in the name field, then click OK.

The Vertex map name will update in the Vertex Map List.

You can also access this tool by right-clicking on the name in the Vertex Map List and then choose
Rename.

Vertex Map Set Vertex

The Set Vertex command lets you define precise values for individual vertices in a vertex map.

The numeric fields on the Set Vertex Value dialog include these options:

Vertex Map Name:

Determines which vertex map is being affected

Vertex Map Type:

Indicates the type of vertex map.
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Component:
Some vertex maps have multiple components. For example, a UV vertex map has two components U
and V, an RGB map has three components R, G, and B while a Weight map has only a single component,
the weights value. When using the Set Vertex command on a vertex map with multiple components it
is important to be able to choose which component will be set by the command. Using the Set Vertex
command on a UV map with the component set to 0 will set the value on the U component of the map.
Using a value of 1 in the component field will set the V value.

Index:
Specifies which vertex is to be affected. If you turn on Show Indices under Visibility Options you can
see the vertex indices in the viewport.

Value:
Determines the numeric vertex value.

Vertex Map Clamp

Vertex Map Clamp command limits the values in a vertex map based on a Cutoff value.

Vertex Map Color Tool

The Vertex Color Tool allows modo to assign RGB values to a vertex map for vertex map shading
effects. The tool requires a vertex map of type color be created and selected in the vertex map list.

Create UVs
The Create UVs tool provides several methods for generating a UV map from the current geometry.
If there are no polygons selected in your mesh the tool will use all polygons to create the UV map.
To isolate certain areas of your model simply select the desired polygons prior to using the tool. The
Create UV tool works by projecting the 3D polygons into 2D (UV) space. As such, it is very important
to choose the most appropriate Projection Type and modo includes several to choose from. It should
be noted that the Create UV tools is mostly a half step to a completed UV map. Using this tool will
generally result in UVs that need additional manual edits to complete.
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Projection Types:
Planar:
The Planar mode projects the selected polygons from an orthogonal
view determined by the Axis setting. The resulting UV map will
actually look quite similar to viewing the model in a 3D viewport
set to Top, Front or Side. This mode is very good for quickly
assigning areas of a mesh that are all facing the same direction.
For more complicated geometry such as a head, Planar will result
in a significant amount of UV overlap as the projection will place
polygons on both side of the head into the same UV coordinates.
Planar Projection would be good for landscapes and some
architectural or hard surface models.

Cylindrical:
This mode projects the polygons into the UV map based on a virtual
cylinder that surrounds the mesh. If you think of the cylinder as a
soda can, setting the Axis to Y results in the can sitting on a table
whereas setting it to X or Z will lay it on its side. Cylinder can be very
useful for mapping specific areas of a model such as arms for organic
meshes or tubes and pipe segments for hard surface meshes.

Spherical:
Projects the UVs from a virtual sphere that surrounds the mesh. The poles of the sphere are placed
based on the Axis setting. The Y axis setting will place the poles up and down where as X or Z puts
them side to side or front to back.

Atlas:
The Atlas setting uses an multi-faceted projection method to place all polygons into the UV map while
maintaining relative scale based on the 3D volume of the polygons. This is designed to minimize any
texture distortion from non-uniform UV data. However, the Atlas projection will result in a highly
discontinuous UV map which may only be useful for certain algorithmic uses such as texture baking.

Barycentric:
This mode forces each individual polygon to fill the 0 to 1 UV space. In the case of quadrangular polys
they will fit perfectly to the outer bounds of the UV area. Triangles and ngons are placed within the UV
space as best they can. This is a very useful mode if you have a texture that you want to tile across
every polygon in the mesh.

Atlas 2:
Similar to Atlas mode Atlas 2 attempts to fill the UV space with all selected polygons in the most
efficient way without distorting the relative scale of each polygon from 3D to 2D space.
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Edge Weight Tool

The Edge Weight tool allows you to add creasing to subdivision surfaces without adding additional
geometry by creating a “weight” on various edges. To use the tool simply select an edge or edges
and click on the Edge Weight Tool button in the Vertex Map menu and then click and drag in the 3D
viewport. Setting the value to 100% will create a completely hard edge whereas a value of 0% allows
the default interpolation of the limit surface through the control vertices. It is also possible in modo to
set edge weights to negative values which will push the limit surface away from the control vertices.

This tool is actually using the generic “Weight Tool” but first selects the Subdivision Vertex Map so that
the appropriate vertex map is adjusted when using the tool.

Unwrap Tool
The UV Unwrap tool provides an elegant solution to creating UV maps from just about any kind of
mesh from hard surface to organic. To understand the concept of UV Unwrap, simply think about
skinning an animal. Sure it’s a little gruesome but it’s really the best way to think about it. The idea is
that we need to cut seams into the skin of the subject so that when we lay the skin out onto the table it
lays as flat as possible without much stretching of the skin. We have just described skinning an animal
and UV Unwrap all at the same time. To use UV Unwrap you will define where the model will be “cut”
by selecting edges. Don’t worry, this will not effect your actual mesh - it only tells the Unwrap tool
where to create UV boundaries. Once you have the seams defined via the selected edges, the tool is
activated. It is important to choose a good initial projection type and axis before applying the tool. Once
the tool is active, dragging in the viewport increases the amount of unwrapping. At this phase you are
driving a global optimization of the UV polygons so that they unfold in a uniform manner.

Options for the tool include:

Iterations:
This value determines the number of iterations for the global solver to run across the UV data. Basically
this is the “amount” of unwrap. With the value set to zero the UV view will appear just as if you simply
used a UV projection method based on the Initial Projection and Projection Axis settings for the tool.
Once you increase the Iterations the UV data is unwrapped.

Relative Gap Size:

If your UV data has multiple contiguous pieces there needs to be some amount of gap left between
these UV “chunks”. The Relative Gap Size dictates how much space will be forced between the UV
boundaries. Increasing this value will push the UV data further apart as well as scale the UV data
down to accommodate.
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Segment by Material:
If you are unwrapping a contiguous mesh that has different materials assigned to various polygon
groups you can use these groups to create continuous UV sections while unwrapping. This option
provides a quick way to unwrap a single mesh into several UV segments which can either be left in a
single UV map or pasted into separate UV maps.

Segment by Part:
This option is identical to Segment by Material with the exception that it uses Part tags from the
polygons.

Initial Projection:
This popup choice determines how the initial UV projection will be created. The options are Planar,
Cylindrical, Spherical, Use Current Map and Group Normal. The first three settings also rely on the
Projection Axis. Planar projection will project the 3D model into UV space based on a simply plane
that is projected across the model in the user defined axis. Cylindrical creates a virtual Cylinder around
the mesh and Spherical creates a virtual sphere for the projection. For more information about the
Projection Modes see UV Create Tool.

The Use Current Map option uses the current state of the UV map as a starting point rather than
projecting new UVs. This is very useful if you already have created some reasonable UV map and want
to use Unwrap to further refine the UVs without destroying your hard work.

Group Normal uses the average normal of the selected polygons to determine the initial projection
plane. This can be useful on geometry that is mostly facing the same direction but will give less than
useful results when the mesh is complex and has many overlapping areas. If you want to see in 3D the
axis that would be chosen for the Group Normal option you can hover your mouse over the 3D viewport
and press Ctrl-A. This will align the viewport to the average normal of the selected polygons.

Pinning Axis:
The Pinning Axis determines the UV axis to favor when shuffling the UV boundaries during the unwrap.
U is the horizontal axis and V is vertical.

Offset Angle:
This value allows you to add some rotation to the resulting unwrapped UVs. This can be very useful if
your original mesh is not world axis aligned. By adjusting this value you can see in real time the effect
on the map.

Seal Holes:
If your mesh is not “water tight” (such as a head with open eye sockets) the Unwrap algorithm can
sometimes have difficulty resolving these areas. The Seal Holes option will create a virtual polygon to
close the holes and improve the unwrapping effect.

Update Layout:
This option forces the UV layout to remain within the 0 to 1 UV coordinate space.
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Fit UVs
The Fit UVs command will scale the currently selected UV data to fill the 0 to 1 UV space. This is a
very useful command for optimizing UVs. There are two options for this command; Separate and Keep
Proportion.

Keep Proportion:
When this option is active the UV data will scale proportionally so that the resulting UV data has the
same ratio of height to width. The data will scale until one of the maximum UV sizes is fit on one or
both axes but the data will not deform to accomplish this. The following images show the UV fit tool
with and without the Keep Proportion toggle active.

Separate:
The Separate option will force each polygon to become discontinuous in UV space and fill the UV 0
to 1 coordinates. This is similar to the Barycentric UV projection type and is very useful for forcing a
texture to completely repeat from polygon to polygon.
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Relax Tool
The Relax Tool is very useful for smoothing overlapping UV data, particularly in combination with the
Unwrap tool. The tool has two modes, Unwrap and Spring. The Unwrap option uses the same method
for untangling UVs as the Unwrap tool but in this context you can use the method to untangle existing
UVs as opposed to only creating new ones. The Unwrap option is the default and for most cases will be
the best option. The Spring setting is a global optimization solver that treats the UV data like a spring
system and iterates through UV positions to try and find an optimal global solution. Spring solvers can
be somewhat finicky about the scale of the data and the number of iterations which can result in an
unstable solution in certain circumstances.
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Perhaps the more interesting use of the Relax tool is with the Pinning option. Pinning allows you
to define specific vertices on the UV map that will act as control points or “pins”. When the relax
iterations are set above 0 the free vertices will smooth themselves out between the pinned vertices.
You can drag the pinned vertices in UV space to adjust the map leveraging a sort of UV IK. To set new
control points simply click directly on the vertex and a light blue handle will appear. Once the handle
is in place you can click to drag it in UV space.
Using the pinning option is very useful in coordination with the UV overlap highlighting. When you see
areas in Red (overlapping UVs) you can simply set a pin in that region and with other critical areas of the
mesh pinned, drag the overlap area until the red zones melt away leaving you with a cleaner UV map.

The UV Unwrap tool gets our UV map very close to completion.

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Zooming in reveals some UV overlapping around the ears.

WIth Interactive mode on, click on the vertices you wish to act as pins.
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Now drag the pin near the problem area. Problem solved.
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Mesh Edit

2D Drill
The Drill tool allows you to perform Boolean operations using 2D polygons. The background layer
geometry is used as the Boolean operator on the foreground geometry.

Options for drill include:

Core:
Cuts away everything outside the 2D outline projected onto the polygons.

Tunnel:
Cuts a hole using the 2D outline, removes the inside.

Stencil:
Projects the 2D outline onto the polygons without removing either the inside
or outside. Applies a default material to the new geometry within the outline.

Slice:
Same as Stencil, does not affect the surface material.

Loop Slice
Loop Slice is a powerful tool that lets you slice additional edge loops into your geometry.

Loop Slice is accessed on the Mesh Edit tab of the modo Tools toolbar by clicking the Loop Slice button.

To use loop slice do the following:

1) Select the edge loop in your geometry.
2) Click the Loop Slice button to choose the tool.
3) Click in the viewport and additional loops will appear sliced into the geometry on either side of the
original edge loop. A slider is displayed in the viewport for additional control over the loop slice. You
can increase the number of loop slices using the Count mini-slider in the Tool Properties view.
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Loop Slice supports 3 different modes: Free, Uniform and Symmetry. In Free Mode you can interactively
adjust the slices using the viewport slider.

Loop Slice has 3 different Edit options: Move, Add, and Remove. Use the Move option to reposition the
slices in the viewport.

Loop Slice has two additional options; Slice Selected and Keep Quads. Slice Selected will restrict the
slice only to the selected portion of the mesh, rather than using the selection to determine a loop to
cut. Keep Quads will force all new polys to be quadrangular inside the sliced area.

Loop Slice also has an offset value that allows you to “push” the currently selected edge(s) while the
tool is active. This can be very useful for quickly creating wrinkles or folds while the tool is active.

Keyboard Shortcut: ALT+C

Edge Slice
With the Edge Slice tool you can click from edge to edge creating a slice between the edges as you
go. After clicking down on an edge, you can drag along the curve to set a precise cut location. You can
also edit previously made edge cuts by clicking directly on the handle point that represents the desired
cut point and dragging it to a new location.

Often you may wish to use the Edge Slice to create a closed cut where the last point and the first point
are joined by an edge so that you have created a new “edge loop”. To do this you can create a final
cut on the edge that received the first cut. As you drag the new cut point towards the first cut point on
the edge, the color of both points will change when they overlap so you can see that they have been
merged. At this point you can deactivate the tool as you have completed the edge loop.

The options for the edge slice tool are:

Split at Middle:
When active this option will force all cuts to be centered on each edge as it is cut.

Split Polygons:
When enabled, the Split Polygons function will create a new edge between the cut points of the previous
edges. With this disabled, new points will be added to the polygons, but no edges will connect them.

Show (Position/Distance):
This pop-up provides the option of seeing the heads up data of the new cut point as a position along the
edge as a percentage, or a two distance values indicating the distance to either point in the cut edge.
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Count:
The Count field shows the number of cuts that have been made in the current tool session. Decreasing
this value will remove cut points starting with the most recently made cut.

Snap Value:
This percentage value constrains the newly created vertices to specified increments. To adjust the slice
vertices without constraint simply set this value to 0%.

Inside Polygons:
With this toggle setting active you can click anywhere inside a polygon to create a new edge that goes
into the interior of the polygon. This option makes it very convenient to carve in additional details to
existing polygons.

Keyboard Shortcut: C

Boolean
The Boolean command allows the user to combine multiple layers in various modes (Union, Intersect,
Subtract and Add).

To perform a boolean operation, you must have geometry in a foreground and a background layer. The
background layer will be used as the template to act across the foreground layer.

Union:
Combines the two layers together as a seamless mesh removing any overlapping geometry.

Intersect:
Results in a mesh created only in areas where the two layers are overlapping. All sections of the two
layers that are not overlapping are removed.

Subtract:
Removes the background layer from the foreground layer, cutting away any section of the foreground that
overlaps with the background layer. New faces will be created to close the area where the background
layer cuts through the foreground.

Add:
The geometry from both layers are combined into a single mesh. No geometry is removed, but extra
vertices may be created to ensure the meshes are stitched together.

See also Drill and Solid Drill. These commands allow you to perform related boolean operations as well.
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Collapse
The Collapse command removes the selected element without destroying the integrity of the geometry.
Any select polygon, edge or vertex is deleted but no hole is left behind. Instead, the mesh heals,
closing any gaps by merging the neighboring elements together.

The collapse feature can be found as follows:

Vertex: On the Vertex tab of the modo Tools toolbar > Commands > Collapse.
Edge: On the Edge tab of the modo Tools toolbar > Commands > Collapse Edges.
Polygons: On the Polygons tab of the modo Tools toolbar > Commands > Reduce > Collapse.

You can also select whatever geometry you wish to collapse and then choose Geometry > Collapse.

Keyboard Shortcut: CTRL+ Backspace

Slice Tool
The Slice tool sets slicing plane through the currently selected geometry. The slice plane is interactively
set by dragging out the tool across a 3D viewport. The first time you click in the 3D view you have set
the Start position for the knife. Using a LMB-drag will extend the knife plane out to the End position
which you can now drag interactively. The Start and End positions are simply X,Y, and Z positions that
are set with the mouse or numerically on the Tool Properties sheet. As long as the tool is active, you
can also drag the knife by clicking on either of the blue end handles, or anywhere along the pink line
that connects the start and end points.

When you initially drag out the slice tool a slicing Axis is determined. The axis is essentially an infinite
plane that extends from the jagged sides of the slices interactive widget. After the Axis has been
determined by the tool, it is possible to change the axis manually on the Tool Properties sheet.

To create a new slice using the same basic length and axis, but set a new center position, you can MMB-
Click at the new location and the slice plane will jump up to that location and create a new slice.

To begin a completely new slice, use the Shift-LMB drag. This will leave the previous slice in place
and begin a reset slice action at the mouse down position.

The Slice tool can be found on the Mesh Edit tab of the modo Tools toolbar, or on the Geometry menu
under Slice.

Keyboard Shortcut: SHIFT + C

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Solid Drill
The Solid Drill command allows you to perform Boolean operations using 2D polygons. The background
layer geometry is used as the Boolean operator on the foreground geometry.

Options include:
Core:
Cuts away everything outside the 2D outline projected onto the polygons.

Stencil:
Projects the 2D outline onto the polygons without removing either the inside or outside. Applies a
default material to the new geometry within the outline.

Tunnel:
Cuts a hole using the 2D outline, removes the inside.

Slice:
Same as Stencil, does not affect the surface material.

Axis Slice
The Axis Slice tool will create axis aligned slices on X, Y or Z. The number of slices and their positions
are determined by the Number, Size and Offset values. These values can be edited via the tool properties
form or interactively by dragging the mouse in the 3D viewport. This tool is useful for quickly “dicing”
your mesh with uniform slices.

Slice Mode:
This pop-up option allows you to set the style of slicing. The options are Number and Size. Depending
on which option you have selected, the triplet field below will be highlighted for either Number or Size.

Number XYZ:
This triplet field is active only when the tool is in Number mode. When active this field allows you to set
a specific number of slices along each axis.

Size XYZ:
This triplet field is active only when the tool is in Size mode. When active this field allows you to set a
specific size between each slice on the three axes.
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Offset XYZ:
This triplet field sets the center position of the slices. By default the values are 0,0,0/ Changing these
values will move the slices on their respective axes.

Delete
The Delete command applies to any type of selected data. For geometric data this is exactly like a “cut”
except that the removed data is not moved to the clipboard.

Deletion of vertices removes the vertices, but leaves polygons that contain them smaller. If all the vertices
of a polygon are deleted, then the polygon itself springs off into space like a freed rubber band.

Deletion of polygons also deletes the vertices if they are not needed for any polygon that stays behind.

Deletion of edges effectively results in does a polygon merge. See also the “Merge Polygons” feature.

Keyboard Shortcut: Delete key

Curve Slice
The Curve Slice tool will cut the mesh with a curve. You can click to create a new curve to slice with
or use an existing curve. The tool has settings to control the number of steps along the curve which
will affect the smoothness of the newly created edges.
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Tool Modifiers

Symmetry
Symmetry allows you to model mirrored across a chosen axis. Once Symmetry is turned on and an
axis is chosen, any vertex, edge or polygon selections made on one side of the axis will also be made
automatically on the other side. Any Transform or modeling operation will be applied mirrored about the
X,Y or Z axis when symmetry is on.

Symmetry can be turned on using the Symmetry pop-up on the modo Modes Toolbar. Symmetry always
works in modelspace, it does not honor the work plane currently.

Work Plane
Using a two dimensional screen and input device to edit content in 3D space requires some additional
input. This is either set explicitly by the user, or it is intuited by the application. One simple solution used
for years has been to model with 4 viewports. The orthogonal viewports only provide two axes at any
given time so the issue is resolved. Another solution is to require the user to work with tool handles
so that when working in a perspective viewport you still never using more than 2 axis at any given
time. Both of these solutions are reasonable and available in modo. However, modo also employs a 3rd
method call the Work Plane.

The Work Plane is the alternate grid plane drawn in a light grey (the 3D viewport color scheme contrast
has been adjusted to better highlight the Work Plane)

Fig. 1 Here you can see the Working Plane in a light grey and then aligned to a polygon in the second image.
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The Work Plane is an adaptive system that automatically adjusts to match the two major axes most
closely aligned to the screen axis. When you rotate the Perspective viewport the Work Plane will snap
to the dominant plane, XY, XZ or XY. Modo uses this work plane to determine the center and axis of
tools. When hauling many tools also use the work plane to determine the axes of operation since this
information is not derived from a tool handle.

While the default mode for the work plane is to automatically adjust to the screen rotation, the work
plane can also be locked and used as a construction plane. There are a number of methods for manually
setting the work plane to a specific center and axis. The work plane can very quickly be locked to a
specific major axis and position, or you can easily snap the work plane to the selected geometry or
even to the polygons directly under the mouse. This level of flexibility and control provides you with
an incredibly fluid and rich set of options for editing your workspace.

The best way to understand the Work Plane is to use it, so lets do a few operations to get a feel using
for the work plane. We will start with a basic working knowledge of the work plane when hauling a
tool in the perspective view.

Hauling with the work plane

1. Load the Eagle model from Content\Meshes\Animals.
2. Set your 3D viewport to Mod_Single so we are working only with a perspective view.
3. Hold the Alt key and with the LMB tumble the 3D view. Notice as the screen axis gets closer to
the major 3D axes the Work Plane snaps to the closest axis.

4. Rotate the view so that you are facing the front of the eagle and the Work Plane is snapped to
the XY plane. Select the Move tool.
5. LMB click in the 3D viewport away from any tool handles and drag the mouse up and to the right.
A quick look at the Tool Properties form confirms that only the X and Y values were edited during
the haul.

6. Rotate the view so that you are looking at the side of the eagle. This will snap the Work Plane
to the ZY plane allowing you to haul the ZY values for the move tool simultaneously.
7. Once again, click away from the 3D handles and drag to edit the move tool. This time you are
editing the Z and Y values as dictated by the work plane.

Mastering the Work Plane will allow you the freedom to do most, if not all, of your modeling in a single
perspective viewport. That means more screen real estate for viewing your model and essential tools.
Experiment with the Work Planes when using Primitive tools and hauling edits. With primitives the
work plane will determine the initial axis and center of the primitive.
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Locking the Work Plane

The previous working example of Work Planes leveraged the automatic alignment of the Work Plane.
You can also force the Work Plane into a manual alignment using the Work Plane commands. This
exercise will show you how to quickly create construction planes using the Work Plane.

1. Start a clean modo.

2. CTRL click the Sphere icon to create a Unit Sphere.
3. The goal here is to create a cone that is perfectly aligned with one of the faces of the sphere. Lets
do it the hard way first. Select a polygon on the front of the sphere.
4. Using the Work Plane popup found at the top right hand corner of modo next to the Snaps,
choose Align Work Plane to Selection.

5. The Work Plane should now be perfectly aligned to the selected polygon. Rotate the view around
to see more clearly how the Work Plane has been changed.
This is a very useful operation. It is important to note that you can use this option when there
are many polygons selected. The Work Plane will align to the average normal of all the selected
polygons. However, when you want to align the Work Plane to a single polygon very quickly you
can skip the selection process altogether.

6. Click anywhere away from the model in the 3D viewport to deselect the polygon so there are no
selections remaining.
7. Hover your mouse over any polygon in the model and press the Home key on your keyboard. The
Home hey triggers the Fit Work Plane to Geometry. This command looks for any polygon directly
under the mouse and uses that as the basis for the Work Plane orientation.

8. We can use this work plane to create new geometry that is perfectly aligned to the sphere.
Choose the Cone tool and hold the CTRL key while you drag out the tool at the center of the desired
polygon on the Sphere (Note: The center of the cone will be where you first click down). When you
drag out the cone you should see it appear perfectly aligned to the Work Plane.

9. While the Cone tool is still active, you can move your mouse over to another polygon and press
the Home key again. This will reset the Work Plane to the polygon currently under the mouse. Since
the Cone tool is still active, the cone will snap with the Work Plane.

10. Move your mouse around while you continue to press the Home key to watch the cone jump
around the surface of the sphere. Nifty.

The Work Plane is a very useful and powerful modeling assistant. At the most simple case it enables
greater control of your modeling tools while working in the perspective view. As you grow to understand
and use the Work Plane more fully it becomes an incredibly fast method for creating construction planes
and constraining your tools to specific axes.

Keyboard Shortcut: END key

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Background Constraint
Geometry can be constrained to background layer polygons or primitives during translation events.
Constrain to background will constrain the movement or creation of objects from passing through
a mesh sitting in a background layer. Constrain to primitive will do the same thing but only use the
primitive selections (sphere, box, etc..)

Constraints can be activated using the Constraint popup on the modo Modes toolbar.

Layers can be defined as background by clicking in the BG column in the Mesh List to the right of the
layer name.

Grid Quantization - Coordinate Rounding

This is a global preference that determines how 2D mouse input is converted to 3D input. Coordinate
Rounding tries to pick values in the 3D coordinate system so that nice round numbers are displayed.
You can turn it off and see numbers with lots of decimal places but no more real precision.

For example, when using the Move tool, modo has several decimal places of accuracy. But instead
of forcing you to work with 2.3454335 in the numeric properties, Coordinate Rounding keeps the
numbers to something more manageable, such as 2.35. If you turn this off by choosing None, it will
give you longer numbers, but more control to get specific values by dragging.

Local Center&Axis
Local Action Center & Axis uses the center of each element for the operation center. This lets you
select multiple elements and have them each rotate around their own local axis. When using the Move
tool, the handles are axis-aligned to the last selected polygon.

This is particularly useful when working with edges. You can use the Stretch tool to scale several
edges simultaneously along their individual local axes.

Turn on Local Action Center & Axis on the modo Modes toolbar, by clicking the button between
Materials and Symmetry marked (none) as a default. Or choose Edit > Action Center > Local.
Also this is available from the Quick-access popover (ALT+Spacebar) on the Action button.

Keyboard Shortcut: ALT+X

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Morph Editing
modo allows unique capabilities for morph (aka Blendshapes, Endomorfs and/or Morph Targets) editing.
You can load in a sequence of morph targets from Maya (Blendshapes) for example and these will be
translated into a sequence of morph maps. Select any morph map in the Vertex Map List and then you
can edit that map, or create new ones by combining the various maps using falloffs.

Any topology changes to make to any morph maps will be applied to ALL the maps. Then if you export
to the .MA file format these will export as Blendshapes again.

Use the Vertex Map Morph Tool to apply the selected morph map to the selected viewport geometry, to
create a new morph map, or edit an existing one.

Screen Center&Axis
Screen Center & Axis allows the action center and axis to be based on the frame of the viewport, or
Screen space. When Screen Center and Axis is chosen for any transform, the tool handles will realign
themselves to the screen, and the transform becomes in relation to the “picture plane” rather than to
any world or local coordinate system.

Screen Center & Axis can be assigned from the modo Modes Toolbar, by clicking the button between
Materials and Symmetry. This button is marked with a (none) in the default layout.

You can also assign Screen Center & Axis on the Edit menu > Action Center > Screen. Or press ALT+F.
Or you can choose it from the Quick-access popovers (ALT+Spacebar) on the Action button.

Keyboard Shortcut: ALT+F

Origin Center & Axis

Origin Center & Axis uses world coordinates 0,0,0 for the center of any transform.

While less useful with the Move transform, this is handy for Rotate or Stretch if you are building something
off the origin to begin with. You can easily rotate around the center of the 3D View using this setting.

Choose the setting on the modo Modes toolbar by clicking the button between Materials and Symmetry.
This button is marked (none) in the default modo layout. Or you can assign this using the menubar by
choosing Edit > Action Center > Origin. If you use the Quick-access popovers (ALT+Spacebar), click the
Action button and choose Origin from there.

Keyboard Shortcut: ALT+W

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Pivot Center & Axis

Action Center Pivot uses the layer’s pivot location for the operation center. The layer pivot can be
adjusted using the Move Pivot Tool on the Edit menu. Choose this and the Pivot widget appears
onscreen, you can then move it anywhere you like. Then when you activate Move, Rotate, Scale or
other tool, the handles will automatically snap to the pivot you have defined.

