Core & Professional Features

Zen Workflow

Silo's careful design and its focus on pure modeling allows it to have a free, uncluttered feeling which is simply not possible in larger applications. Whether you are working to precise specifications or sketching out your thoughts, it is much easier to do so in a calm, focused modeling environment. This benefits professionals who are coming to Silo to escape slower, more complex software. It also benefits hobbyists and students, who are able to learn everything they need without having to deal with anything they don't need.

Cross-Platform With A Single License

Silo is registered per-user, rather than per-computer or per-OS. A single license allows a Silo user to have Silo installed and registered on up to three computers, in any combination of Mac and PC.

Advanced Polygonal Modeling

Silo offers a comprehensive set of interactive, context-sensitive tools for rapid polygonal modeling. The workflow is focused on having a few powerful, intelligent tools, rather than a separate command or option for every conceivable function. Additionally, "sticky key" functionality allows tools to behave differently if a hotkey is held down. Key modeling tools include Break, Tweak, Cut, Bevel, Slide, Scale, Extrude, Polygon Tool, Edge Tool, unlimited Undo and Redo, and more. Modeling can be performed with or without manipulators, including the Universal Manipulator which combines rotate, scale, and translate into a single manipulator.

Comprehensive Selection Tools

Robust selection tools are the key to great modeling, and a quick look at the Selection menu shows Silo's development has focused heavily on this area. Some highlights? Multi Select mode allows users to select vertices, edges and faces without changing selection modes. Tweak selection allows a user to grab, move, and deselect a component with a single click. That and many other tools work with Soft Selection, which smoothly distributes changes throughout a shape. Paint, Area, and Lasso selection types are supported. Select Visible and Select Thru functions are both available -- by default, use the left mouse button for Select Visible commands, and the middle mouse button for Select Thru. A separate Undo is available for cycling through recent selections.

Subdivision Surfaces

Subdivision surfaces offer a smooth, high polygon shape, and are easily accessible in Silo. Using default shortcuts, simply press c to subdivide as many levels as you want, and v to unsubdivide. Modeling can be performed in real time at any subdivision level with updates shown directly on the subdivided shape. Edges can be creased to keep them sharp at all subdivision levels.

Basic UV Editing

While Silo Professional offers advanced UV editing, Core does include the ability to break apart and layout UVs manually. Regular modeling tools such as Break, Merge, Tweak, Slide, and Soft Selection can all be used in UV space.

Unparalleled Customization

Designed to fit into any pipeline, Silo is the most customizable modeler available. That includes complete customization of the mouse, keyboard, and graphical interface, allowing it to closely emulate other applications a user may be familiar with, or perform tasks (such as assigning up to 40 different commands to a typical mouse with keyboard modifiers) which no other application can. Favorite tricks include assigning undo/redo, grow/shrink selection, and to the scrollwheel, or simply putting frequently used commands on the right mouse button with modifiers. Silo's button pages allow users to create their own multi-page interfaces, and assign any command to any image. The interface and color scheme are also highly customizable. Customizations can be easily imported, exported, and shared. Even the Primitives menu can be customized with frequently used models or settings.

Support and Resources

The Silo user forums (www.silo3d.com) are filled with active users who keep a close eye on development and respond readily to newcomer's questions. Silo's developers also frequent the forums, responding to bug reports and feature requests and offering updates on Silo's progress. In addition, the Silo help, tutorials, and videos are all maintained online in wiki format as part of the Nevercenter 3D Modeling Wiki (www.nevercenter.com/wiki), which offers many resources for modelers using any application.

Active Development

Immediately after a release, development of the next version begins. Significant free .x updates are released regularly, and a public beta is often available for registered users to test out the latest features. Feature development is constantly discussed with Silo users via the forum, and important decisions are made based on your suggestions and feedback.

File Formats

Silo Core supports import and export of Silo's native .sia and .sib formats. It also supports import and export of .obj, the most commonly supported file format among 3D applications. The .3ds, .dxf, and .fac formats can be imported, but can only be exported from Silo Professional.

Professional-Only Features

Advanced UV Editing

Silo Professional offers multiple types of unwrapping, including LSCM, Planar Region, XYZ, Per Face, and By Neighbors, which heals UVs based on the UVs based on the surrounding area. Different unwrapping methods can even be used on parts of the same mesh for optimal results. UVs are preserved during modeling operations, so modeling and UV editing can be freely interchanged with little to no cleanup. (This is particularly useful when a last-minute modeling change needs to be made to a "finished" model.) As described in the Silo Core section, clutter is significantly reduced by allowing regular geometry editing tools to be used to edit UVs wherever it makes sense. Even the displacement brushes, particularly the Smooth brush, are very useful when applied to smoothing out UVs.

Displacement Painting

Finally, brush-based displacement painting has been well-integrated into a traditional modeling environement. Silo's brushes integrate seamlessly with the rest of the modeling toolset. If the model is subdivided, the brushes will affect the subdivided shape directly, otherwise they will affect regular geometry. As with UVs, displacement is preserved where possible during modeling changes, so the brushes can be used alongside other tools as the model develops, rather than solely at the end of the process. Painting is smooth and natural, and works well with tablets. Displacement maps and normal maps can be generated and exported from any subdivision level, or even from two completely separate objects.

Retopology

With the popularity of displacement painting in Silo and other applications, as well as the common usage of 3d scanners, modelers are frequently asked to create a new, well-formed model with a high-poly shape for reference. This process is frequently known as retopologization, and Silo's Topology Tool provides an innovative solution by allowing users to directly draw new topology onto an object using a pen-like tool. Silo also offers Surface Snapping, which effectively turns every tool into a topology tool by snapping edited geometry to an underlying shape, and the Surface Tool, which allows users to quickly in interactively draw out and tweak strips of polygons.

Scene Editor

Complex Scenes can be easily managed in Silo Professional via the Scene Editor, which displays the scene in a tree-like structure and allows layer-like editing of objects and groups. Selection, display mode, locking, and visibility can all be quickly modified from the editor.

Numerical Editor

Silo Professional offers precise numerical control of the position, rotation, scale, size, distance, and angle of selected geometry via the Numerical Editor.

Snapping

Three powerful snapping modes are available in Silo Professional. Grid snapping snaps to the customizable workgrid, Component snapping snaps to the vertices, edges, and faces of an object, and Surface snapping smoothly snaps to the surface of unselected objects. These snapping modes affect nearly all geometry editing commands.

File Formats

Along with the .sia, .sib, and .obj 3D formats supported in Silo Core, Silo Professional also supports import and export of .3ds, .dxf, and .fac, as well as the export only of .stl, .pov, and .rib.