silo modo...again.

[dooki]

Hey all,

I'm sure this has been asked many times here, and yes, I've done a search but really didn't find what I was looking for.

Q: If price not an issue which app would you get? Silo? Modo?

I've been reading around the sites and it sounds like modo has a big edge in that it has a good rendering engine. On the other hand it sounds like Silo might be easier to learn and use. I've been one of the original Hex and so I am accustom to it's work flow. Opinions??

Thanks!

-Dooki

[bwtr]

Really, Modo is more a complete 3D app. But, for modelling I suggest anyone should/must look at MoI at the moment.

My happiness, at the moment, is Carrara, MoI and 3D Brush. (Unless my son changes his mind a free uptodate version of LW of interest?--what a dreadful app! (Carrara and Hexagon must have spoilt me))

[dooki]

Hey Brian,

Yeah I'm all into MOI as well. For nurbs I use Rhino and MOI. I'm looking to move on from HEX as a poly modeler. As with other users I just don't see a future with them. Sad.

I'm running Carrara 5 as well and like it, but I REALLY like what I see with the render quality from Modo. Now I've tried the demos of silo and modo (not the current versions) and to me they are both different. I am torn between being more familiar (work flow wise) with silo and feeling that modo offers a tad more control, plus a nice rendering engine rolled in. I'm hoping to get some feedback from you cool gurus out there on this forum!!

-Dooki

[Wася]

modo interface is not difficult. it just differs too much from Hex' one.

I see no reason to move from Hex to Silo (and vice versa), they are not the same, of course, but too comparable.

[jbshorty]

Hey Dooki. I agree with Wacr 100%. If you already have Hex, then Modo is a more natural companion. Because there is very little you can do in Silo which can not be done in Modo. Hex nicely fills the small gaps in Modo's toolset (construction history, nurbs-influenced surfacing tools, target welding and good edge extrusion tools). I am using Modo now for all poly modeling needs (i never use Hex or Silo anymore). And for all my rendering of Nurbs models from Rhino and SolidThinking. 301 is handling my imported CAD models very well. And i've never gotten such good renders with such easy setup as i do in Modo. The real time preview has changed everything for me...

@ Brian - I hope you're being paid for all this promoting of Moi, which i see everywhere. But the question here has nothing to do with preference of a nurbs modeler.

shorty

[dooki]

Thanks Shorty. It sounds like you and I are in a similar field in design.

Question for ya. One thing I do like about Carrara is that you can make some pretty good renderings out of the box. You can pick a preset scene, dump the items in it, import your objects and render. Not the best but decent in my book. What is it like to set up a render in modo? A lot of tweaks per scene? Minor? Also, what are the render times like for you? Faster than Carrara? As usual the site has some gorgeous images, but was it due to a dozen setting tweaks?

Thanks for you feedback.

-Dooki

[jbshorty]

Modo does not really come with a built in browser for environments, shaders, models, etc as Carrara does. You have to build most of these things yourself. Or use the example scenes as templates for rendering environments. But really i've never opened any of them, so i'm not sure how useful they will be to you. One thing which is nice in 301 is the file import referencing. This allows you to reference multiple external files (for example a lighting scene, a physically modeled environment, and other models) and render them all as one scene...

I normally find that setting up in Modo is quite easy for what i do (product shots with plain backgrounds). In many cases i only need one light, an HDRI, and a ground plane. My render times range from about 20 seconds to 15 minutes, and this is using SSS, anisotropy, and heavy amounts of blurry reflections. If render times go beyond 20 minutes, then i normally assume the problem is caused by me. Tweaking the render settings in Modo is also a breeze, thanks to the preview. I never did an A-B speed comparison between the two apps (no time or inclination to). But i recently had to render an earring design. It had 4 refractive glass items, SSS, and about 200 silver chain links with blurry refections. I used HDR plus one directional light, rendered at 600 x 672 pixels. the glass objects were imported from Rhino. total render time less than 23 seconds So i went ahead and rendered 5 more colors...

shorty

[dooki]

WOW! Ok, that's fast.
Thanks for the info. Yeah, like you I am doing more product shots with a simple background and one or two lights. Thank you again sir!

-Dooki