All images from The Official Luxololgy modo Guide, Version 301 © Course Technology.

This month VFXWorld concludes its excerption of the Thomson Course Technology book The Official Luxology modo 301 Guide, which will give VFXWorld readers a chance to build, layer, model, animate, texture and render with modo. Skills are taught using projects that take the reader from simple modeling to complex tasks, taking advantage of various tools and options along the way.

When it comes to modeling in modo, there really has been no limit to what you can create. That's even more true with modo 301's sculpting capabilities. This book is designed to show you all of the techniques available to you, through written word and visual examples on the DVD. This chapter will take you into another project in which you'll model a landscape. From there, you'll use modo 301/302's sculpting tools to shape it, then texture it and later you'll add the environment. You'll see how modo's micropolygon displacement works and how powerful it is.

Building a Landscape
Landscapes traditionally have been a chore for 3D artists. This is because to properly create them, you need a lot of geometry. A lot of geometry means a lot of polygons, and a lot of polygons means a lot of render time. But the team at Luxology introduced micropolygon displacement in modo 201, allowing you to create and work with simple objects but render with millions of polygons. How is this possible? The micropolygon displacement feature generates additional polygons at render time. The goal is that finer details can be achieved without physically modeling them into the base object.

You can then add to the details achieved through micropoly displacements and with modo's bump map capabilities to generate some terrific looking models. But how are these two techniques different? What determines the micropoly displacement over a bump? Let's say you build a landscape, such as the one shown in Figure 1. A basic model, which can be built from DEMs (demographic elevation maps), or just free form with various modo tools. It's simple in the 3D workspace, but the render shows a more detailed model. In most cases, this will work well. The subdivision in this image comes from a procedural noise applied as a bump layer in the Shader Tree. Figure 2, on the other hand, is the exact same model with the same procedural noise applied as a layer. Micropolygon displacement is activated within the Render Properties panel in the Settings category. Notice the fine details in the image. These details are not bump maps, which are only a visual effect. Micropolygon displacements physically change the geometry. This allows you to create minute details that are almost impossible to achieve from modeling alone.

[Figures 1 & 2] A typical landscape model, simple in the viewport, and then subdivided for the render (left). A typical landscape model, but with micropoly displacement turned on. Much finer detail is achieved. 

Creating landscapes can be an expression of your creativity or something more specific built from real-world references and data maps. This next project will show you how to create a landscape. It's simple in its approach, but the techniques will demonstrate that the possibilities are endless.