mocaw

Why is the OSX beta so much slower to download? On the same computer, my windows 3DC beta downloads in 15-20min, on OSX it is taking between 4-8hrs. I'm thinking they are hosted on a different server, but why the bandwidth difference?

I hope we'll be able to turn off the visability of the BG HDRI, but still light the objects with it. Some of the HDRs can really blow out BG and make it hard to see what you're doing. Otherwise- awesome sauce!

OK, so I actually liked smart coated too. How about "Smart Coating" layers? Does that pass the grammer test? Smart Materials is good, but I get not wanting to get into some TM legal BS. Some companies are really touchy about that, and if Pilgway came out with it, then got smacked with a warning that made them have to update the manual and interface AND rebrand videos etc. it could be more money lost than is worth taking the chance for.

I like smart coat so far the best. It's straight forward, says what it does, and probably easy to translate, and as mentioned has the bonus of having part of 3D coat's name in there. Smart coat is good because it implies that the process is semi automated, or has some programing intelligence behind it. MultiCoat is fairly good too as is Material Coat, but they don't have this description of the action or what it does in the name. Patina is nice, and actually the most accurate AFAIK in terms of saying what it creates, but the term maybe too obscure. Random names on my part: Intele Coat Matter Maker Real Coat Matter Coat Reality Coat Elemental Coat 3DCoating Creator Alchemy Coat

Interesting, what is the padding like on the bake? In MODO, what settings are you using too?

Javis Jones helped me out- thanks Javis! I figured out a good starting point. Used tube clay, and then created an alpha with some vertical type lines, turned the intensity down low, spacing set very low, and detail up. For a more "fur" like rake, I used a fallof curve so it starts out gradual in intensity and then ends quickly. Not sure how to save a preset...but here is the file from me going to my preset and right clicking-> save presets. 3DC Fake Rake LC 1a.zip

I know it must be easy to create a LC rake brush...but I can't figure out how to do it. LC seems to take the alpha and space it nicely...and I just want to drag it out (with some of the stipple alphas). I mainly wanted to sculpt in some rough fur on an animal. Any thoughts on how to do this? Thanks, -g

If I try to export maps via Textures->Export- I only get black files, or oddly, a weird solid purple/roayl blue color for displacement. I can export the maps if I go File->Export- though that has fewer options it seems, and still my displacement maps have a weird purple fill (see image). Normal maps using File->export and other maps seem fine...sans this weird purple fill in the displacements... Any suggestions?

Thank you for the work you're putting into the new autoretopology, and I am sorry for your loss Andrew. It is nice to know though that people in many parts of the world still live in multi-generational households. With children under foot and grand parents under the same roof the circle of life must seem much more complete, and everyone must have a greater appreciation for how interdependent we all are. It is a life experience with all its ups and downs sorely lacking in my culture at the moment. So while I feel for your loss Andrew, it also brings warmth to my heart to know that people still live as we should- together. From birth through to death. Thank you once again for all the hard work you've done Andrew, and during such a trying time. You must have a wonderfully supportive family to have such strength in such trying times.

Down a little further on the list is vector displacement, which you could do before threw a third party node, but now with it more widely distributed, I think will get used more. AFAIK mudbox and 3DC are the only applications that currently generate such maps. Maybe a good time to press into the SI front and sell some 3DC licenses eh? http://area.autodesk.com/softimage2012 I really think this is only a positive for 3DC.

I'm by no means an anti mac guy, but it's true that Apple does no favors to programmers in terms of making things easier. Be patient as Andrew works on things, he is not ignoring you or any Apple users. That said, if I were a programmer and 90% of my main user base including studios were using something other than Apple systems, which one do you think I'd attend to first if I had to choose? I'm not trying to start some flame war here, just saying if you step back and look at the dollars and sense part of it + over all user base satisfaction...

