GabeM Sketches

[GabeM]

Messing with the tools, trying to understand how to use them. I have to work more like with real clay using this program than what I'm used to with ZB. I need more options with the brushes and the speed could be much improved on the voxel tools.

The surface Rapid brush is really nice, like the clay tubes in ZB. It's the best working brush I've found so far. The voxel brushes are working way too slow for me.

The pattern I've fallen in to is to make the larger shapes as fast as I can with the move or Rapid brush.

After that, I keep smoothing, using the rapid brush and Scrape.

Build up, blend in, build up, blend in.........

I wish you could make your own brushes, General options, alphas, mixing properties, etc. All the brushes at once, and you tweak it how you want.

AMD Phenom X4

9750 Quad-Core Processor

Windows Vista 64bit

8 gig ram

750GB HD

NVIDIA GeForce 9500GS

512MB dedicated to video memory

Right now I have 505GB free space on the C drive.

The program is running very slow on anything Voxel related, and It crashes like every 15 to 20 minutes while sculpting.

I'm using the V3 demo

So far, the things I like most are how you don't have to deal with a wire frame, even though I find it's absence to hurt my work flow quite a bit. I'd like to have the two styles combined some how, get the best of both worlds.

The second thing is how you can merge parts together, like with actual clay, I love that.

The brushes need more options.

The retopology is really cool.

That's all I've messed with.

[haikalle]

Nice start. My favourite tool is also surface rapid. It's fast enough to get nice results. Hope Andrew can find to speed up other tools too.

[LJB]

Hi Gabe Nice intial Trail. It seems Voxels do require a different mindset to ZBrush and MudBox, as workflows can become distructive at high resolutions. Great things can be achieved in Blocking out but detailing is currently tricky. There is some interesting conversation going on in the Improve brsuhes thread about possible brush improvements. Maybe add some thought?

- leigh

[akira]

Obviously the 9500GS is the bottleneck of your system, it's too slow for real-time 3D.

Andrew uses 9800GT himself, which is 4 times faster than 9500GS and it's cheap.

performance chart:

http://service.futuremark.com/hardware/graphics_cards/

[Taros]

Messing with the tools, trying to understand how to use them. I have to work more like with real clay using this program than what I'm used to with ZB. I need more options with the brushes and the speed could be much improved on the voxel tools.

The surface Rapid brush is really nice, like the clay tubes in ZB. It's the best working brush I've found so far. The voxel brushes are working way too slow for me.

The pattern I've fallen in to is to make the larger shapes as fast as I can with the move or Rapid brush.

After that, I keep smoothing, using the rapid brush and Scrape.

Build up, blend in, build up, blend in.........

I wish you could make your own brushes, General options, alphas, mixing properties, etc. All the brushes at once, and you tweak it how you want.

AMD Phenom X4

9750 Quad-Core Processor

Windows Vista 64bit

8 gig ram

750GB HD

NVIDIA GeForce 9500GS

512MB dedicated to video memory

Right now I have 505GB free space on the C drive.

The program is running very slow on anything Voxel related, and It crashes like every 15 to 20 minutes while sculpting.

I'm using the V3 demo

So far, the things I like most are how you don't have to deal with a wire frame, even though I find it's absence to hurt my work flow quite a bit. I'd like to have the two styles combined some how, get the best of both worlds.

The second thing is how you can merge parts together, like with actual clay, I love that.

The brushes need more options.

The retopology is really cool.

That's all I've messed with.

Welcome.

There is another thinking with voxel sculpting. If you remind some rules, you could have a lot of fun with voxels:

- Only increase the voxel resolution, if you are really shure! Currently, you can't go back in voxel resolution! (The most important rule, I guess)

- Work like in the "real" sculpting world: create first the raw shape, then the fine details. This means the voxel resolution in first case. It is more important in voxel sculpting than in mesh sculpting methods. Stay disciplined and don't get lost in details.

- Use layers for seperate parts if needed. Voxels melt together and this isn't nice, often...

What do you mean "merge together"? You can merge to voxel layers together, if you press the right mouse button on a voxel layer, all is described how to do that.

If you have a crash, send the bug report to the coders. Or post a question into the forums and explain how to reproduce the problem.

Ihe manual explains how the brushes are build and how to create own brushes. It is very easy and flexible.

Don't stop trying the demo, there are more possibilities than voxels in this tool. You will have a lot of fun.

Best wishes

Chris

[GabeM]

Welcome.

There is another thinking with voxel sculpting. If you remind some rules, you could have a lot of fun with voxels:

- Only increase the voxel resolution, if you are really shure! Currently, you can't go back in voxel resolution! (The most important rule, I guess)

- Work like in the "real" sculpting world: create first the raw shape, then the fine details. This means the voxel resolution in first case. It is more important in voxel sculpting than in mesh sculpting methods. Stay disciplined and don't get lost in details.

- Use layers for seperate parts if needed. Voxels melt together and this isn't nice, often...

What do you mean "merge together"? You can merge to voxel layers together, if you press the right mouse button on a voxel layer, all is described how to do that.

