AbnRanger

Right now, you don't have a FFD cage for a model that you import/merge, but primitives only. Maybe that would be a good future feature request. There is supposedly a way to place obj's in the primitives folder in the 3DC directory (there is a button in the parameters panel named "More Primitives?"and clicking that will give you info on how to do it) and have a FFD cage applied to it, but when I tried I couldn't get it to work as expected...maybe you will have better luck?

Because it appears you are trying harder to throw a fit for everyone to see than actually trying to work with the developer, one on one to get a remedy.

The volumetric nature of voxels doesn't respect surface constraints, so to prevent that, you either want to insure that there is sufficient volume beneath your cursor or switch to Surface mode to smooth. There are a few things you want to lean on Surface mode for, and that is one of them. Freezing a surface and doing high detail work are two others. Surface mode is faster than Volume mode as it doesn't have to account for the volume data with each stroke or operation. It's a workflow thing essentially. Use each mode for what it does well.

I'm using that...but the one he is using has more gray in it. I realize that the individual can go in and change colors themselves, but I'm just talking about the default choices...so that new users can easily pick one they like. It sure has come a long way since the early days.

Well, voxels are more responsive now that Andrew added Multi-threading. It didn't just speed up merging...Andrew redid the engine from scratch and in the process, brush speed was indeed sped up as well. I noticed that even the Pose and Move tools are faster. Nevertheless, because it's displacing volume instead of just vertices in space, voxel volume mode may never reach ZBrush level. But the thing is, it doesn't need to. That's why surface mode is there...to emulate polygonal sculpting. And that is very comparable to MB and ZB. Any user needs to lean on each mode for their strengths....Volume for blocking out forms and boolean type operations, and Surface for fine detailing and sometimes for smoothing or freezing. I think a re-do of the brush engine (not sure if that includes multi-threading in the Paint Room?) could be huge, and I really hope Andrew will overhaul the sculpt room (with the Surface mode tools/engine), so that it is a full-featured polygonal sculpting toolset. That will set it apart as being the only application with 3 legit sculpting platforms (Voxel Clay, Poly Sculpting, and Image-Based). Having a couple ZBrush veterans (like Leigh Bamforth and Bay Raitt) to consult with Andrew over the course of the overhaul, would pay dividends.

Not quite like that. Multi-Resolution works differently in 3DC than it does in ZB or MB mainly due to the nature of the sculpting platforms. Here is how Multi-Resolution works in 3DC:

That's a cool UI color scheme...might be a good idea to add something similar to the default choices. I really like the Modo look that you guys added.

You're really stretching things here. I can get roughly 20mill on my 4GB laptop, and the UV's are NOT that slow, and you know it. You were fussing about subdivision snapping in the Retopo Room...and have since realized there is a way to subdivide with little to no snapping problems....yet you say the Retopo Room is a mess. Then you finally discover that you can get normal maps without seams, yet you complain here that you can't.Andrew has stated that a 64bit MAC is in the works and that IT IS NOT AN EASY TASK TO PULL OFF....yet you continue to come here and fuss anyway. Please, show some video captures of what you are experiencing, and get them to Andrew at : support@3d-coat.com

I had to edit that a little bit...that's right clicking the layer and selecting "Extract Skin" > "Make Hull using..." It takes some experimentation to get a good result, and it naturally will be more accurate with a higher resolution object....but it usually works a treat.

That would help try and get a foothold among ZB users. Anything he could do to streamline the workflow between the two would make it easier to market the ZB userbase...as a companion, not a competitor.

Also, Andrew had to suspend work on it, to attend to bugfixes and such. He'll likely be back in the saddle, improving it more next week.

You can right click on the model layer (in the VoxTree panel) and click "Extrude" (it works either in the positive or negative direction...I used it to make a shell out of a football helmet, making a copy of the layer, extruding the copy in the negative direction and then right click the copy layer > Subtract from the original layer). You can also right click and select "Extract Skin" > "Make Hull using..." (I think it should be named SHELL). You set the amount of depth you want and there you have it. Now, I found that using "make hull" will close any holes you have, so you may want to use that first and cut any parts you need trimmed out later.

This is a bit off topic, but somewhat related too....you can rotate your cursor pen by using the 9 and 0 keys. Really helps when painting a specific pattern/mask/ or Photoshop brush. Just thought I'd throw that in there, while on the subject of "flipping your brush." I think he was using the eraser end of the Wacom stylus, as well.

Yeah, this is an area where you'd be better served trying to use another tool for the task. You can certainly sculpt the form, and paint (using materials as a stencil to project the texture) in the foam, but I would use a particle system to create the detailed water spray.

I apologize if it sounded like an overly simplistic answer, but it seemed as if you were pointing out a problem with the brush engine or something to that effect.

Looks as if the UV map is a mess.

Funny, I never considered loading of obj's an issue...obviously you do. Are you running a 32bit version? The fill tool does it's thing in a few seconds, and I can use fairly large brushes when painting, but a lot probably is dependent on your graphic card and video RAM. I'm using a GTX 275, and don't have any sort of angst with the performance the way you do....but then I don't try to paint with ridiculously large brush radius'....

