One of the benefits, not just of Modo, but among nearly all 3D packages is the ability to utilize procedural textures when surfacing a 3D object.  In layman’s terms, procedural textures are small mathematics-based routines that simulate such surfaces as wood, marble and other natural (and unnatural) textures.

One technique that I recently learned involves the use of gradients as an input to the variables behind the procedural texture.  When you alter the gradient curve, you end up with varying points of “contrast” which allows for some very interesting and creative textures.

The result of this experimentation is what’s shown here – something perhaps that could be found under a microscope in the digital age: