AbnRanger

They were renamed Smart Materials in 4.5, because of the PBR tech.
 

I would definitely use Smart Materials in 3D Coat to paint it directly onto the model in the 3D viewport or 2D Texture Editor. I suppose he was just more comfortable doing that in PS, which is no big problem. I always try to think of 3D Coat and PS as extensions of one another. One will have tools/features the other doesn't offer and vice versa. It's best to just leverage each other's strengths and have both open while texture painting. I typically can do everything in 3D Coat, though.
 
These two videos might help:
 

 

With thin objects, you either need to leave the sculpting part to Surface mode, or increase the resolution in voxel mode, quite a bit, and RMB click the layer > EXTRUDE. You can make it a little thicker than normal as you are sculpting and when you are done, Extrude in a negative value. Remember, if it's clothing that you intend to animate in a 3D app or game engine, it is likely just going to be a single-sided mesh using a cloth modifier to triangulate the object and perform dynamic simulations to it. On top of that sim, you might add a THICKNESS or SHELL modifier, to get the requisite thickness.
 
So, thickness while sculpting might not matter a whole lot.

I use a SpacePilot with lots of buttons that I can program to specific hotkeys...this help prevent having to remove your hand to hit hotkeys on the keyboard. Same thing for the Wacom tablet. I have commonly/frequently used hotkeys assigned to it for the same reason. Between the two, you rarely have to reach for the keyboard. With your off-hand, the puck is designed to emulate the model in your hand, and with your other hand you sculpt and paint on it simultaneously. Saves so much time by the end of the day....not having to stop and navigate with the same stylus/hand.
 
Once you get used to it, you won't want to work without it...same goes for working in your main 3D app

There would be nothing wrong with buying the EDU first then immediately, or before the sale expires, upgrading to the Pro version. I think they just wanted to be fair to those who paid the normal $99 for the EDU/Non-Commercial license.

What are those dots in the background of your viewport? Did you click on a Smart Material, Stencil or something? Plus, by trying to run Auto Retopo on the parent of a multi-layered object, with parts that are overlapping or touching...you are going to have problems. It's designed to run on one layer at a time. If you have multiple objects on a layer...like teeth of a creature or bolts/screws, rocks, etc., that is ok. But it's wise not to do so when those objects touch or overlap other objects.
 
So, one layer at a time. Secondly, if you have a really thin object, Auto-Retopo will struggle with it, and it is not going to create a mesh on one side of a thin object. It's going to try and create a mesh all the way around. So, Auto-Retopo would be a very poor choice for things like clothes, which have almost no thickness, and which, in most cases, you do not want double-sided with thickness. Why? Because when you try to run a cloth sim on a double-sided mesh, you're going to have problems with interpenetration and such. The object needs to have some degree of thickness and/or be a closed object.
 
If you try to test Auto-Retopo with the other Human Primitive, from the splash screen (rather than the Mannequin with multiple parts), you'll see that it works properly. You were just trying to use it in a way it really isn't designed to.

This might help explain what is going on:
 

I asked Andrew about this...to place Auto-Retopo in the Retopo room, under it's own section in the Tool Panel. This way it's easier for new users to find (intuitively). He agreed and said he would do this, but I guess he hasn't gotten around to it, with all the other things he's been working on.
 
It works through the Vox-Tree layer panel, in the Sculpt room. You select the layer you want to apply it to > RMB + Click the layer > choose Auto-Retopo.
 

 
https://www.youtube.com/user/PILGWAY3DCoat/search?query=Auto-REtopo

Bring your Capture Details value up to about 70%, and the Decimate if Above value to about 40. On that model, I would shoot for somewhere between 8-10k polys (Estimated polycount of Autopo result). Since the goal is to create a low-poly version and use depth maps to emulate the high poly detail, it's counter-productive to make an auto-retopo algorithm spend needless time calculating details we don't want or need topology for.
 
So, create a degraded duplicate (there is an icon for that at the bottom of the VoxTree layer panel), and use the fill tool to fill in all the small details (details we want Auto-Retopo to ignore). Use that layer/object to Auto-Retopo with and you'll get a MUCH better result. It's simply using the K.I.S.S method. It makes no sense to through a highly detailed model at it and expect the unnecessary complexity to affect the result, adversely.

What I would try to do, in your case, is to move your LICENSE.DAT file outside of the MyDocs/3D Coat V4.5 directory > install the latest build > when you open 3D Coat, you should get the prompt to add your registration key. Enter your new one and see if that works.
 
 
 
....If not, you could temporarily re-name your current MyDocs/3D Coat 4.5 directory > install latest build > move the subfolder content from the previous, re-name directory, to the new one.  Don't move the individual files, like Options.xml and such.

Go to the RETOPO Room (to do our Mesh Editing) > from the RETOPO Menu, choose "Use VISIBLE Paint Obejct as Retopo." This will bring the object into the Retopo room for mesh and even UV repairs/modifications. Clear any duplicate meshes > check to see if the UV's are good to go in the Retopo Room (has a mirrored set of UV tools and no need to click APPLY UV CHANGES like you do in UV room).
 
If everything is kosher in Retopo room, you can get the modified mesh back into the Paint Workspace one of two ways:
 
1) Go back into the Paint Workspace and delete the problem meshes (so we don't have duplicates) from the Paint Objects or Surface Materials panels. Once you do this, at the bottom of the (Paint) layer panel, the last icon on the right will clear any unused paint layers. This is all a house cleaning measure.
 
Now we are ready to merge the modified mesh to the Paint room. Go to the BAKE Menu and choose "RETOPO to Per Pixel Painting (no bake)." This sends a copy of the mesh directly to the Paint Room, and you should be good to go.
 
2) Rather than house-cleaning then merging, you can just replace the mesh in the Paint room. Go to the RETOPO Menu > EXPORT. Then go to the Paint Room > FILE Menu > IMPORT > REPLACE GEOMETRY.
 
Hope either one of these helps.

I've been meaning to create a tutorial about modifying a mesh you have in the Paint room, by sending it to the Retopo room and getting it back into the Paint room with your textures intact. Do you mind, or would it be possible to use your model to demonstrate this? I'll basically try to do the work for you, but show others how it can be done, in the process. If it's ok with you, just PM me and we'll go over the details of how you need it done and all. Thanks.

When you import for MicroVertex, there is a large note in import dialog box. You need to read that carefully, because it states you need a 1 to 1 correspondence between the number of vertices and pixels. This video covers merging/baking from the Retopo room to the Pain room, but the IMPORT dialog is practically the same as the one you would see if you are in the Paint Room and import a model from there.
 

There is a checkbox in the Preferences panel > under the General tab > Remember Brush alpha for each tool (something like that...can look it up now, but it's toward top). Sometimes you want 3D Coat to remember and sometimes you don't. That's what it is there for

LMB + SPACE bar

Andrew contacted them about this initially, but I think it's Allegorithmic that decided to can the idea...seeing that 3D Coat is now a direct competitor with Substance Painter. I asked him about something similar with Quixel (dDo plugin?) and got a similar answer.

You can download the image planes folder from the "Description" of the Image Plane setup video, or here:
 
http://3d-coat.com/forum/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_id=18835

There are two main ways that I know of to get black texture maps when baking. One is to have an issue with your UV's. If you have none, and have "Use Current UV's" selected in the import/merge dialog, then you will get black texture bakes.
 
The other is having "Use Naming Correspondence" checked in the BAKE menu...when you are using just one Retopo Mesh. It's looking for Mutliple meshes and trying to bake them in sequence using a naming correspondence convention, between the Retopo meshes and the objects in the Sculpt Room.
 

You can see the process start about midway into the video:
 

 
Here is another one that goes a bit more in detail:
 

What you can do is create a degraded duplicate of the model, in the Sculpt Room, and remove all the small details that might otherwise make Auto-Retopo struggle a bit. Then, once you have the retopo mesh created, you could hide/delete the degraded voxel model > unhide the detailed one, and just tweak/modify/rebuild the mesh to conform to the details.

It works only in Surface Mode, and I see it on my end (4.5 Beta 5)
 

There is a little triangle midway down the left side of the UI, which will toggle it back on.

The Freeform lasso is as the name implies...strictly winging it (freeform). If you need more precise control, you can use the Closed Spline toward the end of the E-Panel. Additionally, you can use the 2 Grid for alignment and snaping. You can also use 3D workplanes and turn 3D Grid snapping on for that.
 

 

That's correct. It's just a reminder of sorts. I think Andrew removed the Symmetry checkbox's from the Auto-Retopo dialog, after Radial Symmetry was introduced. I would guess the reason being that it can conflict or confuse the user, if they already had symmetry enabled before starting Auto-Retopo. Might be a move to reduce redundancy? Not sure, but if you have symmetry enabled from the Symmetry panel, Auto-Retopo will respect it

This tutorial might give you some ideas as well: