MODO UserGuide

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modo 401 user guide iii

modo 401 user guide iv

Table of ContentsChapter 1 -- Getting Started

Workflow Matters ...................................................................................................................................... 1

Learning modo ............................................................................................................................................ 3

Chapter 2 -- Interface

Interface Overview ................................................................................................................................... 12

Mousing Standards in modo ................................................................................................................... 20

Chapter 3 -- Modeling

Creation Tools ........................................................................................................................................... 25

Transforms Tools ....................................................................................................................................... 42

Deform Tools ............................................................................................................................................ 45

Duplicate Tools .......................................................................................................................................... 51

Mesh Edit Tools ........................................................................................................................................ 67

Vertex Tools ............................................................................................................................................... 74

Edge Tools ................................................................................................................................................. 78

Polygon Tools ............................................................................................................................................ 81

Selection Tools .......................................................................................................................................... 87

Tool Modifiers ........................................................................................................................................... 92

Working with Backdrops ....................................................................................................................... 103

Chapter 4 -- Vertex Maps

Vertex Map Types ................................................................................................................................... 105

Vertex Map List ...................................................................................................................................... 107

Vertex Map Tools .................................................................................................................................... 108

UV Map Tools .......................................................................................................................................... 115

Chapter 5 -- Sculpting and Painting

Sculpting in modo ................................................................................................................................... 125

Sculpting Tools ......................................................................................................................................... 131

Notes about Sculpting ............................................................................................................................ 141

Working with Imported Displacements ............................................................................................... 145

Painting in modo .................................................................................................................................... 150

Painting Tools ........................................................................................................................................... 153

Hair Tools ................................................................................................................................................ 163

Painting Workshop ................................................................................................................................. 172

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Table of ContentsChapter 6 -- Animation

Animating in modo ................................................................................................................................ 183

Keyframing .............................................................................................................................................. 185

Animation Setup ..................................................................................................................................... 198

Constraints and Modifiers ..................................................................................................................... 205

Deformers ............................................................................................................................................... 224

Animation Support ................................................................................................................................. 231

Chapter 7 -- Render and Shade

Render and Shade ................................................................................................................................... 253

Rendering Commands ........................................................................................................................... 254

Render Items .......................................................................................................................................... 256

Camera Item ........................................................................................................................................... 275

Shader Tree ............................................................................................................................................. 280

Shader Tree Layers .................................................................................................................................. 286

Lighting ................................................................................................................................................... 345

Environment Item .................................................................................................................................. 365

Render Outputs ...................................................................................................................................... 369

Tone Mapping .......................................................................................................................................... 371

Render Output Effect Types ...................................................................................................................374

Viewing Rendered Scenes ...................................................................................................................... 381

Baking Textures ...................................................................................................................................... 388

Presets ..................................................................................................................................................... 391

Chapter 8 -- User Workshop

Getting the most out of modo .............................................................................................................. 397

Appendix

Item Reference ....................................................................................................................................... 411

Network Rendering ............................................................................................................................... 420

Index

Index ........................................................................................................................................................ 423

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Workflow matters

When we designed modo we knew that our users would want and need very different workflow 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 the addi-tion of time support in modo, some users will model in modo, animate in modo or other apps and then bring that data back to modo for final texture and rendering. With such a widely varying user base it was critical for us to design a platform that would allow each person to choose how they work 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 inter-operate with most pipeline systems. The modo user inter-face 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 change things as basic as how to tumble a viewport or activate the Move tool. The modo interface itself is so malleable it is effectively fluid in operation. This allows the user to either 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

Figure 1-1 The modo Default Layout (minus the laptop, of course).

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amount of research, design and implementation at the Luxology labs and the end result is an appli-cation that can be painlessly inserted into an existing pipeline. modo is an application designed to enable artists to produce stunning work more efficiently than ever.

The modo architecture enables a new kind of workflow altogether, a richer and much less linear workflow. The core fusion of the various technologies (modeling, sculpting, painting, animating, lighting, texturing and rendering) allow users to leverage all technologies literally 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.

Enjoy it. We do.

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

Figure 1-2 The modo Quick Tips popup window.

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At Luxology we understand that 3D is hard. This fundamental concept is something that has driven our business and software designs from day one. Our goal has always been to create an application that is more approachable and easier to use than any other 3D application on the market. However, we also know that no matter how much we improve the ergonomics and workflow of 3D, this will never be enough. That is why we also have an intense commitment to building a sharing and open community and a dedication to providing you with the most dynamic form of educational materials possible.