Turn on Pivot on the modo Modes toolbar, by clicking the button between Materials and Symmetry
labeled (none), then choose Pivot. Or you can click Edit on the menubar and select Action Center >
Pivot from there. If you use the Quick-access popovers (ALT+Spacebar) click the Action button and
choose Pivot from that list.

Keyboard Shortcut: ALT+E

Action Center: Selection Center Auto Axis

The Action Center and Axis for any transform can be based on the mesh selection in the 3D Viewport.
Selection-based action and axis choice comes in two varieties: Selection and Selection Center Auto Axis.

Selection mode bases the action center on the average vertex position of the selection in the 3D Model
View. Setting the Action Center to Selection will change the tool’s handles to have the center and axis
aligned to the current selection.

Selection Center Auto Axis mode keeps the center of the tool handles centered on the geometry,
but realigns the tool handles to the major axes. Selection Center Auto Axis provides an Axis field in
the Tool Properties Action Axis Auto section, so you can easily change from one axis to another by
clicking the appropriate button.

You can assign this setting by going to the menubar and choosing Edit > Action Center > Selection or
Edit > Action Center > Selection Center Auto Axis. If you use the Quick-access popovers, click the
Action button and choose Selection. You can also select the pulldown marked Action Center next to
the Items box underneath the main menubar.

Keyboard Shortcut: ALT+D

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UV Space
All the transform tools work in UV space as well as 3D space. For example if you use the move tool,
and click and drag in 3D you see 3D offsets. If you start dragging in the UV view the tool shows
UV coordinates.

This can be selected explicitly for numeric or dialog operations, or it can be selected implicitly based on
which viewport was used to activate the operation.

Element Snap
As handles on tools are dragged — like the corners or center of the box primitive — they “snap” to
elements in the foreground and background layers that are near the mouse position. Elements can
include vertices, edges (anywhere along the edge line), and faces (face centers).

The handles move normally until they get within about 5–10 pixels of the elements, at which point they
jump to the 3D position of the elements under the mouse. When the mouse moves out of range of the
snap constraint the handles move normally again.

To turn Element Snap on, go to Snap on the modo Modes toolbar and choose Geometry, or from the
Edit menu choose Snap> Geometry. When Geometry Snap is on the following parameters are available
in the Tool Properties form:

Mode:
Determines what you will snap to. Choose between Vertex, Edge, Polygon, UV, or Auto.

Tightness:
Determines the distance at which point the snap takes affect.

Layers:
Select whether to snap to foreground or background layers

Edit Action Center Auto

Any transformation can be considered an action. The center of that action can be repositioned and
reoriented manually or automatically. While many 3D applications use the pivot point as the Action Center,
modo has an independent Action Center that can be changed on the fly during modeling operations.
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When set to Automatic Action Center & Axis, it adjusts itself centering over wherever you click in the
viewport. It uses the Work Plane to define the center coordinates, and uses the work axis for the view
as the axis of choice for this setting.

This is so smooth for modeling, giving you instantaneous artistic control of your transforms.

The Tool Properties form displays numeric fields to control the Action Center and select an Axis.

Automatic Center and Axis is a setting found on the modo Modes toolbar, by clicking the button between
Materials and Symmetry. This button is marked (none) when you start up modo in Default mode.

Keyboard Shortcut: ALT+A

Show Falloff

Show Falloffs is a visualization tool that shows which vertices will be affected by the selected falloff.
When a Falloff is active and Show Falloffs is turned on, the Vertices are displayed as large colored
dots. The dots that will be affected are displayed in gold, the vertices that are unaffected are displayed
in blue. The dots are painted with a gradient showing the gradual falling off of the affect.

Guide Snaps

modo allows the creation of Guides for snapping. You can create lines in 3D space and then use them
as snap tools.

To create Guide Snaps, press the dropdown arrow on the Snap button of the modo Modes toolbar,
and choose Guides. Click in any 3D Model Viewport to create a Snap Guide. Use the blue handle to
reposition the guide, and the blue circle to rotate it in 3D Space.

When Guide Snaps are being used the Tool Properties form displays controls for the Guide. You can
scroll through the various guides in the viewport using the Current Guide field. You can precisely
control the position, plane, angle and distance of the guide using the numeric fields, as well as turn off
the display of the guide, enable the guide and turn the snapping on and off.
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Action Center
While other 3D software programs use the mesh geometry “pivot point” as the center for most actions,
modo separates the Action Center into an independent definable component.

Found on the Edit menu, the Action Center command lets you choose between the following choices
for the center of any operation: Auto, Selection, Selection Center Auto Axis, Element, Screen, Origin,
Local and Pivot.

Each of these choices have their own topics that discuss the characteristics of these action centers.

Action Center: Selection

The Action Center and Axis for any transform can be based on the mesh selection in the 3D Viewport.
Selection based action and axis choice comes in two varieties: Selection and Selection Center Auto Axis.

Selection bases the action center on the average vertex position of the selection in the 3D Model View.
Setting the Action Center to Selection will change the tool’s handles to have the center and axis aligned
to the current selection.

Selection Center Auto Axis keeps the center of the tool handles centered on the geometry, but realigns
the tool handles to the major axes. Selection Center Auto Axis provides an Axis field in the Tool
Properties Action Axis Auto section, so you can easily change from one axis to another by clicking the
appropriate button.

You can assign this setting by going to the menubar and choosing Edit > Action Center > Selection
or Edit > Action Center > Selection Auto Axis. If you use the Quick-access popovers, click the Action
button and choose Selection.

Keyboard Shortcut: ALT+S

Action Center: Element

Any component of mesh geometry can be considered an element. An element can be a polygon, vertex
or an edge.

While other software programs use the mesh geometry pivot point as the center for most actions, modo
separates the Action Center into an independent definable component. One type of Action Center is the
Element Action Center. This is very handy in that it automatically uses whatever element is selected in
the viewport as the center for the modeling action. Using the Element Action Center and Element Move
tool make for a very speedy workflow, as you are constantly changing and updating the chosen center
on the fly, with a single click of the mouse button.
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Setting the Action Center to Element allows you to click on any element in the 3D model to set the
action center. If you click on one polygon, modo realigns the tool’s handles to its normal. If you click on
an edge, or a vertex, modo also aligns the tool handle to the normal of those elements. If you want to
Stretch an entire model along the normal of any particular polygon , for example, you simply activate
the stretch tool, click on the polygon and now you can scale along that axis.

Element Action Center does not require the element that is selected to be the element that is used for
the Action Center. Once you have a polygon selected, you can choose Element Action Center, then
click on a different polygon. That polygon will be the reference Action Center for transforming the
original selected polygon.

Keyboard Shortcut: ALT+Z

Edit Snap Grid

Snaps are used for precision drawing and geometry creation.

Snaps are accessed on the modo Modes toolbar via the Snap popup, or from the menu bar by choosing
Edit > Snaps. Snap options include the ability to snap to Grid, Geometry or Guides.

Lets suppose you want to draw a curve and snap the curve control handles to a grid. Do the following:

1) On the modo Modes toolbar click the Snap pulldown arrow and choose Snap > Grid.
2) On the Curve tab of the modo Tools toolbar click Bezier.
3) Notice that the Tool Properties view now includes a GridSnap group.

4) Turn on Show Grid in the Grid Snap group.

5) Click in the viewport and start to draw.
6) Notice the control handle snaps to the grid plane.

7) Adjust the Grid Size and watch the grid change in the viewport.
8) Lower the Distance value, and see the snapping strength increase. As you lower this value the
cursor will jump to the grid edges from further away in the viewport.
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Edit Reset Tool Attributes

If you are using a tool interactively or if you are using the numeric fields for a tool, you can rest the
values you have changed by choosing Edit > Reset Tool Attributes. Press CTRL+D for quick keyboard
access to Reset Tool Attributes.

Keyboard Shortcut: CTRL+D

Element Edit Mode

The Element Edit mode sets the Action Center, Action Axis and Falloff to Element. When this mode is
active, any tool selected will wait for the user to click on an element in the mesh (vertex, edge or polygon)
and use the normal of that element to set the Action Center and Axis of the current tool. When the tool
is applied, the element falloff will restrict the tools effect to the element that was clicked on. This can be
very useful for quickly moving polygons, edges or vertices along, or perpendicular to, their normals.
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Falloffs

F
alloffs provide you with a quick easy method for modifying a tool’s influence on the current
geometry. Some falloffs create a primitive bounding region for the tool’s effect such as Radials,
Linear and Cylindrical, while other falloff modifiers create a more unique effect such as Airbrush,
Vertex Map, Noise and Element. Regardless of their actual impact on the tool, all falloffs have the same
basic functionality. Falloff modifiers simply feed information to the current tool to help determine which
vertices in the mesh are affected by the tool and by what amount. This basic definition of a falloff
modifier makes it clear that falloffs are really quite simple to understand. Fully understanding how each
falloff behaves will help you to combine them with the basic tools to customize modo’s toolset to your
very specific task requirements.

Have a look at this extremely simple example of a falloff in action. The vertices in the cylinder are
shaded based on the strength of the falloff at that location. Vertices shaded brighter will have a stronger
impact from the tool while those shaded darker will have little to no tool impact. You can also see the
linear falloff handles to the right of the cylinder. The base of the falloff comes to a point indicating no
influence while the top becomes the open side of the”V” to indicate full influence.

Fig. 01 With the “Show Falloffs” option active, the vertices are shaded to indicate the strength of the falloff.

Let’s take a look at a falloff in action modifying the move tool. In this case we use the Cylinder falloff to
modulate the affect of the move tool.
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Fig. 02 The cylinder falloff fit to the current selection combined with the move tool.

Fig. 03 The falloff has modulated the move tool so the points at the center of the falloff receive the entire effect of the
move, while those at the outside of the cylinder are not moved at all.
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There are many Falloff modifiers available in modo including Linear, Cylinder, Radial, Airbrush, Screen
Element, Noise, and Vertex Map. In the list of Falloffs you will also find Invert. This will combine with
the currently active falloff to invert its affect.

Fig. 04 The Falloff popup list

Linear
A straight line defines the Linear falloff with all vertices at one end of the line receiving 100% of the tool
influence and the vertices at the other side receiving 0% of the tool influence. The points between the
two lines receive some partial value based on the interpolation between the two end points.

Fig. 05 Properties for the Linear falloff

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Start X, Y, Z
These three values set the location in 3D space for the start of the linear falloff. This is the side of the
falloff that will set the tool to 100% strength.

End X, Y, Z
These three values set the location in 3D space for the end of the linear falloff. This is the side of the
falloff that will set the tool to 0% strength.

Auto Size X, Y, Z
This set of three buttons will force the linear falloff widget to automatically scale itself to the bounding
region of the current selection using the axis indicated on the button; X, Y or Z.

Reverse
The Reverse command will “flip” the Start and End positions of the falloff widget in effect reversing
its effect.

Shape Preset
This popup choice sets the interpolation method for the falloff. By default the linear method is used. There
are also options for Ease In, Ease Out, Smooth and Custom. These options will change the curvature of the
falloff widget and the falloff amount.

Mix Mode
See page 240.
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Cylinder
Cylinder falloff projects an infinite “tube” of influence along an axis. At the center of the disc the tool is
100% and at the edge and beyond it is set to 0%. This is then projected along the axis of the cylinder.
The values between the center and edge are interpolated to create a smooth transition which can be
edited using the falloff shape presets.

Fig. 06 Top and side views of a cylinder falloff

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Fig. 07 Properties for Cylinder falloff

Center X, Y, Z
This triplet sets the three dimensional center position for the disc that will be projected along the
selected axis to create the cylinder falloff.

Size X, Y, Z
Depending on the axis selected for the cylinder projection, two of these values are used to create the
diameter of the disc.

Axis X, Y, Z
These choice buttons set the axis of the projected cylinder.

Auto Size
This button will automatically scale the falloff widget to match the bounding box of the currently selected
geometry.

Shape Preset
This popup choice sets the interpolation method for the falloff from the center of the disc to the edge.
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By default the linear method is used. There are also options for Ease In, Ease Out, Smooth and Custom.
These options will change the curvature of the falloff widget and the falloff amount.

Mix Mode
See page 240.

Radial
Radial falloff uses a ellipsoid where all vertices at the very center of the sphere receive 100% tool
influence and any vertices outside the sphere receive 0% of the tool influence. There is a smooth
gradient of tool influence between the center and edge boundary of the sphere that utilizes the falloff
shape preset to determine the interpolation style.

Fig. 08 Properties for the Radial falloff

Center X, Y, Z
This triplet sets the three dimensional center position for the sphere.

Size X, Y, Z
These three values determine the distance from center to the outside edge of the sphere on the particular
axis X, Y, or Z.
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Auto Size
This button will automatically scale the falloff widget to match the bounding box of the currently selected
geometry.

Shape Preset
This popup choice sets the interpolation method for the falloff from the center of the sphere to the edge.
By default the linear method is used. There are also options for Ease In, Ease Out, Smooth and Custom.
These options will change the curvature of the falloff widget and the falloff amount.

Mix Mode
See page 240.

Airbrush
The airbrush falloff allows a tool influence to be “painted” onto the mesh. Unlike the other falloff tools,
airbrush continually adds to the tool influence while you drag the brush around the mesh. This tool is
similar to an airbrush found in 2D paint programs except rather than painting pixels into an image, the
brush paints the tool influence into the mesh. This can be combined with many tools in modo for a wide
variety of effects.

Fig. 09 Properties for the Airbrush falloff

Center
These two values X and Y are based on screen coordinates and update constantly while you are
dragging the airbrush on screen.
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Size
The size parameter is the number of pixels in the radius of the airbrush. When a tool is active you can
use the RMB to drag this value interactively.

Strength
The airbrush tool is constantly painting on a tool influence. The Strength parameter determines what
amount of weight is painted with each “pass” of the brush. The longer you hold the brush down over
a certain spot, the more the weight will be painted. Increasing the Strength amount will accelerate the
weight painting.

Transparent
This option will cause the airbrush tool to paint “through” shaded geometry. By default the parameter is
disabled so that when you are in a shaded view painting will only affect front facing polygons that are
visible. Activating Transparent will cause the airbrush to paint the weight onto any vertices that fall into
the airbrush view, including vertices that are hidden behind shaded polygons.

Mix Mode
See page 240.

Screen
Screen falloff is actually quite similar to the Cylinder falloff except rather than using one of the major
axes to determine the angle of the projection, the screen falloff projects a cylinder that is perpendicular
to the screen. The falloff is defined by a disc drawn in screen space (flat against any viewport). This
disc is used to project a virtual cone of influence.

Fig. 10 Properties for the Screen falloff

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Center
These two values X and Y are based on screen coordinates and update each time you click down to
apply the tool.

Size
The size parameter is the number of pixels in the radius of the screen falloff disc. When a tool is active
you can use the RMB to drag this value interactively.

Transparent
This option will allow the screen falloff to “see through” shaded geometry. By default the parameter is
disabled so that when you are in a shaded view the falloff will only affect front facing polygons that are
visible. Activating Transparent will cause the airbrush to paint the weight onto any vertices that fall into
the airbrush view, including vertices that are hidden behind shaded polygons.

Mix Mode
See page 240.

Element
Element falloff limits the tool influence to the element (vertex, edge or polygon) in the mesh that is
clicked on when using the current tool.

Fig. 11 Properties for the Element falloff

Mode
The Mode popup provides a choice of Automatic and Manual. When in Automatic mode any element
can be selected by the falloff. Clicking directly on a vertex, edge or polygon will “mark” that element
with 100% for the tool influence. All other elements receive a 0% influence. When in Manual mode the
element falloff relies on the current selection mode. This way, if you are in Polygon select mode, the
Element falloff will only mark polygons for the tool influence, while edges and vertices will be ignored.

Mix Mode
See page 240.
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Noise
Noise falloff uses a three dimensional noise pattern to modulate the influence of the tool. The size of the
noise pattern can be adjusted with the scale parameter. Combined with the move or stretch tool, this
falloff can be useful for “roughing up” a surface.

Fig. 12 Properties for the Noise falloff

Scale
The scale parameter will change the size of the noise pattern.

Mix Mode
See page 240.

Vertex Map
The Vertex Map falloff uses the currently selected vertex map to modulate the tool influence. If the vertex
map value for a given vertex is 1 the tool will have 100% influence. If the vertex map value is 0 the tool will
have 0% influence. Some vertex maps have more than one “component” such as a UV or an RGB map. When
a vertex map of this type is selected you can specify explicitly the component to be used by the falloff.

Fig. 13 Properties for the Vertex Map falloff

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Mode
The Mode choice popup has two options, Magnitude and Component. Magnitude mode simply uses the
value of the currently selected vertex map. The Component mode uses an Index value to allow you to
select a specific component of any vertex map with more than one value per vertex as is the case with
an RGB or UV map. In the case of an RGB map, an Index value of 0 will use the Red component, an Index
value of 1 uses the Green component and an Index value of 2 will use the Blue component.

Mix Mode
The Mix Mode allows multiple falloffs to composite their effects together. When there are more than
one falloff active in the Tool Pipe the Mix Mode is used to determine how they interact. Options include
Add, Subtract, Multiply, Min and Max. With this option you can, for example, attenuate the effect of the
Airbrush falloff when sculpting by using a Linear falloff at the same time. Nifty.
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Working with Presets and the Preset Browser

modo supports a full line of Item Presets. By keeping the preset system generalized modo allows you to
create presets from a much wider variety of items. While the more obvious use of presets would be for
materials and textures, since these are Items we thought it would make more sense to widen the scope
and allow most all Items to be saved as presets. For instance, with modo you can save lights, materials,
textures, Material Groups, Cameras and even Render Items as presets. Put the manual down and roll
that around in your head for a moment. Yeah. That’s sweet.

Let’s get started with the most obvious case of simple Material presets. We’ll discuss how to use the
existing material presets, the subtleties of Group presets and then look at how you can create your own.
It’s all really quite easy. First let’s take a look at using the Preset Browser to apply a simple material
preset. There are two options, Load and Apply Preset. The Load option will add the preset layers to the
existing Shader Tree contents whereas the Apply option will replace the selected Shader Tree item. To
use Apply you must select a preset that is composed of a compatible type. For instance, if you choose
Apply when you have a Material selected you cannot then select a Group preset.

In the Shader Tree RMB click on a material item. Like this:

This will invoke the Preset Browser.

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The Preset Browser

The Preset Browser has two regions. On the left is the directory browser, which allows you to add
multiple directory paths for quick access. On the right is the preset window, which displays the
available presets in the selected directory. To add your own custom directories to the list simply click
on (new path) option at the bottom of the directory list. To apply the preset to your selected Material
simply click on the preset icon in the preset window and you are good to go.

Group Presets
You may notice that some of the included presets have the word “Group” in the name. In modo,
a complex surface definition, such as skin, might include a Material item as well as some texture
layers. In this case the collection of material and texture items are applied to a group, which acts as a
container. To preserve all the layers in the preset file the preset is saved at the Group level. When this
preset is applied to a project it will bring in the group and all of the items within. This will often leave
the older material or group remaining in the Shader Tree. In that case, simply RMB click on the old
item and choose delete to remove it from the tree.
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Creating your own material preset

It’s easy and fun. Really! Start by closing any open files so we have a clean modo to get us started.
Open the Render Settings tab and press F8 to open Preview. In the Preview window use the Options
pull down and set Preview to use the Sphere primitive.

Fig. 01 Setting Preview to sample sphere mode

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With the Base Material selected change the values to match the image above or create your own cool
material. Here we used the following settings:

Diffuse 0%
Fresnel 100%
Roughness 90%
Reflection 50%
Blurry Reflection On
Reflection Rays 128
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To save your preset simply RMB click on the Material and choose Save Preset. Give it a name. If you want,
you can create your own custom directory for presets. We created one called MyPresets on the Desktop.

Now close the modo project so we can start fresh again. Your screen should look like this.
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Once again RMB click on the Material and choose Apply Preset. This time we need to add our custom
directory to the list.

Click (add path) and choose the directory that has your preset in it. Click “OK” or “Choose” to add this
path to the list.

Selecting that path in the browser will reveal your cool new preset with an icon and all. Hot!
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Click on the preset to load it and marvel in your mastery of basic material presets.

Creating a Light Preset

In modo presets are not just about materials. As mentioned earlier you can create several types of item
presets including Cameras, Render Items and lights. The process for any of these is basically the same as
the Material preset. Select the item. Make some changes to various values and save the preset. Voila.
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Start by adding a Spot light to your project. You can do this in the Item List by clicking (new item) and
choosing Spot Light.

Remember that any changes you make to the light will get saved to the Preset. Since we do not
want the preset to move our light we leave the position and rotation of the light alone. On the Render
Properties form change the Radiant Intensity to 5, Radius to 200mm and Samples to 32.
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This will give us a nice looking spot light. However we want to take it up a notch so let’s expand the
Spot Light in the Shader Tree so we can adjust the material and maybe even add a little texture.

With the light expanded you can select the material and change the Color value. This will tint the color of
rays that come from the light. Very useful information! Rarely are lights pure white in reality so adding
some small amount of tint is often a good idea.
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Since Lights use materials they can also use textures! Use Add Layer to put a cellular texture on the light.
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By default the texture comes in assigned to the Light Color. RMB click on the Effect column and set it
to effect the Diffuse Amount instead. This allows us to retain the color from the light material and just
use the texture to modulate the amount of light.
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Since the texture is modulating the light amount we need to change the Texture amount settings so
that the light does not get clamped down to 0%. Change the Cell Value to 50%. This means that the
light will be 100% in the filler areas and 50% where the cell texture appears.
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Now that we have created an interesting Light setup, simply RMB click on the Light item in the Shader
Tree and choose Save Preset. Give your preset and name and location and you are all set!
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Here we can see the Light Preset icon in the browser. You can Load or Apply Light and other Item
presets in the same way you do for Material presets. Smooth.
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Here we have applied the Light Preset to a project to see the effect we have created. In this case we
moved the light and increased the intensity to match the project file.

Nifty.
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Painting in modo
Getting Started with 3D Painting

3D painting is a great way to add detail to your meshes (Image courtesy Wiek Luijken)
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How does painting work in modo?

Painting in modo is an intuitive blend of 2D and 3D painting techniques. modo allows you to paint in 2D
in the UV viewport or in 3D in any 3D viewport. The 3D painting uses UVs to control the paint unless
you use Projection Painting, which works to avoid any paint stroke distortion from an irregular UV
map. Using the 3D paint system is quite simple as there are only a few steps to get started. First we
will review the setup requirements.

In order to paint on your 3D model you will need a reasonable UV map, an Image Texture Layer applied
to some or all of the polygons, and the image texture must be using the UV map. That’s it! modo has
several tools to allow you to quickly meet all of these requirements including extensive UV mapping
tools and the Add Texture button.

There are two different painting technologies you can use when painting in modo. There is standard
3D painting which paints on the 3D model directly via the UV map and there is Projection Painting
which is somewhat akin to painting on a plane of glass that floats above your 3D model and having that
paint projected down onto the mesh beneath. For more information about Projection Painting refer to
the Projection Painting section later in this chapter.

Fig. 01 There is a layout that is especially designed for 3D painting at Layout > Layouts > Paint
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The modo Paint layout

Fig. 01 modo’s Paint Layout window

Like all of the modo toolset, the painting tools are modular and composed via the Tool Pipe. If you are
not familiar with the Tool Pipe and don’t care to be, do not worry about it. You can get rolling with 3D
paint and not even have to think about it. For those of you who understand the true power of the Tool
Pipe you will understand immediately the flexibility and power this brings to the painting system. The
main point here is that there are components that you can add together to create various painting tools.
These components include the paint tool, a brush tip, custom inks, nozzles and even falloffs. Only the
paint tool and brush tips are required – the inks, nozzles and falloffs can be present or not depending
on your intended paint effect.
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Add Blank Image Texture

This option creates a new image and applies it to a new image texture layer in the Shader Tree. The
resulting image will contain no pixels in the color or alpha channels so that it is effectively a blank
canvas on which to paint.

When you use the Add Texture option there are a few options to determine the size and depth of the
image. First modo will open a file requester so that the new image file can be created. Simply type in
the desired file name, use the pop-up on the bottom of the requester to choose the image format and
press return. Next the New Still requester will appear with options for the resolution, format (Grey,
RGB or RGBA), a color swatch and a check box to optionally create a floating-point image.

Resolution:
When painting in 3D the images are displayed via OpenGL. Performance of GL texture rendering
is superior when working with square images. As a result, the choices for Resolution are based
on standard GL texture sizes (64x64, 128x128, 256x256, 512x512, 1024x1024, 2048x2048 and
4096x4096)

Format:
The created image can be grey, RGB color or RGBA color with an alpha channel. Grey images are
typically smaller in file size and are very useful for textures that will be used for displacement or bump
maps. Typically the best choice for color textures is RGBA so that the new image texture does not
completely obscure the materials and textures layered beneath it. RGB images are opaque.

FP (Floating Point):
Also known as HDRI (High Dynamic Range Images), floating point images give a much broader range
of potential color values. Whereas an integer (default) image defines colors in 8 bits per channel (0
to 255) a floating-point image can use values many times larger. This can be incredibly useful when
using images as light sources or to drive finely detailed displacement maps.

Set Color:
This toggle defaults to off so that new images are completely “blank” meaning they have no color or
alpha pixels. Turning this option on will create an image with a opaque alpha so all pixels are visible and
a base color for the image. The color is set by the color component under this toggle option.

Color:
The color swatch is only applicable when the Set Color toggle is active. This color value will be used
to fill the new image.
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Paint Tools

There are several basic painting tools that can be used stand-alone or in combination with the other
various paint components (brushes, inks and nozzles). The painting tools include Airbrush, Paintbrush,
Eraser, Clone, Smudge, Blur, Sharpen, Line, Linear Gradient, Radial Gradient and Fill.

Airbrush
The Airbrush tool must be combined with at least a Brush but can also be linked together with various
ink and nozzle controls. The Airbrush applies paint in a smooth fashion similar to that of a real airbrush
painting device. As additional strokes are created the ink from an airbrush tool has a more smooth
progression towards the solid color as if the ink were accumulating with each additional pass. The
Airbrush component has several controls.
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Blend Mode:
Projection Painting:
Projection Painting requires that your graphics hardware have support for fragment shaders. If your
card does not support them this option will simply be ghosted. This toggle has two major effects. First,
projection painting will auto-correct for UV distortions so that the paint stroke in the 3D view appears
“correct” rather than distorting based on the UV coordinates. Projection mode also enhances the
ability to paint seamlessly across UV boundaries. When this mode is activated there may be a small
pause before painting on the initial click down or any click after modifying the view such as rotation,
zoom or panning. Depending on the resolution of your viewport and the speed your graphics card
this pause may be undetectable. To avoid this from interfering with paint strokes simply click on any
blank area in the 3D viewport before you paint. This “pause” is necessary for modo to capture the UV
coordinates from that view setup so that we can do the real time brush conversion while painting.

Use Falloff:
When this toggle is activated the painting system can use 3D falloffs to limit the current tool. This is
really cool.

Opacity:
This value determines how the total opacity of the ink distributed by the brush. If the value is less than
100% the ink will max out at that percentage and never become fully opaque no matter how many
times you paint over the stroke.
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Density:
This value determines the amount of ink that comes out during a paint stroke. Unlike Opacity, when
Density is below 100% painting over the existing stroke repeatedly will continue to increase the amount
of paint on the map.

Attenuation Steps:
This value will cause the paint to “fade out” after the set number of steps is reached in the stroke.
This setting is somewhat related to the speed with which you create the stroke as painting quickly will
spread out the “steps” used to paint the stroke. Moving the brush slowly with this value set above 0 will
cause the paint to run out in a shorter stroke. This is a very useful setting to use if you do not have a
tablet to paint with. Tablet users would be better suited to modulate the paint opacity based on the tablet
pressure so as to have greater control.

Pressure Effect:
(This setting requires the use of a graphics tablet such as a Wacom.) There are four settings for this
control; none, Opacity, Size and Opacity and Size.

(none): The none option is self evident. Pressure does nothing.

Opacity:
When set to Opacity, the opacity is controlled by the pressure of the stylus to the tablet with more
pressure resulting in a more opaque and lower pressure lesser opacity until the ink fades completely.

Size:
This setting controls the size of the brush based on the pressure of the stylus to the tablet. At 100%
pressure the brush is full size (according to the users input). As pressure is released the brush reduces
in radius until it is gone. Poof.

Opacity and Size:

This option will modulate both the opacity and size simultaneously as the pressure of the stylus to the
tablet changes. It’s fun. Try it!

Speed Effect:
The Speed effect can be used with mouse or tablet input. Similar to the Pressure settings the Speed
effect controls brush opacity and size based on the speed of the paint stroke.

(none): The none option is self evident. Speed does nothing.

Opacity:
When set to Opacity the paints opacity is controlled by the speed of the paint stroke with slower strokes
resulting in a more opaque and faster strokes a lesser opacity until the ink fades completely.
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Size:
This setting controls the size of the brush based on the speed of the paint stroke. Quick paint strokes
create a smaller brush size and as you slow the stroke down the brush increases until it reaches the
maximum size as set by the user.

Opacity and Size:

This option will modulate both the opacity and size simultaneously as the speed of the stroke changes.
It’s fun. Organic!

If you want to get really crazy, combine pressure and speed effects to get very natural feeling paint effects. Tasty.

FG Color:
Sets the foreground color for various paint tools. This can be set via the color component on the tool
properties or by clicking on the Color Picker while the tool is active.

FG Alpha:
This value allows an alpha value to be associated with the FG paint color.

FG Value:
This percentage can be used to increase or decrease the overall value of the ink being applied. This
value can be set over 100% enabling high dynamic range paint strokes (if your image was created
with the floating point (FP) mode active or loaded as a file that supports HDRI).

The BG Color:
Alpha and Value are functionally identical to the FG components but are only used in conjunction with
the inks that need a BG value such as Parametric ink. The BG values also allow you to quickly swap
between FG and BG using the “S” button on the color picker or the command color.swap.

Paintbrush

The Paintbrush tool combines with a brush to apply “paint” to the currently selected image texture
layer. The main difference between the Paintbrush and the Airbrush tools is that the Paintbrush
applies the paint with no internal blending which is to say the paint comes out at full strength whereas
the Airbrush “layers” on the paint as you repeat strokes.

The Paintbrush can be combined with any brush, ink, nozzle and all relevant falloff modifiers.

Use Falloff:
When this toggle is activated the painting system can use 3D falloffs to limit the current tool. This is
really cool.
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Opacity:
This value determines how the total opacity of the ink is distributed by the brush. If the value is less
than 100% the ink will max out at that percentage and never become fully opaque no matter how many
times you paint over the stroke.

Density:
This value determines the amount of ink that comes out during a paint stroke. Unlike Opacity, when
Density is below 100% painting over the existing stroke repeatedly will continue to increase the amount
of paint on the map.

Attenuation Steps:
This value will cause the paint to “fade out” after the set number of steps is reached in the stroke.
This setting is somewhat related to the speed with which you create the stroke as painting quickly will
spread out the “steps” used to paint the stroke. Moving the brush slowly with this value set above 0 will
cause the paint to run out in a shorter stroke. This is a very useful setting to use if you do not have a
tablet to paint with. Tablet users would be better suited to modulate the paint opacity based on the tablet
pressure so as to have greater control.

Pressure Effect:
(This setting requires the use of a graphics tablet such as a Wacom.) There are four settings for this
control; none, Opacity, Size and Opacity and Size.

(none): The none option is self evident. Pressure does nothing.

Opacity:
When set to Opacity the paints opacity is controlled by the pressure of the stylus to the tablet with more
pressure resulting in a more opaque and lower pressure lesser opacity until the ink fades completely.

Size:
This setting controls the size of the brush based on the pressure of the stylus to the tablet. At 100%
pressure the brush is full size (according to the users input). As pressure is released the brush reduces
in radius until it is gone. Poof.
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Opacity and Size:

This option will modulate both the opacity and size simultaneously as the pressure of the stylus to the
tablet changes. It’s fun. Try it!

Speed Effect:
The Speed effect can be used with mouse or tablet input. Similar to the Pressure settings the Speed
effect controls brush opacity and size based on the speed of the paint stroke.

(none): The none option is self evident. Speed does nothing.

Opacity:
When set to Opacity the paint’s opacity is controlled by the speed of the paint stroke with slower
strokes resulting in a more opaque and faster strokes a lesser opacity until the ink fades completely.

Size:
This setting controls the size of the brush based on the speed of the paint stroke. Quick paint strokes
create a smaller brush size and as you slow the stroke down the brush increases until it reaches the
maximum size as set by the user.

Opacity and Size:

This option will modulate both the opacity and size simultaneously as the speed of the stroke changes.
It’s fun. Organic!

If you want to get really crazy, combine pressure and speed effects to get very natural feeling paint effects. Tasty
Tasty.

FG Color:
Sets the foreground color for various paint tools. This can be set via the color component on the tool
properties or by clicking on the Color Picker while the tool is active.

FG Alpha:
This value allows an alpha value to be associated with the FG paint color.
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FG Value:
This percentage can be used to increase or decrease the overall value of the ink being applied. This
value can be set over 100% enabling high dynamic range paint strokes (if your image was created with
the FP mode active or loaded as a file that supports HDRI).

The BG Color:
Alpha and Value are functionally identical to the FG components but are only used in conjunction with the
inks that need a BG value such as Parametric ink. The BG values also allow you to quickly swap between
FG and BG using the “S” button on the color picker or the command color.swap.

Projection Painting
(Important note: Projection painting requires that your graphics hardware have support for fragment
shaders. If your card does not support them this option will simply be ghosted.)

This toggle on each paint tool has two major effects. First, projection painting will auto-correct for UV
distortions so that the paint stroke in the 3D view appears “correct” rather than distorting based on the
UV coordinates. Projection mode also enhances the ability to paint seamlessly across UV boundaries.

When this mode is activated there may be a small pause before painting on the initial click down or any
click after modifying the view such as rotation, zoom or panning. Depending on the resolution of your
viewport and the speed your graphics card this pause may be undetectable. To avoid this from interfering
with paint strokes simply click on any blank area in the 3D viewport before you paint. This “pause” is
necessary for modo to capture the UV coordinates from that view setup so that we can do the real time
brush conversion while painting.

Eraser

The Eraser tool works by modifying the alpha channel of the currently selected image texture to create
the effect of erasing the paint. The tool can be combined with any brush, ink, nozzle and/or relevant
falloffs. (To see the effect of the eraser the 3D viewport must be set to Texture or Advanced GL. The
Texture Modulate style can not show alpha channel due to OpenGL limitations.)

Use Falloff: When this toggle is activated the painting system can use 3D falloffs to limit the current
tool. This is really cool.

Opacity: This value determines how the total opacity of the eraser distributed by the brush. If the value
is less than 100% the ink will max out at that percentage and never become fully opaque no matter how
many times you paint over the stroke.
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Density:
This value determines the amount of ink that comes out during a paint stroke. Unlike Opacity, when
Density is below 100% painting over the existing stroke repeatedly will continue to increase the
amount of paint on the map.

Attenuation Steps:
This value will cause the eraser to “fade out” after the set number of steps is reached in the stroke.
This setting is somewhat related to the speed with which you create the stroke as erasing quickly will
spread out the “steps” used to erase the stroke. Moving the eraser slowly with this value set above 0
will cause the erasers effect to run out in a shorter stroke. This is a very useful setting to use if you
do not have a tablet to paint with. Tablet users would be better suited to modulate the eraser opacity
based on the tablet pressure so as to have greater control.

Pressure Effect:
(This setting requires the use of a graphics tablet such as a Wacom.) There are four settings for this
control; none, Opacity, Size and Opacity and Size.

(none): The none option is self evident. Pressure does nothing.

Opacity:
When set to Opacity the paints opacity is controlled by the pressure of the stylus to the tablet with more
pressure resulting in a more opaque and lower pressure lesser opacity until the ink fades completely.

Size:
This setting controls the size of the brush based on the pressure of the stylus to the tablet. At 100%
pressure the brush is full size (according to the users input). As pressure is released the brush
reduces in radius until it is gone. Poof.

Opacity and Size:

This option will modulate both the opacity and size simultaneously as the pressure of the stylus to the
tablet changes. It’s fun. Try it!
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Speed Effect:
The Speed Effect can be used with mouse or tablet input. Similar to the Pressure settings the Speed
effect controls brush opacity and size based on the speed of the paint stroke.

(none): The none option is self evident. Speed does nothing.

Opacity:
When set to Opacity the paints opacity is controlled by the speed of the paint stroke with slower strokes
resulting in a more opaque and faster strokes a lesser opacity until the ink fades completely.

Size:
This setting controls the size of the brush based on the speed of the paint stroke. Quick paint strokes
create a smaller brush size and as you slow the stroke down the brush increases until it reaches the
maximum size as set by the user.

Opacity and Size:

This option will modulate both the opacity and size simultaneously as the speed of the stroke changes.
It’s fun. Organic!

Clone Paint

The Clone tool provides a quick method for clone stamping pixels from one area on the image into
another. Holding the CTRL key and clicking on the intended source area on the image will determine
where the pixels are copied from when painting begins. Then simply move the paintbrush anywhere
on the model and begin to paint. When you paint, the first ink that will brush on will be copied from the
spot where you CTRL-clicked. As you continue to drag the brush around, more of the area around the
initial ink will be revealed in the new location.

Smudge

The Smudge paint tool shifts pixels from under the brush in the direction of the mouse or stylus’
movement creating the visual effect of “smudging” the paint together.

Opacity:
This value determines how the total opacity of the ink distributed by the brush. If the value is less than
100% the ink will max out at that percentage and never become fully opaque no matter how many times
you paint over the stroke.
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Density:
This value determines the amount of ink that comes out during a paint stroke. Unlike Opacity, when
Density is below 100% painting over the existing stroke repeatedly will continue to increase the
amount of paint on the map.
Attenuation Steps:
This value will cause the paint to “fade out” after the set number of steps is reached in the stroke.
This setting is somewhat related to the speed with which you create the stroke as painting quickly will
spread out the “steps” used to paint the stroke. Moving the brush slowly with this value set above 0
will cause the paint to run out in a shorter stroke. is a very useful setting to use if you do not have
a tablet to paint with. Tablet users would be better suited to modulate the paint opacity based on the
tablet pressure so as to have greater control.

Use Falloff:
When this toggle is activated the painting system can use 3D falloffs to limit the current tool. This is
really cool.

Pressure Effect:
(This setting requires the use of a graphics tablet such as a Wacom.) There are four settings for this
control; none, Opacity, Size and Opacity and Size.

(none): The none option is self evident. Pressure does nothing.

Opacity:
When set to Opacity the paints opacity is controlled by the pressure of the stylus to the tablet with more
pressure resulting in a more opaque and lower pressure lesser opacity until the ink fades completely.

Size:
This setting controls the size of the brush based on the pressure of the stylus to the tablet. At 100%
pressure the brush is full size (according to the users input). As pressure is released the brush
reduces in radius until it is gone. Poof.
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Opacity and Size:

This option will modulate both the opacity and size simultaneously as the pressure of the stylus to the
tablet changes. It’s fun. Try it!

Speed Effect:
The Speed effect can be used with mouse or tablet input. Similar to the Pressure settings the Speed
effect controls brush opacity and size based on the speed of the paint stroke.

(none): The none option is self evident. Speed does nothing.

Opacity:
When set to Opacity the paints opacity is controlled by the speed of the paint stroke with slower strokes
resulting in a more opaque and faster strokes a lesser opacity until the ink fades completely.

Size:
This setting controls the size of the brush based on the speed of the paint stroke. Quick paint strokes
create a smaller brush size and as you slow the stroke down the brush increases until it reaches the
maximum size as set by the user.

Opacity and Size:

This option will modulate both the opacity and size simultaneously as the speed of the stroke changes.

Blur

The Blur tool averages pixels from under the brush to create the effect of reducing detail in such a way
as to create a blurring effect.

Opacity:
This value determines how the total opacity of the ink distributed by the brush. If the value is less than
100% the ink will max out at that percentage and never become fully opaque no matter how many times
you paint over the stroke.
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Density:
This value determines the amount of ink that comes out during a paint stroke. Unlike Opacity, when
Density is below 100% painting over the existing stroke repeatedly will continue to increase the
amount of paint on the map.

Attenuation Steps:
This value will cause the paint to “fade out” after the set number of steps is reached in the stroke.
This setting is somewhat related to the speed with which you create the stroke as painting quickly
will spread out the “steps” used to paint the stroke. Moving the brush slowly with this value set above
0 will cause the paint to run out in a shorter stroke. This is a very useful setting to use if you do not
have a tablet to paint with. Tablet users would be better suited to modulate the paint opacity based on
the tablet pressure so as to have greater control.

Use Falloff:
When this toggle is activated the painting system can use 3D falloffs to limit the current tool. This is
really cool.

Pressure Effect:
(This setting requires the use of a graphics tablet such as a Wacom.) There are four settings for this
control; none, Opacity, Size and Opacity and Size.

(none): The none option is self evident. Pressure does nothing.

Opacity:
When set to Opacity the paints opacity is controlled by the pressure of the stylus to the tablet with more
pressure resulting in a more opaque and lower pressure lesser opacity until the ink fades completely.
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Size:
This setting controls the size of the brush based on the pressure of the stylus to the tablet. At 100%
pressure the brush is full size (according to the users input). As pressure is released the brush reduces
in radius until it is gone. Poof.
Opacity and Size:
This option will modulate both the opacity and size simultaneously as the pressure of the stylus to the
tablet changes. It’s fun. Try it!

Speed Effect:
The Speed effect can be used with mouse or tablet input. Similar to the Pressure settings the Speed
effect controls brush opacity and size based on the speed of the paint stroke.

(none): The none option is self evident. Speed does nothing.

Opacity:
When set to Opacity the paints opacity is controlled by the speed of the paint stroke with slower strokes
resulting in a more opaque and faster strokes a lesser opacity until the ink fades completely.

Size:
This setting controls the size of the brush based on the speed of the paint stroke. Quick paint strokes
create a smaller brush size and as you slow the stroke down the brush increases until it reaches the
maximum size as set by the user.

Opacity and Size:

This option will modulate both the opacity and size simultaneously as the speed of the stroke changes.

Sharp

The Sharpen tool will apply an image process to focus edges in the existing image as you paint across
with the brush. The Sharpen tool can be combined with brushes, inks, nozzles and relevant falloffs.

Use Falloff:
When this toggle is activated the painting system can use 3D falloffs to limit the current tool. This is
really cool.

Opacity:
This value determines how the total opacity of the ink distributed by the brush. If the value is less than
100% the ink will max out at that percentage and never become fully opaque no matter how many times
you paint over the stroke.
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Density:
This value determines the amount of ink that comes out during a paint stroke. Unlike Opacity, when
Density is below 100% painting over the existing stroke repeatedly will continue to increase the
amount of paint on the map.

Attenuation Steps:
This value will cause the paint to “fade out” after the set number of steps is reached in the stroke.
This setting is somewhat related to the speed with which you create the stroke as painting quickly
will spread out the “steps” used to paint the stroke. Moving the brush slowly with this value set above
0 will cause the paint to run out in a shorter stroke. This is a very useful setting to use if you do not
have a tablet to paint with. Tablet users would be better suited to modulate the paint opacity based on
the tablet pressure so as to have greater control.

Pressure Effect:
(This setting requires the use of a graphics tablet such as a Wacom.) There are four settings for this
control; none, Opacity, Size and Opacity and Size.

(none): The none option is self evident. Pressure does nothing.

Opacity:
When set to Opacity the paints opacity is controlled by the pressure of the stylus to the tablet with more
pressure resulting in a more opaque and lower pressure lesser opacity until the ink fades completely.
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Size:
This setting controls the size of the brush based on the pressure of the stylus to the tablet. At 100%
pressure the brush is full size (according to the users input). As pressure is released the brush reduces
in radius until it is gone. Poof.

Opacity and Size:

This option will modulate both the opacity and size simultaneously as the pressure of the stylus to the
tablet changes. It’s fun. Try it!

Speed Effect:
The Speed effect can be used with mouse or tablet input. Similar to the Pressure settings the Speed
effect controls brush opacity and size based on the speed of the paint stroke.

(none): The none option is self evident. Speed does nothing.

Opacity:
When set to Opacity the paints opacity is controlled by the speed of the paint stroke with slower strokes
resulting in a more opaque and faster strokes a lesser opacity until the ink fades completely.

Size:
This setting controls the size of the brush based on the speed of the paint stroke. Quick paint strokes
create a smaller brush size and as you slow the stroke down the brush increases until it reaches the
maximum size as set by the user.

Opacity and Size:

This option will modulate both the opacity and size simultaneously as the speed of the stroke changes.
It’s fun.

If you want to get really crazy, combine pressure and speed effects to get very natural feeling paint effects. Tasty.

Line

The Line paint tool allows you to quickly create a straight line by clicking a start and end point. The tool
can combine with any Brush, Ink, nozzle and relevant falloffs. If you use the Line tool and the result on
your mesh is not a straight line this can be attributed to a non-uniform UV map. Looking at the actual
image will reveal a straight line that has been warped due to the UV map. To solve this issue you can
set the tool to Projection Painting mode. When the line is created the UV distortion will be taken into
account such that the resulting image in 2D will have a distorted line that appears completely straight
when mapped into 3D.
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Use Falloff:
When this toggle is activated the painting system can use 3D falloffs to limit the current tool. This is
really cool.

Opacity:
This value determines how the total opacity of the ink distributed by the brush. If the value is less than
100% the ink will max out at that percentage and never become fully opaque no matter how many
times you paint over the stroke.

Density:
This value determines the amount of ink that comes out during a paint stroke. Unlike Opacity, when
Density is below 100% painting over the existing stroke repeatedly will continue to increase the
amount of paint on the map.

Attenuation Steps:
This value will cause the paint to “fade out” after the set number of steps is reached in the stroke.
This setting is somewhat related to the speed with which you create the stroke as painting quickly
will spread out the “steps” used to paint the stroke. Moving the brush slowly with this value set above
0 will cause the paint to run out in a shorter stroke. This is a very useful setting to use if you do not
have a tablet to paint with. Tablet users would be better suited to modulate the paint opacity based on
the tablet pressure so as to have greater control.

Pressure Effect:
(This setting requires the use of a graphics tablet such as a Wacom.) There are four settings for this
control; none, Opacity, Size and Opacity and Size.
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(none): The none option is self evident. Pressure does nothing.

Opacity:
When set to Opacity the paints opacity is controlled by the pressure of the stylus to the tablet with more
pressure resulting in a more opaque and lower pressure lesser opacity until the ink fades completely.

Size:
This setting controls the size of the brush based on the pressure of the stylus to the tablet. At 100%
pressure the brush is full size (according to the users input). As pressure is released the brush reduces
in radius until it is gone. Poof.

Opacity and Size:

This option will modulate both the opacity and size simultaneously as the pressure of the stylus to the
tablet changes. It’s fun. Try it!

Speed Effect:
The Speed effect can be used with mouse or tablet input. Similar to the Pressure settings the Speed
effect controls brush opacity and size based on the speed of the paint stroke.

(none): The none option is self evident. Speed does nothing.

Opacity:
When set to Opacity the paints opacity is controlled by the speed of the paint stroke with slower strokes
resulting in a more opaque and faster strokes a lesser opacity until the ink fades completely.

Size:
This setting controls the size of the brush based on the speed of the paint stroke. Quick paint strokes
create a smaller brush size and as you slow the stroke down the brush increases until it reaches the
maximum size as set by the user.

Opacity and Size:

This option will modulate both the opacity and size simultaneously as the speed of the stroke changes.

FG Color:
Sets the foreground color for various paint tools. This can be set via the color component on the tool
properties or by clicking on the Color Picker while the tool is active.

FG Alpha:
This value allows an alpha value to be associated with the FG paint color.
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FG Value:
This percentage can be used to increase or decrease the overall value of the ink being applied. This
value can be set over 100% enabling high dynamic range paint strokes (if your image was created
with the FP mode active or loaded as a file that supports HDRI).

Linear Gradient

The Linear Gradient paint tool will apply a flood fill of ink that ramps from the FG color to the BG color.
Clicking and dragging in the 3D view will create a line from the cursor. This line is used to define the
ramp distance from the FG to BG color. The color ramp is calculated in a linearly according to the user
defined line. The ramp can be created in 3D views or directly in the UV view.

Radial Gradient

The Radial Gradient paint tool will apply a flood fill of ink that ramps from the FG color to the BG color
in a radial fashion. Clicking and dragging in the 3D view will create a line from the cursor. This line
is used to define the ramp distance from the FG to BG color. The color ramp is calculated in a radial
direction with the FG color at the center according to the user defined line. The ramp can be created
in 3D views or directly in the UV view.

Fill

The Fill paint tool will color all the pixels in the image that fall within the Fill Tolerance according to the
color of the pixel that was clicked on when initiating the fill.

Falloffs for Painting

The same Falloff options that are used for geometric edits can be applied to many of the paint tools
as well. With this available it is easy to control paint strokes to specific areas of the model. Of course,
there are some falloffs that are more useful than others in this regard. For instance, the Screen and
Airbrush falloff operators would not be very useful during painting since they have similar attributes
to the brushes themselves. Falloffs such as Linear, Cylinder, Radial and Lasso are very useful when
working with the Paint tools.

Typically Falloff operators use the RMB for setup. However, since the paint tools use RMB to set
the brush size you must select the Falloff in the Tool Pipe and then use the LMB to define the falloff
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area before painting. Make sure to select the paint tool prior to painting. Once the Falloff has an initial
location you can also easily use the falloff handles to further edit their positions without changing tool
selections via the tool pipe.

Paint Brushes
modo uses the Tool Pipe to composite paint tools together. Painting components include the paint tool,
brushes, inks and nozzles. Many paint options also support falloffs.

Smooth Brush

The Smooth Brush creates a nice feathered airbrush effect on the paint tool. There are two main
options for the Smooth Brush, Size and Shape Preset.

Size:
This value sets the radius of the brush in pixels from screen space. This is important to understand as
zooming the view will change the result of the brush. With the brush size fixed zooming in on the model
will decrease the relative scale the brush whereas zooming out will increase it.

Shape Preset:
The popup option includes Linear, Ease In, Ease Out, Smooth and Custom. This setting drives the profile
of the airbrush.

Smooth will create a brush stroke that is opaque in the center and falls off smoothly to the edge of
the brush with an S curve shape.

Linear will create a straight ramp from the center to the edge which results in a brush profile that
looks like a cone.
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Ease In changes the bias of the curve to start out slowly and then ramp more harshly towards the
edge. The resulting brush profile would look similar to a dome.

Ease Out changes the bias of the falloff curve such that the smoothing occurs to the outside edge
of the brush. This results in a brush profile that looks a bit like a spike.

Custom allows user input to change the In and Out values to drive the curve for the brush profile.

Hard Brush

The Hard Brush creates a circular brush with a hard outside edge so that the paint is consistent from
the center to the outside edge. There are two settings for the Hard Brush; Size and Soft Border.

Size: This value sets the radius of the brush in pixels from screen space. This is important to understand
as zooming the view will change the result of the brush. With the brush size fixed, zooming in on the
model will decrease the relative scale the brush whereas zooming out will increase it.
Soft Border:
This value sets a small number of pixels around the outside of the brush for the falloff to occur. This
results in a much more pleasing brush result. The default value of 2 yields a brush stroke that has the
appearance of being completely hard edged while providing the paint system a small buffer in which
to antialias the stroke. Driving the number higher can result in interesting brushes that have a solid
inner area and a linear falloff to the edge of the stroke.

Procedural Brush
The Procedural Brush uses mathematical textures to change the amount of paint applied to the surface
as the paint stroke is drawn. The options include a pop-up choice to select the procedural texture,
a check box to invert the values of the procedural, Scale u, Scale v percentages and an Amplitude
setting to control the strength of the effect.

Type:
This popup has choices for Noise, Cellular and Dots. Each of these settings creates a different pattern
for the brush based on the respective procedural texture.

Invert:
This checkbox option will simply invert the values of the procedural.

Scale U:
Changes the size of the procedural pattern along the U axis in UV space.
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Scale V:
Changes the size of the procedural pattern along the V axis in UV space.

Amplitude:
Changes the “strength” of the procedural

Preset Brush

Preset brushes are essentially image based brushes. With this brush type you can use any image map
as a brush however only the luminance values of the image are taken into account. modo includes
several Preset brushes by default which you can simply choose from the Preset popup or you can also
use the Load option in the brush Preset selector. To create your own brush it is advisable to create them
in grayscale and keep the edges of the image clear.

The Preset brush has two options.

Preset:
This is the popup that allows you to select the brush.

Size:
This value determines the size of the brush in screen pixels. The value can be set directly in the 3D
viewport by dragging with the right mouse button.

Sphere Brush

The Sphere brush creates a gradient effect inside the brush that uses the FG color in the center of the
brush and the BG color at the edges with a smooth falloff between them. The resulting effect is that of
painting a rounded brush stroke. This can be used to create “wet paint” effects and is also very useful
when working with bump or displacement textures.

Inks

The “ink” component of the paint tool determines the color that is applied by the brush. By default
the “ink” color is determined by the paint tool but this can be overridden by adding a custom “ink”
component through the Tool Pipe. Inks currently include Parametric, Random and Image.
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Parametric Ink

The Parametric Ink provides a method to modulate the ink between the foreground (FG) and background
(BG) values based on parameters including Slope, Altitude, Incidence Angle, Pressure and Tangent
Pressure. The first three parameters are attributes of the surface on which you are painting and the
last two are based on tablet input device feedback.

Parameter

Slope:
The slope setting changes the ink from the FG value to the BG value as the geometric normals
change. If we look at a sphere in “world coordinates” the top of the sphere has normals that point
directly upward, the bottom points directly down and at the equator normals point straight out. These
“normals” would range from 0 to 90.

Altitude:
Based on the bounding area of the mesh the colors will change using the FG color at the very bottom
of the model and the BG color as you reach the top of the mesh.

Incidence Angle:
This is the angle of the surface of the model as it relates to the viewport in which you are painting.
Polygons that face the view will shade using the FG color, whereas polygon normals that are
perpendicular to the view will shade with the BG ink color.

Pressure:
When painting with a tablet, 100% pressure will use the FG color for the ink and as you use less
pressure it will fade to the BG color.

Tangent Pressure:
This allows you to change between FG and BG colors by rotating the tablet stylus.
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Random Ink

The Random Ink option allows the paint tools ink color to randomly vary as you paint on the mesh.
There are three input fields for the Random Ink; Hue, Saturation and Brightness. The default values of
0% result in no random variation to the ink. By increasing any of the values you can randomize the ink
in Hue, Saturation, and/or Brightness or any combination therein. Setting any of these values to 100%
will cause the ink to randomly swing plus or minus 100% from its original value. Setting Brightness and
Saturation to 50% can be very useful when creating noise maps to “rough up” a surface.

Image Ink
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Image ink allows you to use an image to feed the color of the ink as you paint. You can either use the
current background image or use the Image requestor to load a new image. The Image Ink behavior
is very different when you are using standard UV painting versus Projection Painting. When using
standard 3D painting the image ink will be “revealed” onto the model based on the current set of UV
coordinates. If you are using Projection Paint you can see an image “plane” in the viewport. When you
paint the brush will project through the plane and use these colors to paint the mesh. In both cases the
FG color will tint the image (setting the FG color to white will reveal the image in its original colors).

When using standard 3D paint (Projection Paint disabled) the ink image is aligned with the 0 to 1
UV coordinates and as you paint the on your 3D mesh, the pixels from the Image Ink are transferred
into your image based on the corresponding positions in the UV map. Using Projection Paint the ink
projection happens in screen space. In this case modo provides an overlay of the image ink in the 3D
viewport. This plane auto-hides when a paint stroke begins.

(Projection Painting: The image plane has been aligned to the mesh. Painting projects the pixels on the mesh.)

The Image Ink has control for Scale, Rotate and position as well as a Soft Border percentage and
options to Stamp and Repeat. Scale, rotate and position can be set interactively by using the handles
in the 3D viewport (when using Projection Paint modo). The additional controls can be found on the
Tool Properties form. You can gain quick access to tool properties by pressing the “K” key to activate
the properties pop-over.
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The Scale control allows you to change the size of the image relative to the UV coordinates. Reducing
the value results in the image appearing smaller relative to the model and increasing the value will
increase the relative scale of the image. When using Projection Paint the scale handle is the square
handle on the right-hand side of the image plane.

The Rotate value “tilts” the image. In the case of standard painting this is essentially rotating the image
in UV space. With Projection Painting the image plane is rotated in screen space. The circle handle at
the top of the image plane can be dragged right and left to adjust rotation interactively.

Stamp mode will apply the entire image ink image in one quick stamp. This option requires the use of
Projection Paint. This can be a very useful method for applying decal textures in very precise positions on a
3D mesh as well as for stamping down texture elements such as scars. The stamp option can even be useful
for quickly stamping down an image repeatedly to texture a model completely. By using some Soft Border
and changing the rotation of the image ink you can create very interesting texture effects quite quickly.

The image ink plane in Stamp mode using Soft Border.

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The result is a smoothly feathered stamp of the ink

Repeat:
This option will cause the image ink to repeat once painting has extended beyond the image ink
boundary.

Soft Border allows the ink to be stamped repeatedly without noticeable seams

Soft Border:
The Soft Border option is a percentage that creates an opacity ramp from the center of the image
ink to the edges. As you paint through the image plane (Projection Mode) the Soft Border amount
will cause the edges to feather to create a soft blend to the edge of the ink boundary. This is also
very useful when working in Stamp mode. With a tiling image as you ink and a soft border value of
approximately 50%, you can repeatedly stamp down a texture across the surface of the mesh to create
very quick detail mapping.
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Nozzles
Nozzles can be added to painting tools to modulate the distribution of the paint or ink.

Jitter Nozzle

The Jitter Nozzle applies some randomization to the spray of ink from your brush. There are two
parameters for this nozzle; Spacing and Jitter.

Spacing: This value dictates how far in pixels the brush must travel before stamping down another paint
stroke. Increasing this setting to large values such as 100 will result in fewer painted spots occurring as
you stroke across the surface whereas lower numbers such as the default value of 2 results in a subtle
separation of the normal paint stroke.

Jitter: The Jitter amount determines how far from the center of the brush each new stroke is applied.
When set to larger values the paint will seem to “splatter” all around the image whereas smaller values
simply create a subtle variation to the brushes effect.
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Render and Shading Tools

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The rendering engine inside modo is designed to provide a balance of speed and quality. Luxology
Chief Scientist, Allen Hastings is well known for his contributions to the field of computer graphics
rendering and it has oft been noted that there is a certain quality one can discern from images
rendered with his engines. Not only is this render engine clean and fast, it is also one of the easier
rendering engines to work with. Many artists who had previously been frustrated with the process of
rendering have moved to modo to discover that generating stunning images is quite straightforward.
This is largely due to the fact that every engineer within Luxology who works on the rendering system
is also an artist who use these tools to create their own imagery. This results in a system that has
“smart” defaults so that you can get up and running with the modo rendering engine without first
getting your PhD in physics. Of course, if you are the sort of person who likes to get under the hood
and tweak, modo provides plenty of user access to the various controls.
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Commands
Here are the basic rendering commands for creating final rendered images, and baking out effects like
Normal or Ambient Occlusion maps. You can also bake out maps that contain all of the texture and shader
effects in modo into a bitmap that is ideal for exporting to other 3D animation and rendering systems.

Render
This command will simply trigger a full frame render of the entire project. The Render command
utilizes various settings from the Render Item which can be selected and edited via the Shader Tree.
The Render Item provides the Render command with information such as the image size and various
quality settings.

Render visible
Render visible keys off the “eyeball” icons in the Mesh List to determine which meshes will contribute
to the rendered image. Only the mesh layers which have the “eyeball” active will be rendered. The
OpenGL viewport also uses this setting to determine which meshes are visible in their view. When mesh
items are not selected but do have the “eyeball” column active they are considered to be “background”
layers. Often background layers will appear differently in OpenGL viewports, however, when rendered
they will receive the same shading treatment as selected or “foreground” layers.

Render Current View

There are times when you may want to render from the current 3D viewport rather than from the Render
Camera. The Render Current View will edit the Render Camera to match the current 3D viewport as
best it can, render the frame and then return your camera to its previous orientation.

If you are in an orthogonal view such as Top, Front and Right, the camera will
also be set to Orthogonal render projection. If you want to permanently move the camera to match a
specific 3D view you can use the “Sync to View” command found on the Camera properties form.
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Render Selected
Render Selected will render the currently selected layers in the Mesh List. This provides a simple
method for rendering specific portions of the project. Selected items in the Mesh List are denoted
by the dark grey bar through the item and gold text. Keep in mind that meshes can be visible and not
selected. This rendering option requires that the mesh layer actually be selected to be included in the
final image.

Render Turntable
Turntable rendering provides a streamlined method for creating model previews with final shading
applied. There are two turntable styles; one which rotates the camera around the geometry, and the
second which rotates the geometry. These methods known as “Orbiting Camera” and “Spinning
Geometry” modes are set on the Turntable dialog. The Orbiting Camera mode will typically render
faster, however, lights will remain stationary relative to the geometry. The Spinning Geometry mode
will cause the model to “pass through” the lighting environment but may take longer to compute.
Turntable options include the Type mentioned above (Orbiting Camera and Spinning Geometry) as
well as the duration in frames, export type path and name for the resulting turntable file(s). These
options are set by the user in the Turntable dialog box that appears upon choosing the command. On
Mac OSX, turntable rendering can utilize the Quicktime media layer to generate the final movie using
the MPEG4 compressor.

Bake
Render baking is used to pre-compute texture and lighting information directly into an image map
that can be applied to the model for real-time applications or for exporting your model into other
animation systems with complex shading already applied. In this way complex shaders and lighting
scenarios can be computed by the modo rendering engine and “baked” directly into an image that
maps perfectly to an existing UV texture. Render Baking will render into the currently selected UV
texture map so it is important to make certain you have the correct mesh layer and UV map selected
prior to activating a bake operation. Render Baking will use the settings from the current Render Item
to determine quality and frame size settings as well as the intended contributors to the shading of the
bake. By default, a baked render will contain all textures and shaders contributing to the RGB final
image. Baking can easily be redirected to create such effects as an Ambient Occlusion or Normal Map
by simplyretargeting the Color Output setting on the Render Item. There is also an option to “Bake”
to a texture in the Shader Tree. Baking textures from inside the Shader Tree is useful for baking a
single “Effect” such as Color or Diffuse into an image where as the “Bake” command from the Render
pulldown bakes all light and texture contributors into a final shaded image. It is reasonable to think
of the Shader Tree level of baking as similar to “Flattening” layers in Photoshop. Only layers of the
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same “Effect” setting underneath the texture layer that is triggering the bake will contribute to the
baked layer. Once “baked” this texture can remain in the Shader Tree as a pre-computed result of all
contributors which results in a savings of render time and provides a real-time view of the effect.

Bake Texture
This command is triggered by RMB clicking on an Image Texture layer in the Shader Tree. The texture
must use a UV map. The texture baking will render through the UV map down across all other texture
layers below the image in the Shader Tree that are set to the same Effect. For instance, if the Image
layer is set to Diffuse Color, all material and texture layers beneath the image in the Shader Tree set to
Diffuse Color will be consolidated into the baked texture.

Render Item: Frame Tab

This section covers the vast array of settings available to the user for balancing quality and speed in
the rendering process.

Render Camera
Located on the Render Items Frame tab, this popup option allows the user to select a specific camera
from which the rendered image will be created. While a basic modo project begins with a single camera,
additional cameras may be added through the Mesh List by clicking (new item) and selecting Camera.
These cameras, like any item in the Mesh List, can be renamed by right clicking and choosing Rename. By
default each new camera is assigned a numeric differentiator such as Camera(2), Camera(3) etc. Once
additional cameras have been added to a project, the Render Camera popup can be used to select them.

Resolution Unit
The Resolution Unit popup control allows the user to select between Pixels and Inches/DPI to define the
size of the rendered image. When this option is set to Pixels, the values in the Frame Width and Height
numeric inputs will control the number of pixels across and down respectively. When this popup choice
is set to Inches, the Frame Width and Height numeric inputs allow the user to enter the number of inches
across and down respectively. While the DPI input field is essential when using Inches to determine
image size, it can also be useful when setting the image size in Pixels as many of the image formats
supported by modo will embed this information into the image file for use in popular image editors.
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Frame Width and Height

These two values define the size of the rendered image. These values can be set in pixels or inches
depending on the Resolution Unit option. The default setting of 640 by 480 pixels defines a typical video
resolution image. To change the value simply click in the numeric field and enter the desired resolution.

DPI (Dots Per Inch)

The DPI input field allows the user to directly determine the number of “Dots Per Inch”. This is
particularly useful when defining image height and width using the “Inches” option. The modo
rendering engine uses the DPI setting and the number of inches to determine the number of pixels to
render to create the desired image size. The DPI setting is also added to the image file on export so
that image editing applications can properly set up the image resolution on import.

Pixel Aspect Ratio

The default setting is “1” which yields square pixels. This setting determines the “shape” of the pixel in
the final image. Computer screens use square pixels whereas televisions, DVD videos and the like usually
use a rectangular pixel which is taller than it is wide. Typical standard defintion video such as NTSC D1 or
DV has a pixel aspect ratio of .9 whereas widescreen NTSC DI or DV has a pixel aspect ratio of 1.2. Check
with your intended output device to establish the correct PAR (pixel aspect ratio) inside modo.

Buckets
When modo renders an image it breaks the image into small pieces which are referred to as “buckets”.
The number of buckets in an image is dependent on the bucket size (set by bucket width and height
options) relative to the final image size. For instance, if the image size is set to 400 by 400 pixels
and the buckets are set to 40 by 40 pixels, modo will render 100 buckets to complete the image.
The advantages to rendering with buckets are many. With buckets the render engine can heavily
leverage multi-processor and multi-core computers so that modo derives a near linear speed boost
from each new physical processor and significant boosts from additional cores. Bucket rendering also
provides a method for very large image rendering as well as the rendering of projects with a very
large memory footprint (billions of polygons etc). By selectively loading and purging the data required
for each individual buckets, modo can dramatically reduce memory requirements. In addition to the
basic use of buckets, controls such as the Geometry Cache and “Write Buckets to Disk” can be used
to further control memory consumption. These additional controls allow the user to balance the speed
versus memory equation. The more buckets are used to purge data or cache the image to disk, the
less memory is used, however this is at the expense of performance as there is some overhead to
repeatedly loading and saving geometry and image data during the render.
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Bucket Width/Bucket Height

The bucket size is controlled in pixels via the Height and Width settings. The default value of 40 by 40
means that each bucket will be 40 pixels wide and 40 pixels high. Using larger buckets will increase
the amount of memory required but can result in speed improvement. However, if multiple threads are
being used it is important to remember that using smaller buckets can result in a better load balanced
total frame. It is likely that when using multiple buckets they will not finish at exactly the same instant,
therefore there will usually be one bucket/thread computing when the other bucket(s)/thread(s) are
finished. If the buckets are very large, the amount of time the render engine is using only one thread
will increase which of course decreases the impact of the additional processors on final render time.
One might come to the conclusion that they should set the bucket size as small as possible. This is
erroneous however, as this can actually result in increased render times as there is some processor
overhead in managing the buckets.

Bucket Order
The bucket order determines the pattern in which the buckets are rendered. In some cases there
can be a small performance benefit to certain patterns. In particular the Hilbert pattern is designed
to maximize bucket edge concurrency to reduce the amount of data that must be purged and loaded
whereas Random would be most likely the least efficient in that regard. Aside from some slight variance
in performance, using different bucket orders is simply entertaining and can be used to impress your
friends who use rendering engines with boring fixed render patterns.

Rows:
Renders the buckets in rows from left to right starting and the top and working down.

Columns:
Renders the buckets in columns from top to bottom starting on the right side and working to the left.

Spiral:
Renders the buckets from the center spot outward in a clockwise spiraling pattern.

Hilbert:
Uses a specially formulated pattern that snakes across the screen, making certain that there is as
much concurrency as possible from bucket to bucket across the entire frame. This pattern can result in
slightly improved render performance on certain hardware architectures that are not as efficient with
bus bandwidth as it will reduce the amount of data being loaded and purged from bucket to bucket.
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Random:
Renders the buckets in a random order across the screen.

Reverse Order:
When this option is checked the order of buckets will be reversed so that, for example, the Columns
pattern would start at the bottom right hand side of the image and work its way bottom to top in
columns towards the left of the screen.

Write Buckets to Disk

Designed to facilitate renders of enormous resolution, this option will cause each completed bucket
to store its frame buffer data on disc rather than in system memory. The frame buffer of an image
contains a tremendous amount of data and can become quite large for even video resolution images.
For instance a 640 by 480 pixel image will require upwards of 5 megabytes to hold the frame buffer.
Doubling the image resolution will quadruple the number of pixels and memory requirement for the
frame buffer. When rendering images for large format media such as printed billboards or iMax film,
the frame buffer size can become unwieldy. Activating Write Buckets to Disk will drastically reduce
the memory overhead. An added benefit of this function is that when combined with the “Skip Existing
Buckets” option, it can be used to salvage rendered data after an unexpected application exit.

Skip Existing Buckets

When this option is activated, modo will pass over any buckets that already exist on disk. When modo
is using the Write Buckets to Disk option, the image fragments are stored in a temp directory. If modo
were to unexpectedly exit, the power goes out or some other unexpected termination of rendering
occurs, modo does not have a chance to clean up the buckets which have already been rendered. With
this option on those existing buckets will be used for the final frame, allowing modo to simply render
the missing pieces.

Tone Mapping
Rendering engines naturally generate a linear output image. In most cases it is desirable to remap
these linear values so that the output curve is more natural. Modo provides two options for tone
mapping: Exposure Multiplier and Exposure Gamma.
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Exposure Multiplier
The Exposure Multiplier simply multiplies each pixel by the user-defined percentage. The default value of
100% simply leaves each pixel unaltered. By setting the value to 200% each pixel is effectively boosted
by two times its original value so that a pixel with a value of .1 R, .1 G and .1 B would become .2 R, .2 G,
.2 B. This can be a useful control when using High Dynamic Range images for illumination as they often
create lighting that is over or under exposed. In this case the Multiplier can be used to compensate.

Exposure Gamma
Exposure Gamma specifies the gamma correction that is applied to the final saved render. There is also
a Preferences option to use a different gamma for the render progress window (the Display Gamma).
This was requested by Digital Domain so they could save linear renders (exposure gamma 1.0, good for
images that will be gamma corrected after compositing), but preview the gamma corrected results in
the render window. It’s important that gamma correction is done somewhere in the pipeline between
rendering and viewing, or else darker tones will appear too dark.

The default Exposure Gamma is derived from a global preference found in the Preference Editor under
Render. This setting can be overridden on a per project basis by setting the value directly on the Render
Item. You can use the gamma option to change the contrast curve from linear to a more biased curve.
This can be particularly useful when using Global Illumination. Increasing the gamma value will boost
the dark and midtones. This setting will not affect the rendered image as you see it on the render
preview window. This setting is only applied to the data that is output to the saved image file. To affect
the image as it is displayed you must use the Display Gamma setting found on the Preferences panel in
the Rendering section. To separate the Render Window gamma from the saved file gamma correction,
use the Preferences window (System>Preferences) to select the Rendering preferences. By activating
“Independent Display Gamma” you can set a gamma correction that will only apply to the image as it is
viewed in the Render window. The saved image data will always use the Exposure Gamma found on
the Render Item’s’ Frame tab.

Clamp Colors
The modo render engine uses high precision, high dynamic range values in IEEE floating point for
all color and shading computations. The resulting output can be saved as a linear HDR file for those
situations that require this level of output. However, when working with HDR values on a traditional
output device such as a CRT or LCD monitor, some edges around high contrast areas will appear
aliased. This effect is similar to aliasing one can often see when taking high contrast photographs with
a digital camera. To avoid such artifacts, the “Clamp Colors” option will limit all color values to no more
than 100% white prior to antialiasing.
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To better understand the aliasing effect it is important to first understand how traditional antialiasing
works. When there is a high contrast between two edges, the intermediate pixels are rendered as
a blend from one edge to the other. In 24 bit color space this is quite reasonable because there are
not that many steps between any two values and all of these colors can be displayed on a traditional
output device. However, in HDR space the difference in brightness from one pixel to the next can be
as great as many tens of thousands of color steps. Picture a black pixel with an RGB value of (0)(0)(0)
right next to a pixel with a value of (10,000) (10,000) (20,000). The intermediate “antialiased” pixel
would have a value of (5,000) (5,000) (10,000). Since a pixel with a value that high will simply display
as white, the end result would still appear to be aliased. HDR pixels like this are often referred to as
“super bright” or “super white” pixels and are often used during post process for determining where
there should be areas of “bloom” which will also have the effect of obscuring the aliased edge.

Outputs: Color
The modo render engine can retarget the color output for the render engine to allow a simple global
method for changing the overall shading with one switch. There are several options including (none),
Shader Tree, Ambient Occlusion, World Normal, Surface UV, Surface dPdU, Surface dPdV, Surface
ID and Segment ID. By default modo uses the Shader Tree outputs to set the colors for the render
engine. If, for example, you were to change the output to World Normal all of the materials and textures
set in the Shader Tree would be ignored and the render engine would simply use the value of the
surface normal at each pixel to shade the surface. Most of the time you will keep this set to Shader
Tree. The second most useful option is Ambient Occlusion which is often used during texture baking
to create “dirt” maps. Beyond these two options the remaining settings are mostly used for debugging
purposes.
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Outputs: Shader Tree

When the Color output is set to Shader Tree, the standard render/shading pipeline is utilized, leveraging
all visible material and texture layers as well as shaders and the render item settings.
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Outputs: Ambient Occlusion

The basic concept of Ambient Occlusion is to shade the model in such a way as to accentuate the
nooks and crannies of your model. Ambient Occlusion basically means what areas of your model are
hidden from ambient light in the scene. In other words, which portions of your model are shadowed.
This output option is very useful for use with texture baking.

Setting the Output to Ambient Occlusion is equivalent to using all white diffuse surfaces lit by a white
environment. For example, if half the rays coming from the point being shaded hit geometry, then the
point is half occluded and will be 50% grey, if all of the rays hit geometry the point will be black, and if
none of the rays hit geometry the point will be 100% white. The resulting baked map can then be used as
a diffuse texture layer with the blend mode set to multiply. This is a very common technique used in film
production to optimize certain elements in a shot so that full global illumination solving is not required on
a frame by frame basis. Time is money! This is also a very good technique for quickly dirtying up your
model as it tends to darken areas that would generally collect dust and dirt in the real world.
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Ambient Occlusion uses Global Illumination to perform the rendering. The quality of the AO pass
is dependent on the number of indirect rays used. The default value of 64 may result in grainy AO
renders. To improve the quality, open the Render Properties and select the Render Item. On the Global
Illumination tab you can change the Indirect Rays value. This value is deactivated by default since modo
uses Irradiance Caching by default. Simply disable Irradiance Caching and the Indirect Rays field will
become editable. The image above was rendered with 256 indirect rays.

Outputs: World Normal Shading

This Shader Tree output option overrides all Shader Tree materials and textures and simply renders all
meshes with a color ramp based on the angle of their polygonal normal. This can be a useful option for
evaluating the continuity of the mesh surface.
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Outputs:Surface ID

This shading option will override any material or texture layers in the Shader Tree and simply shade
each Material with a random color. This is mostly useful as a diagnostic shading option.
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Outputs:Segment ID

When modo renders a project all meshes are broken down into “segments” for reasons of optimization
and general scene management. Using the Segment ID shading option will render each generated
segment with a random color. This shading method is purely a diagnostic option.
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Outputs: Alpha
There are four options for alpha channel output, (none), Opacity, Shadow Density and Depth. The
(none) option will simply not add any pixels to the alpha channel of the rendered/saved image.

Opacity:
This setting will use the opacity of the objects and their materials to determine the alpha value. With
this setting chosen Environment colors and textures will not contribute to the alpha channel so that
when you view the final image with an application that supports alpha channel, the objects in the
image will be the only visible items. If an object or surface has a level of transparency this will also be
considered in the alpha channel. In this way it is possible to render out images with semi-transparent
elements that can easily be composited over other backdrops in an application such as Shake, Motion
or Photoshop.

Shadow Density:
This option is very handy for compositing items with shadows as it allows you to render a shadow
pass of the image in which only shadows will contribute to the alpha channel so that the resulting
image will appear to only contain the shadows cast onto objects.

Depth:
This setting will populate the rendered image alpha channel with a Z-buffer. The Z-buffer is also know
as a “depth map” as it encodes the distance of a pixel from the camera with grey scale values. Pixels
closest to the camera are encoded as pure white and pixels far from the camera ramp to black. The
Maximum Depth value sets a “clipping plane” for the black point so that modo knows at what distance
to shade the Z-buffer pure black.

Render Item: Settings Tab

This section contains all render settings found on the Settings tab of the Render Item. This information
is useful for getting the most out of the modo renderer.

Adaptive Subdivision
When modo renders a scene all subdivision surface meshes are tesselated adaptively. Which is to
say, depending on the user settings the mesh is tesselated so that all polygonal edges meet the
requirements of the users subdivision rate (see Patch Subdivision Rate for a full explanation). In some
cases you may want to directly control the amount of subdivision that occurs at the mesh item level.
In this case you can disable Adaptive Subdivision. When this is disabled modo will use the mesh item’s
Subdivision Level property. The advantage to this method is that it can be a huge savings in memory.
However, you will most likely see polygonal facets in your image that with Adaptive active would be
subdivided away to a perfectly smooth edge.
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Here we can see the logo rendered with adaptive subdivision disabled. Note the visible facets along the
edge of the curved surfaces. With adaptive active, these edges will be smoothed such that no facets
can be seen.

In the previous image we used the default SDS setting of 2. This can be found on the Item Properties form.
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By increasing this value we can force the mesh to be further refined. This is a manual method that
gives you more direct control over how the objects in your project are refined and can be useful in
cases where Adaptive Subdivision creates more polygons that you would prefer.

Here the level has been increased to 3. The poly count is higher and the edges look better but we can
still see faceting.
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An SDS level of 6 creates yet still more polygons and yields a very smooth surface.

While this image has very clean curves, keep in mind that the SDS level creates a fixed number of
polygons. Therefore, if we were to zoom in further on the logo eventually we would see faceting. If you
know exactly how much of the item you will see in the project this is a reasonable option for controlling
SDS level. On the otherhand, using Adaptive Subdivision smoothes your model based on the length of
edges in the camera view and will therefore yield more consistently smooth results.
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Patch Subdivision Rate

At render time, Subdivision surface tessellation is done per mesh layer. The distance from the camera
to the center of the mesh’s bounding box, the focal length, and the resolution are used to convert the
Subdivision Rate (in pixels) into a distance in world space. Then a subdivision level for the mesh is
chosen so that the edges in the largest patch in the mesh will be less than or equal to this distance.

The default rate is 10, which means that modo will pick a subdivision level for that mesh such that the
edges of the tesselated polys in the largest subdivision patch appear no more than 10 pixels long (most
will be shorter than that). This is very useful since it means that subdivision levels automatically adapt
to each mesh’s distance from the camera, the zoom factor, etc. If you really want to minimize your
polygon count, you can set the subdivision rate to a huge number such as 1000. On the other hand, if
you never want to see a faceted edge in a render you can reduce this number to 5 or less. Be warned
that this will be at the expense of additional memory use and some performance loss.

Here we see the default patch rate of 10. With no edge being longer than 10 pixels our logo looks
completely smooth. Not a facet in sight. Note the polygon count is 46,498.
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For dramatic comparison the rate has been increased to 50. Note the very visible faceting. The polygon
count at this rate was a mere 802. In this case the render time difference is fairly insignificant particularly
in comparison to the visible difference in the two images.
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Understanding and Working with Shading Rates in modo

A practical guide to understanding Shading Rates and the Refinement Threshold. The goal of the
modo renderer is to provide high quality images as quickly as possible. These two things are tricky
to balance. If we only cared about quality we could render each pixel’s contrast utmost precision but
it would take a really long time. If we only cared about speed we could render each pixel with less
precision but the image would not be top quality. The ideal solution is to render as many pixels as
possible with a coarse precision and then save the really high precision computations for only those
pixels that need it. Actually, that is how modo works! modo masters this balance and even allows you
to tweak it using just three key settings; Shading Rate, Refinement Threshold and Fine Shading Rate.
Here’s how it works.

Step 1: The pixel is evaluated using the Shading Rate which is set to be somewhat coarse (Default
setting is 1).

Step 2: The pixel is evaluated by the Refinement Threshold. If the pixel is “accurate” enough the
renderer knows it is done and moves to the next pixel. This is the fast path! If the pixel fails the
Refinement Threshold test it is passed on to the Fine Shading Rate.

Step 3: If the pixel did not pass the Refinement Threshold, it is evaluated using the Fine Shading
Rate (Default is set to .2).

