Max vs. Modo
polycounter lvl 4
Hey guys,
i tested these day's a bit with modo. I worked before with max. What the exactly difference or plus to use modo instead of max? Iam not seeing any huge aspects for modo to get used at all.
Please tell me your facts and experiences.
Greetz
i tested these day's a bit with modo. I worked before with max. What the exactly difference or plus to use modo instead of max? Iam not seeing any huge aspects for modo to get used at all.
Please tell me your facts and experiences.
Greetz
Replies
I'd choose 3ds max if they were priced the same.
Also there are tons of useful scripts, check them out - http://www.indigosm.com/modoscripts.htm
This one in particular helps me a lot - http://www.indigosm.com/modo/alignFit_new.mov
But there are tons of other good scripts like these:
You can find more examples here:
http://community.thefoundry.co.uk/discussion/topic.aspx?f=37&t=67482
about 50% of my tools in Modo are scripts. Without them I'd probably work in Max or Blender.
- mesh fusion (some people say to avoid it but when you see artists like Tor Frick use it then it can't be that bad)
- fall offs
There is other stuff that Modo does better out of the box like retopo tools, work planes, uv mapping, rendering. But these are things that can be fixed with the right scripts and plugins in max.
With that said i couldn't really get warm with the Modo workflow even after a couple weeks. It took an extensive amount of customizing to make it feel less clunky.
What i miss most in Modo compared to Max is the stack and the modifiers. The modo workflow is very destructive so better save a lot of iterations in case you need to go back.
http://www.twitch.tv/torfrick/profile/past_broadcasts
On the other hand, I feel like the everyday normal operation of pretty much everything(again outside of the stack, which is a huge component of using max), especially out of the box like mentioned above, modo feels better. But I've been using Modo for a long time so I'm biased.
curve loops, i use it in max all the time... so really nothing unique to modo
The main strength of 3ds max over modo, in my opinion, is the sense of control you have (modifiers, lots of parametric tools which can be undoed). In modo somehow things can easily get weird and out of control so you have to be careful.
I use both:) sometimes i rant about modo and sometimes about 3ds max...
However if you are into Archviz 3ds max could suit you better (i have never tried mArch for modo so maybe it can bring a huge difference.
I'm slowly learning Max again so I would appreciate if you share the technique.
My main complaint about Max is its interface. Out of all modelling packages Max is the hardest to deal with for me. Modelling stack though...
Not sure it's a standard feature in max but the Rappatools plugin has it, which i can only highly recommend to any max user either way.
Same here.
But to add one thing that i like better in Modo over Max is working with the subdivided view of the mesh. In max that can be slow framerate wise and hard to see where to select edges and vertices so i switch a lot more back and forth to see what i'm doing.
Anybody?
Yes, there is no perfect tool. Just the one that suits you better. I wonder how flexible Modo SDK is. I'm constantly writing down ideas for scripts.
The top of my list includes a much better viewport, its not very good for previewing game art, as it feels far more product designer centric.
That exists in max since they added the graphite modeling tools.
It's under loop tools.
In fairness theyre all maya users so they haven't seen an advance in modelling tools since 2005 - I worry it might have been too much for them actually..
I tried and quite liked modo but didnt seen any reason to move over from max - its a hell of a step up from maya and id much rather be using it for making stuff though.
Like someone mentioned before, there are some longtime Max users that are migrating from Max to Modo for modeling purpose because of the fluidity, the flow and organization related to Modo. Max is a great powerful tool but the infrastructure of the modeling module isn't really helping speed and intuitivity. There's a few things i could say Max does better than Modo, but it's easily workable with some smarts and good plugins.
Actually this illustrates my situation quite well, even though I still use Max and Maya from time to time. Not super crazy about the stack either, as I end up collapsing it a lot anyway, but I recognize there are some unique stuff you can do in Max because of the stack.
Documentation is pretty thin on the ground on some features of it, and what's there is fairly opaque to new users until you start to understand how MODO's infrastructure works.
I've only really gotten into UV and vertex normals, but there a lot more complex stuff can do.
For example, let's say we want to select couple of faces here:
in any other package it works as expected.
But in 3ds Max we get this:
WTF!?
Max ignores faces based on their normals, but not actual visibility to camera. Now imagine working with complicated model or mesh with a lot of polygon islands... You would need to hide parts of the model or constantly deselect unwanted components, either way it's clunky, tedious and waste of time.
Yeah, I have this impression that there's a lot of power there but the documentation is so anemic that it's really hard to dig into anything. I know how to code, so that's not the issue ... It's just the SDK is really lacking in examples of, well, anything to get you started.
Does any of you already have experience on this field and how to get a good start with MeshFusion?
Getting around the tools is a bit weird as modo breaks its own set of rules sometimes but it wasn't a major issue. However, what really started as a fairly smooth experience and ended as a "walk to the cross" was the snapping: Good God that thing is bad. At least it was and 801 has improved but it has lots of catchup to do, especially when you have lots of background geometry. I also felt like there was too much needless clicking sometimes and as pointed out by other users the destructive nature of modo is its biggest drawback. Making constant backups of pieces cluttered the file even more and crashes aside I was eager to go back to 3DSMAX. I modeled around 99% in modo but a last tiny piece in the lens pushed me to finish in 3DSMAX and render it there. Another thing, that shader tree needs to go and be replaced by a nodal system.
However, not everything is bad in modo: The UI is second to none to me, only a few things that I do not like but in general it is very pleasing to use for extended periods of time. The falloffs are nice and I can see how some people use them a lot. The workplanes and the flow speed are modo's strongest points IMO even though Rappatools level up the field. One thing is for sure, if I had to choose between Maya (learning Maya atm) or Modo I'd go Modo all the way. As ironic as it sounds modo does better when precision is not required, modeling organic stuff seems to be what it was made for despite all the Luxology marketing aimed at industrial design assets.
You are not in bad hands with modo, but be aware of its weak points as they can be hair-pulling. But hey, Maya modeling tools are a tragedy in comparison.
Yeah, I know. I didn't want to go into details in my previous post because it wasn't the point. That F11 menu is a royal hassle too anyways.
yes, I ended up creating a separate pie menu with presets for this and a hotkey to clear all snapping options.
Each is good in their own right, and if you learn and adopt a workflow in one of these applications then it doesn't matter which program you use.
:thumbup:
that is not true at all, some programs are clearly better suited for certain tasks then others.
all programms have advantages and drawbacks and asking for guidance is a natural thing to do.
there is nothing wrong with trying to speed up your workflow by using the application that is best suited for that task, and not just staying where you feel comfortable.
on the original topic: i have never used modo so no idea.
On the other hand there are also lots of basic features implemented in most awkward and counterintuitive way. Symmetry and smoothing groups to name a few.
Modo is nice software but I expected much more hearing about its wonderful modeling tools and knowing the fact it started as a dedicated modeling tool.
Sure it's a good choice giving it is more than two times cheaper than Max.
Still I feel the industry lacks small and efficient content creation software which can only do modeling and uv'ing but do it perfectly. And which costs less because there is no need to pay for stuff game artists don't need.
Modo could have become this software but Luxology decided to develop it into "jack of all trades" instead.
Silo could have become it but it was abandoned.
I have certain hopes for Nvil. It's only drawback is being terribly slow.
I'm afraid it can turn out to be "modelling with mittens on" as someone here said.
Nevertheless I like videos a lot!
with zbrushs history i'd say that is nigh impossible.
This. I feel the pull of the stack, but then I realise I can just do the precise thing I need usually in fewer operations in modo. It really is growing on me as I use it more.
If the price was equal though I would pick max just for productivity reasons, but I am steadily drifting over to the other side.
Ignore the shape itself, still working on it.
Still not sure if I can live without the modifiers