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Luxology News Headlines
re:think studios Taps modo for Re-creation of Famous Christmas Commercial
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – December 12, 2011 – When ad agency Walton Isaacson needs Santa riding on top of a 3D electric razor just in time for Christmas, they call re:think studios. And when re:think wants to get it done in time, they use the 3D modeling, painting and rendering capabilities of Luxology’s modo to bring that festive ride to life.
October 2011 Newsletter
Special pricing on Kits for modo. New Master Rigging Tutorial for modo. See new Lynda.com modo course and other new training resources. London-based CityScape uses modo for arch viz. Luxology and Unity. Rage game from id Software. Dead things! (viewer discretion advised: gore). Grapes in Recoil. A bit of lighting help please.
Luxology’s Brad Peebler gives an entertaining report from the Unite 11 conference in San Francisco.
Cityscape Digital Ltd.
Cityscape staff share why they use modo for high-end still and interactive architectural visualisation projects. The video shows modo in action and also touches upon the Luxology renderer’s use in Bentley Systems MicroStation. Footage was shot on-site in the London offices of Cityscape.
Luxology Ships modo 501 Rigging Master Course
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Oct. 10, 2011 – In this new professional training series, instructor Rich Hurrey teaches users the skills necessary to create production-ready animation rigs in modo 501. Going far beyond a simple “how-to” class, the modo 501 Rigging Master Course consists of 26 hours of video training housed in an interactive framework that goes into the most depth that Luxology has ever offered on a topic.
id Software Employs modo to Model Assets for Highly Anticipated Game "Rage"
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Oct. 4, 2011 – The designers of id Software’s game title Rage populated their post-apocalyptic game with incredibly realistic objects, textures and environments. Most of the game’s models that are integral for gameplay, like the props, weapons and vehicles, were built in modo. Designers found modo to be an ideal tool for level design as well.
lynda.com News Alert
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Sept. 21, 2011 – A new video-based course structured for beginning modo 501 users is now available through lynda.com, offering a quick on-ramp to proficiency with modo’s modeling tools, Shader Tree and ultra-intuitive workflow. For more information, please visit http://www.lynda.com/Modo-501-tutorials/Essential-Training/83741-2.html.
Luxology Extends Research Agreement with UC Berkeley
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., – Sept. 7, 2011 – A research partnership just renewed between Luxology and UC Berkeley’s School of Architecture is pushing the boundaries of modo, Luxology’s innovative 3D modeling tool. This relationship with the Industry Alliances Office of University of California, Berkeley – in place since January 2009 – is pioneering novel applications of modo in architectural research, and opening up new creative possibilities in manufacturing and design.
August 2011 Newsletter
Why does Seneca Menard of id Software use modo? Get the new Model Bashing Kit. Josh Sukov Interview. Meet up at the European modo Event in September. Last Chance for special pricing on modo training. New book and seminar on modo. Rig and Export your modo character meshes to Unity game engine. Unite 11 Event in San Francisco. New modo T-shirts!
Luxology modo Added to EskoArtwork Packaging Supply Chain Laboratory at Clemson University’s Sonoco Institute
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., – August 24, 2011 – Students at Clemson University’s Sonoco Institute are getting hands-on packaging design experience with a multimillion-dollar, state of the art computer lab equipped with the industry’s most innovative tools. As one of the key software applications used in Sonoco Institute’s industrial package design course, ‘PKGSC 220’, Luxology’s modo is helping students get an edge in the competitive design market.
SIGGRAPH Recap
The annual gathering of the graphics tribe – the SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Conference – took place in Vancouver, Canada from August 7th through 11th. Luxology and modo were very much on display in both the NVIDIA booth, as part of the Sketch Match competition, and the AMD Booth, where modo was featured in the “Fire Drill” Speed Modeling Contest.
Seneca Menard, Lead Technical Designer at id Software, talks about the titles he has worked on (Quake III Arena, Doom 3 and most recently Rage and Doom 4) and the different areas he has worked in, including characters, lighting, textures, map objects, level designs, game play and scripting. He explains why he likes to use modo for game level design and mentions some of his favorite tips and tricks:
“We at id have been using modo since day one, most recently using it for the majority of the work on Rage and Doom 4. We use it not only for the majority of the models being used in the game, but also for the majority of the levels as well, because we really enjoy the precise control we get over our level work that would just be impossible to do with only brushes or modular models.”