Now we can understand a very important point which is that computationally speaking the Shading
Rate and the Fine Shading Rate are EXACTLY the same thing. The only difference between them is
that we want to set the Fine Shading Rate to be more accurate and only apply it to those pixels which
need it. Now let’s have a look at some definitions. First we can discuss the Shading Rates. You might
be wondering why it is that a lower number equals higher quality. When modo evaluates pixels it does
so at the “sub-pixel” level which means that each pixel is broken into smaller pieces, each of these
pieces are evaluated as if they were pixels themselves and then the results are averaged together.
The more pieces the pixel is broken into, the more accurate the final result. When we use a rate of 1
the pixel is evaluated as a single pixel. Setting the rate to .5 means the pixel is broken in half vertically
and horizontally resulting in four sub-pixels “pieces”. As you can see, reducing the number to smaller
values means more and more samples per pixel. Hence a shading rate of 1 is much faster than a
shading rate of .2 but the .2 rate will yield a much more accurate result.

The Refinement Threshold is a bit different than the Rates but actually quite simple as well. Essentially
you can think of the Refinement Threshold as a contrast tolerance. When modo evaluates a pixel, the
Refinement Threshold criteria is whether the pixels contrast is beyond the acceptable limit. The limit
(Refinement Threshold) is reflected in a 0 to 1 value which represents brightness steps. In a traditional
24 bit image there are 255 steps. In this case a value of 0 provides no tolerance at all and a value
of 1 gives 255 brightness steps of tolerance. If you set the value at .5, the pixels can have as much
as 128 brightness steps between them and still pass by the Refinement Threshold. The default value
of .1 allows approximately 25 brightness steps, which generally is an acceptable difference without
creating “jaggy” edges visually.
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Micropolygon Displacement

The image on the left uses displacement rendering while the image on the right is merely a bump map.
While the bump mapping algorithms in modo create a very impressive visual effect, the outline contours
of the mesh give away that this is merely a trick whereas the displacement details are more obviously
true geometry.

This toggle button will activate or deactivate micropolygon displacement rendering. Every polygon edge
is considered separately. The distance from the camera to the center of the edge, the focal length, and
the resolution are used to convert the Displacement Rate (in pixels) into a distance in world space. If the
edge is longer than this and also longer than the Minimum Edge Length, it is split in half. This process
continues recursively until all edges satisfy those requirements.

In order to see the effects of Micropolygon displacement there must be a displacement texture to feed
offset values to the engine. Displacement textures can be procedural or image based and can be set up
in the Shader Tree.

Displacement Rate
For the practical folks in the room let’s get to the point. This value drives the number of polygons created
during Micropolygon Displacement rendering. Here is the important bit, INCREASING the number will
DECREASE the number of polygons. Even smallish changes will have a large impact on overall polygon
count. The default value of 1 basically means that any micropolygon that has an edge longer than 1 pixel
will be further tesselated. You can think of it as one polygon per pixel. This isn’t exactly accurate but it
gives a good working idea. If that’s not geeky enough for you, keep on reading.

The Displacement Rate specifies the distance between displacement evaluations (basically the desired
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length of micropolyon edges). The default is set to one pixel which is usually just right. As you can
imagine having the length of any edge being approximately 1 pixel means that you will never see a
faceted curve from too few polygons.

Displacement is adaptive at the micropolygon level. Every polygon edge is considered separately. The
distance from the camera to the center of the edge, the focal length, and the resolution are used to
convert the Displacement Rate (in pixels) into a distance in world space. If the edge is longer than this
and also longer than the Minimum Edge Length, it is split in half. This process continues recursively
until all edges satisfy those requirements.

Since the displacement rate is approximately the edge length of the micropolygons, the polygon count
will vary with the square of the rate. Even a small change like going from 1.0 to 1.4 should cut the
number of micropolygons by about a factor of two.

The fact that we discuss the edge length in terms of pixels might be slightly misleading since these
polygons can be oriented in such a way as to not be completely perpendicular to the camera’s view.
Since the edge length calculation occurs in world space and not screen space there can, in fact, be
many more polygons in the image than there are pixels.

Another thing to keep in mind is that geometry cache segments are displaced on demand. The moment
a ray of any kind (camera rays, shadow rays, indirect rays, reflection rays, etc) pierces their bounding
box (which has been padded by the material’s maximum displacement distance), all the polygons in
the segment are diced into micropolygons as described above, and then the displacement texture
is evaluated at each micropolygon vertex. If the segment extends offscreen, there could be lots of
micropolygons outside of the view, and similarly if the segment wraps around to the back of the object,
there could be hidden micropolygons there too. Although not directly visible, these micropolygons
are often still needed for the render because they can cast shadows, appear in reflections, affect
indirect illumination, etc. You can use the Segment ID mode to see how your surfaces are being
divided into segments. These images illustrate the difference in polygon counts by simply changing
the Displacement Rate. The first image was rendered with the default Displacement Rate of 1 and
consists of 1.09 Million polygons. The second image was rendered with a Displacement Rate of 1.4
and was rendered with 546,000 polygons.
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Default Displacement Rate of 1: 1.09 million polygons

Displacement set to 1.4: 546,000 polygons

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Fine Shading Rate

There are four controls that control the “quality” of pixels. These include Antialiasing, Shading Rate,
Refinement Threshold and the Fine Shading Rate. To create the highest quality imagery modo does
all of its computations at the sub-pixel level. However, rather than computing the image with “brute
force”, modo uses elegant logic to determine how to best create the image. To balance quality with
performance modo provides methods to determine which areas of the image should be computed with
more or less precision. The aforementioned controls, Antialiasing Samples, Shading Rate, Refinement
Threshold and Fine Shading Rate are the tools that control this balancing act. Since these controls all
work together we will discuss them in that context. All of these controls are used to determine the
final computational “quality” available to each pixel.

Antialiasing
At the top most level the Antialiasing control dictates the maximum numbers of “samples” per pixel.
We can think of the samples as sub-pixel fragments. You can imagine a pixel as a square that can be
subdivided into smaller squares. When Antialiasing is set to 8, the pixel is broken down into 8 pieces,
each of these pieces is evaluated and then averaged together to give us the final high-quality pixel.
Since it would be expensive, and overkill, to evaluate all pixels in an image repeatedly we add the
additional controls.

Shading Rate
Next in the line is the Shading Rate. This control tells the engine how finely to evaluate each pixel. The
default value of 1 indicates to the render engine that these pixels do not need to be broken down for
further evaluation. Without the other two controls (Refinement Threshold and Fine Shading Rate) this
value would be too low and would result in reasonable geometric antialiasing but poor antialiasing in
shadow, texture, reflection and refraction details. If we decrease the Shading Rate to .5 every pixel
will be broken in half horizontally and vertically resulting in 4 samples. This will increase the quality
of the pixel but also decrease performance significantly if this increase occurred on every pixel in the
final image. In most cases we want to leave our Shading Rate set to 1 and rely on adaptive sampling to
improve only the areas that require it effectively focusing the additional samples to problem areas.

Refinement Threshold
The Refinement Threshold is essentially a contrast tolerance which is to say this control dictates how
much contrast between samples is acceptable. Set to 100%, the Refinement Threshold would do nothing
at all as it would accept brightness steps as high as 255 (the upper bound of 24 bit images). Set to 0%,
no pixels would be inside the threshold. The range of control spans the 0 to 255 brightness steps so that
a threshold of 50% would accept pixel contrasts of 128 steps whereas a setting of .1 would only tolerate
25 brightness steps between samples. Again we see that Rates increase quality and computation when
set to lower values. Once the pixel has been evaluated, if it is determined that the brightness contrast
of samples exceeds threshold that pixel is re-evaluated using the Fine Shading Rate.
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Fine Shading Rate

The Fine Shading Rate is computationally identical to the Shading Rate. This secondary shading rate
allows us to set a higher quality evaluation that is only computed on pixels that are identified by the
Refinement Threshold as “problem areas”.

Render Type
modo uses a very new style of rendering in that it has the attributes of many different traditional render
styles. Modo can perform with physically based shading options, it can act as a strict scanline renderer
and it has the capacity to be a full ray tracer with global illumination. By default, modo will automatically
choose which rendering front end to use based on the content of the render and the various rendering
features selected. It is also possible to force the rendering engine into one or the other using the Render
Type popup selector which contains the following options: Automatic, Scanline, Ray Trace.

Automatic:
This mode selects the most appropriate rendering front end based on various settings. If Lens Distortion
on the render camera is other than zero, or if mesh instances are present, then Ray Trace is used
(since those two effects require it). Otherwise Scanline is used, since it supports all other effects
and is generally faster. Both Ray Trace and Scanline use exactly the same shading engine (including
reflection, refraction, etc) so the results should match perfectly.

Scanline:
Forces the render engine to use the scanline front end. It is possible for certain effects to not appear
when rendering with the scanline front end.

Ray Trace:
Forces the render engine to use the ray tracing front end. All effects will be visible but this mode can be
slower than scanline in some circumstances.
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Antialiasing
There are four controls that control the “quality” of pixels. These include Antialiasing, Shading Rate,
Refinement Threshold and the Fine Shading Rate. To create the highest quality imagery modo does
all of its computations at the sub- pixel level. However, rather than computing the image with “brute
force” modo uses elegant logic to determine how to best create the image. To balance quality with
performance modo provides methods to determine which areas of the image should be computed with
more or less precision. The aforementioned controls, Antialiasing Samples, Shading Rate, Refinement
Threshold and Fine Shading Rate are the tools that control this balancing act. Since these controls all
work together we will discuss them in that context. All of these controls are used to determine the
final computational “quality” available to each pixel.

Antialiasing
At the top most level the Antialiasing control dictates the maximum numbers of “samples” per pixel.
We can think of the samples as sub-pixel fragments. You can imagine a pixel as a square that can be
subdivided into smaller squares. When Antialiasing is set to 8 the pixel is broken down into 8 pieces,
each of these pieces is evaluated and then averaged together to give us the final high- quality pixel.
Since it would be expensive, and overkill, to evaluate all pixels in an image repeatedly we add the
additional controls.

Shading Rate
Next in the line is the Shading Rate. This control tells the engine how finely to evaluate each pixel. The
default value of 1 indicates to the render engine that these pixels do not need to be broken down for
further evaluation. Without the other two controls (Refinement Threshold and Fine Shading Rate) this
value would be too low and would result in reasonable geometric antialiasing but poor antialiasing in
shadow, texture, reflection and refraction details. If we decrease the Shading Rate to .5 every pixel
will be broken in half horizontally and vertically resulting in 4 samples. This will increase the quality
of the pixel but also decrease performance significantly if this increase occurred on every pixel in the
final image. In most cases we want to leave our Shading Rate set to 1 and rely on adaptive sampling to
improve only the areas that require it effectively focusing the additional samples to problem areas.

Refinement Threshold
The Refinement Threshold is essentially a contrast tolerance which is to say this control dictates how
much contrast between samples is acceptable. Set to 1 the Refinement Threshold would do nothing at
all as it would accept brightness steps as high as 255 (the upper bound of 24 bit images). Set to 0 no
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pixels would be inside the threshold. The range of control spans the 0 to 255 brightness steps so that
a threshold of .5 would accept pixel contrasts of 128 steps whereas a setting of .1 would only tolerate
25 brightness steps between samples. Again we see that Rates increase quality and computation when
set to lower values. Once the pixel has been evaluated, if it is determined that the brightness contrast
of samples exceeds threshold that pixel is re-evaluated using the Fine Shading Rate.

Fine Shading Rate

The Fine Shading Rate is computationally identical to the Shading Rate. This secondary shading rate
allows us to set a higher quality evaluation that is only computed on pixels that are identified by the
Refinement Threshold as “problem areas”. (Note: The 64 samples/pixel setting is only useful when
Depth of Field is active.)

Antialiasing Filter
This popup option allows you to choose different antialiasing filters. The antialiasing filter determines
the pattern to use when evaluating a pixel. The default is Gaussian which performs a more accurate
sample. This will generally yield the best results although it may be slightly slower than the Box or
Triangle options.

Refinement Threshold
There are four controls that control the “quality” of pixels. These include Antialiasing, Shading Rate,
Refinement Threshold and the Fine Shading Rate. To create the highest quality imagery modo does
all of its computations at the sub- pixel level. However, rather than computing the image with “brute
force” modo uses elegant logic to determine how to best create the image. To balance quality with
performance modo provides methods to determine which areas of the image should be computed with
more or less precision. The aforementioned controls, Antialiasing Samples, Shading Rate, Refinement
Threshold and Fine Shading Rate are the tools that control this balancing act. Since these controls all
work together we will discuss them in that context. All of these controls are used to determine the final
computational “quality” available to each pixel.

Antialiasing
At the top most level the Antialiasing control dictates the maximum numbers of “samples” per pixel.
We can think of the samples as sub-pixel fragments. You can imagine a pixel as a square that can be
subdivided into smaller squares. When Antialiasing is set to 8 the pixel is broken down into 8 pieces,
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each of these pieces is evaluated and then averaged together to give us the final high- quality pixel.
Since it would be expensive, and overkill, to evaluate all pixels in an image repeatedly we add the
additional controls.

Shading Rate
Next in the line is the Shading Rate. This control tells the engine how finely to evaluate each pixel. The
default value of 1 indicates to the render engine that these pixels do not need to be broken down for
further evaluation. Without the other two controls (Refinement Threshold and Fine Shading Rate) this
value would be too low and would result in reasonable geometric antialiasing but poor antialiasing in
shadow, texture, reflection and refraction details. If we decrease the Shading Rate to .5 every pixel
will be broken in half horizontally and vertically resulting in 4 samples. This will increase the quality
of the pixel but also decrease performance significantly if this increase occurred on every pixel in the
final image. In most cases we want to leave our Shading Rate set to 1 and rely on adaptive sampling to
improve only the areas that require it effectively focusing the additional samples to problem areas.

Refinement Threshold
The Refinement Threshold is essentially a contrast tolerance which is to say this control dictates how
much contrast between samples is acceptable. Set to 1 the Refinement Threshold would do nothing at
all as it would accept brightness steps as high as 255 (the upper bound of 24 bit images). Set to 0 no
pixels would be inside the threshold. The range of control spans the 0 to 255 brightness steps so that
a threshold of .5 would accept pixel contrasts of 128 steps whereas a setting of .1 would only tolerate
25 brightness steps between samples. Again we see that Rates increase quality and computation
when set to lower values. Once the pixel has been evaluated, if it is determined that the brightness
contrast of samples exceeds threshold that pixel is re-evaluated using the Fine Shading Rate.

Fine Shading Rate

The Fine Shading Rate is computationally identical to the Shading Rate. This secondary shading rate
allows us to set a higher quality evaluation that is only computed on pixels that are identified by the
Refinement Threshold as “problem areas”.

It should be noted that the default values for the Shading Rate, Refinement Threshold and Fine Shading
Rate have been chosen to provide an optimal balance between performance and quality and in most
cases should not need to be modified.
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Motion Blur
Of course motion blur requires some motion so you might wonder what the heck this button in doing in
a program that doesn’t animate. Well, in fact there is a really good reason. When you render turntables
there is motion. Using a slight amount of motion blur in this case can make a nice added effect. Keep
in mind if you are using turntables for model review you may not want to use motion blur since it can
obscure model detail on single frames. The amount of blur added to each frame is dependent on the
number of frames in the turntable and the Blur Length setting.

The Motion Blur setting allows you to set how many time steps are used to create the motion blur effect.
Setting this value to 1 will create a linear motion blur effect. Increasing the number will add time steps
to the motion blur. You might be asking how modo can render motion when there isn’t any motion in
modo! The answer is simple, morph maps! By naming a morph map Velocity and activating motion blur
you can add some motion to your image. The render engine will create a motion blurred image where
the motion appears to travel from your base mesh to the morph map position.

modo has a very powerful motion blur rendering capability. Here we can see extreme motion blur
rendered. This particular render was created using the Velocity morph map.
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Here is the logo in its default location.

Here we have created a morph map called “Velocity” in which we rotated the logo up on its side.
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Depth of Field
Depth of Field can be added to images at the time of render inside modo by activating this toggle button.
The Depth of Field function in modo works best when the Render Type is set to Ray Trace rather than
Scanline. The default mode of Automatic will choose Ray Trace if Depth of Field is activated. Just as
with real world cameras the depth of field effect is highly dependent on the Cameras F-Stop which
can be adjusted on the Camera Properties form. Decreasing the F-Stop will increase the depth of field
effect. As the depth of field effect becomes more intense it may be necessary to increase antialiasing
levels to smooth out any artifacts that appear. While modo performs better than most rendering engines
when rendering depth of field, it is still possible to create depth of field effects that are so strong it is
impossible to reduce the noise. In this case it is preferable to use 2D image manipulation programs such
as compositors or Photoshop to achieve a cleaner depth of field. To simply improve the depth of field
coming out of modo you can use a despeckle operator in Photoshop or any other 2D editor. If you are
really adamant about using modo to render the effect, you can also render your image larger than the
actual target resolution and then scale the image down in Photoshop or some other application. This
effect is called “super-scaling” and will improve Depth of Field and other antialiasing effects.

There are also 3rd party depth of field image processors that leverage a Z-buffer or depth buffer image
to control the areas that will receive the effect. modo can create a Z-buffer and put it into the alpha
channel of the image to be used for just this sort of effect. With the Render Item selected, the Frame tab
on the properties form has a subsection on the bottom called “Outputs”. In that section you can set the
Alpha pop-up to Depth. When you render your images the geometry in your project will appear in the
depth alpha as grey scale with the closest polygons in full white and the furthest fading away to black.
The Maximum Depth option provides a method for clamping the effect to maximize the 256 steps of
grey scale in the image.

The Camera has the Focal Distance set to the second chair
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The Camera has the Focal Distance set to the near chair

Minimum Edge Length (Displacement)

As discussed in the Micropolygon Displacement section, each edge in the mesh is tesselated until
polygons satisfy the Displacement Rate setting. Ungoverned this can go out of control resulting in
ridiculous numbers of polygons. The Minimum Edge Length does exactly what the name implies. It
sets a minimum length for any polygonal edge. Once an edge has reached that minimum length it can
no longer be split. This value is a simple mechanism for controlling the displacement.
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Render Item: Global Illumination Tab

This tab contains all the project level settings for Global Illumination. Some of the more specific controls
can be found at the Shader item level.

Ambient Color
The Ambient Intensity and Color controls add light globally to the project. All diffuse surfaces in the
scene will receive the Ambient light. This is most useful for simulating an additional bounce of light.
Many hard core 3D artists recommend driving this value very low or off altogether and favor adding
more complex lighting scenarios or using actual Global Illumination bounces to achieve adequate light
fill. However, using a little Ambient light can be a very useful optimization to any scene and if setup
properly can look very natural with very little cost in render time. The latter is true especially when
compared to additional lights and/or radiosity bounces.

Choosing a good Ambient Color and Intensity is very important when using this feature. If you consider
that this setting is trying to simulate the effect of the accumulation of all the scattered light rays in a
project it is easier to imagine how to choose the color and intensity. To assist the color selection you
can decrease the Ambient Intensity to zero and render your image. Look at all the pixels and their
brightness and think about what the “average” overall tone or color is. That color is what you should
choose for the Ambient Color control. The ambient intensity control is a real world radiance value for
lighting simulation, and simply acts as a multiplier for the ambient color. You can change it to show
luminance units (candela per square meter) in Preferences. Start with the default value of .05 W/srm
and then work the value up or down until the desired lighting result is achieved.

Ambient Intensity
The Ambient Intensity and Color controls add light globally to the project. All diffuse surfaces in the
scene will receive the Ambient light. This is most useful for simulating an additional bounce of light.
Many hard core 3D artists recommend driving this value very low or off altogether and favor adding
more complex lighting scenarios or using actual Global Illumination bounces to achieve adequate light
fill. However, using a little Ambient light can be a very useful optimization to any scene as if setup
properly can look very natural and at very little cost in render time. Especially when compared to
additional lights and/or radiosity bounces.

Choosing a good Ambient Color and Intensity is very important when using this feature. If you consider
that this setting is trying to simulate the effect of the accumulation of all the scattered light rays in a
project it is easier to imagine how to choose the color and intensity. To assist the color selection you
can decrease the Ambient Intensity to zero and render your image. Look at all the pixels and their
brightness and think about what the “average” overall tone or color is. That color is what you should
choose for the Ambient Color control. The ambient intensity control is a real world radiance value for
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lighting simulation, and simply acts as a multiplier for the ambient color. You can change it to show
luminance units (candela per square meter) in Preferences. Start with the default value of .05 W/srm
and then work the value up or down until the desired lighting result is achieved.

Ray Tracing
Shadows:
This toggle button turns ray traced Shadows on and off globally on a per project basis.

Ray Tracing: Ray Depth (Reflection and Refraction)

When Ray Tracing reflections and refractions it is important to be able to control the number of rays
that are created when tracing through a scene. Reflection: When a ray is being used to calculate
reflection it will bounce off any reflective surface until it is either absorbed by a diffuse surface,
bounces off a reflective surface or misses geometry altogether and shades via the environment. You
can easily imagine that if rays were allowed to bounce infinitely a ray could get “trapped” between
two of more reflective surfaces and the image would never finish rendering. In a slightly better case
the ray could be bouncing around hundreds or thousands of times before being absorbed. In that
case, while the ray is bouncing around the visual effect of the ray is decreasing with each bounce so
after 4 or 5 bounces computing the ray is simply wasting cycles. This is where the Reflection Depth
comes in handy. The Reflection Depth value determines how many reflection bounces a ray can have
before terminating. The default value of 4 means the ray will bounce 4 times and then no longer be
considered. For reflections this is typically a very good balance between quality and speed. While
increasing the reflection depth
will result in increased render times, it is important to note that driving this number up will not result
in linear speed increases. The Ray Threshold control will assist in automatically terminating rays who
do not contribute a significant amount to the final image.

Reflection Depth:
When rays are traced, a single ray can split into multiple rays in a case where a surface is both
reflective and refractive. Such is the case of glass. In this case we must tread very carefully so as to
avoid an explosion in ray count as well as render times. Increasing the number of bounces for purely
reflective scenes would typically increase rendering time linearly. But it is important to be sparing
with bounces in the case of glass where the ray tree splits at each intersection (since both reflection
and refraction rays are spawned). As a rough example, let’s say the cost of shading a surface point
in a purely reflective scene with four bounces is four rays (1 + 1 + 1 + 1). Then turning on some
transparency could increase the cost to 30 (2 + 4 + 8 + 16), about seven times higher! If there are light
sources and the material has a nonzero diffuse or specular amount, things get even worse because
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shadow rays must be cast at each intersection. On the other hand, rays that escape to the environment
end their branches of the ray tree so the real growth rate is usually not so bad. As you can see it is
for this reason that governing closer over the Ray Depth can be quite beneficial. As with Reflection,
refraction rays can also be terminated by the Ray Threshold which provides an automatic method for
reducing the number of rays and protects you from extreme calculation explosions. Still, it is wise to
set these values at reasonable levels depending on the content in your scene.

Ray Threshold
The Ray Threshold is set as a percentage value. The Ray Threshold algorithm is constantly evaluating
a ray’s contribution to the final pixel being rendered. Once the contribution of that ray gets below the
Ray Threshold percentage it is eligible for termination. This does not mean that the ray will definitely
be terminated. Rather it only indicates to some “special sauce” inside the render engine that it is a
candidate for termination. Wholesale terminating rays below this importance factor would create a
biased effect that would effect the overall lighting in a detrimental way. However, with each bounce or
refraction the ray undergoes after going under the Ray Threshold, the more likely it is that this ray will
be terminated. This value is an incredibly useful and mostly automated method for self regulated ray
depths.

Indirect Illumination
To fully understand the indirect illumination settings it is critical to first understand the technical process
of indirect illumination. While it is intuitive to imagine light coming from a 3D light or a luminous surface
and traveling to reach the surfaces then bouncing around a room, the actual process of rendering
with indirect illumination is quite the opposite. As the surface is evaluated rays are cast outward from
the surface randomly and evaluated when they strike other surfaces in the scene. The sum of those
evaluations is what contributes to the color and brightness of the original surface.

To get a more precise idea of how indirect illumination is estimated at a point on a surface, imagine
the top half of a transparent globe resting on the surface, so that the point’s surface normal is poking
through the north pole. Rays are fired from the surface point through random points within each “cell”
formed by the latitude and longitude grid lines, with one ray per cell. These rays go out and hit either
other surfaces or the distant environment, and the average color that they see is the indirect irradiance
estimate (“irradiance” being the technical term for incoming light).

Now imagine we need to shade a flat surface, and the environment image is all black except for one
concentrated bright region. Each shading point on the surface will send rays as described above.
For some points, maybe two of their rays will be fortunate enough to hit the bright region, while for
other points only one ray hits it and the rest of the rays see black. With some points getting twice the
irradiance of others, you can predict that the surface will look quite splotchy if irradiance caching is on
(or grainy if it’s off). However if we subdivide the transparent hemispheres more finely (i.e. use more
rays), the number of hits and misses will be much more consistent between neighboring surface points,
smoothing out the shading.
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While indirect illumination in modo is based on this hemispheric sampling, there are two very different
approaches to the use of these samples. The default method utilizes a technique called Irradiance
Caching. The concept behind this technique is that by leveraging a smaller number of more accurate
samples and blending between them you can achieve an image of perceived quality in a shorter
amount of time than sampling every pixel with lesser quality which often results in a “grainy” image.
When Irradiance Caching is disabled modo will fall back to generating a hemispherical shading sample
for every pixel in the image. As a result you must be careful about the number of rays you use as
this number will be multiplied by the millions of pixels in your image. That’s a lot of rays. Really.
With irradiance caching active, modo intelligently samples the scene at strategic locations and then
interpolates between them for a smoother overall final frame.

The simplest way to think about Monte Carlo versus Irradiance Caching is that the monte carlo method
uses a lower quality (fewer rays) sample at every single pixel whereas the IC method uses fewer
much higher quality (more rays) samples and blends them together. As a result when the samples
are not accurate enough in monte carlo there will be significant variance from one pixel to the next
which appears visually as grain. When using IC the variance is spread across from sample to sample
which yields splotches visually. With monte carlo there is one remedy which is to simply increase the
number of rays per pixel. This can cause render times to increase dramatically. IC provides several
approaches to reducing artifacts which include increasing the number of rays, adding Supersampling,
and increasing the number of samples required to create a blend (Interpolation Values).

Now that you understand the basic concepts the following definitions will have more context and enable you
to more effectively balance your scene performance/quality when working with indirect illumination.

Direct Versus Indirect Lighting

Modo provides you with both direct and indirect lighting sources. Indirect lighting, as described above,
provides a global illumination or radiosity rendering model that uses the environment and existing
geometry in the scene to provide shading. The Direct lighting models utilizes 3D lights to directly
illuminate surfaces. While these two models are computed separately, by default their results are
added together to give the final shading result. Each model has specific advantages. When used
together wisely you can optimize both the speed and quality of your rendered images.

