MODO 101, 20 Years Later

[@verboommm]

So far, absolutely the best software for polygonal modeling. Burn in hell, foundry!

[@nervouschimp]

People always say that Foundry is as bad as Autodesk, but that's not true... Foundry is worse... much, much worse.

[@brandoncyoung]

​@@nervouschimpnot really. Not sure if you are basing it off emotions or data. Autodesk has shelved more apps than the foundry. At least the small suite of tools minus modo here has had constant updates. If you want to argue how insane the foundry is to deal with then I'll agree they are worse than autodesk.

[@Pixelfondue]

This is the magic of a perpetual license btw - you buy the software once, you have access to it 20 years later.

[@nervouschimp]

10.2 was the last real version of modo. Version 11 introduced a new login license, and version 11 is already permanently dead. Foundry changed their server-side code/ports/whatever, and it forever bricked version 11, 12, and 13 if I recall. I think they offered a free upgrade to 14.1, but that is no concession if you think the software is getting worse. This was just another reminder that login licenses and subscriptions are garbage, anti-consumer nonsense that can't be depended on.

[@金山-l5c]

@@nervouschimp To make matters worse, modo has been forgotten.

[@robertYoutub]

You buy a car, you own it forever.. however like software it won’t work forever

[@midnightstories5695]

I would defiantly be interested in a perpetual license if it was reasonably priced ! I understand it's tough to balance but we are all going through tough times not just big companies !

[@Pixelfondue]

@@midnightstories5695 I agree.

[@marcotronic]

That brings back great memories. I was a big fan of modo and used it a lot back in the days. It really lost its magic when Brad Peebler left the company and it was bought by The Foundry.

[@ronaldbell7429]

Foundry came first, and Brad left later, of course. But I used to enjoy his podcasts. I started with modo 302, I think. I eventually went to 901 or 902 but left when subscriptions started.

[@Ozzy-cz2ym]

Foundry is really one of the worst. Where Luxology had warmth, Foundry corporate culture is just cold and overly calculative.

[@curtthurston7931]

Wow! Blast from the past. Modo is still my primary 3D app. I picked it up at version 102. This was a fun post! And thank you for all you've done for the Modo community over the years! My icon is a 1976 Gibson Les Paul Custom. Built in 102/3 and rendered in 201.

[@Pixelfondue]

Thanks!

[@nedschi]

Congratulations on 20 years. I started with Modo 501. And watching your video on Modo 103, I learn that there are Item Action Centers nowadays. Wasn't aware of that.

[@CharacterDev77]

I wish I could purchase Modo from the Foundry and re design it. I wish Brad Peebler was still running things.

[@金山-l5c]

How much does it cost to buy modo?

[@demianpelos]

After he left the advances per release were minimal and modo was bought by foundry and just went to sleep

[@phillawson]

Thanks for the trip down memory lane Greg! I think I was brought on the beta team around 102/3 and still remember the fun projects that happened over the years - like the MoveIt video that added a bunch of quick animations to the song. Must have a look and see what installers I still have access to. I still miss a good few of modos tools to this day.

[@johnandrew5467]

Really cool to see that the UI hasn't changed in all these years.

[@Ozzy-cz2ym]

That's not necessarily a good thing. Modo became bloated and convoluted because the GUI did not change much. It clearly needed a soft refresh.

[@johnandrew5467]

I cannot disagree, but somehow I like the look of the old UI more. I guess I’m a fan of rounded corners.

[@cgs5428]

I appreciate that you made this video. It makes a lot of sense why modo went this direction for the time and why these techniques feel strange today. These techniques feel like the proper evolution of lightwave's modeling toolset that was a bit less friendly in some areas. I understand why I didn't understand modo's toolset for the time. I was an XSI user that took advantage of the amazing proportional modeling that went unnoticed by everyone. (Aaron Sims demonstrated why it was such a powerful tool to work with) It is just unfortunate that modo went the direction it did with these somewhat clunkier workflows that are a proper evolution of lightwave but not a proper evolution of all around 3d modeling. The lightwave modeler of course had its own type of proportional modeling but it was and still is a bit cumbersome and slow to work with. I can see why modo 101 was exciting for the time. It is really unfortunate the way things have unfolded in the past decade with 3d tools. Autodesk killing softimage and splitting its tech across max and maya. (If Canada or America had functioning governments such a monopoly would've been killed.) More 3d tools going subscription based. Luxology acquisition. Pixologic acquisition. The stink of blender permeating the 3d world, such a terrible tool, you can't edit object settings across multiple objects it has to be copied and pasted. (that is like a 90's problem in 2024).

