The Foundry releases Modo 902
The Foundry has released Modo 902, the latest update to its 3D modelling, animation and rendering package, adding a new camera matching and digital matte painting toolset.
The news is something of an unexpected bonus for Modo users: as far as we’re aware, it’s the first time a free update has been released in between major paid-for releases since Modo 302 in 2008.
New tools for virtual camera creation and matte painting
The update adds a system for generating a virtual camera matching that of a photographic background plate along the lines of that in Cinema 4D, with users drawing lines along straight edges in the image to define axes.
One nice feature is the toolset can make use of the image’s metadata, automatically matching the focal length of the real-world camera.
If the metadata includes a GPS location and time-of-day information, Modo can also set up the physical sun in the scene to match.
There is also a new Projection Texture and Projection Shader for projecting an image onto 3D geometry in the scene, with the latter overriding scene lighting so that the object uses lights and shadows from the image.
In addition, a brush-based Projection Ink system lets users paint through photographic images to texture 3D geometry in a simiilar way to a tool like Mari, with the texture matching the viewpoint of the camera selected.
Finally, a new Camera Plane modifier creatse an image plane whose size and position Modo automatically adjusts to keep it filling the screen as the user adjusts depth.
Pricing and availability
Modo 902 is available now for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. The update is free to registered users. New licences of the software cost $1,799.
Read more about the new features in Modo 902 on The Foundry’s website