The level of polish I commented on in my previous review of modo 302 continues to improve with the latest release. Luxology continues to add carefully crafted feature sets and capabilities to its flagship modo 401. For Microfilmmakers requiring photorealism for environments or adding objects to existing footage, modo 401’s improved real-time rendering, new replicators for creating duplicate objects effortlessly, hair/fur and new animation features are a welcome expansion. Combine those with a stellar final rendering capability and modifying your personal reality has never been easier.
If you think you’ll be using green/blue screen shots and dropping in believable environments of your own creation, modo may be an ideal fit.
modo 401 creates absolutely gorgeous, believable interiors. Creating content to replace primattes--still or animated for match-moves--opens many possibilities.
(Image courtesy of Clive Biley, Rob Lanario and Chris Veitch: Smoke and Mirrors, London.)
Outside mattes can also be created easily with content that you create or purchase and then use modo to scene build.
(
Image courtesy of Models from Mars.)
Ease of Use
Let’s be real. There are many 3D options for Microfilmmakers out there. In fact, I personally use several different options over the course of a day depending on what’s needed. Why should somebody consider modo 401? The answer is actually three-fold: Ease of use, quality of renders and an interface that is ‘artist’ based instead of ‘techie’ based. This last one is significant. The interface is easily customizable to fit YOUR work style and not the software authors. The interface is easy on the eyes, chock full of contextual menus, and displays some really common-sense features that leave me crying for similar features in the other packages I work with.
The level of polish I commented on in 