Community

We believe that no one can support an artist better than other artists and so we have worked dili-gently to foster an incredibly prolific and professional community based on the idea that sharing is caring. By joining this community you can rest easy with the knowledge that someone will almost always lend you a helping hand on the Luxology forums. Regardless of your level of expertise you should feel comfortable asking questions of the community. The modo community has never failed to assist. In order for this community to work, it is important that if you receive assistance, you too should try and lend a helping hand to a fellow modo user whenever possible.

Learning modo

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Training materials

We believe the absolute best method for training is to show you how. Since you cant sit and watch over our shoulders, we provide you with hours of video training materials and a wealth of traditional documentation. You will find this material in a number of places. Understanding where to find this material and how to best leverage it is a significant first step in your journey to modo enlightenment.

Resource Media Location

User Guide PDF documentMenu bar: Help > Documentation > 401 User Guide

In line help HTML documents Menu bar: Help > Activate Help ( or press F1)

In line video clips Quicktime movies Many available via in line help pages

In line tutorial video Quicktime movies Menu bar: Help > Documentation > Tutorials

Reference material HTML documents Menu bar: Help > Documentation > Reference

Luxology.TV Online movies www.Luxology.TV

Luxology Training Commercial training Luxology online store

modo Exploration/Quick Tips

Cards and video Menu Bar: File > modo Exploration Quick Tips tab top-right 401 Default Layout

User Guide: Hi! So, uh, yeah. You are reading the User Guide. Not much more to say about that; You found it! Its a PDF. OK. There are a couple notes though. The PDF and the in line help share mostly the same information, the PDF has a few things not covered in the in line help, and theres some expanded technical info available in the in line system for certain topics. The PDF has been formatted for front to back printing as supported by many online document printing services ...should you so desire. To aide in that, it also has a new cross referenced index to make it easier (pos-sible?) to find the information you need when you need it.

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Figure 1-3 Help acti-vated by pressing F1. Click on a button, item or viewport to access help.

Figure 1-4 The help page returned from clicking on the Sculpt Move tool. Note the View Help Video at the top of the page.

In-line Help/Clips: The integrated help system is designed to get specific information about the various tools, commands, items and user-interface components to you as quickly and easily as pos-sible. As indicated above this material is available as text and in many cases, video clips. To access this material simply activate the Help from the Help pull-down on the menu bar or just press the F1 key. When the Help system is activated the mouse cursor will change to a question mark icon. Now you can simply click on any button on the tool bars and properties, items in lists or options in menu bar. This will open the default HTML browser on your system to display the material prepared about the option in question.

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Figure 1-5 Clicking View Help Video will open the corresponding training clip.

Figure 1-6 The menu bar listing for the Tutorial video material.

Tutorial Video: modo includes a significant amount of tutorial video material which cover in great detail various aspects of the application and/or various processes. You can gain access to these video tutorials directly from within modo. Simply choose the Tutorials option from the Help > Documen-tation menu.

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Figure 1-7 The HTML list of the various tutorial materials available with the installation of modo.

Reference HTML: The in line help system material can also be accessed directly from the Refer-ence HTML page. This locally served HTML guide contains all the materials found when you click directly on the modo user interface with the help system active as well as additional information which can not be accessed directly via activating help.

Figure 1-8 Access to the Reference pages can be gained via the Menu bar.

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Figure 1-9 The Reference guide provides training content on the right with navigation in the column on the left

Figure 1-10 Quick Tips in the top right corner of the default layout.

modo Quick Tips: The modo Quick Tips cards provide a convenient method to quickly access useful information for either quickly ramping up on new specific topics (Quick Tips) The Quick Tips card can be located on the main default Layout in the top right hand corner as well as on the File menu.

Figure 1-11 Open the modo Quick Tips from the file menu.

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Luxology TV: Luxology TV is an innovative online hub that allows the 3D community to exchange and view high resolution video clips on Luxologys web site. Luxology TV enables anyone to enhance their 3D learning experience by searching, selecting and immediately watching videos on a variety of subjects such as modeling, animating, painting, sculpting and rendering.

Luxology TV is structured to quickly grow into a massive repository of training and presentation material on modo and other topics pertaining to 3D content creation. Luxology TV contains two main categories of video clips: training and a presentation gallery. The training area includes how-to video clips, and the gallery contains animations and non instructional videos. You can browse through an array of video thumbnails with associated text descriptions and search for video clips based on key words, industries or general 3D topics. (For example you might search for videos on subjects such UV editing, sculpting or animation). When a video is located and selected for view-ing, Luxology TV will also populate the page with thumbnails of related videos. This infrastructure provides an efficient way to locate, play and/or download videos of interest.

