Foundry launches Modo 17.0 with a substantial performance

Foundry launches Modo 17.0 with a substantial performance overhaul and up to 50x faster rendering

Core performance updates accelerating Modeling, Rigging, Animation, and interactions, plus a newly bundled Prime version of Octane for best-in-class GPU rendering.

LONDON, UK — March 1, 2024 — Today, Foundry releases Modo 17.0, a significant update to its 3D software that overhauls internal systems to provide notable performance increases. These enhancements help artists by providing the interactivity necessary for modern asset creation workflows, with an additional focus on quality-of-life features in multiple areas. Foundry has also bundled OTOY’s Prime version of OctaneRender® — which gives artists a speed increase of up to 50x over traditional CPU renderers, straight out of the box.

“There’s so much demand and expectation for top-quality 3D graphics, ” says Greg Brown, Product Manager at Foundry. “With 3D asset creation becoming widely adopted, performance is paramount for the future of DCC apps. Modo 17.0 sets a foundation for increased performance now, plus further enhancements well into Modo’s future. Additionally, bundling the Prime version of the amazingly powerful OctaneRender from OTOY with Modo 17.0 will speed up the entire experience, from modeling to final render, reducing performance barriers for artists.”

Finish any project faster

Whether it’s for the latest product design or an animated character for film or game cinematics, artists need increased performance. M odo 17.0 provides a much more performant and interactive experience, while also establishing a new technological foundation for further performance enhancements. Artists working on Apple Silicon machines will also see an additional speed increase of 50% on average, thanks to Modo’s new native macOS ARM build.

This is the beginning of the new Modo

The improvements that have been made to Modo can be summed up by one goal — to build the future of 3D asset creation. With overhauled core systems and granular performance updates to individual tools, Modo is poised to re-envision 3D workflow in exciting ways. The Modo community can expect a return to more frequent releases for Modo in 2024 — that build on the foundation of 17.0 to further accelerate more aspects of Modo. Foundry is making a 3D application that is tailored to enhance the capabilities of experts and make those capabilities easier for novices to leverage.

Better tools for any job

Foundry has enhanced several capabilities of Modo’s powerful modeling tools, including:

Decal workflow — It’s now faster and easier to use decals and wrap flat images onto complex surfaces with minimal distortion and no UV creation.

Primitive Slice — You can now clone multiple slices of the same shape at once, making it easier to produce complex patterns. A new Corner Radius feature rounds corners on rectangles and squares, so you can make quick adjustments without switching between presets.

Mesh Cleanup — Foundry has added the ability to automatically fix broken geometry and gaps with this tool, so you can stay productive and avoid interrupting your creative flow.

Radial Align — Radial Align turns a selection into a flat circle, however, artists frequently need a partial radius and not a complete circle for things like arches. Modo 17.0 ships with the ability to create a partial radial alignment.

PolyHaul — PolyHaul combines many of the most used modeling tools into one streamlined tool. This means artists can spend less time jumping between separate tools, helping them to stay in the flow-state that Modo excels at.

“Modo continues to provide an unmatched modeling toolset and is key to the success of our 3D pipeline,” says William Vaughan, Director of 3D Visualization, New Balance. “We’re excited about Modo 17.0’s enhancements, especially the speed increase seen in tools like Edge Slice, Polygon Extrude, and Loop Slice, which we use daily.”

Jules Urbach, Founder and CEO of OTOY, says: "We are thrilled to bundle OctaneRender with Modo 17.0, bringing instant access to the industry's first and fastest unbiased GPU render engine. Our mission is to democratize high-end 3D content creation, enabling anyone with a modern GPU to create stunning motion graphics and visual effects at fractions of the cost and time of CPU architectures. We are excited to see how Modo artists integrate OctaneRender's GPU-accelerated rendering platform into their creative process, including the ability to scale large rendering jobs across near unlimited decentralized GPU nodes on the Render Network."

To see a full list of new features and improvements, visit Modo 17.0’s What’s New page on the Foundry website.

About Foundry

Foundry has a 25-year heritage developing creative software for the Media and Entertainment industry and a portfolio of award-winning products. It advances the art and technology of visual experience with creative leaders around the globe, including major feature film studios and post-production houses such as ILM, DNEG, Pitch Black, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Wētā FX, Pixar, Marvel, Netflix, Framestore, and Technicolor Creative Studios.

In partnership with these companies, Foundry solves complex visualization challenges to turn incredible ideas into reality. Its products are used to create breathtaking visual effects and animation on a wide range of feature films, episodic content, and commercials.

Foundry software was integral in the making of every VFX Academy Award-winning film for the past decade and has been recognized and honored at the highest level in the industry, including four Academy Sci-Tech awards for Mari, Katana, Nuke and Furnace, two HPA Engineering Excellence awards for Flix and Nuke respectively, and an Engineering Emmy for Nuke.

Founded in 1996, Foundry is headquartered in London, with over 300 people worldwide and a presence in the US, Canada, China, Japan, Australia and Ireland.

About OTOY Inc.

OTOY Inc. is the definitive cloud graphics company, pioneering technology that is redefining content creation and delivery for media and entertainment organizations around the world. OTOY’s Academy Award®-winning technology is used by leading visual effects studios, artists, animators, designers, architects, and engineers, providing unprecedented creative freedom, new levels of realism, and new economics in content creation and distribution powered by the cloud. For more information, visit www.otoy.com .

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