Immanuel Martin is Director of Sales at Luxology. He has been doing sales and business development in the Silicon Valley software companies for more than 15 years. He has been Director of Sales at Luxology for the past three years. In his spare time he spends time improving his modo modeling skills as well as working on independent film projects.

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How many potential Picassos are out there in the world selling insurance or driving trucks? No doubt there are thousands, people with prodigious talent who never got the chance to develop it.

Ironically, while it is the biggest prerequisite for an artist, talent alone is no guarantor of success. To have a fighting chance, budding artists urgently need better training and education. This is particularly true with 3D media. There’s no question the talent exists -- ever since Luxology was founded in 2002, we’ve encountered students at universities and even high schools who are doing really killer stuff. Some of their work done with the modo software can be viewed on our web site at: http://www.luxology.com/gallery/.

But since 3D training is not widespread at the high school and secondary levels, we at Luxology have decided to do our part to encourage its development. In mid 2008, we formalized what was previously an informal program, launching our Education Provider Program. The response from schools worldwide has been gratifying. Among the educational institutions we’re working with are the Academy of Art in San Francisco, Cogswell College in Silicon Valley, Florida State University, Fukuoka Design School in Japan and University of Maribor in Slovenia. And that’s just a sampling. 



The program makes it easy for schools to offer a 3D curriculum, giving both students and teachers not only a discounted price on modo, but also a full complement of training materials -- more than 2 GB worth of tutorials, media files, documentation, and help files. There are several tutorials that go through a modo project from start to finish, from modeling to rendering. A video tutorial that we call “modo in Focus” walks through modo functionality from A-to-Z. The annual license includes all upgrades that come out during that year. modo runs on both PCs and Mac computers, making it a real attraction to many schools.

We also have additional project-based training materials available on a case-by-case basis as requested. Interestingly, however, most of the schools we’ve worked with to date have created their own projects, tailoring a curriculum using our content and tutorials. One of the great things about modo is its flexibility, so it’s not too hard to create a custom workflow. 

All of our modo educational licensing is based an annual subscription. The cost is $149 for an individual student or instructor license to modo. We also have floating licenses available for classroom or lab use, which are $179 each for an annual subscription. Educational site licenses are available for $4,500, and they are a great option for institutions that want to make modo available for many classrooms and labs. The annual licenses include all upgrades that come out that year -- point releases, maintenance releases, and any major upgrade. Schools never have to worry about upgrading as long as they maintain their annual subscription. And because we tie everything to a central account at Luxology.com, upgrades are automatically available to the student or institution.

Although the Education Provider Program is generally aimed at four-year accredited institutions, we do take a look at other factors as well. There are some vocational schools that focus on CGI training, and even some high schools. We don’t want to exclude educational facilities that want to incorporate modo in their program. They should contact us.

The application process is straightforward. We need general information about the school, including a URL, an overview of the kinds of 3D programs a school has in place, and what kind of degrees or certifications they provide. We’d also like to know how they’re planning on incorporating modo, if it’s a modeling class, texturing, or a games pipeline and so on.  This way we can keep track of what is being taught at our educational partners and hook up schools with potential employers as appropriate.

If you are involved in education, please consider reaching out to us here at Luxology. We’re always interested in how educational institutions are using modo, or are considering it. We understand that schools have different budgetary or logistical constraints, and we’re willing to think outside the box to help them. Our philosophy is simple: The more young folks who are exposed to 3D, the better.