|
 |
 |
| |
Brad
Peebler |
Last month, Luxology announced the launch of modo, its next generation
3D modeling system and subsequently unveiled the product at SIGGRAPH
2004. Now the product is shipping, Ali Tezel interviews Brad
Peebler of Luxology to find out more about modo.
Ali: How extensive is modo's UV toolset?
Brad: The UV editing tools are very extensive,
mainly because we treat UVs in the same way we treat geometry.
You can use any of the modeling tools to work with them. modo supports
discontinuous UVs so you can break them apart or stitch them together.
Another cool trick one of our beta testers performed is to massage
the geometry before it is projected. Leveraging modo's embedded
morphs, you can use the smooth tool on a temporary morph map to
really iron out the geometry and then project the UVs onto the
morph. Since the morph is actually the same mesh as the base, the
UVs are applied to the base mesh. This makes it easier to deal
with the UVs by safely massaging the mesh in 3D before the projection.
Ali: Do any complications arise when using dual monitors
with modo?
Brad: No. In fact, we have awesome dual monitor
support and this has been very well tested. Due to the way the
application interface is designed our testers tried all possible
combinations. Once you use a dual monitor setup with modo, it's
hard to go back to just one. Of course, due to the flexible nature
of the UI, modo scales to fit small monitors at 1024x768 all the
way up to multiple monitor setups.
Using
Luxology modo
|
|
Ali: Can you explain what
Nexus is?
Nexus is our internal development platform. There has been a lot
of confusion about what Nexus really is. It is NOT a product. Nexus
is a system we have created that allows us to have our entire development
team working on a single code base. From that one code base (Nexus)
we can automatically generate multiple platform versions as well
as multiple applications. Nexus is one of many patent-pending technologies
we have created at Luxology and is perhaps one of our greatest
assets as it allows our development to move at breakneck speeds.
Nexus has often been described as a 3D OS and this is pretty accurate.
We have many 3D technologies developed inside of Nexus and by a
process called “Application Baking“ we can create applications
for distribution. The first application created from Nexus is modo.
Essentially modo was 'born' from within Nexus. It's really very
cool actually.
Ali: Is modo suitable for Architectural work, and can
you import/export DXF and DWG formats?
Brad: We don't import DXF or DWG for this initial
implementation. All of our importers and exporters are extensible – basically
plug-ins – and the scripting language is advanced enough so that
you can create your loaders and savers through scripts. I believe
it's suitable for visualization but it's not a engineering tool.
It does do everything in different units. You can use metric values
or imperial (British) feet. All the numerical controls will automatically
convert if desired. If I have a box and I'm working in metric measurements
but I want to move it one foot, I can type in one foot and it'll
automatically convert it to metric. The application is precise
to several decimal places. |