Direct Light has the distinct advantage of providing the exact location of light so that when a pixel
is evaluated the renderer can simply loop through the visible lights and add the appropriate shading
values from each. This direct lighting approach gives very accurate lighting results very quickly. The
disadvantage is that this model does not account for the effects of secondary lighting such as bounced
light or light coming from luminous surfaces. The number of samples per light only need go higher
than 1 sample when some amount of soft edged shadows are intended. The wider the spread on the
soft edge, the higher the sample value should be to provide reasonable quality.
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Enable: Indirect Illumination

This will activate the indirect lighting system and all of the relevant controls below.

Indirect Rays
This value represents the number of samples taken for each pixel in the image. For a description of how
those samples are gathered and the ramifications, see the paragraph on Indirect Illumination above.

Indirect Bounces
The default value of 1 means that a single bounce is used to calculate how a surface’s environment
affects it. This is less accurate than a multi-bounce solution since in the real world photons bounce all
over to illuminate the environment. However, the sacrifice in quality using fewer bounces is rewarded
by increased performance versus more bounces. By increasing the number of indirect bounces the
indirect rays are fired from the initial surface and bounce off the first surface they hit then continue
traveling and hitting surfaces until the maximum number of bounces is met.

Keep in mind that as you add bounces the number of calculations will increase as will render times and
while the result is technically more accurate there are naturally occurring diminishing returns in each
additional bounce. It is
recommended that you adjust your scene with a single bounce and then add additional bounces to see
how great an impact they have on the end result. If a scene is mostly illuminated by a single small area
of light adding bounces can dramatically improve the overall brightness and look of the render.

Tip: To reduce the number of bounces required you can increase the Ambient Intensity on the Global Illumination tab.
Since the effect of multiple bounced illumination rays is to simply boost the overall lighting by some averaged color,
you can reduce the number of bounces and set the Ambient Color and Intensity to mimic those final bounces. This saves
time and yields more realistic results.

Indirect Range
This value determines how far an indirect ray can travel before it is terminated. In the case of a ray being
terminated due to the indirect range value it is assumed that the ray would eventually hit the environment
background so this value is returned to the shading engine. This is a very useful way to optimize render
times. Reducing the indirect range will generally improve render speed. However, you should keep in
mind that setting this value too low will create unnatural lighting effects as many rays that otherwise
would have ultimately hit a geometric surface resulting a shadow may get cut off early and may illuminate
the surface with the backdrop color rather than shading it with the surrounding geometry.

Irradiance Caching
The basic idea of irradiance caching is to compute high quality evaluations of the indirect illumination
at sparse positions in the scene using lots of rays per sample, then storing the results so they can be
reused over large areas (dozens of pixels). When irradiance caching is off, you typically have to do
cheaper evaluations (with a smaller number of rays), since the results are not stored and a new set of
rays must be fired at every pixel.
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Irradiance Rays
Irradiance rays are technically the same as Indirect Rays in that they are the rays fired out from the
surface in order to sample indirect illumination. As a matter of convenience modo has both Irradiance
and Indirect Rays settings since the two forms of indirect illumination typically require vastly different
numbers of samples. Irradiance Caching relies on much higher quality samples distributed sparsely
across the project whereas Indirect Illumination without Irradiance Caching uses lower quality
samples at every pixel. Having two values allows you to easily switch between Irradiance Caching and
traditional Indirect Illumination without constantly adjusting the number of Rays for each sample.

Indirect Supersampling
After all rays have been fired for a particular irradiance evaluation, this feature looks at the resulting
ray color of each hemisphere cell and then sends additional rays through those cells that differ a
lot from their neighbors, getting a more detailed look at high contrast areas of the environment and
therefore a more accurate estimate. Currently about 25% more rays are fired, so for a setting of 100
rays you really get 125, but the results will be better than if you had just used a setting of 125 without
supersampling, because the rays will be going in the more important directions. (Note from Chief
Scientist Allen Hastings: I recommend leaving this option on all the time. It will generally improve your
render quality with minimal performance impact.)
Interpolation Values
The Interpolation Values setting specifies a minimum for how many nearby values to interpolate. Let’s say
it’s set to three for example. If we’re shading a point and can only find two nearby previously computed
values in the cache,then it will force the computation of a new value at the current point, and the final
irradiance at that point will be a blend of all three values. So it tends to smooth out the shading.

Increasing this value will generally improve render quality at the expense of render time.

Render Preferences
On the modo Preferences panel there is a specific section for rendering. In this section you will find
controls for defining the number of threads to be used, the size of the geometry cache and Display/
Output Gamma settings.

Render Threads
By default modo automatically detects the number of processors and/or cores in your system and
will use the corresponding number of buckets to render your project. This method of compute load
balancing yields a near linear speed boost with each new processor or core. If you use a system that
supports virtual processors modo will also see these and add additional buckets to the render. If you
want to manually control the number of threads used during rendering you can adjust the thread count
directly on the Preferences panel in the Render subsection. The default value is Automatic but you can
also set this to 1, 2, or 4. As systems with more than 4 processors are coming to market it appears
that we’re going to have to increase those numbers soon!
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Geometry Cache Size

The geometry cache size tells modo how much memory it can use for holding the mesh related
information. This is very important when rendering projects with a lot of micropolygon displacements.
The default setting is 1 gigabyte. If you find your projects are running out of memory for the geometry
cache simply increase this value accordingly.

Default Exposure Gamma

Each project file can have a custom Exposure Gamma which is set on the Render Item. The default value
of 1.6 comes from the Preferences, Rendering subsection. If you prefer to have your images rendered
without gamma correction simply change this value to 1 and all new projects will have the gamma
setting at 1 as well. modo will embed the gamma information into any image format that supports it so if
you load these images into an image editor that reads such data it is easier correct for any unintentional
gamma correction.

Independent Display Gamma

Some facilities that use compositing extensively want to apply the gamma correction in the post
process and as such prefer linear output (gamma of 1). However, the 3D artist may need to view
their rendered images in an approximate gamma adjustment so they can effectively evaluate how the
rendered component will appear once composted and gamma corrected. In this case you can use the
“Independent Display Gamma” which allows you to view the image with one gamma value and save the
image with the standard Exposure Gamma value. In this case the Exposure Gamma is the value that is
saved to the written file and the Display Gamma is the gamma adjustment made to the render display.

Bake UV Border Size

The Bake UV Border Size is a value in pixels that determines how much “bleed” to apply to an image
when baking to UVs. When baked images are applied to the model for rendering any pixel blending will
cause the edges of the baked image to blend into the black surrounding areas outside of the UV data. If
there is no “bleed” pixel blending will cause black seams to appear on the model . The default value of
3 means that after the image is baked a “pad” of 3 pixels will be added just around the outside edges
of the UV map. This value is also used by the 3D painting engine when using Projection Painting as the
brush has to “split” itself to paint across these discontinuous UV edges. In this case, without the UV
border size adjustment the same black seams would appear when painting. Increasing this value can
result in the pixel bleed spilling into actual nearby UV data. It is important to balance this value with the
correct amount of spacing between the UV edges.

Shader Items
The Shader Item is used to store many settings that control general shading option for the project. As
a project can have multiple Shaders which can be masked by groups the Shaders effects can be used
on specific materials or objects to provide very specific control over the project. Shaders can also be
designated to specific “Effects” such as Color or Specularity to add finer granularity to the controls.
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Shading Rate
The Shading Rate (also known as the “Coarse Shading Rate”) determines how finely to shade each
pixel in the materials feeding the selected Shader Item during initial shading. The default value of
1 indicates that the pixel will be evaluated once before being evaluated for further refinement (see
Refinement Threshold). Decreasing the Shading Rate results in a more finely evaluated pixel which
generally yields longer render times. For instance, if you change the value to .5 the pixel is effectively
cut in half horizontally and vertically and each “sub pixel” is evaluated. In this case you have reduced
the rate by half but increased the amount of evaluation by 4 times. Keep this in mind as small changes
to the shading rate can yield large changes to performance. Generally the Shading Rate can be left
at one and further refinement can be achieved via the Antialiasing level or the Refinement Shading
settings. However, in the cases of aliasing seen in reflections or refractions or on procedural textures
it is possible to rectify them via the Shading Rate setting. Since this will effect all pixels evaluated it is
a fairly brute force solution. Therefore, you should manually restrict the pixels that are effected by the
Shading rate by creating Shaders for specific problem areas via Masks and only decrease the Shading
Rates where absolutely necessary.

Direct Illumination Multiplier

Direct Illumination is light coming from traditional 3D light sources such as Directional, Spot, Area,
Distance, Cylinder, Dome, Point and Environment Lights. At the Shader item level it is possible to
globally affect the direct light intensity via the Direct Illumination Multiplier. By default the value is set
to 100%. If we imagine a project with three lights of varying intensity such as 100%, 70% and 30%,
setting the Direct Illumination Multiplier to 50% would drive these values down to 50%. 35% and 15%
respectively. This is often a handy method for tweaking overall light effects as well as balancing Direct
and Indirect light contributions.

Indirect Illumination Multiplier

Indirect Light comes from global illumination sources such as luminous geometry, image based
lighting via environments and simple bounced light from diffuse surfaces. The Indirect Illumination
Multiplier provides a global method for modulating the Indirect light contribution to final render. This
is very useful when Indirect Light sources are too subtle or for simply balancing Direct and Indirect
Light contributions.

Fog Type
The Fog options found on the Shader Item allow a simulated fog effect by applying the fog color to
relevant materials with increased intensity as the geometry is further from the camera.

The Fog Type popup allows you to choose between various fog types. At the moment there is one
option. Seems a little odd doesn’t it? A popup for one choice. Well, eventually there will be more.
Promise. For now, you can use this popup to choose between None and Exponential. The various fog
types are:
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None: This creates no fog. Ha!

Exponential:
This option creates a fog effect that gains intensity exponentially as items become further
from the camera.

Fog Color:
This color component determines the color value that is applied to materials receiving “fog”.

Fog Density:
This percentage value determines how “thick” the fog is just in front of the camera. The default value of
10% indicates that geometry just in front of the camera will have a 10% blend of the fog color.

Use Environment Color

This option is only available when Backdrop Fog has been enabled. With backdrop fog modo adds the
fog color to all materials with increasing intensity as the distance to the camera increases. With Use
Environment Color active the Environment Material or textures will be used to color the fog. This option
will give the illusion that the mesh is fading into the background.
Cast Shadows
There are several toggle options to control visibility of various attributes of the elements feeding the
shader. For instance, with these controls you could create a bright luminous polygon that is visible to
Indirect Illumination but invisible to reflections, ray traced shadows, reflection and the camera. This
would create a nice virtual light element that can be placed anywhere in the scene for illumination
purposes without worrying about it effecting any other visual aspect of the project. The options include:
Cast Shadows- Disabling this toggle will cause all elements controlled by the shader to be ignored
by shadow rays so they do not create any shadows in the scene. Light will simply pass through the
elements. This will not disable shadow effects from indirect illumination as this only affects direct light
sources. Receive Shadows- Disabling this toggle causes the elements to stop receiving ray traced
shadows from other geometry in the project. Visible to Camera- Disabling this toggle will simply hide
any item or element controlled by the shader from the camera. These elements may still appear in
shadows, reflections and refractions even when hidden to camera. Visible to Indirect Light- Indirect
Light is any light calculated during Global Illumination such as luminous geometry, Images used as
light sources and other light bounced from geometry. Toggling this option off will remove the elements
controlled by the shader from Indirect Light calculations. Visibile to Reflection Rays- Disabling this
value will remove the elements controlled by the shader from reflecting in mirror surfaces. Visible to
Refraction Rays- Disabling this value will cause the elements controlled by the shader to be invisible
when looking at them through refractive surfaces.
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Receive Shadows
There are several toggle options to control visibility of various attributes of the elements feeding the
shader. For instance, with these controls you could create a bright luminous polygon that is visible to
Indirect Illumination but invisible to reflections, ray traced shadows, reflection and the camera. This
would create a nice virtual light element that can be placed anywhere in the scene for illumination
purposes without worrying about it effecting any other visual aspect of the project. The options
include:

Cast Shadows:
Disabling this toggle will cause all elements controlled by the shader to be ignored by shadow rays so
they do not create any shadows in the scene. Light will simply pass through the elements. This will not
disable shadow effects from indirect illumination as this only affects direct light sources.

Receive Shadows:
Disabling this toggle causes the elements to stop receiving ray traced shadows from other geometry
in the project.

Visible to Camera:
Disabling this toggle will simply hide any item or element controlled by the shader from the camera.
These elements may still appear in shadows, reflections and refractions even when hidden to camera.

Visible to Indirect Light:

Indirect Light is any light calculated during Global Illumination such as luminous geometry, Images
used as light sources and other light bounced from geometry. Toggling this option off will remove the
elements controlled by the shader from Indirect Light calculations.

Visibile to Reflection Rays:

Disabling this value will remove the elements controlled by the shader from reflecting in mirror
surfaces.

Visible to Refraction Rays:

Disabling this value will cause the elements controlled by the shader to be invisible when looking at
them through refractive surfaces.

Material Settings
The default material element in modo has two tabs, External Material and Internal Material. On these
tabs are all the basic controls for setting up a material. The External tab contains attributes related to
how light bounces off the surface where as the Internal Tab contains attributes for controlling how the
material transmits or emits light.
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Material
The Material layer contains all the base information to create a rendered surface. There are many
settings inside the Material layer and as such its’ property form is divided into two tabs Material Ref
(Reflected) and Material Trans (Transmissive). The first tab contains all material attributes that impact
how much light is reflected from the surface such as Diffuse, Specular and Mirror reflected light. The
Transmissive section controls how light is transmitted through a material.

Diffuse Color Reflection Type Smoothing

Diffuse Amount Blurry Reflection Smoothing Angle
Conserve Energy Reflection Rays Double Sided
Fresnel Percentage Transparent Color Absorption Distance
Specular Color Transparent Amount Subsurface Scattering
Specular Color Refractive Index Subsurface Amount
Roughness Luminous Color Subsurface Color
Anisotropy Luminous Intensity Scattering Distance
Reflection Color Bump Strength Subsurface Samples
Reflection Amount Displacement Distance

Diffuse Amount
The Diffuse Amount acts a multiplier for the Diffuse Color setting. When the value is set to 0% the Color
control becomes disabled and diffuse shading will not be calculated for this material. This is particularly
useful when using Luminous geometry as light sources. Diffuse Amount can be a texture by creating
texture layers and setting the Effect to Diffuse Amount.

Diffuse Color
The diffuse color setting controls the color of the surface when lit by pure white light sources be it
direct or indirect. This is effectively the color of light that bounces of the surface. Diffuse colors can also
be driven beyond traditional color space into high dynamic range values by applying a Diffuse Amount
over 100%.

Conserve Energy
Conserve Energy in the most simple description maintains a physically based blend of diffuse and specular
light reflection. In the images below we can see the effect that Conserve Energy has when changing the
Reflection amount. In these samples the Diffuse value it set to 100% but we can see Conserve Energy (CE)
suppresses diffuse as the Reflection amount increases. The sphere on the right shows the same settings
with CE turned off. Notice how the shading result becomes blown out and unnatural.
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Before we continue with Conserve Energy, let’s talk a moment about Specular and Diffuse shading
effects. While modo (and most 3D renderers) provides control over Direct Diffuse (3D lights) and
Indirect Diffuse (Global Illumination) as well as direct Specular reflection (3D lights) and Mirror
Reflection (from the environment and/or high dynamic range images) it is important to understand
that in reality there is only Diffuse and Specular. The “direct” and “indirect” breakdown we can work
with in the 3D world is a false construct created from necessity and convenience. Having these
values separate gives the artist more creative control but also increases the risk of breaking the rules
of physically based shading. If you plan to use modo as a physically based rendering solution this
concept is of significant importance. To maintain the physically based metaphor you must always keep
your Specular Amount and Reflection Amount identical as well as Specular and Reflection colors as
these settings are controlling the two halves of a single real world effect; the reflection of light. In the
case of Reflection Amount and Color you are controlling indirect light reflection and in the case of
Specular Amount and Color you are controlling the effect of direct 3D light reflection. In reality there
is no such separation.
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The basic idea behind energy conservation as it relates to shading is that a given photon hitting an
opaque surface can either be absorbed, or it can be scattered in a random direction (diffuse), or
it can bounce off in a direction near the mirror angle (specular and reflection). A realistic energy
conserving surface can never reflect more photons than are hitting it, but unfortunately that’s what the
non-physical shaders in most CG programs do. For example it is common for an artist to set a Diffuse
value of 80% or more combined with a Specular or Mirror Reflection of 30% or more. The combination
of these channels results in more than 100% of the energy being reflected in some way. To make the
problem even worse, parametric materials such as Fresnel or other gradients can drive these numbers
up behind the users back. All of these things cause a result which is not physically accurate. Conserve
Energy helps to correct for this.

CE in modo affects three material channels. It changes the specular BRDF (which only affects light
source items), it reduces diffuse shading based on the specular amount and the Fresnel effect and it
also reduces diffuse shading as the mirror reflectivity amount goes up. All of these things result in a
more physically accurate balance and end result.

There are some things to watch out for when using Conserve Energy. For instance, in most cases the
specular value should be quite low when using Conserve Energy. In a non-physical BRDF like Blinn-
Phong (what you get when Conserve Energy is off), the Specular Amount controls the maximum height of
the highlight curve. For example, to get a full white highlight on a black object you would set it to 100%.

However in a physically based energy conserving BRDF, the Specular Amount is the amount of
incoming light energy that is specularly reflected, which you can visualize as the area under the curve.
The height of the curve is dictated by the conservation of energy, so if you make the highlight narrower
(by lowering Roughness), the height will shoot up to preserve the area under the curve. So highlights
can be full white (and beyond) even with low Specular Amounts. This is how it works in the real world,
where non-metallic materials rarely have specular components above 5% (except at glancing angles).
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Fresnel Percentage

The logo rendered with a single blue material. On the left Fresnel is at 0% and on the right 100%.

The Fresnel setting is part of modo’s physically based shading model. Fresnel, named for French
physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel who is also famous for the Fresnel lens seen on film sets and in
Lighthouses. The Fresnel effect as it applies to modo is related to the variation of a surfaces specular,
reflection and transparency amounts as the angle of incidence between the surface and the viewer
changes. If you have ever been annoyed when sitting at a bad angle to the TV such that all you see
is the room reflected you have seen the Fresnel effect. The simple description is that as the angle of
the material becomes more perpendicular to the camera specular and reflection values increase while
transparency values decrease.

The technical description of the Fresnel effect is the reflection and specular amount at grazing incidence
(perpendicular to the normal). For conductors (metals for example) it should be 100%, in addition to
an already high base reflectance value and it should be close to that for smooth dielectric (glass and
plastics) materials but with a very low base reflectance value. Transparency gets multiplied by one
minus the Fresnel amount at grazing incidence (as more energy is reflected, less is transmitted).
The effect at intermediate angles follows Schlick’s approximation, which is reasonably accurate for
unpolarized light.

Specular Amount
The Specular Amount is multiplied with the color to create the overall Specular highlight. Increasing
the value will result in a more intense highlight while decreasing the value will mute the effect.
When this value is 0% the Specular Color, Roughness and Anisotropy controls become disabled and
specularity is not calculated.
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Specular Color
Specular Color is used to simulate light sources reflecting from the surface making the material look
“shinier”. The Specular color setting allows that highlight to be tinted. When lights reflect from a surface
they usually reflect some amount of color from that surface. Some paint and other coatings can even
cause the reflected light to have a different color than the underlying visible paint surface. It should
be noted that this value is only relevant when using direct light sources (3D lights) and will not cause
geometry based indirect lights to reflect. The Specular Color value is multiplied by the Specular Value
prior to shading. This allows high dynamic range colors to be used. If the Specular Value is set to 0%
the color control becomes disabled and secularity is not computed during rendering.

Roughness
The Roughness setting affects both the Specular highlight as well as ray traced and environmental
reflections (reflection roughness only occurs when the Blurry Reflection option is active). Increasing
this value will widen the reflection creating a much broader specular highlight. When used with Blurry
Reflections, a very high value will yield a very distorted reflection. In this case the number of Reflection
Rays will most likely need to be increased to reduce graininess.

Anisotropy
Anisotropy is the effect of distorted reflections created on surfaces with a very fine bump or grooves as
we can see in the image above. Anisotropy is defined as having different values according to different
direction of measurement. In the context of modo rendering this relates to the distortion of specular
reflections from direct and indirect light sources. Anisotropy can effect blurry reflections as well as
specular highlights (Conserve Energy must be active for direct specular highlights to be affected).

Technical speak:
An Anisotropy value of 100% means the “scratches” are aligned with the surface’s dPdU vectors (the
tangents in the direction of increasing U), and - 100% means they’re aligned with dPdV.

Translation:
If you can imagine taking sand paper and rubbing across your UV map and how that would effect the
surface of your model this is basically what Anisotropy accomplishes. Consider a uniform set of UVs such
as those on a sphere. Dragging the sand paper to the right and left will create reflections that spread up and
down. This is the equivalent of dpDu, or scratches along the U axis. Scratching along the V (up and down)
will create reflections that tend to blur to the right and left as the grooves deflect the light.

Here the “scratches” are along the U axis by setting the value to 100%. Here we have changed the value
to –100% and the “scratches” are now along V.

Reflection Amount
The Reflection Amount simply determines how much light is reflected from the surface. At 100% the
surface is effectively a perfect mirror where as lower values will create a more muted reflection effect.
The amount of reflection can also be modulated by the Fresnel setting. Typically if you are creating a
surface with very high reflectance you can also decrease the Diffuse amount significantly.
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Reflection Color
The Reflection Color determines the tint on reflected light. By default the Color is white which reflects
light without tint so that at 100% Reflection value anything reflected in the surface would appear as if
you were seeing it in a mirror. Setting the Reflection to something other than white will tint all reflected
elements with that color. Reflection Color requires a non-zero reflection amount to become enabled.

Reflection Type
The Reflection type popup allows the artist to choose between “Full Scene” reflection evaluation or
“Environment” only. This setting is effectively switching between ray traced reflections and an environment
map technique. The Full Scene option will be more accurate at the expense of render times.

Blurry Reflection
When activated this feature will create a blurred reflection with the blur intensity being driven by the
Roughness setting. It is important to understand that blurry reflections cause multiple reflection rays
to be evaluated, each ray will be perturbed from the actual surface normal for every pixel. The higher
the Roughness value the more reflection rays will be required to create reduce grain in the reflection.
If you consider that when the roughness value is increased the angle of each ray also increases you
can imagine that the resulting sample from each ray can be quite different from one another. As such
a higher number of rays is required to get an accurate average sample.

Reflection Rays
This value us only active when using Blurry Reflections. Increasing the Reflection Rays amount will
improve the accuracy of the blurred reflection and reduce “grain” at the expense of computation time.
Typically larger Roughness settings will require larger Reflection Ray settings as a wide spread of blur
will need more samples to be accurate. If render times are a concern you can decrease the Roughness
value rather than simply increasing the number of rays.

Bump Strength
The Bump Strength value allows a single control per material for modifying the amount of bump on
a surface. The actual bump details come from texture layers driving the bump effect and the material
level Bump Strength acts as a multiplier to create the final result.

Displacement Distance
The Displacement Distance determines the maximum range vertices can be created or moved away
from the original mesh surface during micro-polygon tessellation. With the default value of 2 cm no
vertex can be created or displaced more than 2 cm away from the original vertices. Depending on the
meshes scale this value may need to be increased significantly. Further, when textures are applied
to the displacement channel if the combined texture value should become greater than 100% the
resulting surface will appear to be clipped.

The maximum displacement distance is different from other material parameters because the renderer
needs to know it way in advance, before any textures are evaluated. At the start of rendering, all
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surfaces are just empty bounding boxes. The vertices and polygons of a particular surface are only
created in the geometry cache when a ray pierces the bounding box of the surface. For displaced
surfaces, these bounding boxes must be “padded” with the maximum displacement distance in order
to avoid holes, since displacement can cause geometry that would normally appear in a later bucket
to show up in an earlier one. For this reason, the actual distance a vertex moves can never exceed the
displacement distance, therefore texture values outside the range of -100% to 100% are clipped. It is
possible to specify such a range to increase contrast.

Smoothing
Smoothing is a method to use shading tricks to give the illusion that the geometry has more detail than
it actually does. Without smoothing the geometric faces would be visible as facets. The smoothing
amount is set as a percentage rather than a simple toggle so that you have the flexibility to “fade” in the
smoothing amount or even drive it above 100% or below 0% to create interesting effects. At values over
100% the smoothing effect will result in “pillowing” around each polygon.

Smoothing Angle
Smoothing uses the Smoothing Angle to determine which faces should have smoothing applied. The
smoothing angle sets a maximum angle tolerance between two polygons. If the angle between the polys
is greater than the smoothing angle no smoothing will occur. This is useful so that hard edges, such as
cubes, are not smoothed across. The default value of 60 degrees is a good general case value.

Double Sided
The Double Sided toggle enables shading to occur from both sides of a polygon regardless of the normal
direction. By default this value is off so that polygons that do not face the camera seem invisible as
they only have one side. It should be noted that in some cases double sided polygons can cause render
errors with ray tracing of shadows and other effects. The Double Sided flag should be used sparingly
and never to correct poorly modeled meshes.

Transparent Amount
The Transparent Amount acts as a multiplier for the Transparent Color setting. When the value is set to 0%
the Color control becomes disabled and transparency will not be calculated for this material. Transparency
Amount can be texture by creating texture layers and setting the Effect to Transparency Amount.

Transparent Color
The Transparent Color determines how to tint the rays as they penetrate the transparent surface. Since
many transparent materials such as glass should have no diffuse amount whatsoever the transparent
color is used for tinting the material. At the default pure white a material that is 100% transparent will
become completely invisible unless there are reflections and/or specular highlights. By changing the
transparency color the material will indeed appear (as modo will simply tint whatever the camera sees
behind the surface).
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Absorption Distance

The simplest ways to explain Absorption Distance is that it is the thickness of a transparent material at
which a white background (RGB = 1, 1, 1) will appear to be the material’s transparency color. A thinner
slice of the material will appear more clear, while a much thicker slice might look almost opaque. The
actual falloff is determined by Beer’s Law, just as in the real world.

The distance control determines how far a ray can travel after penetrating the surface without being
completely attenuated to the Absorption color setting. If a ray passes through a transparent surface
and almost immediately strikes another there will be very little Absorption color added to the result.
Whereas a ray that penetrates the surface and then travels beyond the Absorption Thickness value
without hitting another surface will be colored nearly opaquely using the Absorption color setting.
Let’s have a look at an example. In this image the edges of the water are very shallow. Which is to say
the water surface is very close to the lake bed surface so as rays travel through the water surface they
strike the bottom very quickly and as such get very little absorption tinting. However, at the middle
of the lake the ray travels quite far and as such gets a significant amount of tint added to the water
surface. This gives the illusion of depth. Nice.
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You can get “old-style” transparency, in which the white background seen through the transparent
material will always appear to be the transparency color no matter how thick the material was, by just
leaving the Absorption Distance at zero (the default value).

