Rygaard

Every beginning is... extremely horrible! So, always move on. Just the beginning of something!

With all due respect to your opinion, I will always have my head open for any type of tools and implementations for 3D-Coat so that, precisely, we artists have at our disposal anything that makes a difference in our work. But at this point of turning 3D-Coat into a program like GeoMagic, Rhino or other programs that have a more focused on Nurbs and other things, I try to understand, but seriously, I really don't understand. As I said, if there are tools or features that help in the workflow, that's fine with me, I will always wishes that to happen, but the program turns into something for CAD, Nurbs and etc, I'm sorry, but it would be easier to buy GeoMagic itself or Rhino or Autodesk Fusion 360 or any other program that already has this type of work direction or workflow. The developers of 3D-Coat have already included in the program and if I am not mistaken, they are improving more and more tools and features aimed at Curves type Nurbs (non-destructive). I like that, but when it comes to sculpting, Nurbs doesn't make any sense. What is really making 3D-Coat 4.9 start to shine is in the organic sculpting part. Speaking of the organic part, now, with the implementation of Base Brushes, the program has, in my opinion, the best and most robust brush system on the market. Any artist who enjoys sculpting will have great moments of pleasure sculpting with this new and robust brush system. Now, we all have an "anabolic" brush factory (literally), in which you can refine the brush with different types and combinations of effects (different types of brushes) to get exactly what you want, the possibilities are huge and the sky is the limit! Imagine what will or may come in 3D-Coat 2021... The most important thing, in my opinion, is that 3D-Coat can further unify Rooms, as this is essential if we wanted to use any tool and functionality that exists inside the program in the same Room or space. Instead of jumping out of rooms and using a specific tool or feature and then going back to the Room you were working on previously. The current process completely breaks the creative part and the efficiency at work. Of course, the user can use shortcut keys to go to a specific room, but even so, unfortunately it is not the same as using tools and features in the same area you are working on and most importantly, in the same mesh structure (geometry).

Happy new year! Good sketches! I like it!

Cloth Tool - Possible bug: I Tested with 3D-Coat 4.9.57 DX and GL. The Pause / Resume button is no longer working during the tool simulation. The simulation continues even if you press the button to pause the simulation.

Honestly, I didn't understand what ZBrush has to do with possible mergers of Rooms within 3D-Coat. Don't get me wrong, but I think you are using your private opinion regarding ZBrush. I'm not here to defend Pixologic, but not everyone would agree with what you said. If Zbrush became the "standard", it was no accident that this happened. Pixologic has its own merits for this. If there is anything that bothers people at ZBrush I don't know. Perhaps this is the least of the problems for these people, as these people have not stopped using Zbrush and still continue to use ZBrush.... And what matters in the end, and most importantly, is that the program delivers the results that these people want. I believe I was able to explain the reasons for my opinion in my previous message. I have been using 3D-Coat for many years, which is my main program, but it is not for that reason that I will not comment on the points that are not so positive about the program. If changes happen, 3D-Coat will not stop being 3D-Coat, especially if such changes serve to improve and make 3D-Coat become even more unique.

I completely agree with you and I would very much like that to happen. Even though I'm not a programmer, I think this could be very positive in terms of improving the performance of the program as a whole. The most important thing is that with a possible merger of the Rooms, simplifying the program (this does not mean that the program would no longer be powerful), the artists could easily understand what exactly is happening with Geometry (mesh) and perhaps make it even easier to the Developers future implementations of tools, commands, features and other things precisely for the reason of this fusion of Rooms. For new users there would be no more doubts in the program's workflow (it would be much more intuitive) and thus there would be no more questions of "why does the mesh appear in a certain Room and in the other Room there is nothing?". I respect the opinions of all the artists and users of the program, but I need to say that, of course, for users who already have knowledge about 3D-Coat and perhaps have mastered it, this does not seem to be a problem of how 3D-Coat works today. In my own experience, when I tried to learn 3D-Coat many, many years ago, I sincerely almost gave up on 3D-Coat. Thank God I didn't give up, but I went through a lot of difficulties to understand the program. And if I went through it, I wonder how many artists who went through the same problems as me and who unfortunately ended up choosing to give up 3D-Coat and chose to use other competing programs because of all these difficulties. The unification of Rooms, in my opinion, would be very important, as it would make the program much more intuitive, simplified, objective and would allow artists to use different techniques and workflows using most of the time the same geometry. This would be essential for more artists to migrate to 3D-Coat and use it with great success. For example, if users love that 3D-Coat is separated into "Rooms", the solution would be simple for that. The developers would allow users to create customized interfaces according to the task (use) and thus create their own customized Rooms (Custom Rooms). However, the main Rooms would still be separated, for example: - Possibility 1: Sculpt / Paint/ Tweak Room + Retopo Room + UVs Room + Render Room. or - Possibility 2: Sculpt / Paint / Tweak / Retopo (Modeling) Room + UVs Room + Render Room. I know it wouldn't be an easy process to do (program codes), but it would be possible and very important.

