Getting started

3DCoat is full of functionality and is well-suited to creating a 3D model in real-time. With a wide range of tools, commands, functions, and workflows, 3DCoat is divided into clearly defined workspaces that contain all the functions needed for each phase of model development.

View each room as a “mini-application” connected through and through. The structure helps you to concentrate on one operation at a time and make your entire working time as productive as possible.

3DCoat is a relatively easy program to learn the basics of. However, like all software, the overall difficulty will depend on each learner’s experience, available resources, and ultimate goals.

3DCoat Quick Start Tutorials

Understanding 3DCoat Mesh Types

In these videos we are going to look at the three different mesh types that exist in 3DCoat.
Explains that there are 3 different mesh/objects in 3DCoat, and each is native to it’s own specific workspace.

The mesh types are associated with the three primary workspaces paint, retopo, and sculpt. It’s important to know the differences between them:

Paint Object (Object Imported into the Paint Workspace)
Sculpt Object (Object Imported into, or created from scratch inside the Sculpt Workspace)
Retopo Object (Object Imported into Retopo Workspace or generated by Auto-Retopo)

The UV room is companion workspace to the Paint/Tweak workspace in the sense that it work exclusively on paint objects.

Interface & Navigation

Section Interface & Navigation explains how you can customize general viewport configuration, Change panels order, and handle your rooms (workspaces).

Brush components

Section Brush components discusses how brushes can be created, used, and modified.

The Workspaces

Section Workspaces (Rooms) demonstrates the various ways that meshes can be generated or painted.

Near the uper left box you will see the drop-down arrow that accompanies the room selector. Press it and you’ll be able to choose different rooms from an extensive menu of commands.

Rooms

Paint / Tweak Room
Like a 3D version of Photoshop, 3DCoat’s Paint Room makes creating detailed textures for your models.
Also this Room possesses some of the most simple and powerful tools for creating mesh modifications, model poses, and morph targets.

Retopology Room
All Topology creation and modification tools and functions can be found in this Room.

UV Room
After “Baking” your mesh into the Paint Room, the UV Room provides the precise set of tools that enable you to produce a “balanced” UV Map.

Sculpt Room
The Sculpt workspace contains a set of tools and functions that allow you to construct the most detailed and elaborate organic and mechanical models that one could conceive.

Modeling Room
New Modeling Room with a classic low-poly modeling toolset was added. New paradigm introduced: Start with the Fast Low-poly modeling for the base form, then make a Sculpt Mesh with Subdivision and add details in the Sculpt room.

Factures Room
Factures are sort of big “easter egg” in 3DCoat. Actually, it is a very powerful way to make super-detailed objects. For example, you have a landscape and want to cover it with grass, rock, sand, etc., textures.

Simplest Room
This workspace is built based on the need to model the basic shapes using easy tools.

Kitbash Room
New workspace added. It is a set of various parts that can be attached and linked with each other, like ‘lego’.

Render Room
This Room allows you to test your model and its textures in an environment much closer to a 3rd party rendering environment and to create animated “Turntables” and “Fly-throughs” of your model and scene.

Create new Room
Possibility to create your own Room.

Scripting and Core API

Section Scripting and Core API shows an introduction how 3DCoat can be expanded creating new tools and upgrading existing ones.

Frequently asked questions

Section Frequently asked questions gives answers to frequently asked questions.

Tutorials

All tutorials about 3DCoat.

– Intro to 3DCoat 2021 by Anton Tenitsky. You can ask him questions on his discord server: https://discord.gg/a5TJyRA

Typical workflows

– This video series covers some typical workflows in 3DCoat, and how they involved the different workspaces/toolsets in the application.

3DCoat Basics for Concept Art. In this tutorial Jose Vega go through the basics and how he uses it. He will go over some of the most used brushes and techniques he normally uses when using 3DC.