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Tools and Commands


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Channel Haul: The Channel Haul tool allows the adjustment of any selected channel by dragging with the mouse in the active viewport.

Channel Haul 1

To activate Channel Haul, choose a channel within the 'Channels' viewport, and invoke the 'Channel Haul' tool button or use the 'C' keyboard shortcut. This brings up the 'Channel Haul' tool interface within the 3D viewport. By clicking on the channel name and dragging the mouse, users can interactively adjust the value within the viewport, or by clicking the value itself, users can numerically enter a new value. The channel haul tool can modify up to 6 chosen channels.

CHannel Haul 2

When no channel is selected, the display reflects this reminder that the tool is still active.

No Channels

 

Center to Bounding Box: Each mesh item in modo, regardless of shape, has a virtual rectangular bounding box which is defined by an items overall size (height, width and depth). The 'Center to Bounding Box' command allows the user to easily position an items center to a specific position of that bounding box.

Bounding Box

Found in the menu bar under "Edit > Center to Bounding Box", users can invoke the various commands to precisely position the 'Center' element in relation to the geometry contained in the layer.

Center: Positions the items Center element at the very center of the bounding box itself (as opposed to the world origin)
Top/Bottom/Left/Right/Front /Back: Positions the items Center element at the center of the plane that defines that particular surface of the bounding box volume.

 

Pivot to Bounding Box: Found in the menu bar under "Edit > Pivot to Bounding Box", users can invoke the various commands to precisely position the 'Pivot' element in relation to the geometry contained in the layer. Working in identical fashion to the 'Center to Bounding Box' commands, however only the Pivot is moved, leaving the 'Center' element unchanged. For information ragarding the use of 'Centers' and 'Pivots, please referecne the Animation Overview page of the documentation.

Center: Positions the items Pivot element at the very center of the bounding box itself (as opposed to the world origin)
Top/Bottom/Left/Right/Front /Back: Positions the items Pivot element at the center of the plane that defines that particular surface of the bounding box volume.

 

Bake

Baking is a mean of 'freezing' the affects of a constraint on an items over time so that, when removed, the item retains the modifications. This can be useful for exporting animation out of modo, or in cases such as network rendering, where pre-evaluated transforms would reduce the possibility of errors. To use, select one or more items that are affected by a constraint/channel modifier and then click the 'Bake...' button where you will open the following dialog. Once you applied the values you want, click 'OK'.

Bake Dialog

Type: This specifies the transform channels to 'Bake'. By default it's set to 'All' but individual transform types can also be chosen from this menu allowing you to bake an individual constraint without affecting any others that may be driving the item. For example if you're baking an item that's direction constrained to a target then the item's rotation is driven by the constraint and you would choose 'Rotation' from this menu. If it's position constrained you'd choose 'Position” etc.

Start/End Frame: Defines the frame range to apply the bake command to.

Remove Constraints: When 'Remove Constraints' is enabled, the constraints driving the item will be removed, at the completion of the bake process and the item will solely use the baked keyframes for it's motion.

 

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jbmayle March 3, 2011 at 5:23 PM

If anyone is wondering how to open up Channel Haul on a selection of an object, here is a tutorial found on Luxology's site:

http://www.luxology.com/training/video.aspx?id=480

Go about 3/4 of the way through the video. Also, the rest of the tutorial is good too to quickly learn the basics of linking in Modo.

Bjoern Siegert March 7, 2012 at 6:28 AM

The'C' shortcut only works in item mode.

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