[@Pixelfondue]

Great post. Yeah, Modo's tools need to be updated to modern standards while retaining their flexibility with falloffs and action centers/axis and drag workflow. I was just nosing around to see if i could still download my XSI license I had a long time ago. Such fantastic software. Both Modo and XSI had some real groundbreaking workflows and here we are 10 years after XSI was killed and Foundry acquired MODO and the industry is stagnant. Just a blizzard of Blender Add-Ons that you need 3 keyboards to work with.

[@amigarulez]

`The stink of blender permeating the 3d world` - this will be my quote of a day!

[@mingwong5173]

Congratulations , i wish modo geting better and better

[@MikeJamesMedia]

Cool, Greg. Thanks for the memories! (Modo 301 was my first Luxology purchase.)

[@mauriciocs2]

The crazy is the amount of amazing work done with more "simplistic" software (aka less tools). Wish I still had my 801 license. I moved to Indie as it made sense but now it's stuck on 14.

[@redgunner3d]

When I saw you were going to install modo 1, I instantly knew you’d be shocked by just how fast it launched and how quick the viewport was.

[@Pixelfondue]

it's literally shocking

[@redgunner3d]

Even more shocking is that it ran that fast on a computer from 2004 too. I remember how they would make a point about it launching faster than Photoshop.

[@ServusSovereign]

Это действительно завораживает. Спасибо за пробуждение воспоминаний, Маэстро. Браво.

[@amigarulez]

It's kinda strange how Modo shares a lot with Amiga history. It have its origins from LW, also big corporation behind it and a lot of missmarketing (or lack therof) , a lot of negligence, sad and shame how Foundry doesnt care more about what is probably best modeler in the market. Unfortunately, i have a feeling that Modo will continue to share that history and we all know what happened to Amiga.

[@FrederikBussels]

Spot on, my man.

[@KRGraphicsCG]

Whoa!!! 😮 What a blast from the past

[@volkertroy2559]

btw. you can speed up loading times in 17.1 when disabling ACS2. I only activate it when having a project with character work to do

[@RicheUK]

RIP modo, I hope Pixel Fondue continues

[@Pixelfondue]

We will, not sure what direction we will take. Come to the Discord if you haven't already.

[@nervouschimp]

RIP MODO

[@greggjohnson621]

I read the news today… oh boy. 😥

[@3dsolidmodel]

What now?

[@Pixelfondue]

@@3dsolidmodel well...don't know. Need to get some answers from Foundry and then will do a livestream. PF Community will be here and Modo will be here for some time yet. Lot's of scrambling today but things will settle down and many paths forward will start to come out of the woodwork.

[@emilsvfx]

Congratulations only where is this people who use Modo.

[@Pixelfondue]

They're scattered about gaming companies, VFX companies, product industries and Indie people. Primarily gaming and Indie - though some really talented modelers in VFX stick with Modo.

[@neiramos2]

@@Pixelfondue I tried learn another, but design interface MODO is better. I used for 15 years (relation hate and love)

[@robertYoutub]

After 501 it got slower and slower.. despite really good stuff added afterwards, it always came to late, to buggy, not enough

[@Imhotep397]

One question. It’s been a problem forever but modo’s bevel often doubles the edges, so often when I select 1 edge it reads as 2 edges.Is there an automated or semi automated way to merge all those doubled edges? (Edit: I used merge vertices and it worked! I don’t have to merge like 300k+ edges individually!) Wow, if they would only bring back perpetual licenses for the modeler or and older version.

[@Pixelfondue]

You're probably unintendedly activating it and clicking without adjust inset or distance. That will create the 'double' problem. I think Mesh Cleanup (the button above the tools) will fix that and a bunch of other issues. Yeah, the need a perp license for sure.

[@mingwong5173]

hello Grey I would like some advice on computer specifications. I’m using asus laptop to create 3D food models with ZBrush, Modo, and Octane, but I’ve been experiencing slowdowns and some features can’t execute properly. I’m considering upgrading to a desktop PC. Could you provide some recommendations on the configuration? Motherboard, GPU, CPU, etc. I would really appreciate your advice. Thank you !

[@Pixelfondue]

Hi, I would really recommend joining the Pixel Fondue discord and you will get a lot more helpful replies from people with different setups. I use Intel/Nvidia on desktop and it works great. Do you use DIscord?