Figure 1-12 Luxology TV is a database driven repository a owing you to search hours of free training material using the search topics or entering keywords in the search field.

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Luxology Professional Training Series: Luxology also has full time staff dedicated to producing high quality professional training materials. This material is produced in a similar format to tradi-tional DVD training, however, the video material is sold and distributed online for immediate de-livery. Further, this online distribution allows us to deliver the training at 720p HD (1280x720) rather than the lower resolution restriction of DVD. This material is meticulously crafted to be educational and entertaining. The pacing of the material depends on the level of training which is defined per album. Its good stuff.

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Interface Overview

When you first open up modo after installing it, this is the screen youre presented with. Think of it as the cockpit for the modo 3D race car; designed and refined for the smoothest user experience. If your viewport doesnt match for some reason, one can easily restore the default interface by select-ing from the menu bar Layout > Layouts > 401 Default Layout. The main interface is organized into 4 basic sections. Across the top is the menu bar and tabs. On the left side column are modos many tools and commands, the center viewport is where you will likely spend the greatest amount of time using modo and lastly, the right hand side houses information regarding the scene, its many items and their respective properties. Each section serves a specific purpose, so lets go over each one.

1.) The Application Menu Bar

Virtually any function of modo is available from the menu bar, organized by their respective applica-tion. LMB-clicking on any of the menu bar items will reveal the menu itself, a list of commands that sometimes activates a tool that requires further action within the 3D viewport (Section 6), or some-

Figure 2-13 The new modo 401 Default Layout

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times initiates a popup window requesting additional input. Most of the functions within the menu bar are repeated elsewhere within the application or are available via modos many keyboard short-cuts (listed to the right of the menu item). This functional duplication is meant to enhance overall workflow reducing the number of clicks necessary to accomplish a specific task, such as the various image loaders found throughout the interface.

2.) Viewport Tabs

Directly below the menu bar is a series of clickable tabs that open separate interface layouts, each dedicated to the particular task named by the tab. While nearly all layout configurations share the same basic structure, toolbox on left, viewport in center and info and properties on the right, each tab features the tools specific to the task at hand, the modeling tab has the tools for creating and ma-nipulating your geometry, the painting tab features the brush tools for sculpting and texturing your models and so on. Think of each tab as its own workroom geared toward streamlining the workflow of that particular function.

3.) The Toolbox

The toolbox section resides in the upper area of the left hand side of the screen. Each Viewport Tab has its own particular dedicated tool-box, illustrated here with the Model tabs toolbox. The toolbox itself will house the various tools and commands. Down the right side of the toolbox are a series of rotated tabs or sub-sections that organize the various tools by their function. Clicking on any of the tool icons will activate the tool for use within the 3D viewport. One can eas-ily tell which tool is active by the orange highlighting that appears behind it. Depending on the tools function, properties appear for it in the section directly below where settings can be modified and applied. A tool can be dropped (deactivated) by clicking the button a second time, by hitting the space bar, essentially freezing the current state or by selecting another tool. Buttons to quickly access alternate viewport toolboxes are available at the top of the toolbox.

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4.) Tool Properties

Directly below the toolbox are the properties dedicated to the currently active tool, in this case the Transform tool. Tool proper-ties will only appear when a tool has been activated and will change depending on which tool is selected. For most tools, one can in-teractively LMB-click drag in the viewport, and see the properties themselves update in realtime, conversely, users can directly edit the properties by LMB-clicking over a value in the light gray area and typing in a new value; though you wont see it update in the viewport until you hit the Enter key. The Tab key can be used as well, to jump between value input fields eliminating the need to click over each field. Once the user is satisfied with the settings they want, one simply needs to drop the tool by hitting the space bar to freeze

those particular settings. Users can also activate a tool, and enter values directly into the properties panel but will need to press the apply button to see their effect, losing any interactive editing func-tionality. By clicking in a 3D viewport while a tool is active, you are placing modo into an interactive mode, where the Apply becomes unnecessary.