I really like the idea that interface elements can be accessed via floating buttons that can be freely dragged and positioned anywhere you want. And when you hover the mouse over or left click on this button, the pop-menu would quickly appear with the corresponding options. I think this would make the user's job much faster and easier to find tools and brushes without being confused by so many options that appear in front of you. This would help in organization and usability.

Hi@Javis! Recently, I created a topic about Interface and Usability, and I have been trying to collaborate with suggestions and ideas about it. I was very concerned with suggesting simple things according to the interface elements that exist within 3D-Coat... This way, theoretically it would be easier to reuse programming codes that are already ready and adapt them according to the idea. I had thought of another way to access and view the Brushes and Tools (many times that I'm working, I get confused and it takes me a long time to find what I need because the interface is very full of buttons, both on the buttons on the left interface and the buttons with the Space key) and with the simple idea that I had, we could still have a part of the interface on the left that served as an area of custom commands that artists use most in their daily lives. Below, an image explaining what a different interface mode would look like that brings together the idea of pop-up menus and customizations. I made a quick video simulating and demonstrating the use. @Javis Please, Could you put your idea on the topic I talked about? It would be very interesting if we could mix ideas and suggestions, and according to what is being developed in 3D-Coat we could build a suggestion that could further facilitate the use of 3d-coat making the artist's work faster and more efficient.

The intention of this is good, but in my opinion it is located in a place of the interface far from the focus of the user's work. The user, if he wants to use this option, has to travel the mouse to the upper right corner. It would be much better if it had an extra option that would allow these pop-menus to be floating in the middle of the interface and also the user could move and place them anywhere ( it would be much better to have the options close to the focus of the job). Something similar to the Stroke curves options menu, but allowing the user to freely position anywhere.

Dragging effect (strange) - Stamp Mode: Using Stamp Mode: Correct Operation: - Left mouse button holding and dragging while reaching the location. Remaining with the left button pressed, without moving the mouse, release the left button. Strange operation: - Left mouse button holding and dragging ... and with the mouse still in motion, you release the left button, an "echo" effect or alpha duplication occurs.

Copy Alpha Command of BaseBrushes (possible bug): When you first use the Copy Alpha command on Base Brushes and then use the Paste Alpha command on another Base Brushes Brush, it works correctly. However, right after... when you try to do the same steps by copying a different alpha from another brush and try to paste in another brush it doesn't work anymore. The Copy Alpha command retains in memory only the first time the user presses the command, the next times, when the user presses again on Copy Alpha in the different types of alphas it will not work, as it seems that the memory is "locked" and always will use the alpha you first pressed the Copy Alpha Command.

