Modo News

Foundry has announced a new release of Modo the last of the 11 series. Significant new features of version 11.2 include: improvements to poly bevel tools to improve edge flow with complex geometry; expanded procedural modelling tools including a new 'Select by Previous', ‘Set Polygon Type’, and ‘Flip Polygons’ operators; UV tool enhancements including the ability to align UV islands quickly and layer islands, plus a new UV coverage indicator showing the coverage percentage by foreground items and all items in a UV map; animation performance enhancements; Alembic replicator and particle data export; and much more. More information is available on the Modo website.

Digital Dimension has released a new reel of games trailer and cinematics work. Watch it on Vimeo.

After some internal discussions a decision has been reached. There has been a change of management and the site will continue to operate under new guidance. To make it viable as a long term project, however, there is still need to increase the site's income, so we will actively be pursuing avenues for that. Again, a huge thanks to everyone who offered to contribute, all of those who contacted us willing to help, and all of those who would've liked to give a hand but couldn't do it at this moment.

In a surprise move, Chaos Group has announced at the 2017 D2 Conference that they have acquired Render Legion. Corona Renderer will continue to be developed as a separate product, maintaining the same personnel.

Technology and IPs will be shared between the two popular renderers. According to the announcement this has already started to happen, revealing that V-Ray's DMC sampler is responsible for the 2x speed increases seen in Corona 1.6 hotfix 2. Short-term plans also include the inclusion of VFX features in Corona 1.7 which were co-developed with Chaos Group, and compatibility between assets so that materials, proxies, lights etc. will work in either engine. 

You can see the announcement in a recording of the D2 livestream on Facebook  and read more on Render Legion's blog and Chaos Group's website.

The Story of Inc - a SciFi narrative artbook that revolves around a man and his robot trying to survive on a barren desert planet - has relaunched on Kickstarter. The original release unfortunately was cut short by a claim that the main robot infringed an IP. Rather than fight a lawsuit, the books creators Neil Blevins, Bill Zahn and Stephan Bugaj have redesigned the droid and restarted the campaign. Nine additional artists from companies like Blur Studio, ILM, Pixar, Tippett, 343, Industries, Id Software, Blizzard, and many others collaborated to create a 168 page book with over 200 paintings, sketches, and 3D renders, plus a section of tutorials. For more information, you can visit the Kickstarter campaign.

Pushing Points has made their Profile Bevel tool for Modo free. The plugin allows users to drive the profile of a bevel operation with a user defined curve shape, without the need to create and load a new profile preset. This tool was previously free only for owners of the Hatchet collection, but is now available for everyone. Find on more on Gumroad.  

Sergio Mucino has released MaxTD, a new rigging toolkit for Modo designed to facilitate the easy creation of animation rigs even those without extensive TD experience. The Modo kit costs $65. You can see a full list of features and a demo video on MaxTD.com.

Outstanding renders and well known studios feature in the latest reel to showcase Chaos Group's V-Ray. Watch it on Vimeo.