If you have a crash, send the bug report to the coders. Or post a question into the forums and explain how to reproduce the problem.

Ihe manual explains how the brushes are build and how to create own brushes. It is very easy and flexible.

Don't stop trying the demo, there are more possibilities than voxels in this tool. You will have a lot of fun.

Best wishes

Chris

By merge I mean putting separate parts in to one, I know how to do it, and I like the feature very much. Like how in real sculpting they put a chunk of clay on the model and blend it in, it's great.

For crashing, I'm not doing anything special, just working away with the sculpting brushes. It seems to crash at random, or I'll make a stroke and spikes will shoot out of the model before crashing. I've sent a bunch of bug reports already, I've lost count. I'm just saving every 5 minutes or so, for when It crashes again.

I'll look over the documentation for brushes, but what I'm thinking is like combining the blend with the vox follow. To do something like using your thumb on clay. Inverting the scrape brush, so I can add volume. Using a square alpha with the clay brush, using a dotted alpha with the scrape to make a rake.

Question

How do you alter the mirror plane's position? I'm trying to mirror an eye ball, but I can't move the mirror plane.

[edit] Never mind, I figured it out.

Right click on layer > To global space > Right click on layer > clone with symmetry > combine the two eye layers.

Here's what I'm working on now.

[cuffins]

By merge I mean putting separate parts in to one, I know how to do it, and I like the feature very much. Like how in real sculpting they put a chunk of clay on the model and blend it in, it's great.

For crashing, I'm not doing anything special, just working away with the sculpting brushes. It seems to crash at random, or I'll make a stroke and spikes will shoot out of the model before crashing. I've sent a bunch of bug reports already, I've lost count. I'm just saving every 5 minutes or so, for when It crashes again.

I'll look over the documentation for brushes, but what I'm thinking is like combining the blend with the vox follow. To do something like using your thumb on clay. Inverting the scrape brush, so I can add volume. Using a square alpha with the clay brush, using a dotted alpha with the scrape to make a rake.

Question

How do you alter the mirror plane's position? I'm trying to mirror an eye ball, but I can't move the mirror plane.

[edit] Never mind, I figured it out.

Right click on layer > To global space > Right click on layer > clone with symmetry > combine the two eye layers.

Here's what I'm working on now.

Seems you're very talented! The way you building up your model is great because of reusing parts in other models...I do it the same way...

You can try to use CPU Control to speed things up. You have to assign all CPU's to 3DCoat...Don't know if it works on your system, but for me it speeds up surface tools and move tool approximately 3 or four times. I have a Quad Core CPU. It's worth a try...

One other tip...you can move the symmetry plane by pressing TAB and moving with mouse...maybe it helps.

Keep up!

Rene

[GabeM]

Thanks for the tip, I'll have a look at that.

Here's the ear

I wish there was a way to simulate 3D carving tools. Use the tilt function and hover the pen off the tablet to move in Z, twirl the pen to spin the tool. I could use actual 3D geometry as a carving tool. Just dig in and scoop out the inside of the ear real fast.

That and having the clay simulate some actual mass, so I can push parts and have it move the area behind or around it. Like the cloth simulation, but for clay.

For they eyes, you could just dig in with a 3D thumb to make the sockets, and push up to make the eye brow ridge at once.

I don't know if that's possible yet, but I'd love to be able to do that.

[GabeM]

A bit more work on the head

[GabeM]

My first 3D coat head

another time lapse

[ghib]

Lovely, really nice work. Watching that Gif timelapse has given me some ideas about how to approach my next project.

Working on parts individually then merging is a good idear. Voxels really are a new way of thinking for me as I'm so used to subd sculpting.

[LJB]

Looks really great Gabe Can i see a front shot, There is just something about the eyes im not sure of, Maybe a little too far apart. Great stuff dont let the sometimes tediuos performance put you off the application. its a really fun way to sculpt isnt it.

[chris_solo]

Hi all!

being new to 3dcoat, I first really enjoyed: painting tools 3d, the retopo, easy to learn intuitively, translation software in my language (French), but I had a doubt about the sculpture, using ZB ... now, I think it must change its method of sculpting with 3dcoat, his way of thinking to realize, thank you again for having removed his doubts...

thanks gabeM!!

[GabeM]

Here are the 3D files if you want a closer look.

It's all 3 models I've made this week, messing around with this new toy.

What I'm doing is watching clay sculpting videos on youtube, to get a better idea of how to use this program.

http://www.filefactory.com/file/ah0d436/n/...t_1st_Tests_zip

It takes a little getting use to and more of a real world sculpting approach, but I really like it. Just that it needs better control over brush properties and something like a multires cage to speed up the process.

At least something like skinning, so I an make a low res polygon patch on the model to work with.

Or even a brush that draws polygons on the mesh, like a retopology strips brush. It'll draw and work with a lower res mesh as you brush on the voxel sculpt. Again working like a skin deformer.