@Innovine Most of the things you talked about are related to some problems (bugs) that 3D-Coat has and the developers aware of this will surely fix it in the future. Please don't get me wrong, but this topic is only for suggestions and ideas about the 3D-Coat interface. You'd better post on topics more related to what you want to know or create a new one so that you have the most accurate answers. I'm going to step out of focus on this topic a bit and try to comment on it. The visual problem with Freeze that happens with Vox Extrude happens with other tools that use Freeze as well. I already reported this possible problem in the topic of 3D-Coat Beta. We will wait for this to be fixed in the next versions of 3D-Coat. This Gizmo problem you talked about, I think I had read about it before when a user described a similar bug. If you can, please reproduce these same steps as you talked about here in the related topic so that developers can see and fix this problem: Carve Brush (Voxels Mode): You can now do exactly what you said. You can activate the Invert Tool option in the Brush properties located at the top of the interface together with all other brush and brush tip (alpha) settings. Then open the Presets palette, click the three-point button icon on the palette, and then click the Add Preset option. That way you will have the Carve Brush the way you want it in the Preset palette. You can create presets for all your Brushes with the desired Depth. Just create your presets with the steps I told you about Carve Brush. No, it's not a bug! I believe that this behavior is normal when you use the Bend tool. Because when you adjust or manipulate the Bend deformation in the geometry, you are using the Transform Tool, so logically when you apply the Bend in the geometry, automatically the 3D-Coat leaves the Bend Tool and changes to the Transform Tool. I think you are referring to after applying the Bend Tool, the 3D-Coat remains on the Bend Tool. To be honest with you, I like the current behavior of 3D-Coat when you apply the Bend Tool and go directly to the Transform Tool, because the program gives me the option to transform the geometry (translate, rotate and scale). I think this could be a bug, please reproduce these steps in the 3D-Coat Beta Release that I passed you the link above so that developers can fix this strange behavior. I can't comment on that because I don't have this device, but try to contact support to find out what they can tell you about it. I think you are wrong about that. If you select Smooth Brush (Surface Mode or Voxels Mode) and click directly on the geometry surface, the "smooth" behavior of the geometry will occur. In fact, if you set a value for the Depth property, the Smoth Brush will become stronger or less according to the value you have determined. The only thing related to the topic, I am leaving it here last, and it happens to me a lot. Thanks for remembering this There are options that I always enable or disable, but unfortunately are not saved when I restart 3D-Coat. That way, every time I start 3D-Coat, I have to configure it again. To avoid this, I would very much like developers to be able to add something like this (suggestions): 1) 3D-Coat saves all settings (changes made by the user) automatically and when you reopen 3D-Coat those settings would be kept. or 2) Any option within the Edit menu of Save all settings made in the program and thus 3D-coat would save a file in the program settings folder with all the settings changed by the user. So, that way when 3D-Coat was started again the settings would be kept.

ViewCube allows the user to see at all times what camera angle it is and interact directly with it. In this interactivity, the user can rotate with the arrows and define the camera view in any of the pre-determined angles that exist in the ViewCube, including corners and other angles that would be more laborious to be placed manually by the user. In my opinion, I prefer the usability and practicality of having such a utility, in which I can interact and see the correct angle of the camera at all times than just an angle text ( I speak with all respect to that ) that appears only when you are at a certain angle, and often the text of the angle appears and when you go to see the camera it is upside down in relation to the ground grid.

I recorded a much better capture that really shows what I explained.

Currently, 3D-Coat slides are not very effective and very sensitive. In the case of the example image, when the palette is locked in the interface, the Slides are compressed or with smaller sizes, making usability not very good. The following happens: 1) The slide is very sensitive. This makes it very difficult when you want to set the slide in a position with more accurate values. 2) Depending on where you start the slide dragging process, (according to the image), the cursor will reach the limit of the interface and will be stopped at the left edge of the interface. That way, you are no longer able to get other values on the slide, to continue to get the values you want, you will need to stop dragging the slide, position the mouse again on another part of the slide and start dragging again. Solutions: - The process of dragging the slide should continue through the slide values without stopping at the interface. - Regarding the slide's sensitivity, programs such as Blender and GIMP incorporated the CTRL and SHIFT modifier keys on the slides. This means that when the user presses and holds the SHIFT key while dragging the Slide, the Slide becomes more controlled in relation to the values. And when the user presses and holds the CTRL key while dragging the Slide, the Slide uses something similar to SNAP resulting in integer values. ---------------- I recorded a quick GIF, demonstrating the 3D-Coat slide and then GIMP. In 3D-Coat, as you can see when I drag the slide to the left, the value stops as soon as I reach the limit of the interface as explained above. Then, in GIMP, first I dragged the slide normally (not much control), then I pressed the SHIFT key while I dragged the slide (more control) and lastly I pressed the CTRL key (values snap).

@druh0o To be honest with you, I haven't used Maya in years ... So I didn't know that the user had to go into the settings to access the ViewCube navigation. The idea of having something to navigate a ViewCube would be great within 3D-Coat. Often, I have to keep rotating the camera to know exactly what angle I am at. Currently, we only have the indication of a text saying which camera angle we are in, without any interactivity.

