modo 301 features an all-new 3D text tool that allows users to create polygonal text that can be edited as text even after the text tool is dropped. Credit: Dan Ablan 

Luxology has made great strides over the last few years. When Brad Peebler and his team started the company, they set out on a path many would consider foolish. Now, years and many releases later, they have become a respected team delivering high quality, fairly priced tools to 3D artists around the globe. Their most obvious challenge is to continue to focus on making modo an industry contender. With Autodesk accounting for the bulk of the 3D art creation market, with both 3ds Max and Maya users, Luxology is one of only a handful of companies willing to either take on or coexist alongside the software giant.

Peebler and his team rise to the challenge by following a methodical approach, and it seems to be working. With each new iteration of modo, their strategy has become more and more apparent: introduce new features only when they are user tested and truly ready for production and then follow up with updates focused on user feedback as a basis for improvements. Rinse and repeat many times over, throw in a little patience and before you know it you have modo, a 3D app with a devoted and growing user base. The latest release from Luxology is modo 301, a great leap forward in terms of both new features and improved ones.

Sculpting tools are also new in modo 301. In addition to sculpting, the painting tools have been revised to allow painting across multiple maps and objects. Credit: Khalid Al Muharraqi

Sculpting
It is no secret that 3D modelers have been waiting for digital sculpting tools for a long time. Recently, the 3D art toolset has grown to include many flavors of digital sculpting, the most widely known being Mudbox (which has been acquired by Autodesk) and ZBrush. Both applications have their fans and detractors but share a common thread: the desire amongst artists for highly functional, simple to use sculpting tools. Many amazing artists have tried to make the jump from 2D to 3D only to find the toolset sorely lacking. The good news and highest profile new feature in modo 301 is -- you guessed it -- digital 3D sculpting.

The sculpting in modo comes in two flavors: image based and mesh based. Mesh based sculpting is straightforward. You choose a mesh, select your sculpting tool of choice from the new sculpt/paint tab and begin manipulating the vertices of the object directly. This approach is entirely dependent on the density of your original mesh, which means you'll likely hit performance issues at some point, depending on memory and processor limitations. If the goal is to create an incredibly detailed object, users can instead opt to use image based sculpting on a subdivision surface object. In this case, users must first apply a displacement map, with proper UVs, to the object before using the image based sculpting tools. The resulting sculpt affects both actual geometry vertices and those within the subdivision surfaces. The actual detail information is stored in the map. Image based sculpting took a few seconds to load, but once loaded performed quickly and invisibly.

The sculpt tools are similar to Mudbox in function and just as easy to use. There is not much of a learning curve: simply select a tool, adjust the brush properties and you are sculpting quite nicely. Like the rest of modo, the focus on usability is apparent from the first time you use the new sculpting tools; however, there is enough depth for experienced artists to produce high-density meshes of almost any kind.