Deformer List

With Modo, you mainly deform items by applying effectors that provide instructions on how to deform a target and influences that determine what to deform. You apply deformers to items by selecting the target item and then clicking the deformer in the toolbox, which automatically links the elements together.

You may prefer to manually add elements in the Deformers viewport and connect them through the Schematic view.

Click any link below to view the topic for a particular Deformer.

Deformers
	Bend Effector	The Bend Effector, when assigned to an item, deforms the object in a curving or arcing fashion.
	Bezier Effector	The Bezier Deformer is an excellent way to apply deformations in a continuously smooth manner. This can be extremely useful for long tube-like structures (such as tentacles, tails, and whips).
	Curve Constraint Effector	The Curve Constraint Effector attracts nearby vertices, constraining them to the nearest position along the defined curve.
	Lag Effector	The Lag Effector, when assigned to an item, deforms the object along a directional vector that is determined by the target item's animation. (Essentially, it is deformed along the direction it is traveling.)
	Lattice Effector	The Lattice Effector, when assigned, creates a structured array of points across the mesh like a cage. You can move each individual vertex of this cage to deform the underlying mesh. Modo smoothly interpolates the deformation between the vertex locations.
	Magnet Effector	The Magnet Effector, when assigned to an item, draws points within its defined range toward the center of the magnet, itself.
	Rotation Effector	The Rotation Effector, when assigned to an item, rotates the target item. You can link it to rigging and can control it through the Schematic view links when combined with the various modifiers because it is an item with channels.
	Slack Effector	The Slack Effector, when assigned to an item, deforms the target as if it were suspended between two points.
	Spline Effector	Use the Spline Deformer to apply deformations in a continuously smooth manner. This can be extremely useful for long tube-like structures (such as tentacles, tails, and whips).
	Transform Effector	The Transform Effector, when assigned to an item, moves, rotates, or scales the target item. You can link it to rigging and can control it through the Schematic view links when combined with the various modifiers because it is an item with channels.
	Vortex Effector	The Vortex Effector, when assigned to an item, deforms the object in twisting motions. It has Decay options to provide a spinning-tornado type of deformation to the target item.
	Wrap Deformer	With the Wrap Effector, you can create a custom, low-resolution cage as a proxy to deform the associated mesh. Typically, the cage approximates the shape of the target mesh layer to make it easier to manipulate and control.

Deformers

Bend Effector

The Bend Effector, when assigned to an item, deforms the object in a curving or arcing fashion.

Bezier Effector

The Bezier Deformer is an excellent way to apply deformations in a continuously smooth manner. This can be extremely useful for long tube-like structures (such as tentacles, tails, and whips).

Curve Constraint Effector

The Curve Constraint Effector attracts nearby vertices, constraining them to the nearest position along the defined curve.

Lag Effector

The Lag Effector, when assigned to an item, deforms the object along a directional vector that is determined by the target item's animation. (Essentially, it is deformed along the direction it is traveling.)

Lattice Effector

The Lattice Effector, when assigned, creates a structured array of points across the mesh like a cage. You can move each individual vertex of this cage to deform the underlying mesh. Modo smoothly interpolates the deformation between the vertex locations.

Magnet Effector

The Magnet Effector, when assigned to an item, draws points within its defined range toward the center of the magnet, itself.

Rotation Effector

The Rotation Effector, when assigned to an item, rotates the target item. You can link it to rigging and can control it through the Schematic view links when combined with the various modifiers because it is an item with channels.

Slack Effector

The Slack Effector, when assigned to an item, deforms the target as if it were suspended between two points.

Spline Effector

Use the Spline Deformer to apply deformations in a continuously smooth manner. This can be extremely useful for long tube-like structures (such as tentacles, tails, and whips).

Transform Effector

The Transform Effector, when assigned to an item, moves, rotates, or scales the target item. You can link it to rigging and can control it through the Schematic view links when combined with the various modifiers because it is an item with channels.

Vortex Effector

The Vortex Effector, when assigned to an item, deforms the object in twisting motions. It has Decay options to provide a spinning-tornado type of deformation to the target item.

Wrap Deformer

With the Wrap Effector, you can create a custom, low-resolution cage as a proxy to deform the associated mesh. Typically, the cage approximates the shape of the target mesh layer to make it easier to manipulate and control.

Influences
	General Influence	With the General Influence you can assign any vertex tagging methods to define a grouping of vertices for the deformer to influence. This limits their application to specific user-defined areas of a mesh (or the entire mesh).
	Item Influence	Use an Item Influence when a rigid item needs to stay in the proper position relative to a deforming surface or when multiple items need to transform in a uniform way (such as a tower of spheres that bends around on itself).
	MDD Influence	Daisuke Ino developed MDD files during his work on a dynamics engine built as a plug-in to a host 3D application. These files are a simple point cache that stores a location in space for every vertex in a model for every frame in the animation.
	Morph Influence	With morph maps you can save alternate user-defined deformations for any mesh. To animate any morph map, you must first apply a morph deformer to the model.

Influences

General Influence

With the General Influence you can assign any vertex tagging methods to define a grouping of vertices for the deformer to influence. This limits their application to specific user-defined areas of a mesh (or the entire mesh).

Item Influence

Use an Item Influence when a rigid item needs to stay in the proper position relative to a deforming surface or when multiple items need to transform in a uniform way (such as a tower of spheres that bends around on itself).

MDD Influence

Daisuke Ino developed MDD files during his work on a dynamics engine built as a plug-in to a host 3D application. These files are a simple point cache that stores a location in space for every vertex in a model for every frame in the animation.

Morph Influence

With morph maps you can save alternate user-defined deformations for any mesh. To animate any morph map, you must first apply a morph deformer to the model.