modo 701 has received many improvements across the board, big and small. This page documents a lot of the changes, and links to the appropriate page of the documentation so users familiar with modo can get the information they need and start working with the new features right away.
Modeling
Edge Bevel- New 'Edge Shape - Square' mode makes adding holding edges for SubD cages a breeze.
Bridge Tool- Expanded functionality with new 'auto connection' and 'continuous bridge' options.
Contour Tool- Retopology booster generates section silhouettes based on slices of a surface.
Topology Pen- New 'Point' and 'Fill' modes make retopology work even faster.
Boolean commands- Boolean, Solid and Axis Drill have new controls and options.
Freeze command- New 'Tessellation' option toggle allows freezing a deformed mesh without affecting its current Sub-D state.
Work Plane Tool- Allows for interactive placement of the Work plane using a transform widget.
Pen Tool- Retopology enhancement, 'Select New' option allows for selection toggling while the tool is still active.
Vertex Tool- Now creates single point polygons instead of straight vertices.
Mirror Vertex Map- New command allows users to easily mirror a vertex map to any destination.
Split Vertex Normals- New options for adding creased and smoothed edges to an existing vertex normal map.
Clipboard Enhancement- Copy and Paste of Edges will now result in a string of two-point polygons.
Copy & Paste Behavior- New Preference option to control what is selected/deselected in a Copy/Paste procedure.
Merge and Unmerge- New Item List menu command to combine and break apart mesh pieces within a layer.
Sculpting
Convert to Multiresolution- New commands converts any type of image based sculpting to the superior MultiRes format.
Sculpting Masks- Users can now interactively paint sculpting masks defining areas that wont be affected.
Sculpting HUD- Viewport palette for visually controlling MultiRes levels as well as important Brush controls.
Paint tool Performance improvements now also work with the sculpting tools making sculpting much faster across the board.
Dynamics/Particles
Particles- Newly introduced procedural Particle system is fully integrated into the dynamics system allowing for interactions between particles and rigid bodies.
Fluid Solver- Combined with a Particle Simulation, Dynamic Fluids can be achieved by adding the new Fluid Solver.
Flocking- New Particle Flocking behavior that creates groupings of particles in motion.
Particle Modifiers- Modifiers can be added to Point Clouds and Particle simulations providing greater control.
Dynamics- Overhauled dynamics system is now more robust and many times faster.
Forces- New 'Wind' force and 'Curve' force options provide additional controls to Particle and Dynamic Simulations.
Animation
Audio Support- Audio files can now be added to a scene for sync and exported with Quicktime video files.
Graph Editor- Completely reworked graph editor with many new functions and controls to enhance the animation workflow.
Dope Sheet- New enhancements to the Dope Sheet/Track View give users better control over the visible length of time.
Pose Tool- New Dynamic Pinning options allows users Dynamic Parenting-like functionality when posing and animating.
Add User Channel- New channel 'Type' options make Users Channels even more flexible.
Timeline Rollovers- When 'Show Rollovers' is enabled, highlighted elements will also display any associated keyframes.
Time Tool- Middle Mouse Button click automatically scrubs the timeline at the correct speed when animating.
Dynamic Parenting- New drag and drop interface for easier Dynamic Parenting.
Motion Path Editing- Bezier-style motion path editing directly in the 3D viewport.
Keying Hierarchy- Hierarchy controls allow users to designate which items in a hierarchy receive keyframes automatically.
Keyframe Tool- The Keying Tool provides a convenient interface for keyframing directly in the 3D viewports.
Channel Sets- Groups of channels from a variety of items can be gathered and displayed in the Channel Haul interface.
Key Sets- Provide a convenient and quick way to assign keyframes to multiple channels at once, even on unrelated items.
Channel Sound- Audio Channel Modifier allows users to use any waveforms amplitude as a channel controller.
New Modifiers- Waveform, Math Operators, additional Matrix controllers, Expression, Random and more.
Shading
Item Based Shading- Users can now easily apply Shaders outside of the Shader Tree making it possible to make single items invisible to the camera for instance without any Shader Tree layer shenanigans.
Texture Offset- New layer Effect type allows any texture map values to displace those of another layer.
Variations Texture- New Shader Tree layer allows users to add easily add color variations to multiple objects without masks.
Scattering Filter Distance- New Hair Shading option helps to reduce or eliminate noisy renders when using Fur.
Occlusion Texture Cache- New cache options for Occlusion can speed up renders and smooth out the resulting shading.
Fur Vertex Map controls- New Fur options allow vertex weight maps to be used to controls density and length.
Material Mode- The Shader Tree has a new 'Material' mode view that displays layers by Tag and/or Item selection.
Shader Tree Folder- More easily organize layers in the Shader Tree.
Shading Library- Scenes can contain a Library of Materials, like Presets, that can be easily applied and modified.
Rendering
Render Preview- Greatly enhanced Preview viewport allows saving and loading of progressive renders, respects the Render items Antialiasing settings, allows Drag&Drop functionality, and provides a modal progress bar when rendering animations.
Render Curves- New option to 'Render Curves as Polygons' allowing users to use Displacement Maps. Radius Gradient option allows users to easily control the radius of the resulting curve along its length.
Improved Physical Daylight Illumination Model- The old method has been completely replaced by a much more realistic model.
Environment Fog- Fog can now be applied as part of the Environment material with a new 'Layered' fog option.
Environment Importance Sampling- New option for Global Illumination produces cleaner results using far less rays.
Animateable Render Camera- Current Render camera can be animated and assigned to individual Passes.
Render Proxies- Users can convert individual layers to render-time Proxies, external files that only load when rendering.
Vignetting- Physically accurate vignetting is avaialable as an option for the Final Color render output.
Bake Geometry Cache- Convert complex rendertime geoemtry, such a Displacement and Fur to actual Mesh Items.
Interface
701 Interface- New streamlined workspaces refine modo's already fluid workflow for even greater accessibility and speed.
Enhancement to viewport icons to maximize/minimize windows within a group and open the viewports Options panel.
Layout Switcher- New shortcut for layout switching increases productivity and screen real-estate by eliminating tabs.
Embedded gradient editors allow the easy modification of values for many items, such as curve width along its length, emission strength of particle along a curves length, tapering of Fur fibers and many more.
Drag to Toggle- Users can now simply drag over multiples of layers in the Items List to automatically toggle them all.
Colored Coded Layers- Coloring of layers in Lists viewports can be applied using the contextual menus.
Point-At Popovers- New Popover type of viewport points at the button that spawned the window.
Item List Keyboard Navigation- The keyboard arrow pad can now be used to navigate the Items list selections.
Viewport Display Options- New viewport controls to independently customize the display of active and inactive layers.
Miscellaneous
Python Support- New Python interpreter allows much faster and broader Python support.
Additional smaller refinements have also been integrated into the new modo 701 that were just too numerous to list here.