Refractive Index
The Refractive Index determines how far the a light ray is bent when it travels through the material.
The higher the value the more distorted the refracted items will become. For instance, a value of 1.0 is
equivalent to light travelling through air and will not bend the rays at all. Increasing the value to 1.333
would approximate the amount of distortion that occurs when light travels through water. This setting
requires the surface have some amount of transparency active.
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Index of Refraction Table
Gemstones
Agate 1.544 - 1.553
Alexandrite 1.746 - 1.755
Almandine 1.75 - 1.83
Amber 1.539 - 1.545
Amethyst 1.532 - 1.554
Ammolite 1.52 -1.68
Andalusite 1.629 - 1.650
Apatite 1.632 - 1.42
Aquamarine 1.567-1.590
Axenite 1.674 - 1.704
Beryl 1.57 - 1.60
Beryl, Red 1.570 - 1.598
Chalcedony 1.544 - 1.553
Chrome Tourmaline, 1.61 - 1.64
Citrine 1.532 - 1.554
Clinohumite 1.625 - 1.675
Coral 1.486 - 1.658
Crystal 2.000
Crysoberyl, Catseye 1.746 - 1.755
Danburite 1.627 - 1.641
Diamond 2.417
Emerald 1.560 - 1.605
Emerald Catseye 1.560 - 1.605
Flourite 1.434
Garnet, Grossular 1.72 - 1.80
Garnet, Andradite 1.88 - 1.94
Garnet, Demantiod 1.880 - 1.9
Garnet, Mandarin 1.790 - 1.8
Garnet, Pyrope 1.73 - 1.76
Garnet, Rhodolite 1.740 - 1.770
Garnet, Tsavorite 1.739 - 1.744
Garnet, Uvarovite 1.74 - 1.87
Hauyn 1.490 - 1.505
Iolite 1.522 - 1.578
Jade, Jadeite 1.64 - 1.667
Jade, Nephrite 1.600 - 1.641
Jet 1.660
Kunzite 1.660 - 1.676
Labradorite 1.560 - 1.572
Lapis Lazuli 1.50 - 1.55
Moonstone 1.518 - 1.526
Morganite 1.585 - 1.594
Obsidian 1.50
Opal, Black 1.440 - 1.460
Opal, Fire 1.430 - 1.460
Opal, White 1.440 - 1.460
Oregon Sunstone 1.560 - 1.572
Padparadja 1.760 - 1.773
Pearl 1.53 - 1.69
Peridot 1.635 - 1.690
Quartz 1.544 - 1.553
Ruby 1.757 - 1.779
Sapphire 1.757 - 1.779
Sapphire, Star 1.760 - 1.773
Spessarite 1.79 - 1.81
Spinel 1.712 - 1.717
Spinel, Blue 1.712 - 1.747
Spinel, Red 1.708 - 1.735
Star Ruby 1.76 - 1.773
Tanzanite 1.690-1.7
Tanzanite 1.692 - 1.700
Topaz 1.607 - 1.627
Topaz, Imperial 1.605-1.640
Tourmaline 1.603 - 1.655
Tourmaline, Blue 1.61 - 1.64
Tourmaline, Catseye 1.61 - 1.64
Tourmaline, Green 1.61 - 1.64
Tourmaline, Paraiba 1.61 - 1.65
Tourmaline, Red 1.61 - 1.64
Zircon 1.777 - 1.987
Zirconia, Cubic 2.173 - 2.21
Metals
Aluminum 1.39
Copper 2.43
Gold 0.166
Mylar 1.65
Nickel 1.08
Platinum 2.33
Silver 1.35
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Titanium 2.16 Glass, Flint, 29% lead 1.569

Common Liquids Glass, Flint, 55% lead 1.669
Acetone 1.36 Glass, Flint, 71% lead 1.805
Alcohol, Ethyl (grain) 1.36 Glass, Fused Silica 1.459
Alcohol, Methyl (wood) 1.329 Glass, Pyrex 1.474
Beer 1.345 Lucite 1.495
Carbonated Beverages 1.34 - 1.356 Nylon 1.53
Fruit Juice Obsidian 1.50
Chlorine (liq) 1.385 Plastic 1.460 - 1.55
Cranberry Juice (25%) 1.351 Plexiglas 1.488
Glycerin 1.473 Salt 1.516
Honey, 13% water content 1.504
Honey, 17% water content 1.494
Honey, 21% water content 1.484
Ice 1.309
Milk 1.35
Oil, Clove 1.535
Oil, Lemon 1.481
Oil, Neroli 1.482
Oil, Orange 1.473
Oil, Safflower 1.466
Oil, vegetable (50 C) 1.47
Oil of Wintergreen 1.536
Rum, White 1.361
Shampoo 1.362
Sugar Solution 30% 1.38
Sugar Solution 80% 1.49
Turpentine 1.472
Vodka 1.363
Water (0 C) 1.33346
Water (100 C) 1.31766
Water (20 C) 1.33283
Whisky 1.356
Common Transparent Materials
Eye, Aqueous humor 1.33
Eye, Cornea 1.38
Eye, Lens 1.41
Eye, Vitreous humor 1.34
Glass, Arsenic Trisulfide 2.04
Glass, Crown (common) 1.52
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Subsurface Scattering
Subsurface scattering is the effect of light bouncing around inside a surface and “tinting” prior to
exiting. This is often most obvious in materials like marble but is essential to creating realistic wax
or flesh materials. Subsurface scattering also helps simulating liquids such as milk appear more
natural. In humans “SSS” is most often witnessed when thin areas on the ears seem to turn red from
back light as the light is being tinted by the tissues underneath the skin itself. The way subsurface
scattering works in modo is to measure the distance light travels through and along the material
and then tint that light before it leaves the surface. The color and amount of the tint is determined
by the Subsurface Color and Scattering Distance. For instance, if the Scattering distance is set to 1
centimeter, the Subsurface Color is set to a light blue (R= .75, G= .75, B= 1) and the light shining on the
surface is pure white, any light that travels 1 cm before exiting the material will be tinted to .75, .75, 1
(light blue). If the light travels 2cm before exiting the light will be tinted .56, .56, 1 (darker blue). This is
because as the light travels further each channel (RGB) is reduced according to the initial color. Let’s
consider the Red channel. When the light entered the surface it was pure white so the Red channel
started at 1. Once the light traveled 1 centimeter the light was attenuated to .75 on the Red channel.
Traveling another centimeter would reduce the Red channel by the same amount (75% of the initial
value) which yields .5625 as the value for the Red channel. In this way as the light travels further prior
to exiting the material the channel values are reduced and cause the material to appear darker where
there are thicker areas. Continuing this formula through a total of 8 centimeters the Red and Green
channels would be attenuated to a mere 10% (.75 * .75 * .75 * .75 * .75 * .75 * .75 * .75 = .1). With this
in mind you can imagine that to create materials that seem to be more translucent you would want
higher scattering distance values so that more light escapes the surfaces with less tint/darkening.

Related links:
Subsurface Scattering
Subsurface Amount
Subsurface Color
Scattering Distance
Subsurface Samples
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Here we can see an example of subsurface scattering through a marble surface. The following image
shows subsurface scattering in wax. Here we can see the effect of subsurface on liquid. Subsurface
effects can even be used to give “cartoony” renders a little more “punch”.

Subsurface Amount
Subsurface scattering contributes to the diffuse shading of a material. The Subsurface Amount is a
percentage value that determines the contribution of diffuse shading made by subsurface scattering.
It is a good idea to keep this in mind in order to balance the percentages between Diffuse Color and
Subsurface Amount depending on which effect you prefer for final shading. Also, combining high
Diffuse Amounts and high Subsurface Amounts can yield unnatural shading results. Hey, if that’s what
you’re into, there is nothing wrong with that.

Related links:
Subsurface Scattering
Subsurface Amount
Subsurface Color
Scattering Distance
Subsurface Samples

Subsurface Color
The Subsurface Color is the color value that will be used to tint the light as it is attenuated through the
material. This setting and the Scattering Distance work together to determine how far the light must
travel to be tinted.

Related links:
Subsurface Scattering
Subsurface Amount
Subsurface Color
Scattering Distance
Subsurface Samples
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Scattering Distance
The Scattering Distance determines how far light must travel through the surface prior to exiting in
order to be fully tinted by the Subsurface Color. If the light travels beyond the scattering distance it
will be further attenuated according to the original Subsurface color.

Related links:
Subsurface Scattering
Subsurface Amount
Subsurface Color
Scattering Distance
Subsurface Samples

Subsurface Samples
The Subsurface Samples controls the quality of the subsurface shading. Increasing this value will
improve the quality of the effect at the expense of render speed. The default setting is 64.

Related links:
Subsurface Scattering
Subsurface Amount
Subsurface Color
Scattering Distance
Subsurface Samples

Luminous Intensity
The Luminous Intensity is multiplier that drives the brightness of the Luminous color as it is emitted
from the surface. This is different than Diffuse Amount in that Diffuse requires some amount of light
to hit the surface whereas Luminous comes from the surface itself. It is accurate to think of Luminous
surfaces as light sources - particularly when using Global Illumination. The Luminous Intensity is
multiplied to the Luminous Color. By default the Value is zero which results in the Luminous color
control being disabled and as such it is not calculated. If you plan to use geometry as a light source
with Luminosity and Global Illumination it is advised that Diffuse Value be set to 0%. This will prevent
the geometry from increasing render time by being included in the diffuse shading pass.

Luminous Color
The Luminous color is the color that is emitted from the surface. This is different than Diffuse color
in that Diffuse requires some amount of light to hit the surface whereas Luminous comes from the
surface itself. It is accurate to think of Luminous surfaces as light sources particularly when using
Global Illumination. The Luminous Color is multiplied by the Luminous Value. By default the Value is
zero which results in the Luminous color control being disabled and as such it is not calculated. If you
plan to use geometry as a light source with Luminosity and Global Illumination it is advised that Diffuse
Value be set to 0%. This will prevent the geometry from increasing render time by being included in
the diffuse shading pass.
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Texture Layers
There are several texture item types that provide a wide number of options for creating image based or
procedurally generated textures to modulate the various attributes of the material.

Texture Effect
All Texture layers can modulate any of the various texture Effects. These Effects are channels such as
Diffuse Color, Bump, Displacement, Roughness, etc. The Effect is set via the right-most column of the
shader tree. By right mouse clicking on this column you can set the Texture layer to any of the relevant
Effects. The Effects available are:

For Material Textures

Bump Luminous Color For Environment Textures

Diffuse Amount Normal Environment Color
Diffuse Color Reflection Amount Group Mask
Displacement Reflection Color Layer Mask
Driver A Roughness For Light Textures
Driver B Specular Amount Group Mask
Driver C Specular Color Layer Mask
Driver D Subsurface Amount Light Color
Group Mask Subsurface Color Light Diffuse Amount
Layer Mask Transparent Amount Light Shadow Color
Luminous Amount Transparent Color Light Specular Amount

Cellular
The Cellular texture is procedural and has 2 zones, the Cell and the Filler. The texture will modulate
from one zone to the other based on the particular algorithm and user settings. Each zone can have a
value, color and alpha value. Which of these are used is dependent on the Effect channel to which the
texture will be applied. For instance, if the texture is to be used as a displacement the Value settings
would be utilized whereas setting the texture Effect to Luminous would use the Color and Alpha settings
for Cell and Filler. The Cellular texture is incredibly versatile and can create effects ranging from veins
and cobblestone to crumply water and lizard skins.

Cell Value
Determines the magnitude of the texture where the Cell is most concentrated. This value will ramp to the
Filler value. This control is only active when the texture layers Effect is set to a non-color attribute.
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Cell Color:
Determines the color of the texture where the Cell is most concentrated. This color will ramp to the Filler
Color. The Color option is only used when the texture layer is set to an Effect that requires color.

Cell Alpha:
Determines the alpha value of the texture where the Cell is most concentrated. This alpha value will
ramp to the Filler Alpha value. The Alpha option is used in conjunction with the Color setting.

Filler Value:
Determines the magnitude between the Cells. This value will ramp to the Filler value. This control is
only active when the texture layers Effect is set to a non- color attribute.

Filler Color:
Determines the color of the texture between the Cells. This color will ramp to the Filler Color. The
Color option is only used when the texture layer is set to an Effect that requires color.

Filler Alpha:
Determines the alpha value of the texture between the Cells. This alpha value will ramp to the Filler
Alpha value. The Alpha option is used in conjunction with the Color setting.

Type:
The Type popup allows you to quickly change between the styles of Cellular texture. The options are
Round and Angular. These options determine how the texture interpolates between its sample points.

Angular:
This option creates a somewhat linear interpolation between the sample points in the texture which
results in an effect similar to cobblestone in the default setting. This mode can be used to generate
effects ranging from lunar surface to craggy skin.

Round:
The Round type of cellular texture creates circular spots randomly distributed based on the texture.
In the default settings the texture looks simply like overlapping soft edged dots. Adjusting the settings
can yield effects ranging from cauliflower to chipped rock.

Cell Width:
This setting determines the maximum scale of the texture details. At 100% the maximum scale of any
single detail in the texture would be equal to the Texture size as set by the texture locator size values.
If you want to change the scale of the details of the texture this is the value to use. To set the overall
scale of the texture you will modify the texture scale on the Texture Locator tab.

Transition Width:
This value controls the amount of gradient falloff around each of the texture details. Driving this value
over 100% can also yield interesting effects.
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Noise
All “noise” style procedurals can be “layered” to create a fractal effect. The traditional style of fractal
includes layering a noise pattern multiple times with each new layer increasing in frequency (smaller
details and more of them) and fading in value. When you add a Cellular or Noise texture in modo the
default settings are not “fractal” in that they only use a Frequency value of one, this means there is only
one “layer” of the procedural effect. Adding multiple frequencies will create a more fractal look to the
texture and will invoke the

Frequency Ratio and Amplitude Ratio controls.

Frequencies:
Determines the number of “layers” used by the procedural. When set to less than 2 the Frequency and
Amplitude Ratios are disabled. Adding more than one frequency increases the detail in the procedural
texture which increases computation times.

Frequency Ratio:
The Frequency Ratio determines how much detail to add into each additional application of the noise
texture when the Frequencies value is set to a value greater than 1. The default value of 2 will result in
the second frequency of the texture being twice as high as the first. The visual effect of this is a pattern
that seems to be half as large but with twice as many occurrences. With more than 2 frequencies each
additional “layer” of the noise will have twice the frequency of the last.

Amplitude Ratio:
This value determines the strength of each additional “layer” of noise when frequencies are greater
than 1. By default the setting is at .5 which yields an effect where each additional set of frequencies
have half the value of the previous.

Bias:
Increasing this value will cause the texture to favor the Cell color or value over the Filler whereas
decreasing the value causes the Filler color or value to be favored.

Gain:
The Gain setting is similar to a gamma control that effects the falloff of the gradient ramp between the
cell and filler values. Setting the Gain to 100% will create a very sharp falloff effect whereas setting
the value to 0 would create a plateau around the value or color mid-point with sharp falloff on either
extreme of the gradient.

Checker
The Checker texture uses two colors or values and creates a pattern of alternating squares that
resembles a Checker board.
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Value 1
Determines the magnitude of the texture at the center of each sample location. This value is blended
into the Value 2 based on proximity to surrounding sample points. This control is only active when the
texture layers Effect is set to a non- color attribute.

Color 1
Sets the color that will be used at the center of each sample location. This color is blended into the
Color 2 value based on proximity to the surrounding sample points. The Color option is only used
when the texture layer is set to an Effect that requires color.

Alpha 1
Determines the alpha value of the texture to correlate with Color 1.

Value 2
Sets the value that will be used at the between the sample points. This value is blended into the Value
1 based on proximity to the surrounding sample points. The Value option is only used when the texture
layer is set to a non-color attribute.

Color 2
Sets the color that will be used at the between the sample points. This color is blended into the Color
1 value based on proximity to the surrounding sample points. The Color option is only used when the
texture layer is set to an Effect that requires color.

Alpha 2
Determines the alpha value of the texture to correlate with Color 1.

Type
There are two types of checker texture, Square and Cube.

Square:
This creates a two dimensional checker pattern that is projected through the mesh based on the
Projection Axis of the Texture Locator.

Cube:
Creates a grid of three-dimensional cubes that when intersected by the geometry reveals a checker
pattern that can be seen from all angles.

Transition Width:
This value determines the size of the gradient ramp between the checkers along their borders. Using
large values will create a softer border and decreasing it will create a very sharp edge on the borders.
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Bias:
Increasing this value will cause the texture to favor the primary color or value over the Filler whereas
decreasing the value causes the secondary color or value to be favored.

Gain:
The Gain setting is similar to a gamma control that effects the falloff of the gradient ramp between the
cell and filler values. Setting the Gain to 100% will create a very sharp falloff effect whereas setting
the value to 0 would create a plateau around the value or color mid-point with sharp falloff on either
extreme of the gradient.

Constant
The Constant texture simply generates a constant Value or Color layer. This can be useful for setting
a single color or value to a specific Effect without the need to create an entire Material. For instance,
with a Constant texture set to Diffuse Color and applied inside an Item or Polygon mask the masked
elements could use all the Material settings from the last Material beneath the mask but have its own
Diffuse Color setting.

Dots
The Dots texture creates a grid like pattern of dots across the surface of the mesh. These dots default
to fairly uniformly positioned and hard edged but can be modified for different placements and soft
ramped dots.

Dot Value
Determines the magnitude of the texture where the Dot is most concentrated. This value will ramp to the
Filler value. This control is only active when the texture layers Effect is set to a non-color attribute.

Dot Color
Determines the color of the texture where the Dot is most concentrated. This color will ramp to the Filler
Color. The Color option is only used when the texture layer is set to an Effect that requires color.

Dot Alpha
Determines the alpha value of the texture where the Dot is most concentrated. This alpha value will
ramp to the Filler Alpha value. The Alpha option is used in conjunction with the Color setting.

Filler Value
Determines the magnitude between the Dots. This value will ramp to the Filler value. This control is only
active when the texture layers Effect is set to a non- color attribute.

Filler Color
Determines the color of the texture between the Dots. This color will ramp to the Filler Color. The Color
option is only used when the texture layer is set to an Effect that requires color.
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Filler Alpha
Determines the alpha value of the texture between the Dots. This alpha value
will ramp to the Filler Alpha value. The Alpha option is used in conjunction with
the Color setting.

Type:
The Type parameter changes the method for applying the dots to the surface.

Square
The default Square mode creates a series of perfectly aligned rows and columns of dots that are
projected in 2D against the mesh. You can see this effect in the image above. In this image the UV
map projection type was used.

Hexagon
This mode is similar to the Square method with the exception that the dots are shifted from row to row
such that the filler creates a hexagonal pattern. The image above uses the UV map projection style.

Cube
This type setting creates a three dimensional array of spheres that intersects with the surface of the
mesh. For any projection type other than UV, which causes the dots to lay perfectly on the surface,
the mesh will intersect the spheres at different cross sections resulting in dots of varying thickness
as you can see in the image above. This image uses the Cubic projection style.

Dot Width:
This setting controls the diameter of the dots with 100% creating dots that meet adjacent dots edge
to edge.

Transition Width:
The Transition Width creates a smooth ramp blend from the Dot color or value to the Filler color or
value. This is set as a percentage of the distance between the dot and the filler. Extreme numbers can
be used to create interesting effects. Don’t be shy!

Bias:
Increasing this value will cause the texture to favor the Dot color or value over the Filler whereas
decreasing the value causes the Filler color or value to be favored.

Gain:
The Gain setting is similar to a gamma control that effects the falloff of the gradient ramp between the
dot and filler values. Setting the Gain to 100% will create a very sharp falloff effect whereas setting
the value to 0 would create a plateau around the value or color mid-point with sharp falloff on either
extreme of the gradient.
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Gradient Texture
The Gradient texture layer is an incredibly powerful asset in the shading arsenal. Gradients provide a
method for creating parametric materials. Put simply, gradients remap colors or values based on some
input. For instance, with a gradient texture you could tell a surface to ramp from red to yellow based on
the slope of the surface. Like this! There are several input parameters to choose from which makes the
Gradient texture incredibly powerful.

Input Parameters:
Bump Height:
When set to Bump Height the Gradient is driven by any Bump Map textures that are effecting the same
material and . The input value becomes a percentage where 100% is the highest peak of the bump
texture. If there are no texture layers driving the bump map effect the Gradient will be ineffective.

Distance to camera:
Modulates the value as a function of the physical distance to the camera. Pretty straight forward, right?
How about fading luminosity as the surface gets further from the camera. That would be cool. Done.

Displacement Height:
Similar to Bump Height this input parameter is driven by any DIsplacement texture layers below the
Gradient in the Shader Tree.

Incidence angle:
This is the angle between the camera and the surface being evaluated. Surfaces that face the camera
head on have an incidence angle of 0 while the edges that face away (perpendicular) to the camera
have a value of 90 degrees. This setting is often used to simulate the Fresnel effect.

Slope:
This is simply the angle of the surface normal as compared to the World axes.

Texture U:
The Gradient will read the texture coordinates from the UV map and
modulate color, alpha or Value based on the U value of the map.

Texture V:
The Gradient will read the texture coordinates from the UV map and
modulate color, alpha or Value based on the V value of the map.

Texture Value:
This setting will force the Gradient to modulate the Texture layer directly beneath it regardless of that
Texture’s Effect setting.
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Diffuse:
When set to modulate a specific Effect, the Gradient will read and modify the composite of all texture
layers that are beneath the Gradient and set to the Effect in question.

Displace:
When set to modulate a specific Effect, the Gradient will read and modify the composite of all texture
layers that are beneath the Gradient and set to the Effect in question.

Driver A, B, C, D:
The Driver setting will read any Texture or combination of Textures whose Effect is set to the same Driver.
This allows you to create Texture layers that can drive multiple Effects via multiple Gradient textures.

Luminous Amount:
When set to modulate a specific Effect, the Gradient will read and modify the composite of all texture
layers that are beneath the Gradient and set to the Effect in question.

Reflective Amount:
When set to modulate a specific Effect, the Gradient will read and modify the composite of all texture
layers that are beneath the Gradient and set to the Effect in question.

Roughness:
When set to modulate a specific Effect, the Gradient will read and modify the composite of all texture
layers that are beneath the Gradient and set to the Effect in question.

Specular Amount:
When set to modulate a specific Effect, the Gradient will read and modify the composite of all texture
layers that are beneath the Gradient and set to the Effect in question.

Subsurface Amount:
When set to modulate a specific Effect, the Gradient will read and modify the composite of all texture
layers that are beneath the Gradient and set to the Effect in question.

Transparent Amount:
When set to modulate a specific Effect, the Gradient will read and modify the composite of all texture
layers that are beneath the Gradient and set to the Effect in question.
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Grid

The Grid texture creates a grid pattern between two value or color settings; the Line Value/Color and
the Filler Value/Color. The pattern of the lines is determined by the Type setting and their thickness by
the Line Width value. Between the lines and the filler exists a transition zone which is determined by
the Transition Width.

Line Value:
Determines the value of the texture where the lines appear. This control is only active when the texture’s
effect requires a value rather than a color.

Line Color:
Determines the color of the texture where lines appear. This control is only active when the texture’s
effect requires color rather than a value input.

Line Alpha:
Determines the alpha value of the texture where lines appear. This control is only active when the
texture’s effect requires color rather than a value input.

Filler Value:
Determines the value of the texture where there are no lines. This control is only active when the
texture’s effect requires a value rather than a color.

Filler Color:
Determines the color of the texture where there are no lines. This control is only active when the
texture’s effect requires color rather than a value input.

Line Alpha:
Determines the alpha value of the texture where there are no lines. This control is only active when the
texture’s effect requires color rather than a value input.

Type:
The Grid can be generated in many different styles. These styles are determined by the Type setting.
The various options include Line, Triangle, Square, Hexagon, and Cube.

Line:
This pattern consists of parallel straight lines. The orientation of the lines are determined by the Texture
Locator Axis setting.

Triangle:
This pattern interconnects the series of parallel lines with additional diagonal lines which intersect to
create triangles.
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Square:
Two sets of lines running perpendicular to each other to create a square shaped grid. This is the
default setting as it creates what we traditionally visualize when thinking of a “grid.”

Hexagon:
One series of parallel lines is intersected by a series of interconnecting lines which create hexagons
at each of the intersection points.

Cube:
This pattern is similar to Square with the key difference being that it is a truly three-dimensional texture
with a third set of parallel lines that extend the texture back in the third dimension (whereas the Square
pattern can be thought of as a two dimensional pattern that is extruded into the third dimension).

Line Width:
This setting determines the width of the lines as a percentage of the texture area. Setting this value
higher results in thicker lines until the lines completely cover the surface at 100%. Reducing the value
results in thinner lines.

Tip: When using extremely small values to create very thin lines make sure to leave a small amount of Transition
Width as this will provide an antialiasing effect on the fine texture.

Transition Width:
This setting determines the width of the gradient ramp between the line value or color and the filler
value or color.

Bias:
The bias control will cause the texture to “favor” either the Line or Filler value or color. By increasing
the bias more of the Line value or color will appear while decreasing the number will force more of
the Filler color into the gradient blend.

Gain:
The gain control adjusts the falloff curve in the gradient ramp. Using a very high value closer to 100%
will create a very sharp falloff at the edges of the gradient. In this case the falloff curve would be an
s-curve with a sharp vertical line at the midpoint. Using small numbers closer to 0% will favor a mid-
tone value. The s-curve used for the falloff in this case would have a long horizontal line.

Image Map
The Image Map texture allows you to apply a bitmap image as a texture. The image can be mapped
via UV coordinates or as a projection. These controls are handled through the texture locator. On the
texture itself there are controls for choosing the image, antialiasing, and value remapping.
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Image:
This pop-up choice allows you to select or load an image to be applied.

Antialiasing:
This check box enables or disables texture filtering for the selected image layer.

Antialiasing Strength:
Active only when Antialiasing is enabled, this setting
allows you to control the amount of antialiasing on the image. Setting this value
above 100% will create a blurring effect.

Minimum Spot:
Let’s start by saying you probably don’t need to adjust this value. The default of 1 means that the spot
size is accurate to the sub pixel level. Increasing the minimum spot size is mostly useful for blurring an
image or reducing details when using an image for an environment map. Now to explain what it actually
does. The “Spot” size relates to the spot created on the surface of a mesh when intersected by a ray.
Rays are actually conical; think of the beam of light from a flashlight. The further the ray’s origin is from
the surface that it intersects the larger the spot will be. Further, if the ray hits the surface at an glancing
angle it can be even larger. When there is an image applied to the surface in question the render engine
needs to know how many 2D texture pixels should be sampled within that spot. This becomes more
important the closer the camera is to the surface. If the minimum spot value is 1 or smaller the spot size
is not clamped and will accurately sample the texture image at the sub pixel level if necessary. When
the spot size is set to a value of 2 or higher the number of pixels sampled will always be greater than
1. This will result in a slight blurring of the image.

Pixel Blending:
When spot size is set to 1 and the camera is so close to a surface that it samples the image at the sub-
pixel level, Pixel Blending will average across those samples. The result is a smooth interpolation of
pixels rather than seeing crisp pixel boundaries.

Low and High Values

Often it can be useful to remap how an image controls a value setting. For instance, if you are using an
image as a displacement map you might want the darkest pixels to push the surface in and the bright
pixels to push them out. By default the pixels of an image go from 0 to 100% which means that none
of the pixels would yield a value to push the pixels inward. By setting the value range from –100% to
100% the image is effectively remapped so that the black pixels create a negative displacement and the
white pixels a positive displacement with mid-tones being “neutral”.