[@midnightstories5695]

Well I'm still using modo 12 and that's all I need. Subscriptions are not for me. I only need box modeling and blender yah never got my head around that.

[@Pixelfondue]

Yeah, Modo really needs to have a perpetual option. I don't see much of a reason to upgrade unless they improve the sculpt tools or something.

[@vi8799]

What's this new UI you have? It looks unusual.

[@filmdesigner800]

So now what will everyone do that Modo has been discontinued by Foundry.

[@Pixelfondue]

We're trying to figure out that path right now. Come to the pixel fondue discord if you're not there already.

[@filmdesigner800]

@@Pixelfondue will do thanks.

[@Aaronnoraator]

How do you feel now that The Foundry is wrapping up support for Modo?

[@Pixelfondue]

uh, terrible. let down. betrayed. abandoned...(grabbing the thesaurus for more words)

[@Aaronnoraator]

@@Pixelfondue Where will you go now? Blender?

[@Pixelfondue]

@@Aaronnoraator don't know. Blender isn't super appealing to me...but I may check it out.

[@Aaronnoraator]

@@Pixelfondue It wasn't appealing to me at first either, but it grew on me

[@joaocosta3000]

I tried modo 17 trial and the windows compatibility dpi scaling is not working properly on 2k monitors for modo. The layout font is super blurry and the main top menus just dont appear correctly aligned when they pop up. I tried both "system" and "application" options and they simply dont work. I have a 125% scaling on my windows for my 2k monitor. Such disappointment.

[@Pixelfondue]

Yeah, I don't think they've addressed the DPI scaling issue yet - I think that's a Modo 18 agenda item. I know a lot of people really want this done.

[@毛东琦]

Hello, I am the same as you. Modo17 encountered an error on the Win11 interface.

[@Pixelfondue]

@@毛东琦 Can you come over to the Pixel Fondue Discord and post a screen shot so Foundry people can look at it?

[@nervouschimp]

I also tried the modo 17 trial out of morbid curiosity and ran into the same problem with the UI. Modo has always been bad at UI scaling, but things have gotten worse, not better. Modo 10.2 is still usable at 125% scaling and scaling properties set to application controlled. Modo 17 is not usable, and is actually kind of glitched-out. One not-so-great workaround for a 27-inch 4K panel is to set the resolution to 1080p, and then use integer scaling in the nvidia control panel to pixel-double up to the panel native res. This will give you a clean, but lower-res rendering of the modo 17 UI. That results in about 82 PPI, and UI font size of about 9.5pt. Modo was designed for VERY low-res monitors with around 80-90 PPI. Even the common, modern low res 100 PPI and 109 PPI panels make for very strained viewing, and 160+ PPI just sucks with modo. The UI problem with the latest modo is so bad that I never even used the demo. Dark days for the last of the modonauts.

[@毛东琦]

@@Pixelfondue I think I'll wait until 18, as other users have said, the UI interface for 4K resolution needs to be rewritten

[@SteveHill3D]

So, not satisfied with Primo, you want Cliff too 🙂

[@Pixelfondue]

Yes, Cliff...and uh, Deformo

[@SteveHill3D]

@@Pixelfondue 😅 I think we might need to work on the latter name.

[@Pixelfondue]

@@SteveHill3D Deformo sounds like a super hero who got rejected from the X-Men.

[@mymyChannel771]

Its the best sub-d modeling software. But its overpriced at least 4 times its worth. no new users and for that reason it will eventually be discontinued someday in the future. If you throw on blender all the popular modeling add-ons it can almost match modo's toolset. but its free and have a huge momentum. its a shame this tool lost its identity and fell to corporate greed.

[@Pixelfondue]

100% Agree. It's absolutely idiotic what they're doing. They figured they could just keep cashing users checks and users are leaving and nobody new is coming. It's grotesque.

[@mymyChannel771]

@Pixelfondue yeah. After lightwave destroyed by the core scam, xsi destroyed by the greed of its owners to sell to autodesk, and modo destroyed by the greed of Brad to sell to the foundry, i decided I had enough with the bs. im using blender now. It's a convoluted mess made by programmers that don't understand professional design environment for hobbiests, but at least it not going anywhere with more then a million users and source code is out there

[@nervouschimp]

"will eventually be discontinued someday in the future." This comment aged into a fine wine followed by bitter tears in just 7 days.

[@mymyChannel771]

@@nervouschimp omg it just happen look at announcement

[@Ozzy-cz2ym]

Not so much an anniversary as it is a eulogy. RIP