Foundry has released Modo 17.0, bringing a major overhaul to its architecture and significant performance boosts. This version offers faster direct modeling tools, MeshOps, animation playback, rig interaction, and rendering speeds.
A key highlight is the integration of OctaneRender Prime from OTOY. This collaboration merges Modo’s strengths with high-speed GPU rendering, giving artists top-tier rendering capabilities. The release also includes substantial architectural changes—the most extensive in Modo’s history—to accelerate viewport drawing. These changes allow calculations to run in background threads. The current setup uses two threads simultaneously, with future versions planned to support multiple background threads for full utilization of modern multi-threaded systems.
Modo 17.0 also introduces a native ARM version for Apple silicon, promising up to a 50% speed improvement over the X86 version on Macs. Additional features include incremental tool updates for faster modeling, quicker and easier decal usage, PolyHaul enhancements, and improvements in Mesh Cleanup and Primitive Slice functionalities. The Advanced Viewport has been upgraded, allowing artists to toggle textures on or off directly, thus enhancing the visualization of lighting interaction.
It’s important to note, however, that some features are not available in Modo 17.0 for Mac ARM due to compatibility issues with third-party technologies. This includes limitations on the IKinema full-body IK, pose tool, and retargeting functionalities, though these are accessible in the X86 emulated version.