Search TipsBitmap Image Formats
Bitmap images are an essential component of texturing, painting and image-based sculpting. They are also useful as backdrops for modeling, providing reference for shape and scale. They can also be used to light the scene, where information captured in the image can illuminate rendered images. With so many different uses, it is necessary to support a great number of image formats.
There are several ways you can load images into Modo. One is from the Images viewport, typically located near the Item List and Shader Tree viewports on the right side of the default interface. Using the Add Clips button in the Images viewport, you can open an OS-specific dialog box to locate and select an image. Once loaded, images in the Clips list appear throughout the application in applicable menus. You can also load images by simply dragging and dropping them from the operating system into Modo. When you drag and drop an image onto geometry, it appears as a texture on a material. If dragged into a 3D viewport, it appears as a backdrop item. To load a bitmap that is not applied to geometry or a backdrop item, drag it into a non-3D viewport. Items can be dragged from the 3D views directly onto groups (where they become members of the group), or into the Schematic viewport. You can also load images directly from any menu for selecting images, using the Add Image command present in the menu. Once an image is loaded, you can reference the dedicated documentation page for any particular function, specific to how the image is applied and used.
Read Formats
This is a listing of the image map formats Modo can read and use for texturing, backdrops, brushes, and a variety of other functions.
|
Format Name |
Extension |
Bit Depth per Channel |
Compressed |
Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Flexible Precision Image Format |
.flx |
HDR |
Yes |
Lossless |
|
Targa |
.tga |
8 bit + Alpha |
No |
|
|
Windows BMP |
.bmp |
8 bit + Alpha |
No |
|
|
Graphic Interchange Format |
.gif |
256 colors |
Yes |
Palette |
|
Radiance High Dynamic Range |
.hdr |
HDR |
Yes |
Lossless |
|
JPEG |
.jpg |
8 bit |
Yes |
Lossy |
|
Portable Network Graphic |
.png |
8 bit + Alpha |
Yes |
Lossless |
|
Portable Network Graphic 16 bit |
.png |
16 bit + Alpha |
Yes |
Lossless |
|
PSD (Photoshop Document) |
.psd |
8 bit |
No |
|
|
SGI RGB |
.sgi |
8 bit |
No |
|
|
Scalable Vector Graphic (bezier curves only) |
.svg |
resolution independent format |
Yes |
Lossless |
|
Tagged Image File Format |
.tif |
8 bit + Alpha |
Yes |
Lossless |
|
16-Bit TIF |
.tif |
16 bit + Alpha |
Yes |
Lossless |
|
16-Bit Uncompressed TIF |
.tif |
16 bit + Alpha |
No |
|
|
Open EXR |
.exr |
HDR |
Yes/No |
|
|
Direct Draw Surface |
.dds |
|
No |
|
Write Formats
This is a listing of formats Modo supports for creating new images.
|
Format Name |
Extension |
Bit Depth per Channel |
Compressed |
Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Flexible Precision Image Format |
.flx |
HDR |
Yes |
Lossless |
|
Targa |
.tga |
8 bit + Alpha |
No |
|
|
Windows BMP |
.bmp |
8 bit + Alpha |
No |
|
|
Radiance High Dynamic Range |
.hdr |
HDR |
Yes |
Lossless |
|
JPEG |
.jpg |
8 bit |
Yes |
Lossy* |
|
Portable Network Graphic |
.png |
8 bit + Alpha |
Yes |
Lossless* |
|
Portable Network Graphic 16 bit |
.png |
16 bit + Alpha |
Yes |
Lossless* |
|
PSD (Photoshop Document) |
.psd |
8 bit |
No |
|
|
SGI RGB |
.sgi |
8 bit |
No |
|
|
Tagged Image File Format |
.tif |
8 bit + Alpha |
Yes |
Lossless |
|
.tif |
16 bit + Alpha |
Yes |
Lossless |
|
|
16-Bit Uncompressed TIF |
.tif |
16 bit + Alpha |
No |
|
|
Open EXR (+layers) |
.exr |
HDR |
Preference |
Lossless* |
*You can set the amount of compression used by Modo in System > Preferences... > File I/O > Image I/O.
