Advanced Member kenmo Posted June 26, 2009 Advanced Member Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 Can someone kindly explain to me the differences between the tools Sculpt, Retopo & Voxels? They all seem to be pretty close to me... Also examples when you would use each of these tools.... Last Saturday I was fortunate to view the free Kurvs workshop by Jarvis Jones... It was certainly worth viewing... I'm debating whether or not to accept an offer to watch his 2-3 advanced workshop tomorrow... One reason being I would much prefer a workshop aimed at beginners... but contingent on tomorrow's schedule & weather I may opt for the workshop.... Jarvis seems to be a very capable instructor... Are there any tutorials aimed at noobs other then those dreadful WINK tutorials? Thanks kindly... Kenmo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Javis Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 Hi, The Sculpt tab will only sculpt poly meshes. The Retopology tab will allow you to create a new poly mesh entirely, or change the flow of an existing mesh. Voxels... Are an entirely different story then all the others. Voxels are not like polygons. They are points in 3D space, similar to that of a vertex but unlike vertices, voxels also can contain volume (size) and color information. Tomorrow's class that I'll be doing will cover entirely voxel sculpting, and then retopologizing the voxel sculpture with polygons, so that you may then export out the completed poly mesh for use in other programs to render, or use as game content. The reason you would do this, is because voxels are much more intuitive to sculpt then polygons. You can sculpt to your hearts content without fear or worry of having stretched or distorted areas, as you would have with a poly mesh. Hope this helps, and hope to see you at the session tomorrow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Javis Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 PS - I'm not certain about other tutorials. I haven't kept up, as I've been so busy creating them. But, I can definitely tell you that, I am gearing tomorrow's session toward new users of 3D-Coat, as much as I can. Whether it be a new user entirely, or from another package (specifically ZB, that's what I used to use). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advanced Member kenmo Posted June 28, 2009 Author Advanced Member Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 PS - I'm not certain about other tutorials. I haven't kept up, as I've been so busy creating them. But, I can definitely tell you that, I am gearing tomorrow's session toward new users of 3D-Coat, as much as I can. Whether it be a new user entirely, or from another package (specifically ZB, that's what I used to use). Hi I watched the classroom today and I'm still not sure why there is a need to repotologyze a voxel model... It seems like a lot of hard work? Why not just export the voxel as an obj? I created a simple box in Voxel and exported it as n obj. It loaded fine into Wings3D & Vue.... So why the need to retopo.... I also realize this workshop was too advanced for me... I really need a 3D Coat course aimed at an absolute newbie who knows very little about Mudbox or ZBrush.... I also feel much more comfortable with 3D Coat ver 2.0 as I really only purchased 3DC as an alternative to Maxon's Bodypaint3D... There are just too many functions in version 3 that really confuse the heck out of me.... I do dabble in Hexagon, Wings3D and Vue Pro Studio... But most of my stuff is created in Corel Painter. It is an environment I feel so much more comfortable in and much easier to understand... So I'm hoping there is some tutorials or workshops that are aimed at 3DC dummies like me.... Also I believe if you would have explained why you were doing something instead of jumping in and just doing it, it may have helped... For example a reason why you had to repotologyze a model you had already created.... And I'm still not certain what the difference between functions Sculpt, Voxles and Retopo are.... I also asked about whether or not 3DC could be used in 2D as ZBrush can... For example I created the rocks in this 2D image using a trail of ZBrush 3.1. I used the 2D tools. The rocks are not 3D. But were drawn in ZB in a PSD file.... Perhaps 3D Coat version 3 is now taking a direction I have little interest in or do not properly understand as all the tutorials seemed to be directed to advanced 3D users... Cheers Kenmo PS: I think you are a very talented and accomplished modeler and I was in total awe of how easily you are able to do things in 3DC.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contributor Tony Nemo Posted June 28, 2009 Contributor Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 Hi I watched the classroom today and I'm still not sure why there is a need to repotologyze a voxel model... It seems like a lot of hard work? Why not just export the voxel as an obj? I created a simple box in Voxel and exported it as n obj. It loaded fine into Wings3D & Vue.... So why the need to retopo....I also realize this workshop was too advanced for me... I really need a 3D Coat course aimed at an absolute newbie who knows very little about Mudbox or ZBrush.... I also feel much more comfortable with 3D Coat ver 2.0 as I really only purchased 3DC as an alternative to Maxon's Bodypaint3D... There are just too many functions in version 3 that really confuse the heck out of me.... I do dabble in Hexagon, Wings3D and Vue Pro Studio... But most of my stuff is created in Corel Painter. It is an environment I feel so much more comfortable in and much easier to understand... So I'm hoping there is some tutorials or workshops that are aimed at 3DC dummies like me.... Also I believe if you would have explained why you were doing something instead of jumping in and just doing it, it may have helped... For example a reason why you had to repotologyze a model you had already created.... And I'm still not certain what the difference between functions Sculpt, Voxles and Retopo are.... I also asked about whether or not 3DC could be used in 2D as ZBrush can... For example I created the rocks in this 2D image using a trail of ZBrush 3.1. I used the 2D tools. The rocks are not 3D. But were drawn in ZB in a PSD file.... Perhaps 3D Coat version 3 is now taking a direction I have little interest in or do not properly understand as all the tutorials seemed to be directed to advanced 3D users... Cheers Kenmo PS: I think you are a very talented and accomplished modeler and I was in total awe of how easily you are able to do things in 3DC.... If you are a certifiable 'noobie' the best way to get to know the program and it's tools is to read the manual. A lot will then be demystified and you have the opportunity to reread a paragraph and actually experiment with it's content at your leisure and convenience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member RenderBlur Posted June 28, 2009 Member Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 I'm a newbie myself but I'll see if I can help here. I'm still not sure why there is a need to repotologyze a voxel model, it seems like a lot of hard work? I'd say there are at least two major reasons for using Retopology vs. exporting a voxel directly as an OBJ: 1. to lower the number of polygons of an object (objects with high polycount can drastically slow down your use of them in other programs and can lengthen rendering times) 2. to control the polygon flow so you can make an object suitable for animation You said it seems like alot of hard work, but compare it to modeling a low-poly object from scratch while trying to establish good polyflow at the same time. Why not just export the voxel as an obj? Sure you can do that. But if you need to rig and deform the object for animation, you'll find it less than optimal. Animated objects that deform greatly benefit from a good polygon flow that follows along where they bend and stretch. Even if you don't animate an object, reTopologize is still greatly beneficial to reduce the number of polygons of any object. I created a simple box in Voxel and exported it as n obj. It loaded fine into Wings3D & Vue.... So why the need to retopo.... See 1 & 2 above. For example a reason why you had to repotologyze a model you had already created.... Well, the class was also supposed to cover retopology wasn't it? But again, see 1 & 2 above. ->And I'm still not certain what the difference between functions Sculpt, Voxles and Retopo are.... In general, voxel modelling allows you to model in a mode where you don't have to worry about stretched polygons, or polygons at all. It's a great starting place for modelling. Sculpt, I haven't used it so I may be on the wrong path here, but it's where you can paint displacements on a polygon model and the displacements alter the polygons. Retopologize - allows you to control how to lay down polygons over an object, whether it's an existing object with polygons that you want to redo, or a voxel object that needs polygons. Hope that helps! -Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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