Working with Items

Modo scenes are basically collections of items: cameras, lights, meshes, locators, and so on. These items are collected and cataloged either in the Item List or in the Shader Tree, where each layer represents an entire object unto itself. You can tell Modo what particular item you wish to edit by selecting them. When selected, their associated attributes appear in a Properties Panel panel where you can manipulate their values directly, or easily manipulate items directly in the 3D Viewports.

Creating Items

Modo starts with a number of basic item layers. You have a camera that is necessary for rendering and an empty mesh layer for building geometry. You can add additional item layers to the scene in a number of ways. You can do most of your scene item management from the Items List.

Click on the Add Item button in the upper right area of the viewport to open the Preset Browser.

Click on the appropriate item to select it and add to the list.

New items are added directly above the current selection.

You can also add items from the menu bar: in the Item menu, there are a variety of commands that add the appropriate item.

Create Camera: This command adds an additional camera item with default settings at the origin of the scene. If an item exists with an identical name, Modo adds an appropriate number to the new camera to differentiate it from the existing camera. Cameras are necessary for setting point of view and render settings specific to the frame. For more information on the camera, item, see Camera Items.

Create Light: This menu opens options for adding any of the variety of direct light sources Modo supports, including area, cylinder, directional, dome, photometric, point and spot light types. If an existing item in the scene has an identical name to the added item, Modo adds an appropriate number to the new light's name to differentiate it from existing lights.

Create Locator: This command adds a locator item, also sometimes referred to as a null object. Locators are useful as reference objects, and can aid in the creation of hierarchies. Locators do not contribute to the rendered image but do have a 3D viewport representation useful for applying transforms. For more information on locators, see Locator Item.

Create Texture Locator: This command adds a texture locator item. You generally don't add a texture locator manually, as they are added automatically whenever an image map or procedural texture layer is added. Texture locators define how textures are applied to surfaces at render time. For more information, see Texture Locator.

Create Backdrop: This command creates a backdrop item. Backdrop items allow you to display images directly in the 3D Viewports, useful as modeling reference. These images are not included in final rendered images. For more information, see Modeling with Images.

Create Environment: This command adds an additional environment item to the Shader Tree. Environments represent the background areas of the rendered scene. For more information, see Environment Item.

Primitive: This menu allows you to choose from and add a variety of unit primitives, basic shaped geometry scaled approximately to 1 cubic meter in size. These objects can act as stand-in proxy geometry, the basis for more complex objects, or as final geometry requiring only simple forms. For more information on these tools, see Creating Geometry. You can also add unit primitives by holding Ctrl and clicking on the appropriate tool in the Modeling toolbox. Press Shift to add the unit primitives as a new Mesh Item layer.

Renaming Items

To rename an item:

Select the target layer, then right-click directly on the item.

This opens a context menu.

Selecting the Rename option form the menu to open a pop-up dialog.

Enter the new name and click OK.

You can also edit the name by clicking on an item, then clicking on it again. The name becomes editable and you can enter the new name. User can also select the target item in either the Item List or the Shader Tree and select the menu bar command Item > Rename.

Duplicating Items

You can clone items in a variety of ways, depending on the desired outcome and number of clones. The easiest route is the direct duplicate.

First, select the target layer and right-click directly on the layer.

A context menu displays.

Choose the Duplicate command from context menu.

A copy of the item is created with a number value appended to it, differentiating it from its source.

You can also select the target item and press the Ctrl+D keyboard shortcut to quickly duplicate items. The duplicate item is an identical copy of the source item, inheriting all its attributes. You can then modify or transform the duplicate to make it a unique object.

When you need a greater number of duplicates, use any of the Clone and Array commands found in the Duplicate tab of the Modo toolbox. The same options are also available in the menu bar under Geometry > Duplicate. For more information, see Duplicating Items.

Replicators are also an excellent way to generate many duplicates of an item providing a procedural means to clone objects over a surfacing by specifying another item that acts as a point source. For more information on using Replicators, see Replicator Item.

Modo also allows you to create instances of items. Instances are virtual duplicates that require no additional memory as they are only references back to their source, and update automatically when any component edits are applied to the source geometry. You can position, scale and rotate instances as if they were their own item, but you cannot make direct component level edits to them. Many of the Clone and Array tools provide options to generate instances instead of geometric clones, greatly reducing scene overhead.

Duplicate Options: This command provides you with a few options for the duplicated items. Right-click an item and choose Duplicate... to open this menu, or in the menu bar, click Item > Duplicate Options.

Instance: Enable this checkbox to generate instances instead of duplicates.

Hierarchy: Enable this checkbox to duplicate all child items of the source, retaining their hierarchy.

Modifiers: Enable this checkbox to duplicate any related modifiers associated with the source.

Converting Items

You can convert any type of item into any other type of item from the menu bar by clicking Item > Change Type, and then selecting from the various item options. This command converts the current selection into the type of item selected.

Another way to do this, is to right-click on a layer opening the context menu and select the Change Type option. This opens another menu from which you can choose the item type you wish to convert to. The standard transform properties of the item (position, scale and rotation) are retained, but in unrelated items, the converted object is based on default item values.

Changing a Mesh Item into a light can be useful from time to time, but the more important function lies in converting heavy Mesh Items into static mesh. Since a converted Mesh Item is frozen and triangulated, it is not always desirable, but in cases where items are too large to manage otherwise, it is a good option to have available. For more information on static meshes, see Static Mesh Item.

Removing Items

To remove an item, right-click on it in the Item List or the Shader Tree and select the Delete command from the context menu. You can also select the target items and in the menu bar, click Edit > Delete. Finally, you can remove selected items by simply pressing Delete on the keyboard.

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