I haven't used this feature in almost a year, which isn't surprising to me as I rarely feel the need to Blog anything these days. I am rather spending my time on learning tools and creating things, things being the operative word as I often don't have an idea in mind when I start playing around with a tool. 

For almost a year now I have been using Moi3d for nearly all my modelling, Modo is slowly becoming a secondary tool for render and texture work. Moi seems to suit my needs at the moment it is fast and light and perfect for most Hard Surface work. Modo is... well that is another story for another day. Suffice to say the shine is dulling the direction of the tool away from pure modeller to something else is not exciting me anymore.

Blender on the other hand is interesting me, many may know I used it exclusively for years before switching to Modo, I am not looking to go back, but I am certainly looking at the development of it with renewed interest. I think in the longer term I may be using it again in my workflow, I will see.

So Moi is interesting me at the moment still, Blender has caught my eye again, and Modo it still my workhorse for renders and texturing, oh! I forgot RizomUV I added that to my workflow this year too and it is great, not perfect but fast and I forgive some of the odd features for the speed alone.

This should be interesting I am taking a leave of absence from Facebook, feels like it is taking up too much of my limited attention, I think it could be good for productivity, who knows.

To be clear  this isn't an anti Facebook thing and nothing against the great people I am connected with on there, it isn't even really about the Facebook practices, although they are dubious at best. It is about me and my attention deficit when it comes to checking on updates likes comments and all that addictive stuff.

I am like most constantly seeking some form of validation and Facebook checking was is becoming addictive and unproductive. As much as I love the nice comments and likes they aren't going to pay the bills or improve my skill and efficiency.

I am not deleting it in a fit of peak, my account will stay and I will still be forwarding posts via Instagram and here to my Facebook page, but I do hope I can rid myself of the constant pecking at comments on there and use the time more productively.

I am still around on Twitter Instagram and of course here, all the best.

I have used Substance Painter a lot in the past for creating texture maps with good results. However since I have been using Modo I have been using it less and less. This isn't anything against Painter or Modo it is just the connection between the two is a little involved. In this regard I prefer Marmoset where it is still involved but more drag and drop. Also Painter's inclusion of iRay made me less likely to leave the program for basic renders, which is mostly what I want.

As the connection between Painter and Modo is, as I said, a little involved I started to look at the Shader Tree in Modo to try and recreate some of the Painter workflow. The shader tree in modo is very powerful if a little idiosyncratic using a layer based system similar to Photoshop. The biggest challenge for me though wasn't the methodology rather the speed of the feedback here Painter excels. The speed coupled with the sensitive nature of the procedurals takes a light touch and patience to master, I am not there yet but I am seeing vast improvements.

The first image below was done in Substance Painter as a reference.

I didn't spend too much time on it and so it is pretty basic which is fine as I only wanted a comparison render to see the general similarities.

This next image was created in Modo using procedural texture layers in the Shader tree. It is worth noting the render times on the one above and below are vastly different by an order of magnitude.

I tweaked the settings on this a little a my first attempt wasn't to my liking. Once I had something I liked enough I then dropped the texture onto a different Mesh and changed the Seed generator value to give a little variation.

This last image is the result of using exactly the same texture with a small change this is very much the same as a Smart Material in Substance Painter and offers a similar workflow. The big difference being render speed, Modo is of course slower but the results are superior I think.

I make a lot of little pieces that are for promotion on Gumroad the ability to create a quick and repeatable workflow in Modo is something I appreciate greatly.

Finally here is a screenshot of the Shader Tree from Modo not that informative but a idea of the layers used:

Thanks for your interest!

Twenty Seventeen is winding down with only 2 more days left to go before we start it all again.

This year went very well for me as I decided to venture onto the virtual sales platform lark, I didn't have high expectations but was very pleasantly surprised by the effectiveness of the online sales platform.

My experience with Gumroad has given me impetus to try more in the new year slowly though as it is hard to manage to many platforms at once I think.

I also started a new website kitbash.de as a central hub for my kits, this is a WIP and more needs to be done.

I wish you, dear follower, a peaceful new year and prosperity for the months to come.

Mark.

Some renders from Substance Painter of plates and panels, from a boolean kit for MODO Mesh Ops and the MOPS Booleans kit. 

Low poly triangulated meshes baked in MODO using the Rounded Edge shader and imported into Painter as FBX for texturing. The meshes are then baked in Painter to produce all the maps apart from the Normal map created in MODO, this is combined with any Normal maps Substance Painter creates in the texturing process. 

It is a fast and light weight way to work a little tricky at first to get the Normals right for importing into Painter but once that is done it works very well.

See the original post for more information: Plates and Panels Kit

New Kit Coming Soon!
I have almost finished just doing some preview renders and tests.
#madewithmodo #mbt3d #kitbash #thisissubstance @foundrymodo

Brio Engine
A little something I did a while back.
#mbt3d #modo3d #madeWithModo #brio #toys #woodentoys

Something I am working on next:
#mbt3d #modo3d #madeWithModo #kitbash @foundrymodo

Waffen One:
I haven’t done a weapon before although I have wanted to for a while so this is it my first attempt at one.
The Schnuller which is a play on words that I won’t explain.
#mbt3d #modo3d #madeWithModo #kitbash @vaughan3d @foundrymodo

Waffen One:
Quick update render of the model after I decided to rework it a little and cut some of the details back.
#mbt3d #modo3d #madeWithModo #kitbash @vaughan3d @foundrymodo