OMG! I just saw the most amazing thing!

# 1 19-11-2009 , 03:53 AM

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Location: Michigan, USA

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I wonder about all the time I have spent learning to model in Maya?

I just watched the modo 401 hard surface subd modeling video by Andrew Brown and it makes me want to remove Maya from all my machines and chuck all the disks into the nearest trash bin!

First I want to say that Andrew has to be one of the most articulate persons I have ever had the pleasure of listening too.

In the video he goes over creating a standin model of a subcomponent of a large and highly detailed mech. He creates a small library of proxy components. Then he sets up a basic rig to test the functionality of the subcomponent (in this example the ankle area of the mechs foot).

This first section is pretty straight forward, simple shapes, big ngons, pieces just stuck into other pieces. The highlight of this section though is the asset management system built into modo 401 that allows you to create libraries of easily accessed and reusable parts!

The second section is what really blew me away. He then detailed the proxy parts to create some of the final high detailed parts. All I can say is OH MY GOD! I watched it 5 times. He combined some objects and added details to objects that I would spend an eternity trying to duplicate in Maya!

Watching how he combined pieces of a piston assembly into a single object and how he created some very cool brackets with part lines and areas for them to be bolted together - with such ease - made me feel very envious.

In the second section there were two main features that really shined.

First was the back ground constraint object which is kinda like making an object live in maya only far more powerful. You make an object a background constraint and then you can just push another object into it and it forms perfectly to the surface. That is such a awesome feature. SEXY just damn SEXY!

Second was the axis and work plane alignment system. Maya's axis system (world, local, and object) just plain blows and has always blown! The only way I have found to get user defined axis alignment in Maya that even remotely compares to Modo is to create a cube proxy, manually align it as close as I can to the way I want the working axis, parent the object I am working on to it, then freeze transforms which is very tedious and inaccurate.

In the end I am just flabbergasted. It made me feel like Maya was a rickety go cart compared to a Ferrari!

I want to try and recreate the pieces Andy made in the video using Maya to see if I can figure it out. I'd like to take a shot at learning Modo again. I tried it before but the workflow is so completely different from Maya I was having trouble wrapping my head around it, and I actually regressed in my ability to use Maya. So I figured it was better to know one package really well then be an average Joe on two. At the time Modo was still buggy and Maya's workflow in my mind was easier.

But I have to tell you every time I see a modo modeling tutorial I am tempted to just chuck Maya and switch hard core to Modo.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 19-11-2009 at 04:04 AM.

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# 2 19-11-2009 , 10:23 AM

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Well I sat down for a bit and recreated the piston that Andrew made in the modo subdivision modeling video in maya.

As it turns out it was not as hard as I thought it would be.

I am going to try to recreate the ankle part. It was more complex as far as merging all the components into a single object.

Here is my cut at the piston assembly

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

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# 3 09-12-2009 , 04:15 PM

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LOL yeah modo is very cool, Ive been mulling it over for a while.......

Jay

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# 4 09-12-2009 , 05:07 PM

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Ok, I am new to maya and trying to get to grasp with it so I could ditch it before I am too deep in(buying my own copy), but this Modo sounds to good to be tru so I must be missing something here.

Explain it to me. Why is Modo 1000 bucks when Maya and Max is like 5000 bucks if they do the same thing? What does Maya and Max do that Modo can not do?

Or actually can Modo be both cheaper and better?

I smell something slightly rotten, have my nose gone bad? user added image

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# 5 10-12-2009 , 01:28 PM

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Modo is based on lightwave or at least it was written by many of the original developers of lightwave who left to join luxology.

It's cheaper because of several factors - It has not been around as long as Maya and therefore does not have the track record with large studios that Maya enjoys. Until recently it did not have the animation capabilities of Maya and as far as I know still does not have very robust support for dynamics or any fluid dynamics.

In many ways it has modeling features that seem better than Maya for exactly the same but inverted reasons. Maya is getting old and has had no major improvements to it's tools in a very long time. Some may argue that around 8.5-2008 editions some significant upgrades were added. But nothing more then you could get in some free third party plugins as I see it. Modo on the other hand is new and has a lot of very powerful modeling tools that Maya does not.

The things I think Modo has improved upon from Maya are:

1. a far better axis control system
2. a much improved and more powerful element selection system
3. far more powerful falloff and soft selection tools
4. more accurate control of things like bevels, insets, offsets, extrudes...
5. asset management system

to list a few.

That being said a lot of veteran Maya users like myself are comfortable with the Maya workflow and I have found even after my initial awe with the hard surface modeling tutorial in Modo that I can accomplish the same results in Maya without much more effort.

My intent AND I MUST MAKE THIS VERY CLEAR was not to start a package war. I believe Maya, Modo, Max, XSI, and a list too long to mention are all very capable tools and all have features that give them advantages.

I was just very impressed with what I saw in the HSM tutorial and several other modo videos I have watched. I would actually prefer to see some of those capabilities brought into Maya then learn an entirely different program and workflow.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 12-12-2009 at 06:34 AM.

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# 6 10-12-2009 , 06:15 PM

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Thank you Ctbram. It is very nice to hear insights from somebody experienced in a platform. Too often people get their personality mixed up with their software and unable too see things clearly.

I have just spent an hour with the modo demo and so far I can see what you mean with better axis. As for control I found it very wobbly, but I assume that is just me being a bit clumsy and used to the Maya control of panning zooming and stuff.

But if Modo can indeed do things as good as Maya I am almost pursuaded to go for Modo based on a more elegant layout of panels and interface and not to say the least a much lower price.

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OMG! I just saw the most amazing thing!

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