I could also use some type of masking tool to keep the mesh from melting in to it self in key areas. On the lips for example, the surface would press against it self or trespass, instead of melting together.

There may be some ways to do what I'm thinking already, I haven't found all the tools yet.

[GabeM]

Blocking out a new one

[LJB]

Masking is most definitely a high priority and please dont cunfuse Hide for use as mask ( Got carried away when it first was released and found very quickly it does not work in that way, as voxel can still be sculpted at edges) tool as it has very limited masking potential. Nice pelvis. Watch out scale and Voxel level wise if your going to attempt a full skeleton (Though Id like to see it ;-) ) as you may soon run into performance issues. if detail will allow and you wont lose to much try the clone and degrade to bring back some performance. and use the surface disply switch in the vox tree to further boost performance when you have a bunch of layers you need positional reference for but dont need to effect. Every little helps at the moment with current performance.

[GabeM]

Is there a way to use forward kinematics with the curve tool?

I need that to make a hand faster. Make one finger curve, then move the entire curve to make the next finger and so on.

I don't see a way to move the entire curve, only single spheres at a time.

while on the subject, is there a way to use the curves tool for rigging, so I can pose the character with joints, not having to make a soft selection every time with the pose tool.

If not, I'll make a request.

[wailingmonkey]

no FK on curves, but there is a checkbox in parameters to 'apply to whole curve'.

and again, no-go on using curves for rigging ala zspheres...there has been multiple

requests for a way to rig sculpts and many links for different ideas on how it might

be done, but there's absolutely no reason not to add your own request into the hopper

as well.

better solutions for large-scale manipulation of our sculptures (in addition to using

the pose tool) is a fairly important item IMO, as 3DC gets further refined. Masking

should also play an integral part in whatever Andrew cooks up along those lines...

[GabeM]

OK thanks, that works pretty well actually.

[LJB]

Yep Id like to see a pose with Curve option in the pose tool. We talked about this somewhere else here on the forum but the location escapes me now.

[GED]

cool work on that head with the mouth, eyes, ears objects. Do you plan to use those same ears etc on multiple characters? suppose theres no reason not to but I do get wierd artifacts sometimes when I use the move tool so using generic meshes and then changing thier shape with the move tool might not be great

[GabeM]

Yeah I'm getting those artifacts too, happens more when using the surface tools for me. I just smooth them out when they pop up.

Also if you get lines or little specks of the mesh stick out in space, click the smooth button to get rid of them.

[GED]

Yeah I'm getting those artifacts too, happens more when using the surface tools for me. I just smooth them out when they pop up.

Also if you get lines or little specks of the mesh stick out in space, click the smooth button to get rid of them.

yeah that does work but unfortunately the smooth button smooths absolutely everything so if your still at a low voxel resolution then you loose quite a lot of detail with smooth button. ideally these artifacts shouldnt happen in the first place.

[JamesE]

Nice work Gabe! Good to see you using the voxels for their strengths with the object merging. I don't see nearly enough of that, which is confusing since it is a major selling point for using voxels!

[GabeM]

Is there a way to reset the digital pen?

I keep having this happen, where I'll be sculpting, then for some reason, the pen button's stop working for scaling the brush and adjusting the strength.

I can still do it with the mouse, but for the pen buttons to work again, I have to restart 3Dcoat.

Is there a quick way to fix that?

Also I found that if I want to smooth out an area fast, what I can do is copy it to another layer, degrade it. Smooth it out at a lover subdivision level.

divide it again and merge back with the original model. Too many steps, but it makes smoothing out large areas much faster for me.

If 3Dcoat doesn't have a real time optimization system, this could be a way to do it. Paint a mask on the surface and click a degrade button. Do your thing and when you exit the mask mode it'll subdivide again to match the rest of the model, if it even has to.

Or how about a degrade brush aside the normal smooth. It'll degrade as you brush then smooth when you stop.

[Taros]

Is there a way to reset the digital pen?

I keep having this happen, where I'll be sculpting, then for some reason, the pen button's stop working for scaling the brush and adjusting the strength.

I can still do it with the mouse, but for the pen buttons to work again, I have to restart 3Dcoat.

Is there a quick way to fix that?

Also I found that if I want to smooth out an area fast, what I can do is copy it to another layer, degrade it. Smooth it out at a lover subdivision level.

divide it again and merge back with the original model. Too many steps, but it makes smoothing out large areas much faster for me.

If 3Dcoat doesn't have a real time optimization system, this could be a way to do it. Paint a mask on the surface and click a degrade button. Do your thing and when you exit the mask mode it'll subdivide again to match the rest of the model, if it even has to.

Or how about a degrade brush aside the normal smooth. It'll degrade as you brush then smooth when you stop.

Please post this not here, better post the info into one of the associated threads. Then it will be not overlooked.

[GabeM]

Blocking out the anatomy on the legs, the breast and butt are separate objects for now.

I'm going to try the full body with this one

[Andrew Shpagin]

Is there a way to reset the digital pen?

ALT TAB should help.

[GabeM]

A bit more progress...

[GabeM]