Well, I get the same thing on my 4GB laptop....when I try to do something that pushes the RAM useage close to the limit. That's is the bad thing about the MAC versions...they are not yet 64bit.I asked Andrew's partners, Oleg and Stas, during Siggraph, about a 64bit MAC version...since many here have been waiting on it, and it really makes a massive difference when you are limited to just 3-4GB's. RAM is one thing you really need to have plenty of, when working in Voxels. In the mean time, you can take some steps to manage your resources in Voxels so you avoid that problem as much as possible: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LynoTC18OnY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNNiDMXyf70&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7ZJX9Nfy8w&feature=related

Also...if you have an issue where you are on a tight deadline, it's good to have a backup, for sure...so that you're not bogged down while awaiting a resolution, but generally e-mailing Andrew directly is the best course of action if it really appears to be a bug and it is critical to get it fixed for you to proceed. Video captures along with a copy of the work files(s) used will yield the fastest results. I know I sound like a broken record with this, but it is something needs to be reiterated from time to time, as there are more and more new users coming to the forums.

Exactly...I forgot to mention in the previous post, that it sounds like you tried to go LOW poly on the output, and I found that to bog things down....but if you use the default settings or higher, you'd be surprised how fast it is...and no crashes. If you are having crashes, don't just throw it out there that the feature is useless, buggy and crash prone...unless you're willing to demonstrate it with a video capture of the steps you took to get all these problems. Please, show us....maybe Andrew will see it and try to fix the problem, if you haven't already sent your bug report in.And as far as adding extra programmers...that's a goal, certainly. But how can the application grow sufficiently in order for that to be financially feasible if you have forum members making bogus complaints in front of prospective customers? How would you like it if former clients came in and started making fallacious statements about you in front of a key client? Think about it...

Wow...Where do I start? First of all, you certainly take a lot of shots at the application with vague generalities like "Painting is buggy and slow"...."Voxels are slow"....If you have a bug...freakin report it. Don't slam the application if you haven't done what you can to help. There is a direct e-mail to Andrew (support@3d-coat.com)....why lodge a complaint here if you haven't bothered using the help at your disposal? I found a number of bugs in the Retopo room a few months ago...reporting them to Andrew, with video captures of the problem and copies of the files got results pretty quick. It's now far more stable than it was. If everyone experiencing a bug would take those steps, this application would be and can be exceptionally stable. What's more is, I bought 3DC to replace Deep Paint 3D and it has never let me down in that regard. I haven't experienced this "slowness" that you speak about and I use 4k maps pretty often. Care to show us a screen (video) capture of this "Slowness" you speak about? Could it use some multi-resolution goodness? Sure...but it isn't slow, either. Maybe you'll find Mudbox better with it's whopping five blending modes (finally got layer blending modes in version 2011). Secondly, with all the recent work Andrew did in Voxel Sculpting, it is NOT slow! It may not yet be quite as fast as ZB or MB overall, but it is very fast nonetheless...if used correctly, and with a relatively new system. What do you want to do in voxels that is slow? Move tool or Pose tool? Use the tools then, that Andrew has put in your hands...some have been there for a while now. Use Surface mode and/or Multi-Resoltion. Use Cache to Disk on the layers you're not actively working on. As for the Auto-retopology feature....it IS big. No hype needed. It does a LOT of retopo tasks AS IS that would take me hours doing them all manually. Is it perfect? Well...the better question is, "Is it a finished product?" There's your answer. Why not wait until Andrew has had a legitimate chance to iron all the the wrinkles out, before you start casting stones?

Cool Beans, Javis. Thanks a bunch. If I could throw one request that I think will benefit a lot of folks, is covering the Texture Baking Tool in some depth. It's really a key feature in 3DC that I think a lot of new users don't realize it's there at their disposal and what it can do.

Yeah, I have a friend who just bought a MAC seat today, and the poor guy has 16GB's of RAM and can only use 3GB's of it until a 64bit MAC version comes forward.Andrew would it be possible to issue those who bought MAC versions, a dual platform license temporarily (their choice of Linux or Windows) until a 64bit MAC version is available? It doesn't make sense to me that they should be forced to pay an additional fee to run 3DC on Bootcamp, simply because the MAC version is handicapped still (at 32bit). My apologies for mistaking your words. It sounded like a wholesale rebuke of the effort Andrew has made here.

Yeah....things bog down when memory runs low. When you hit the E Key (brings up the E-panel...same as if you hover over the pen in the upper left hand part of the screen), make sure to have one of the first few brushes selected, because what you really are doing is painting an area you want to copy...some of the other brush modes don't work (I wish we could use the freeform tool or splines to select areas we want). I need to ask Andrew about enabling those, soon.Yes, I think I remember speaking with you at the show. Good to see you participating here on the forum.

But the thing is, it's 2 different people using the same tool. Leigh Bamforth did the video, and he's likely been in closer contact with Andrew, to help test and give feedback, as most of his models have been used in the testing.Just because one person's topology doesn't look quite right to you, doesn't mean the feature is "far from useful" as you claimed.