5.) modo Modes

The modes section appears under the menu bar and over the 3D viewport. The first three buttons from the left are the component editing modes, an important distinction in modo. These particular modes set how one selects and works directly with geometry for manipulation --pushing, pulling and modify polygons. Users can easily toggle between any of these modes by pressing the space bar, continuously looping through the three or by pressing the 1,2 or 3 keys on the keyboard. The fourth button, Items mode is for editing items. It can be somewhat confusing as the same transform tools modify both, but if you think of each item layer as a container, the component modes edit whats inside the container, and item mode edits the container itself, its much easier to understand. Why a separate Item mode you might ask? Well, for one, when animating in modo, you are transforming items (the containers), individual vertices are not directly animateable (to do this, one would use an animated deformer, but thats another section). Also, replicators, and instances work by duplicating the container.

If you LMB-click and hold over the Items mode button, a popup reveals some additional modes for selecting surfaces within the shader tree (the heart of modos surfacing and shading system) and for selecting an items center and pivot points. The rest of the buttons are modifiers for tools, chang-ing their basic behaviors. Action Centers are useful in that they can automatically adjust a tools axis and orientation. Symmetry, does exactly what its name implies, duplicating manipulations across a

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chosen axis. Falloff can control the affect a tool has on a selection based on an interactively applied distance. Snapping can ease certain workflows that require levels of precision and lastly the Work Plane is an interactive and modifiable virtual workbench within modo that can simplify many mod-eling tasks among other things. The documentation has dedicated sections that further explain each of these functions, but none are strictly necessary to start working in modo.

6.) 3D Viewport

The 3D viewport is where you will likely spend the greatest amount of time working in modo. It is your virtual window into modos 3D world. One should immediately notice the dark grid going off into the distance, this plane is purely for reference, denoting the zero position of the Y axis. Think of this as the ground plane. As items move up, they will increase their Y position value (sometimes referred to as the up axis). The X values move from left to right, and the Z axis (depth) moves from front to back. (For users used to an alternate up axis, this setting can be modified in the System

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> Preferences) The darkest lines represent zero for the X and Z planes, and where all 3 intersect is the origin --0,0,0 on all 3 axes; Item level transforms all take place from this position.

Navigation of the viewport can take place using the 3 icons in the upper right hand corner, LMB-click dragging over the the four arrows icon will move the viewpoint position, same thing for the rotation icon rotating the view and the magnifying glass icon scaling it. Of course there are also key-board shortcuts for viewport navigation, making for easier navigation. Pressing both the shift and alt/option keys and then LMB-click dragging over the viewport will move the view position around left and right and up and down, the middle mouse button (MMB) will move the view forwards and backwards while the right mouse button will restrict the view change to just up and down. To rotate the viewpoint, press the alt/option key alone and LMB-click drag over the viewport; MMB-click dragging will restrict the rotation around the Y axis, and the RMB will flick the view i.e. it will slowly stop when the button is released instead of directly stopping. Zooming can be done in the viewport by scrolling the mouse wheel over the viewport, or by ctrl/command-alt/option LMB-click dragging over the viewport; RMB-click dragging will define a rectangular area that when the button is released, modo instantly zooms to.

If youve been trying out the keyboard shortcuts for navigating the viewport, you likely noticed the lighter grid, and how it would interactively change position based on the current viewpoints position. This is the workplane, think of it as the virtual desktop within the viewport. If one were to select the Make Box tool and LMB-click drag over the viewport, the first plane of the box would originate upon the work plane itself. Drop the tool by hitting the space bar and rotate your view-point until the Work Plane changes position and then activate the cube tool again and draw another square, this time it originates from the new workplane position. So based on your viewports posi-tion, the workplane always tries to face the user, and appears within the viewport as reference to where new items will be created. For users used to working in a 4 viewport type system where one can easily place items in 3D space by moving it around in each viewport, the Work Plane helps by allowing users to work in a single large perspective viewport, and easily position items within the scene without surprises as to where items will be created. There are several functions for modify-ing the Work Planes position and how it adapts to the viewport covered more fully in the dedicated Work Plane section.