Low Value:
Determines the effective value of pixels that have a true value of 0,0,0 (r,g,b)

High Value:
Determines the effective value of pixels that have a true value of 255,255,255 (r,g,b)
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Invert Red, Green, Blue:

These three boolean check boxes allow you to invert any of the 3 color channels in the image map.

Gamma:
The Gamma option on image textures allows you to “de-gamma” images being used as background
plates in the case that you plan to have modo add a gamma adjustment to the final render. Often
images, particularly those taken from digital cameras, have already had some amount of gamma
applied. If you are using an image of this sort the Gamma option on the image texture allows you to set
a gamma value that will account for the original gamma offset. For instance, if your image map had
an original gamma of 1.6 you would want to apply the inverse gamma inside modo to “de-gamma”.
To do this you can simply type 1/1.6 (or whatever the original gamma was) in the Gamma field. modo
will do the math for you.

Use Alpha:
This check box allows you to disable the Alpha channel on the image texture.

Noise

View Noise video

The Noise texture has 2 zones, the Value/Color 1 and Value/Color 2. The texture will modulate between
the two based on the particular algorithm and user settings. Essentially there are pseudo-random
points created in 3D space and the texture blends from one value to the next based on the proximity
of one sample point to the next. Each zone can have a value, color and alpha value. Which of these
are used is dependent on the Effect channel to which the texture will be applied. For instance, if the
texture is to be used as a displacement, the Value settings would be utilized whereas setting the
texture Effect to Luminous Color would use the Color and Alpha settings for Value/Color 1 and Value/
Color 2. The Noise texture is incredibly versatile and can create effects ranging from clouds and mold
to smoke and marble.

Value 1:
Determines the magnitude of the texture at the center of each sample location. This value is blended
into the Value 2 based on proximity to surrounding sample points. This control is only active when the
texture layers Effect is set to a non- color attribute.

Color 1:
Sets the color that will be used at the center of each sample location. This color is blended into the
Color 2 value based on proximity to the surrounding sample points. The Color option is only used
when the texture layer is set to an Effect that requires color.

Alpha 1:
Determines the alpha value of the texture to correlate with Color 1.
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Value 2:
Sets the value that will be used at the between the sample points. This value is blended into the Value
1 based on proximity to the surrounding sample points. The Value option is only used when the texture
layer is set to a non-color attribute.

Color 2:
Sets the color that will be used at the between the sample points. This color is blended into the Color
1 value based on proximity to the surrounding sample points. The Color option is only used when the
texture layer is set to an Effect that requires color.

Alpha 2:
Determines the alpha value of the texture to correlate with Color 1.

Type :
The Type popup allows you to quickly change between the styles of Noise. The options are Simple,
Fractal and Turbulence.

Simple:
Merely modulates between Color/Value 1 and Color/Value 2 and does not allow for additional Frequencies
to be added preventing it from becoming “fractal”.

Fractal:
Unlike Simple, Fractal also allows for Frequency settings above 1. Once additional frequencies are
added to a noise or cellular pattern then become “fractal”. Each additional frequency of the texture is
layered over the previous. The relative detail and amplitude of the additional frequencies is modulated
by the frequency and amplitude ratios.

Turbulence:
The Turbulence setting is very similar to the Fractal setting but the gradient ramp between the between
the two Color/Value modulates up and down rather than a straight ramp. All “noise” style procedurals
can be “layered” to create a fractal effect. The traditional style of fractal includes layering a noise
pattern multiple times with each new layer increasing in frequency (smaller details and more of them)
and fading in value. When you add a Cellular or Noise texture in modo the default settings are not
“fractal” in that they only use a Frequency value of one, this means there is only one “layer” of the
procedural effect. Adding multiple frequencies will create a more fractal look to the texture and will
invoke the
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Frequency Ratio and Amplitude Ratio controls.

Frequencies:
Determines the number of “layers” used by the procedural. When set to less than 2 the Frequency and
Amplitude Ratios are disabled. Adding more than one frequency increases the detail in the procedural
texture which increases computation times.

Frequency Ratio:
The Frequency Ratio determines how much detail to add into each additional application of the noise
texture when the Frequencies value is set to a value greater than 1. The default value of 2 will result in
the second frequency of the texture being twice as high as the first. The visual effect of this is a pattern
that seems to be half as large but with twice as many occurrences. With more than 2 frequencies each
additional “layer” of the noise will have twice the frequency of the last.

Amplitude Ratio:
This value determines the strength of each additional “layer” of noise when frequencies are greater
than 1. By default the setting is at .5 which yields an effect where each additional set of frequencies
have half the value of the previous.

Bias:
Increasing this value will cause the texture to favor the primary color or value over the Filler whereas
decreasing the value causes the secondary color or value to be favored.

Gain:
The Gain setting is similar to a gamma control that effects the falloff of the gradient ramp between the
cell and filler values. Setting the Gain to 100% will create a very sharp falloff effect whereas setting
the value to 0 would create a plateau around the value or color mid-point with sharp falloff on either
extreme of the gradient.

Weight Map Texture

The Vertex Map texture uses a vertex weight map to blend between two values or colors (with alpha).
The Value or Color 1 setting will appear anywhere the vertex map value is 0. The Value or Color 2
setting will appear anywhere the vertex map value is 100. There will be a blend between the primary
and secondary value or color settings where the vertex map moves from 0 to 100. The gradient can
be modified y the Bias and Gain controls. This texture is also very useful as a layer or group mask.

Vertex Map:
Use this control to choose an existing weight map to control the texture.
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Bias:
The bias control will cause the texture to “favor” either the primary or secondary value or color. By
increasing the bias more of the primary value or color will appear while decreasing the number will
force more of the secondary color into the gradient blend.

Gain:
The gain control adjusts the falloff curve in the gradient ramp. Using a very high value closer to 100%
will create a very sharp falloff at the edges of the gradient. In this case the falloff curve would be an s-
curve with a sharp vertical line at the midpoint. Using small numbers closer to 0% will favor a mid- tone
value. The s-curve used for the falloff in this case would have a long horizontal line.

Group–Mask
Group layers can be thought of as “containers” which hold materials, textures and or shaders. When
used as containers they are merely serving an organizational function and do not impact the result of
your project. However, Groups can also act as Masks to limit the effect of their contents to specific areas
of your project. Groups can mask by Mesh Item or Polygon Tag. Polygon Tags can come from Material
Tags, Part Tags or Selection Sets. Additionally, Groups can be set to use apply textures to entire sets
of sub-groups. This provides an extensive method for applying textures and material attributes to the
content of your project.

Wood
The Wood procedural is a powerful texture that is designed to simulate wood grain. Of course, like any
good procedural the Wood texture can be used for effects far beyond its simple namesake. The texture
is composed of Rings which are distorted by “waves” and a layer of noise. This creates a combination
of effects to simulate the wood grain pattern quite nicely.

Ring Value:
Determines the strength of the texture where the ring patterns occur.

Ring Color:
Determines the color of the texture where the ring patterns occur.

Ring Alpha:
Determines the alpha value of the texture where the ring patterns occur.

Filler Value:
Determines the strength of the texture between the Rings.
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Ring Color:
Determines the color of the texture between the Rings

Ring Alpha:
Determines the alpha value of the texture between the Rings

Ring Scale:
This percentage value determines the size of the rings in the texture.

Waviness:
This percentage value drives the amount of distortion that will occur to the rings in the texture.

Wave Scale:
This percentage value sets the size of the wave distortion that is used to deform the rings in the
texture.

Graininess:
This percentage value determines how visible the grain effect is when it is composited with the ring
texture. Decreasing this value results in a more subtle grain appearance.

Grain Scale:
This value determines how large the grain spots are.

Bias:
Increasing this value will cause the texture to favor the Ring color or value over the Filler whereas
decreasing the value causes the Filler color or value to be favored.

Gain:
The Gain setting is similar to a gamma control that effects the falloff of the gradient ramp between the
rings and filler values. Setting the Gain to 100% will create a very sharp falloff effect whereas setting
the value to 0 would create a plateau around the value or color mid-point with sharp falloff on either
extreme of the gradient.

Projecting Procedural Textures

Environment Shading
The Environment Item contains all settings related to the backdrop of your project. This is not related
to any Background Images used in the 3D viewport as these are meant for template modeling. The
Environment represents the virtual backdrop that will be seen in the render anywhere geometry does not
obscure it. The Environment uses an Environment Material by default to create a sky and horizon effect.
Images, Gradients and Procedural textures can also be used to create more complex Environment
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Environment Material
The Environment Material provides a convenient method for adding basic color or color gradients to the
background of a project. The options for the Environment Material are:

Environment Type:
4 Color Gradient:
This easy to use gradient allows you to set 4 color values which are used to simulate the sky and ground.
The Zenith color is the color that is directly overhead and this ramps into the Sky color which starts at
the horizon and ramps upward. The Nadir color is directly below the camera and ramps upwards into
the Ground color which terminates at the horizon when it meets the Sky color. There is a soft blend
between the Zenith and Sky colors and a soft blend between Ground and Nadir. The boundary between
Ground and Sky is hard edged to give the illusion of an horizon.

2 Color Gradient:
This option reduces the colors to Zenith and Nadir and creates
a soft ramp between the two.

Constant:
Uses only the Zenith color for the entire background.

CIE Overcast Sky:

This option provides two user defined color values; Zenith and Nadir. The Nadir color will be used in
without any ramp effect for everything below the horizon. The Zenith color starts directly above the
camera and then has a slight ramp to a somewhat darker color. By definition the CIE overcast sky
is three times brighter at the Zenith than it is at the horizon so the Zenith color will be reduced in
brightness by that amount by the time it reaches the horizon.

Environment Textures
Any procedural or image texture layer can be applied to the environment including masks between
materials and textures (OK, you can’t use the Weight Map Texture since the environment doesn’t have
a Weight map, but all the rest work). This provides a highly powerful and flexible method for creating
complex backdrops for your project. It should be noted that often the environment accounts for a
significant amount of the final rendered image so applying many layers of procedural textures can be
expensive. This is exacerbated when using Global Illumination because each ray evaluation that does not
hit some geometry will force an evaluation of the Environment and all the textures that it is composed
of. By far and away the most popular texture for the environment is the Image texture particularly
using High Dynamic Range Images (HDRI) with Global Illumination. Images are very efficient and quite
effective as backdrops for a project. The most important thing to know about using images as the
environment is to use the appropriate Projection Style on the Image Texture locator. For instance, if you
are using a photograph and you want it to be “locked” to the Camera view, you should set the Projection
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Type to Front Projection and make sure to choose the desired Camera to project it from. On the other
hand, if you are using HDRI light probe images (the ones that look like they are a photo of a reflective
sphere… because they usually are) you will set the Projection Type to Light Probe. Other common
image types are often referred to as SkyDomes, these are Spherical projection images.

Use Environment As Light

When enabled this option will generate virtual lights located in the 3D scene in areas where the
environment texture has areas of interest. These lights will also have custom intensities and colors
to approximate the effects of lighting from the environment backdrop. It should be noted that this
technique was pioneered when Global Illumination was slower than traditional light sources. With
the modo render engine Global Illumination now often outpaces this “hack” so you might just want to
try using Global Illumination instead. We’re fast like that. If you must give this a go, then let’s at least
review the settings.

Use Environment As Light:

This is the toggle switch that activates the virtual light creation. When this is on you will see the
generated lights in any 3D viewport that has “Show Lights” enabled.

Shadow Type:
This popup allows you to choose to Ray Trace shadows or cast no shadows at all from these lights.
Future releases of modo will include additional shadow options.

Sampling Quality:
This value indicates how many samples to take from each light as a pixel is evaluated. If your image
seems grainy when using this virtual light rig chances are you need to either crank up this setting or
reduce any harsh contrasts in the environment textures. You know what, you really should be using
Global Illumination. It looks better and renders faster. Seriously. OK. Fine. I’ll tell you the rest of the
settings. But don’t use them. Use GI! Sheesh!

Projection Type:
There are two projection types, Spherical and Angular and these determine how the image is evaluated
in order to create the virtual lights based on the lights importance sampling.

Mapping Resolution:
This value determines how the lights are generated as a

Light Types and Light Material and Textures

Light Items can be textured with the same basic set of tools as the material and environment items.
This generalized approach to texturing of items provides a very intuitive and powerful approach to
shading a scene.
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Directional Light
The Directional Light is most similar to the Sun. This light emits a wall of parallel rays in the direction that
the light is facing. The position of a Directional light is irrelevant as the rays travel infinitely. The Directional
Light only uses Rotation to set the direction of the light’s rays. Also, as a result of the infinite nature of the
rays there is no falloff to a Directional Light. As with all Light Items, the Directional Light controls can be
located on the Render Properties viewport when the Light is selected. Directional lights have Position and
Rotation options as well as controls for the intensity of the light, shadow type and spread angle.

Radiant Exitance:
This value controls the intensity of the light and uses the standard physically based unit of Watts per
volumetric meter. As you would expect, increasing this value will increase the amount of light coming
from the Directional Light and decreasing the value reduces the light intensity.

Shadow Type:
This popup allows you to choose between Ray Traced shadows and no shadows at all.

Spread Angle:
The default value of 0 results in crisp shadow edges. If you want to create a soft edged shadow you
can increase this value. Since the Directional Light is most often used to simulate the Sun, a very small
amount of Spread Angle is recommended. Values between 3 and 5 degrees will give a subtle soft edge
to the shadow similar to sunlight.

Default 0 Spread Angle

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Spread Angle set to 1.5 for a subtle sun-like soft edge

Spread Angle at 3
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Spread Angle at 10 causes enough width as to show some noise in the soft edge

Spread Angle at 10 with Samples increased to 128 to reduce soft edge noise
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Samples:
As the Spread Angle increases, additional samples are required to smooth out the resulting soft edge
shadow. If the shadow appears grainy, increasing this sample setting is the most likely solution. The
default value of 16 is a good starting point for balancing speed and quality. As the spread increases
or the resolution of the image increases you can drive this number higher to account for any grain
that appears. Keep in mind that increasing the number of samples will also increase render times. To
control the light color, shadow color and amount of affect Diffuse and Specular channels refer to the
Light Material and Texture description.

Spot Light
The Spot Light looks and acts like a real world Spot Light. Light comes from the light in a cone shape
widening the further the subject is from the light itself. The Spot Light has options for Position, Rotation,
Intensity, Shadow Type, Cone Angle and Soft Edge angle. Using the Transform tool with the Spot Light
selected provides interactive handles for editing position, rotation, cone and soft edge angles.

Radiant Intensity:
This value represents the intensity of the light and is set in real world units. As you would expect,
increasing the value will increase the brightness of the light and decreasing the value will lower the
intensity. Spot Lights use a physically accurate light model so the intensity of the light falls off with
the inverse square of the distance to the light.

Shadow Type:
This popup allows you to choose between Ray Traced shadows and no shadows at all.

Radius:
This value defaults to 0 which results in a light source that has no volume. This means that the
shadow rays that come from the light will always create hard edged shadows. This also causes the
light to render faster. If this value is increased the Samples value below becomes active and the light
is sampled multiple times per pixel in order to create a soft edge effect. The larger the light Radius
the wider the shadow spread and as a result more samples are required to keep the soft edge from
becoming grainy.

Samples:
This value tells the render engine how many times to evaluate the light. This is only applicable when
the Radius is set to a non-zero value. The larger the samples value the more accurate the shadows
will be. If you see grain in the shadow cast by this light your first action should be to increase samples.
Bear in mind this increase will be at the cost of increased render times.
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Cone Angle:
This value opens or closes the “gate” or “barn doors” of the light. Increasing this setting will create a
wider spread on the light and decreasing the value will create a tighter spot light effect. This value can
be set interactively with the Transform tool

Soft Edge:
Inside the cone of light is a transition that ramps from maximum brightness to no illumination at the
outside of the cone angle. The Soft Edge value determines how far in from the edge of the light to
extend this gradient falloff. This value can be set interactively with the Transform tool. To control the
light color, shadow color and amount of affect Diffuse and Specular channels refer to the Light Material
and Texture description.

Area Light
The Area Light is similar to a studio Box light. Light comes from a square or round plane depending on
the light settings. Area lights are excellent for creating photorealistic lighting effects as they create a
very natural light emission and detailed shadows. They are typically more expensive than other lights
because they tend to require more samples due to their natural tendency to create soft edged shadows.
Area Lights use a physically accurate light model so the intensity of the light falls off with the inverse
square of the distance to the light. As a physically based light the intensity is also increased as the
volume (size) of the light increases. Increasing the scale of the light relative to the models it affects will
also increase the amount of shadow spread. Options for the Area Light include Position, Rotation, Scale
as well as Radiance, Shadow Type, Samples, Sample and Area Width/Height.

Radiance:
This real world intensity value is measures in Watts per steridian per square meter. Increasing the value
will make the light more intense and decreasing the value lowers light intensity.

Shadow Type:
This popup allows you to choose between Ray Traced shadows and no shadows at all.

Samples:
As the soft edge spread of the shadow increases additional samples are required to smooth out the
results. If the shadow appears grainy, increasing this sample setting is the most likely solution. The
default value of 16 is a good starting point for balancing speed and quality. As the spread increases or
the resolution of the image increases you can drive this number higher to account for any grain that
appears. Keep in mind that increasing the number of samples will also increase render times.

Shape:
Area lights can be Rectangular or Eliptical. The shape of the light will impact distribution of light.
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Area Width/Height:
This absolute value for width and height of the light is set based on the current units. By default
the unit system is Metric so the width and height would be set directly as meters. These values are
multiplied by the Scale percentages to determine the final size of the area light. The scale of the light
affects the intensity as mentioned in the first paragraph. Using the Transform tool with the Area Light
selected provides interactive handles for adjusting light position, rotation as well as the width and
height. To control the light color, shadow color and amount of affect Diffuse and Specular channels
refer to the Light Material and Texture description.

Dome Light
The Dome light creates a virtual dome of lights around the project. This light has Position and Rotation
controls as well as Radiance, Shadow Type and Samples. Dome lights have often been used to simulate
global illumination. With the modo rendering engine Global Illumination is just as fast, if not faster that
dome lights and generally yields better results.

Radiance:
This real world intensity value is measures in Watts per steridian per square meter. Increasing the
value will make the light more intense and decreasing the value lowers light intensity.

Shadow Type- This popup allows you to choose between Ray Traced shadows
and no shadows at all.

Samples:
As the soft edge spread of the shadow increases additional samples are required to smooth out the
results. If the shadow appears grainy, increasing this sample setting is the most likely solution. The
default value of 16 is a good starting point for balancing speed and quality. As the spread increases
or the resolution of the image increases you can drive this number higher to account for any grain
that appears. Keep in mind that increasing the number of samples will also increase render times.
The Dome Light generates many virtual lights and typically creates a very diffuse lighting effect which
requires very high sample values to remove grain. It is for this reason that we recommend simply
using global illumination for this sort of lighting effect. To control the light color, shadow color and
amount of affect Diffuse and Specular channels refer to the Light Material and Texture description.
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Cylinder Light
The Cylinder light is similar to a fluorescent tube in that it emits light in a radial fashion out from a
cylindrical shape. The light has Position and Rotation controls as well as Radiance, Shadow Type,
Samples, Cylinder Radius and Length. When adjusting the Cylinder light in the 3D view be sure to use
the Item Transform tool. This will provide additional handles so you can adjust the length and diameter
of the Cylinder light directly in the 3D viewport.

Radiance:
This real world intensity value is measured in Watts per steridian per square meter. Increasing the value
will make the light more intense and decreasing the value lowers light intensity.

Shadow Type:
This popup allows you to choose between Ray Traced shadows and no shadows at all.

Samples:
As the soft edge spread of the shadow increases additional samples are required to smooth out the
results. If the shadow appears grainy, increasing this sample setting is the most likely solution. The
default value of 16 is a good starting point for balancing speed and quality. As the spread increases or
the resolution of the image increases you can drive this number higher to account for any grain that
appears. Keep in mind that increasing the number of samples will also increase render times.

Cylinder Radius:
Determines the thickness of the cylinder light. As with any physically based light source increasing the
size in any dimension will naturally increase intensity as well.

Length:
Sets the length of the light in the current units. To control the light color, shadow color and amount of
affect Diffuse and Specular channels refer to the Light Material and Texture description.

Point Light
The Point Light emits light in omni-directionally similar to a standard light bulb. Point lights obey the
physical law of inverse square falloff of intensity. The point light has two settings, Radiant Intensity and
Shadow Type.

Radiant Intensity:
This value controls the amount of light coming from the point light source.

Shadow Type:
This popup allows you to choose from Ray Traced shadows or no shadows at all.
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Radius:
This value defaults to 0 which results in a light source that has no volume. This means that the
shadow rays that come from the light will always create hard edged shadows. This also causes the
light to render faster. If this value is increased the Samples value below becomes active and the light
is sampled multiple times per pixel in order to create a soft edge effect. The larger the light Radius
the wider the shadow spread and as a result more samples are required to keep the soft edge from
becoming grainy.

Samples:
This value tells the render engine how many times to evalulate the light. This is only applicable when
the Radius is set to a non-zero value. The larger the samples value the more accurate the shadows
will be. If you see grain in the shadow cast by this light your first action should be to increase samples.
Bear in mind this increase will be at the cost of increased render times. To control the light color,
shadow color and amount of affect Diffuse and Specular channels refer to the Light Material and
Texture description.

Light Material and Textures

Lights derive settings for their color, shadow color and how much they contribute to Diffuse and
Specular shading from the Light Material. The Light Material sets these values initially but they can
also be textured with the same system used for texturing 3D surfaces. This provides an incredibly
intuitive, flexible and powerful method for customizing a lights effect.

Light Material
Color:
The color control uses the standard modo color component and allows direct control over the color of
light emitted. Setting a lights color to cooler values such as blue-ish tones tends to simulate light in mid
to late day-time where as hotter colors such as yellow or red-tones will be more like morning time.

Shadow Color:
This setting will tint the shadows from the selected light. It is a good practice to tint the shadow with
a complementary color to that used for the Light Color setting.

Affect Diffuse:
This percentage value will control how much the light contributes to the final Diffuse shading of the
project. You can set this value to 0% if you want to hide the light from Diffuse shading. This allows the
creation of a “Specular only” light source.
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Affect Specular:
This percentage value will control how much the light contributes to the final Specular shading of the
project. You can set this value to 0% if you want to hide the light from Specular shading. This allows
the creation of a “Diffuse only” light source.

Light Textures
Any of the Textures that can be applied to a 3D surface Material can also be applied to Lights. The Effect
options for the textures when applied to lights will be reduced to Light Color, Shadow Color, Affect
Diffuse Amount, Affect Specular Amount, Group Mask and Layer Mask.

Sync to View
This command will change the position and orientation of the currently selected Camera item to match
the currently selected 3D viewport as closely as possible. There are some caveats in that the Camera
view scale is dependent upon the focal length and image resolution (for aspect).

Projection Type

The image on the left uses a perspective camera and the one on the right is orthographic.

modo can render traditional perspective cameras as well as orthographic cameras. This popup allows
you to choose the method. Perspective cameras will show perspective distortion and are what most
artist would expect when rendering. Orthographic cameras do not add any perspective distortion as all
rays are fired from the camera in parallel lines.

Orthographic rendering is very useful in news/info graphics and architectural plan rendering. Perspective
cameras are found most often in visual FX, product and architectural visualization and/or anywhere
artists are trying to mimic reality.
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Focal Length
The Focal Length setting controls the amount of zoom just as it would with a real world camera. To
zoom out you should decrease the focal length and to zoom in you will increase the value. This control
is set in real world metric units to match physical cameras. The actual definition of Focal Length is the
distance between the lens and the point where the rays converge after having been refracted by the
lens. Focal Length can be adjusted on the Camera property form or interactively in the 3D viewport.
If you are looking thru the Camera (Viewport set to Camera) you can use Ctrl-Alt-RMB to adjust the
Focal Length (Ctrl-Alt-LMB moves the camera in and out).

Film Width and Height

Film Width and Height correspond to the exposed region of the film negative in a real camera. In some
applications this is known as the Film Gate, Camera Aperture or Film Aperture. One way to visualize
this is to imagine the camera frustum as a pyramid whose base dimensions are the Film Width and
Height. The distance from the base to the apex is the Focal Length. The base of the pyramid can be
shifted around within its plane (shearing the pyramid) by using the Film Offset controls.

Film Offset
The Film Offset is only useful when the aspect ratio of the Film Width and Height does not match the
Frame aspect ratio. The Frame aspect ratio is determined by the Render Items Frame Width/Height
and Pixel Aspect Ratio controls.The Film Width and Height is set on the Camera properties. Frame

Width and Height

Is set in Pixels and represents the actual output that will be generated by the render engine. The Film
Width and Height is the virtual film plate size inside the camera.

Film Fit
Fit only matters when the camera item’s film gate (defined by the Film Width and Height) has a
different aspect ratio than the render item’s resolution gate (defined by the Frame Width and Height
and Pixel Aspect Ratio). In that case, the two possibilities are that the horizontal borders coincide, or
the vertical borders coincide. The Fill and Overscan options automatically select whether to match the
horizontal or vertical borders in order to make the resolution gate fit within the film gate or vice versa.
You can think of the film gate (Film Width and Height) as the size of the film in the camera in real world
units, with the film being analog (not divided into pixels). Then you take the exposed film frame and
lay it on a digital scanner (the resolution gate), which is divided into pixels, and which might have a
different shape (wider or taller). It’s the resolution gate that gets saved to theoutput image file.
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Lens Distortion:
The Lens Distortion value can be used as a positive or negative value to create barrel or
pin cushioning effects.

Focus Distance:
This value sets the distance out from the camera center at which the image will be perfectly in focus.
This setting requires the use of Depth of Field in order to create any visual effect. To quickly set the
focus distance for the camera you can use the Autofocus command on the Camera properties or by
pressing Ctrl-A with the mouse over the Camera viewport. You can also set this value interactively with
the Item Transform tool (“Y”) when the Camera item is selected.

This image rendered with the focal distance set close to the camera.
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This image rendered with the focal distance set farther away from the camera.

Autofocus
This command sets the Focal Distance to whatever geometry is at the direct center of the current
camera view. Setting the Focal Distance is only useful when rendering with Depth of Field active. The
keyboard shortcut is Ctrl-A when the mouse is over a Camera 3D viewport or the Preview.

F-Stop
The F-Stop control on the modo camera only affects camera when Depth of Field is being used. In this
case lowering the F-Stop will increase the depth of field effect just as it would in real-world cameras.
F-Stop does not effect exposure of light since the modo camera captures real world radiance values
as they are striking the CCD, just before exposing the film. This provides linear light values to the final
image which provides an opportunity for post processing the exposure for maximum flexibility.

Blur Length
The Blur Length control will affect the length of the motion blur effect when rendering turntables with
Motion Blur activated. The default value of 50% would be similar to a real-world camera set with a 180
degree shutter. In modo the 50% value will result in the shutter being open for half of the exposure
time of that frame.
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‘Inspire Us’
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