I just created a new topic just for the 3D-Coat interface and usability. I copied all the contents that are part of the subject. The Topic link is: Sorry for two different contents on the same topic.

@druh0o had commented: It's funny because by default there is no viewcube in Maya, it's gone with the legacy viewport and you need to enable it with some special settings, and I think it's good. Never seen anyone using ViewCube in Maya.

Another interface element that I miss within the 3D-Coat interface would be the Viewport camera navigation ViewCube. In the image, I'm putting Maya's ViewCube as an example. Currently in 3D-Coat only shows a text saying a certain angle. It would be great to have a navigation system similar to the Maya ViewCube in the 3D-Coat interface.

Simple but important idea... The user could choose the different Cameras Shortcuts visually through images that would appear on the palette as the user added the camera shortcut. Just taking advantage of what already exists in 3D-Coat (panoramasList) and adapting to a function in which the user currently has no idea of the camera shortcut that will appear on the screen. The user has to use the Switch to Next and Switch to Previous commands until reaching the desired shortcut camera. With the new Icon and Palette Camera Shortcuts the user can easily choose exactly the desired shortcut camera. And if the user wants, he can still use the Switch to Next and Switch to Previous commands normally.

Another simple suggestion, but it would help users a lot. The implementation of a new palette: 3D View camera. One of the options that the 3D View Palette would have ... The main function of the 3D View Palette would be to have other camera angles that could be manipulated like what happens in 3D programs... but there would be another option for 3D View Palette: - that could open another model (.obj, 3b file, and other formats) so that the user has a 3D reference to work with.

I made a video simulating the pop up menus that I described in the image. As you can see in the video, the suggestion is very simple and practically works with the programming codes that already exist in 3D-Coat. Of course, I could have done something different and more complex. But the idea would be for developers not to spend too much time creating something complex and that way they could quickly implement without much effort and give it to us in the next builds. Even though these pop-up menus are simple, they would certainly be very useful and practical. The only thing I didn't do in the video was the customized menu number 6 in the image. It would be the same as what was presented in the video, but the user could choose any brush or tool to insert in the empty spaces of this menu, thus creating a completely personalized menu. The other idea of the custom buttons in the empty space that I talked about in the image, I think I don't need to make a video demonstrating. Since I explained it in an easy way and that everyone can understand in the image.

Carlosan How coincidental you talk about the 3D-Coat interface, because in the last few weeks, I was thinking a lot about it and I have some ideas (suggestions) in relation to the 3D-Coat interface. In my opinion, we could, if everyone agreed, comment first on simple ideas and suggestions that could already be implemented in the program today without the developers spending a lot of time to develop the very complex things related to the interface. I would like to share a small and big contribution regarding this in relation to the huge amount of tools and brushes that exist in the interface. Sometimes, honestly, I get confused to find what I need and the same happens when I press the Space key. And that way my workflow becomes slower. Thinking about it, I had two simple ideas that I think could be developed without having to develop complex programming code since most of the code would be used because it already exists within the program. 1) Pop ups menus for brushes and tools. 2) Creation of customized buttons for any tools, functions and commands that exist inside 3D-Coat directly on the interface. In the attached image, I explain in more detail what these two ideas would be like. 

@Carlosan had commented: For me, 3DC lacks of Custom Keyboard Shortcuts, or total control over Layouts. To have so many keyboard shortcuts and panels and tool position hardcoded makes personal customization not flexible. I attached this video to share the idea (C4D). ...and let's not forget to be able to move the panels outside the main display as floating windows (Substance Painter copycat)

I would like to share with everyone some suggestions and ideas that can improve the experience of using 3D-Coat. At first, observing the interface elements and the way that 3D-Coat behaves (programming codes), I directed my ideas and suggestions accordingly. Although the suggestions are simple, I think it would greatly improve the use of the program. Certainly, I could have had more complex ideas, reformulating menus and other elements, as well as interactivity, but I know that developers would have to spend a lot of time developing more complex and advanced code, for this reason I decided to try to control myself and try to make things simpler using and taking advantage of what we currently have and know within 3D-Coat. Your ideas and suggestions are very welcome! And who knows, in the next versions of 3D-Coat some of these ideas will appear in the program. Wouldn't that be great?