7.) Item List, Shader Tree, Groups and Images

The top right area of the interface basically lists all the various items that make up a modo scene, these lists are important to the overall modo workflow, as such, they ap-pear in all the various layout sections (tabs from section 2) with some variation. The tabs across the top of this section choose basically which items are listed; grouped by how modo sees them. The Items list shows all the items that make up the scene itself --a geometry layer is an item (the

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container), a camera is an item, lights are items. Within the list, items can be grouped together by parenting for organization or for animation hierarchies. Selecting the various items will display their properties within a properties viewport along with numerous other functions covered in the item list page. The Shader Tree viewport organizes all the surfaces within the scene and their respective items, such as materials, shaders, textures and groups. When rendering a scene, it is the shader tree that controls how the final rendered image appears, covered fully in the rendering and shading sec-tion of the docs. The Groups viewport is useful for creating groupings of items in a scene, making it easier to select and manipulate multiple items, as well as for controlling lighting (light linking), mak-ing multi-item replicators and for working with animated scenes when setting keyframes. The Im-ages tab lists all the external images currently loaded into modo and offers functionality for working with them. Note that images arent saved in the modo file itself, so theyll need to be available each time a scene is loaded. Lastly, the Quick Tips viewport offers some shortcuts to videos and such for quickly getting up to speed in modo.

8.) Lists and Properties

Directly below the item and shader tree lists section, is, drum roll please, more lists! As scenes fill up with items and textures, UV maps and such, a serious amount of informa-tion is created along with it, and modo offers many ways of viewing and manipulating all that info. In this particular gang of lists, the Properties is the most important, users will most likely have this one open most of the time.

The first tab Lists is actually three mini viewports in one. The top section lists all the associated Vertex Maps. A vertex map is an instruction associated with a vertex to tell it do a certain thing, such as move a specific offset distance (morph map), specify a 2D position on an image (UV) or simply a value that is fed into another function such as weight maps do. To see the vertex map associated to an item, the item(s) must be selected (highlighted in the item

list). From this window, users can create, rename and delete any of the various maps.

Next down is the Pipeline viewport, also known as the toolpipe; the heart of the modo toolbox. A tool can be made up from a single function like the make cube tool. Or a tool can be a combination of functions rolled together, such as a transform tool with a certain falloff and action center (flex tool!). The tool pipe is where a user can make custom tools. Presets houses the various pre-made tool combinations included in the various tool boxes that install with modo.

Statistics is precisely that, a listing of scene statistics -the total number of polygons, how many of them are triangles or have more than 5 sides. More than just a list, users can use the little +/- signs

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that precede each line for selecting/deselecting geometry in the scene based on the specific criteria. Lastly, the Info tab will give you all the information associated with a selection. Select an item, you get info on that item. Select some geometry and youll get info on all the associated vertices and map values as well as applied surfaces and selection sets associated with it, among other things.

The next tab over across the top is the main Properties tab. Every item in modo has a series of attributes associated with it, and this is the viewport where users can edit them. Selecting any item will display the properties specific to it, dynamically changing as different types of items are select-ed. Lights will display all the attributes specific to a light, such as its brightness and shadow proper-ties, items will show their position information as well as settings pertaining to subdivision. Select-ing items within the shader tree will display all the attributes specific to the particular layer, such as a materials color and specular amount.

Next over, the Channels tab is a more concentrated version, displaying every animateable attri-bute associated with an item as a continuous list. Lastly, the Display viewport has settings specific to how items are displayed in the 3D viewport.

Other viewport tabs (from section 2 above) introduce additional functionality, such as the Timeline in the animation layout and the Preset Browser in the layout tab. Users should also note that modos layouts are highly configurable, if you have certain functions you wish to group together. Nearly every viewport can be resized by clicking on the frame edge around the viewport

9.) Pie Menus

Pie menus arent really a section of the interface, but they are an incredibly fast way to work in modo,offering numerous important functions delivered directly to your mouse pointer via a key-board shortcut. When pressed, the menu appears over a viewport, where the user can scroll around highlighting the various tools, a LMB-click on a highlighted option selects the function or triggers

the chosen command. modo has offered customizable pie menus all along, however, there are several new menus that have been introduced with 401 specific to the GL viewports offering the ability to quickly toggle various viewport functionality.

Ctrl + ~ (tilde) = GL Split/Remove Ctrl + Spacebar = Viewport Orientation Ctrl + 1 = GL Toggles Alt + Q = Transform/Select Ctrl + 2 = GL Shading Modes Alt + ~ = Palette Viewports Ctrl + 3 = Viewport Popovers Shift + ~ = Palette Tools Ctrl + Tab = Modeling Tools

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Mousing Standards in modo

modo employs a great number of keyboard based shortcut keys, despite this fact, users will still largely interact with the application by way of the mouse (or a tablet if thats what you prefer). modo has two main styles of mouse input, hauling and handle manipulation. Hauling is Left Mouse Button (called LMB) click and dragging anywhere in the 3D viewport while a tool active. Handle manipulation is LMB dragging on any of the current tool handles, which are typically the colored indicators that appear in the viewport over the item that is being manipulated.