Bonus Audio Interview
Listen to a second Seneca Menard interview, conducted by Luxology’s Brad Peebler in March 2010. Just click the play button on the audio control above to begin.
Lucasfilm and Sony Pictures Imageworks Release Alembic 1.0
VANCOUVER, B.C., – August 9, 2011 – Alembic 1.0, the open source project jointly developed by Sony Pictures Imageworks and Lucasfilm Ltd. was released to the public today, it was announced at ACM SIGGRAPH conference in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Alembic is the computer graphics interchange format developed by the two entertainment giants last year and focused on efficiently storing and sharing animation and visual effects scenes across multiple software applications. It was designed to handle massive animation data sets often required in high-end visual effects and animation, which are routinely developed and produced by companies such as Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light & Magic and Lucasfilm Animation Ltd. and Sony Pictures Imageworks. The studios each saw the need for a tool like Alembic, something that would fit within existing pipelines and allow for customization at the facility level without impeding the ability to share work.
SIGGRAPH News Alert
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., – August 4, 2011 – Luxology LLC, an independent technology company developing next-generation 3D content creation software, is excited to announce a series of partner activities, contests and events during the ACM SIGGRAPH 2011 Conference at the Vancouver Convention Centre, Aug. 9 - 11, 2011.
Luxology Ships Model Bashing Kit for modo 501
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., – July 27, 2011 – Even in the analog era prior to the advent of affordable computer workstations, model making with pre-manufactured plastic kits of planes, cars and boats was a popular hobby. “Kitbashing” was the term used for the practice of creating one-of-a-kind models out of components taken from multiple commercial kits. Luxology’s new Model Bashing Kit provides modo users with a similar capability to quickly construct highly detailed virtual forms for science fiction or industrial visualization projects.
Spaceship Modeling
We love spaceships! You could argue that CGI was invented to make spaceships, but whether you believe this or not there’s no denying that CG spacecraft have been the stars in many iconic productions, from battle sequences in Babylon5 to opening shots of Star Wars Episode 3 and more recently Avatar. For many CG artists, these epic scenes really get the blood racing. In this modo modeling tutorial, Andy Brown pays tribute to the CG spaceship and has some fun while creating a very special vehicle.
Adam O'Hern
Recently we had a chance to interview Adam O’Hern, an industrial design consultant based in Santa Monica, CA. He specializes in corporate visual brand language development, and has worked on products ranging from laptops to power tools, audio gear to bathroom fixtures, lab instruments to lint rollers, and classroom toys to medical robots.
IGLOO
Luxology recently interviewed Gustavo Fernandes of IGLOO VFX in Toronto, Canada. In this interview we learn how IGLOO uses modo for their clients – ranging from music group Alice in Chains, to Dentyne gum and Toyota cars and trucks – and from interactive web designs to television commercials.
June 2011 Newsletter
New Studio Environment Set 2 Kit. Strike Trike: a radical new three-wheeled trike concept. New video clip by Andy Probst demonstrating the recoil Plug-in for modo 501. Join us at the Meet and Greet 3D conference in Berlin this September. For a limited time, selected modo video training is 50% off. Meet Gustavo Fernandes of IGLOO and see their amazing interactive and television commercial productions created using modo. Meet Eric Soulvie, the developer who created the new recoil Plug-in for modo 501, in this video interview.
Luxology Announces New Studio Environment Set 2 Kit
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., – June 20, 2011 – Luxology announces Studio Environment Set 2 (SES 2) Kit, a new collection of high dynamic range (HDR) spherical images complete with ground planes that make it easy for users to obtain professional-quality studio lighting. The SES 2 Kit is designed for use with Luxology modo 501, Bentley Systems’ MicroStation and SolidWorks Premium and Professional 2011. Available now.
Luxology's modo the Driving Force Behind Futuristic New Car
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., – June 7, 2011 – Consumers are always looking for the “next big thing,” whether it be in food, celebrities or gadgets. Australian industrial design firm, Design+Industry, has recently given shape to what will undoubtedly be the next big thing in automotives: a three-wheeled, high-performance vehicle designed through technical ingenuity and the expert utilization of Luxology’s 3D modeling, painting and rendering software, modo 501.
Meet Eric Soulvie, recoil Plug-in developer
Meet Eric Soulvie, creator of the recoil Rigid-body Dynamics Plug-in for modo 501.
Eric Soulvie is an experienced 3D tools programmer based in Seattle, Washington. Eric has worked for Foundation Imaging (Roughnecks), ESC (The Matrix 2, 3), Blizzard Entertainment, Weta Digital (Avatar, Jumper, et. al. ) and many other production houses. Eric was also one of the original programmers on modo and used the modo Plug-in SDK to create the recoil Plug-in.
“One of the nice things about the modo SDK is you can create plug-in services that are new but that other plug-ins have access to...”
– Eric Soulvie
Update: Winner Announced
Luxology Internet Avatar Contest
Luxology’s president Brad Peebler announced the winner of our Avatar Content in his weekly modcast audio program.
“Thanks to the modo community for pushing me to take this image further and further and not settle with good enough, this image is 10X better than it would have been! Thank you!”
— Ike Allred
Contest Winner
Our latest contest is a little different and there is plenty of room to be creative. We want to tip our hats to some Internet people we admire. We here at Luxology are sort of a fringe group and we have chosen another group of five people who seem to share our geek qualities. So we’d like to get some creative license going and model these good people. As you create these images, we will be posting updates and sharing the love with our Twitter and Facebook communities as we want *you* to get some exposure as well.
What is your motivation? Some pretty awesome prizes!
The winner will receive a medium Wacom Intuos4 tablet, with Wacom’s compliments. In addition to the tablet, the winner will get access to the beta
of the next version of modo. I am not sure when the beta will be available and yes, an NDA will be involved, but hey, you’ll get to play with the next big version of modo before anyone else. Plus, you’ll get the new modo upgrade when it is released.
The contest will run from now until Friday, June 10, 2011 5 PM PST.
Two entries have already garnered a lot of attention...
Read all the Contest Details »
Twelve Meter Banner Depicting Hadrian's Wall Created with modo 501
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., – May 9, 2011 – At a small museum in Northern England, a large project was being planned: an exhibition to envision the Roman Army’s construction of the world-famous landmark Hadrian’s Wall. Commissioned to create the massive and ambitious centerpiece for the exhibition, illustrator and 3D artist Barry Croucher turned to modo 501 to create the stunning final results.
modo for SolidWorks Kit Webinar
On April 19 and again on April 28, 2011, Paul McCrorey held an in-depth Webinar presentation of the new modo for SolidWorks Kit. You can now view the archived presentation online.
In this full hour presentation, Paul McCrorey takes you step-by-step through the workflow of exporting SolidWorks CAD data into modo using the new modo for SolidWorks Kit.
FMX 2011 Recap
For the third year, Luxology participated in the FMX conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Interactive Media in Stuttgart, Germany. See pictures of Luxology staff and partners taken at the FMX 2011 conference, May 3 - 6, 2011.
Luxology Announces recoil Plug-in for Rigid Body Dynamics in modo 501
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., – April 27, 2011 – Luxology® LLC today announced the availability of recoil™, a new plug-in for modo® 501 that accurately simulates dynamic rigid body interactions. Based on the popular open source Bullet physics engine, which is used extensively within the games and film industries, recoil realistically simulates dynamic forces and calculates accurate collisions between objects.
Learning Resources from the modo community
Take advantage of modo books, videos and other training opportunities from modo experts world-wide.
April 2011 Newsletter
modo for SolidWorks Kit now available. New webinars. Sunglasses Modeling Video Tutorial. FMX show in Germany. Smoke and Mirrors video with Clive Biley. Subdivision Surfaces into SolidWorks. CoSa VFX interview. Be Together MicroStation Conference.
CoSA VFX
Recently we had a chance to interview David Beedon of CoSA VFX. “We need a tool that effectively allows us to create a one-man 3D department,” David says in our interview. He then explains how CoSA have used modo to help complete shots for many Hollywood productions, including Wolverine, FlashForward, Fringe and Undercovers.
Luxology Ships modo for SolidWorks Kit
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., – April 19, 2011 – Today, Luxology is excited to announce a new tool that facilitates the use of the company’s award-winning modo® software for advanced visualization by SolidWorks users. The new modo for SolidWorks Kit simplifies the importation of SolidWorks models into modo while maintaining user interface conventions familiar to SolidWorks users.
