Nevercenter releases Silo 2024.2 and Milo 2024.0
Originally posted on 13 November 2023, and updated with details of Silo 2024.2.
Nevercenter has begun its 2024 releases of Silo, its lightweight 3D modelling software, and Milo, its Unreal Engine-based real-time renderer.
Silo 2024.0 adds File Instance, a new system for referencing external files within a Silo project, making it easier to manage update to complex models.
Milo 2024.0 adds a new gradient background type.
A lightweight sub-D modeller and accompanying real-time renderer
First released in 2003, Silo built up a reputation as an efficient, focused modelling package.
It has a streamlined set of polygonal and subdivision surface modelling tools, a topology brush for drawing new topology over a reference object, and interactive real-time UV unwrapping.
As well as creating low-poly assets for games or real-time applications, it can be used to rough out base models for sculpting in ZBrush, and supports Pixologic’s GoZ bridge system.
Although development stalled during the 2010s, the pace picked up again with the release of Silo 2021, with Nevercenter also launching Milo, a new standalone Unreal-Engine-based real-time renderer and VR viewer.
Silo 2024.0: new File Instance system
Since then, Nevercenter has been putting out relatively small, but regular, updates to the software, with Silo 2024.0 adding one new feature, File Instance.
It’s a file-referencing system, making it possible to use external files – either separate Silo files, or 3D models in standard file formats – as instances within a Silo project.
When the external file is updated, the Silo model will update automatically.
Updated 8 December 2023: Nevercenter has released Milo 2024.0.
The update adds a new gradient background that can be used to create a sky backdrop or create more stylized effects. It’s locked to screen space, so it remains fixed as a model is rotated.
Updated 7 February 2024: Nevercenter has released Silo 2024.1.
The update adds a new Auto UVs modifier that updates an object’s UVs in real time, making it possible to work on a model and have Silo adjust its textures automatically.
Once the form of the model is finalized, users can bake the UVs and edit the UV layout in a conventional way.
Auto UVs supports five of Silo’s texture projection modes – Cubic, Cylindrical, Spherical, Per Face and Planar Regions – although not yet LSCM, so it’s suited to relatively simple models.
Nevercenter describes it as useful for “buildings and mechanical objects that mostly just need a repeating material tile applied in a logical way”.
The Planar Regions projection has also been updated, with a new option to orient UVs to world co-ordinates: for example, to give keep textures aligned vertically as a model is modified.
Updated 11 April 2024: Nevercenter has released Silo 2024.2.
The main change is native Apple Silicon support, which should improve performance on current Macs with M1, M2 or M3 processors.
The update also improves workflow when entering numerical values in the UI, with the option to increment or decremment values using the arrow keys, and to right-click to reset to the default.
Pricing and availability
Silo and Milo are available for Windows 10 and macOS 12.0+.
Perpetual licences of Silo have an MSRP of $159, which includes Milo. The updates are free to anyone who has bought the software in the past year.
Read a full list of new features in Silo 2024 and Milo 2024 in Nevercenter’s release notes
Read more about Silo and Milo on Nevercenter’s product website
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