Figure 2-14 Tool handles for the move tool. Dragging a handle constrains the tool to a specific 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 be-haviors listed at the bottom of the modo interface in the Tool Tips viewport.

Figure 2-15 The Tool Tips viewport is located across the bottom of the modo Default interface layout.

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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.

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 origi-nal 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.

LMB Shift-LMB MMB RMB Ctrl-LMB

Transforms Reset tool and haul parameters

Continue hauling pa-rameters w/o reset


None (reserved for falloff modifiers)

Constrain param-eters

Create Haul parameters Reset tool and haul parameters


Haul alternate param-eters

Constrain param-eters

Curves Create new curve node

Drag node Child nodes

Delete node None Move constrained

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. This table quickly illustrates the various modes, followed by detailed descriptions and examples of each operation type.

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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.

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 im-mediately 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.


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.

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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 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 con-trol 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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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 square cube. By dragging in the 3D viewport with the Box tool active, 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

Modeling Tools In 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.

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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 unit primitives without interacting with the tool or Shift click the icon to create a unit primitive inside a new Mesh Item layer. (Holding Ctrl or Shift changes to the alternate commands)

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 nonzero 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.

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 creat-ing 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 as-signed 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 ver-sion 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 drag-ging in the 3D viewport with the Sphere tool active you can create the initial plane for the sphere.

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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)

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.

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 subdi-vision 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 fl ag 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 pro-

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cess. 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.

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 po-sition 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)

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.


The primitive tool buttons located on the modo Tools tool bar also have Alternate Commands as-signed 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 ver-sion 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)

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 cylinders circumference. The larger the number of sides, the smoother the cylinder will appear. If you plan to use subdivision sur-faces 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 nonzero 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 fl at 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 pro-cess. 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. Click-ing on the icon while holding the CTRL key down will instantly create a one meter version of that primitive.

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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 cur-rent 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 com-mands 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)

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 defor-mation operations. This also increases the smoothness of the capsule by adding extra facets.

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.


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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 drag-ging 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)


Size X,Y,Z: These three values are used to establish the dimensions of the torus.

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.



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 ini-tial plane is created, clicking away from one of the handles will snap that handle to the mouse posi-tion 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)

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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 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 dur-ing 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.



Tube Primitive

Using the Tube primitive you can quickly click down a number of control points and modo will cre-ate a tube based on the a spline curve interpolated through them. (Holding CTRL or SHIFT chang-es 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.)

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 fi rst 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 sim-ply missing one of the points when clicking to edit it.

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

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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 specifi c 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 fl owing 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 poly-gons. 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.

Closed: Activating the Closed flag will create a curve loop rather than a curve line so that the result-ing 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 creat-ing 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 follow-ing teapot lore, simply type Utah Teapot into your favorite search engine. (Holding Ctrl or Shift changes to the alternate commands)

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


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 start-ing 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 Work Plane. 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 cen-ter 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.

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.

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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 vertices 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 impor-tant. This command can be triggered by pressing the P key on the keyboard, or on the menu bar under under Geometry > Polygon > Make... which offers some additional options.

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. 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, theyll turn yellow when the mouse is directly over them. Clicking away from a vertex will create a new vertex in that location. To start a new line without dropping the tool, press shift LMB-click. Clicking on previous vertices made within the same tool session will weld the new vertex/line section together. To insert a vertex, high-light a previously created one, and click away from it and the new vertex will be inserted after the selected vertex.

Type: This pop-up button allows you to select between different modes-

Polygons: In Polygon mode, each click of the mouse creates a new vertex in the polygon currently being created by the tool.

Lines: The Line type will create two vertex polygon line segments.

Vertices: The Vertices mode will simply create new vertices with each click leaving you with a ver-tex cloud.

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Spline patches: Spline patch mode acts exactly like Polygon mode but creates polygons of type Spline Patch.

Subdivision Surfaces: When using Subdiv mode the pen tool simply creates polygons tagged as SDS.

Current Point: You can change this setting to change the current vertex to be edited by the nu-meric 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.

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.

Close: Close will automatically draw a line between the first and last vertex created making a closed loop.

Merge: The Merge function will automatically Merge or combine vertices within close proximity of one another when 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.

World Axis Snap: When this is active the pen tool handles will snap along the world XYZ axis once you have created more than one vertex.

Straight Line Snap: Will try to snap the handle to a position that will create a straight line be-tween the next and previous vertices in the polygon being created.