April 2011
3D World Magazine
modo 501 review
“Combine this excellent feature set with the fact that the core of the application has been polished to such a high sheen, and you’re undoubtedly left with the finest iteration of modo yet.”
Read the full Review (opens in new window) »
Luxology Offers Package Design Kit for modo
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., – March 11, 2011 – Luxology© LLC today announced the availability of the Package Design and Construction Kit (PACK), a new collection of over 200 2D and 3D presets, images and assemblies that simplify the creation of a wide variety of open and closed packaging containers. This extensive library of images will accelerate the design and visualization of packages in modo by package designers and computer graphic artists.
March 2011
CG Architect
modo 501 review by Neil Hayes
“...modo is an increasingly strong contender for AEC related work, especially given its great workflow, price point and the quality of the images it produces (e.g., see the Gallery on Luxology’s website). In closing, if asked if it’s worth upgrading from modo 401 or if you should consider modo 501 for Arch-viz work then I would say, “Yes” on both counts and without hesitation.”
Read the full Review (opens in new window) »
Eden Games Utilizes Luxology's modo on Recently Released Test Drive Unlimited 2
GDC – SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., – Feb. 28, 2011 – French game development studio, Eden Games, has recently used modo, Luxology’s 3D modeling, painting and rendering software, to help the company transform the multiplayer driving game genre with the company’s newest innovative and highly anticipated title, the action-packed release of Test Drive Unlimited 2 (TDU2).
Unity to Provide Direct Import Capabilities for modo
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., – Feb. 14, 2011 – Unity 3.2, the popular game development tool, now natively imports modo 501 files that have been saved to Luxology’s .LXO format. Converted files are visible in the Project View inside of Unity.
Intel White Paper
This Intel white paper published in late 2010 provides an overview of rendering challenges and approaches for both entertainment and design visualization. Included are remarks from several leading rendering experts, including our own Chief Scientist and Co-Founder of Luxology, Allen Hastings and also remarks from Jerry Flynn of Bentley Systems.
Download Intel White Paper (PDF) »
February 2011
Develop 3D
modo 501 review by Josh Mings
“modo 501 is a massive update to a program that mixes modelling, rendering and animation. More than ever, modo is becoming the program that does it all.
The effort put into the updates of each tool and tab in 501, even down to the help system, make this version an excellent upgrade option for those on 301 or 302 and, given the speed increases, a definite consideration for those on 401.
The most substantial are features easing the strain of modelling and smoothing the process of rendering. The bump map updates bring the ability to add much more detail at a fraction of effort and poly count. The implementation of Pixar subdivision surfaces is making this possible and providing many more options than ever for sculpting and shaping your model.
If you’re coming from a mechanical CAD background, modo is a different workflow with different terminology. However, the rendering interface and options will help you become oriented with the software while having an incredible amount of options available to create photorealistic images.
With modo becoming increasingly easier to use, it’s clear that Luxology is focusing its development efforts on the user or, at the very least, having them twitch repeatedly from a rendering they just created.”
Read the full Review (opens in new window) »
Luxology Announces Studio Environment Set 1 Kit
SOLIDWORKS WORLD, San Antonio, – Jan. 25, 2011 – Luxology® LLC today announced the availability of the Studio Environment Set 1 (SES 1) Kit, a new collection of high dynamic range (HDR) spherically mapped images that provide an excellent source of interior lighting for architectural renderings, industrial design presentations, engineering visualization and packaging design.
Luxology Announces LuxFolio Application for the iPad
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., – Jan. 5, 2011 – Luxology® LLC today announced the immediate availability of the company’s new LuxFolio™ Stereoscopic Portfolio application, which allows users to view and present stereoscopic images on the iPad or a connected monitor with ease and flexibility. LuxFolio joins the LuxGallery application, which allows users to quickly and easily view and search for computer-generated images found in the company’s extensive Customer Image Gallery.
January 2011
Animation World Network
modo 501 review by Warner McGee
“How do you improve, inspire or innovate upon a tested and proven product? If you’re Luxology, you continually ask the question, ‘Can we do better?’ With the release of modo 501, Luxology has answered that question again with a resounding, “You betcha!” It seems like everything has been touched and tweaked, some things more than others. From the improved and expanded online help materials, 64-bit Mac version, to the greased lighting Preview and Rendering abilities, Luxology takes a huge leap forward with the release of modo 501.”
Read the full Review (opens in new window) »
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