Hey my ideas are far from perfect...but I like to try and help out if I can! I think throwing out ideas is more constructive than saying A- make it awesome B- make it better than awesome C- I want it RIGHT NOW and I don't care about how you do it. I personally appreciate it when people not only have a request for something, but try and think as an end user how it might work. So many things that end up being amazing because of the talents of a programmer and software designer seem to be started by thoughtful user requests. I think it saves them time too as it might cut down on "mind reading". What do I know though about software development? I haven't written anything beyond a clock and calendar in Pascal and a few REALLY simple ICE trees! All the more reason for me to appreciate Andrew's endeavors and all those other crazy "Siggraph" level computer scientists skills and dedication.

So far the Anthropology is good for me and REALLY good if you lay enough lines down. Perfect- no nothing is perfect only infinity close and I'm sure Andrew is trying to get there. The only thing so far that kind of is kind of odd is the wizard. I think...maybe it should be a check box option. So when you run it, you get a screen that says "Welcome to the wonderful wizard...press USE WIZARD button to use the Wizard, Expert Mode button to manually go through each step" Then in the lower right or left, there should be a check box that says something like "Click here to not show this window again and always be in expert mode. Can be brought back in preferences". Wizards just aren't my thing- though I appreciate being walked through something the FIRST time or so. After that I just want most of that to go away! Thank you though Andrew- already this is amazing and only getting better. I threw some crazy stuff at it in my tests, and with a little aid on the part of the user there were very few "oddities". ***************************************** On an aside- would there be anyway to put in a third "assit" mode other than the drawing green V and Red U lines? I found that on things like crazy branches that are hard to get a direct angle on without intersecting other branches, that these tools were hard to work with. I thought of two solutions (though I'm not a programmer so take it with a grain of salt). The first idea was to, allow us to put down points in order of the base of the appendage out to the tip. Like I was saying, with things like hair or branches, this would be easier for the user to do. So you'd put point one at the base and then maybe the last point at the end/tip. Kind of like working with curves in 3DC. Just like curves, the more you use, the more higher the chance of accuracy. Left click would lay them down, and a right click would terminate it and allow you to move on to the next branch/appendage etc. The second idea was more of a kind of ray casting solution that would check as you drew where the last point was, and with a distance tolerance setting (could be brush size) would see if an intersected point was suddenly much further away than the last one, and then cast a ray(s) into the scene, from the brush point, until it hit the next geo that was hit and closest to the last point drawn on the line. It would probably have to cull backside polygons etc. Let me know if this doesn't make sense and I'll draw a diagram- though I think it will make sense to Andrew!

Well the goal is always quads, but we all know come "production" if it looks good...and it works...run with it! Still...quads are the goal... That said...some programs "get" how to deal with N-gons better than others...and some also let you spin the internal edges etc. For all the rest...again...quads are the goal!

I can tell you, for certain, that he does not ignore any point that is brought up and valid. Now prioritizing when and how he or any company handles these requests/ideas/fixes is subjective, and is determined by a ratio of need/expense/ease/user-outcry/user-weight. While many of us were happy to just have a competent 3D paint app, and would still be loyal to it without Voxels, retopology, etc. Pilgway is fighting an up hill battle (and winning IMHO) with several other very capable applications. So while yes, bug squashing and refinement are really needed, blazing a tech trail ahead of the competition is also needed to sure up a larger user base and ensure enough of a gain to then have the time to refine. I mean, 3DC comes out with features that many people drool over, only to have a certain company release a teaser video with table scraps and nice dance music which some how steals the spot light away at times. It's style vs. substance IMHO, and right now 3DC is putting a lot of pressure on the substance part of equation. While the average freelance user may think the style wins the day...a lot of 3DC seats are being bought up by companies who KNOW the difference. To your benefit, as an added bonus, these same companies WANT a stable app and request it in targeted ways. Besides- 3DC IMHO has always been about filling in the gaps left by other programs- and now it's even filling them in where some of didn't even know there were gaps!