Right Angle Snap: Will effect a snap when the angle created by the current, previous and next vertices create a 90 degree angle.

Wall Mode: With mode type set to Polygons, Wall mode will allows the user to draw out polygon strips that look like a building floorplan. effectively creating the foundation for rooms. There are 4 settings, off, disables wall mode, Inner will draw the wall segment on the inside of the polyline, Outer will draw the wall segments on the outside of the polyline, Both will extend the wall segments on both sides of the polyline.

Offset: The Offset value represents the thickness of the wall, when in wall mode. Note then when wall mode is set to both, that offset will be doubled. This value can also be set interactively with the RMB-click in the viewport, much like adjusting brush size for painting.

Inset: This option allows each new vertex to be beveled into multiple segments for quickly flatten-ing or rounding corners.

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Segments: Only available when Inset is non-zero this value determines how many vertices to create in order to facilitate the inset value. Increasing this value makes more complex and rounded corners. Using a value of one results in flattened corners.

Show Angles: With Show Angles enabled, corners will have corner angles in degrees drawn in ghosted form over active geometry.

Make UVs: When enabled this setting will automatically make UVs for the created geometry.

Sketch Tool

The Sketch tool allows you to quickly create a curve by drawing in the 3D view. To use the tool, click and drag in any 3D viewport. Use a mouse or tablet to draw the curve and modo will convert your sketch into the curve type youve chosen. Strokes, while active have a couple little widgets associ-ated with them, a plus icon at the root or base and a small dot at the tip. Strokes can be manipulated by clicking on the plus icon to move the entire curve and clicking on the dot at the tip will allow the user to rotate and scale the tip around the base. With Constrain to Background enabled, the sketch tool is a quick and easy way to add polygons, retopologizing any background geometry.

Type: This pop-up allows you to choose between the various sketch tool types, as follows-

Curve (default): When set to Curve, the Sketch tool creates a spline curve based on the sketch path.

Face: When 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.

Lines: When set to Line, the tool will generate a series of 2 vertex poly-lines that follow the contour of your sketched curve.

Quads: When set to quads, the tool will create a strip of quad (4 sided) polygons centered along the countour of the sketched curve.

Segment: When set to quads, the segments value specifies the number of polygons in a segment strip. Somewhat like uniform spans, in that subsequent strokes if longer or shorter may contain more or less segments, however the spans will roughly equal those in the initial sement value until changed.

Width: Sets the width of the polygon strip. Setting only affect type-quads. One can also RMB-click in the viewport to interactively set the width value.

Prescision: This value sets how finely modo interpolates the drawn stroke, lower values produce strokes with greater numbers of points, higher values produce strokes with lower numbers of points. Think of it roughly like the distance in pixel the pointer travels before creating a new point.

Slice: When set to quads, this value specifies the number of slices in a poly strip, so a 16 polygon strip with a slice value of 2 would produce 32 polygons > 16 long by 2 wide.

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Uniform Spans: For curves and polylines, this setting creates a uniform distance between generat-ed vertexes regardless of stroke speed or shape. When set to Quads, Uniform Spans creates straight line quad strips between the start and end point of the drawn stroke.

Curve Interpolation: Continuously evaluates the stroke, when set to Type-Quads, with uniform spans, the polygon strips will follow along the drawn path

Connect: When drawing out quad strip polygons, with Connect enabled, adjoining strips in close enough proximity to each other, will join together.

Flip: Flip will reverse the normal facing direction of polygons. If youre drawing out polygons and you dont see anything, they are probably facing away from you, use the flip command to reverse their facing direction.

Make UVs: When creating Quad polygon strips, Make UVs will automatically make appropriate UVs. Choose whitch direction you wish the lengths to align with U (horizontal) or V (vertical).

Bezier Curve Tool

A Bezier Curve is a type of curve defined by control vertices. Bezier Curves were originally devel-oped for computer modeling in automotive design. In modo, the Bezier tool is found in the Basic subtab of the modeling toolbox. Each vertex is controlled by two other points that control the end-point tangent vectors. Bezier curves have control handles that are used to adjust curvature. To draw a bezier curve do the following:

1) Enable the tool from the menu bar Geometry > Draw > Bezier

2) Click in any 3D Model Viewport to place the initial point of the Bezier Curve.

3) Move the mouse and click again to set the next point. Notice that you can move to any viewport and continue clicking (or rotate a perspective view), you are not limited to the initial viewport.

4) 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.

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

6) If you want to close the curve, turn on the Closed checkbox on the Tool Properties form. When finished, hit the spacebar to drop the tool essentially freezing the curve.

Bezier Curves support 3 modes: Add, Edit and Delete. You can use these modes to create addi-tional points, edit them, or remove them from the curve, during the drawing operation. Once the tool is dropped, interactive editing within the tool itself is lost, though points can be edited with any of modos other tools.

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Points on the Bezier Curve can be positioned precisely by using the Point XYZ fields of the tools properties form, 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 to draw your curve in.

2) Define the constraining geometry as a background layer in the item list. Active (highlighted) layers are considered foreground, while unselected but visibly layers are considered background elements.

3) On the modo Modes toolbar, under Snapping set Snap Enabled and then Constrain to Back-ground.

4) Draw in the viewport. The curve will snap onto the surface of the background geometry.

Patch Curves

Patching is a means of generating a smooth surface from 3 or 4 curves that define the contour edges of the surfaces. Multiple patches can be combined to create a closed volume (like a contoured bottle) To make a Spline Patch do the following:

1) Use the Curve drawing tool to draw curves that cross correctly (i.e. share endpoints).

2) On the default 401 interface, under the Model or Model Quad layouts, you can find the model-ing tools toolbar, click the Basic sub tab.

3) The Patch Curves tool can be found under the Pen/Curves button, hold down the button until the menu pops up and select the Patch Curves tool.

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 will generate UVs that follow the grid of quads generated for each patch.

Define Patch: Users can interactively select edges to define the patch surface.

Extend: Grap and drag edge handles to extend patch edges.

Move Knot: Interactively adjust specific knots in the patch.

Move Edge: Move selected edge.

Edit Edge: Select edges and modify the number of knots.

Knots: Defines the number of divisions along the length of a curve for editing.

Start/End Control Vertex: The flag for side curves to extend allowing control over curvature for end segments.

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Perpendicular: The number of divisions along a perpendicular side.

Parallel: The number of divisions along a parallel side.

Save Boundaries: Retains the boundary curves.

Freeze: When the tool is dropped, the patch surface becomes editable polygons.

Make Open Curve

The Make Open Curve command 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) Open the Curves palette via the menu bar Geometry > Curve Palette.

2) Select the vertices you wish to convert to a curve in the proper order, base first to tip.

3) In the Commands section of the Curves Palette, click Make Open Curve.

An open curve is drawn through the vertices.

Make Closed Curve

The Make Closed Curve command creates a curve through selected vertices connecting the first vertex to the last making a continuous loop. To make an closed curve do the following:

1) Create vertices in the 3D Model View. You can use the Vertex tool to create these quickly.

2) Open the Curves palette via the menu bar Geometry > Curve Palette.

2) Select the vertices you wish to convert to a curve in the proper order, base first to tip.

3) In the Commands section of the Curves Palette, click Make Closed Curve.

A closed curve is drawn through the vertices.

Text Tool

The Text Tool simplifies the process of creating 3D text using system fonts. To use the tool simply choose the desired font, type the text into the Text field and click in the 3D viewport to set the start location for the text. The Text tool creates a special polygon of text type. These special text polygons contain metadata in the form of polygon tags that store all the information about the font used, size, kerning amount, etc. As long as the text remains as this text polygon the text tool can be reactivated with the text polygon selected and any of these attributes can be edited live. When the text polygon is beveled or extruded modo will convert them to standard face polygons and the text

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metadata is purged removing the users ability to modify spelling spacing or other font specific at-tributes. Properties for the tool include:

Text: Enter the desired text into this field.

Font: This popup choice give access to all fonts installed on the system. The font used for the text string can be changed at anytime using this popup as long as the text remains in the native text poly-gon type.

Size: Use this value to set a scale for the text.

Kerning: This control allows fine tuning of the space between each letter.

Position XYZ: This XYZ triplet value determines the starting position for the text string in 3D space.

Location: The Location popup choice shifts the position of the font up or down relative to the start location. The options include Bottom, Middle and Top. The default value of Bottom sets the bottom, left most point on the font at the start location. Changing the value to Middle will positon the font at its middle (in height) and the Top setting pushes the font down such that the top-left most point on the font rests at the start location.

Justification: This value adjusts the text position to the right and left. The options include Left, Center and Right. The default value of Left puts the left most edge of the text at the start location. Changing this value to Center will position the text such that the center of the text string rests at the start location. Using the Right option will push the text string to the left so that the right-most edge of the text rests at the start location.

Split: Th

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