The latest reveal in the upcoming 401 release has an interesting video by Rich Hurrey:

Direct link - http://content.luxology.com/modo/40...401Overview.mov

Also more at the reveal section at the luxology site: http://www.luxology.com/modo/401.animation.part.4/ - Scroll down.

Rich has pushed 4.01 and rigged a character as a "full featured rig".

AN IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS IS NOT the final toolset for Character Animation in MODO, its only the pre beginning. THEIR ISNT ANY SKINNING / BONES IN MODO YET. It appears Rich used Vertex Map Deformers on many edge loops on the Bumper Character instead, along with the current 401 additions of IK.

Your thoughts?

Rich talks about this here and more at the recent MODCAST ( near 1hr15mins long ):
http://www.luxology.com/modcast/audio.aspx?id=79