ShaneO

In a semi-related question... how do you guys set up your wacom pen to navigate with 3DCoat? If I have the default 3DCoat navigation, and the default Pen settings, I can Orbit and Zoom, but I cannot Pan. With the mouse, panning is a MMB function. So I'm wondering how you have it set up. I'm coming from Zbrush land. I'm not asking for the same functionality as that, just what you guys prefer. Thanks in advance! -ShaneO P.S... If you are tired of the constant windows tablet popups, rings, flicks, and all of those annoyances... someone wrote a great little script to get rid of it all.

Is it possible to bake the new PBR AO?

Ahaah! That did it! Thanks! (that's why I posted in the newb section, I knew this was a newb question). Cheers! -ShaneO

Thanks for your quick reply Jarvis! I removed the file you suggested, but I still don't see the new primitive menu. My 4.5 UI currently looks like this: (see attached) I'm expecting to see this: Any other thoughts? Thanks again! -ShaneO

Hello all, I'm wanting to try the new primitive menu, but it's not showing up in my UI (because I think I customized the UI at one point). How to I get the UI back to default so the primitive menu will show up? Thanks! -ShaneO

Thanks for the comments guys! artman: I've just found Topogun to be the most user friendly with the quickest, most high-quality results so far. With Topogun, I can import my highest level subtools from Zbrush with full polypaint, then transfer the color, normal, and AO all in one pass, and they all come out stunning. Xnormal is the closest program I've found to the quality, but the user-friendliness of that program stops short. I would love to stay in 3D-Coat to make my transfers, but the normal map algorithm is a bit different, and shows up in some gaming engines strange (you can see some of my test results in another thread on this forum). Secondly, the Ambient Occlusion is a bit lacking, and it seems faked somehow. But that being said, 3D-Coat out-shines the rest when it comes to Retop and UVs... by far! So for now, I use what suits my workflow best. I wouldn't mind working with the 3D-Coat developers to help make 3D-coat be just as strong transferring maps as Topogun is. It's so close... I just think it needs some love. On the same note, I would love to help get the sculpting to "feel" better. Not to be too critical, but when I try to sculpt with 3D-Coat, it feels like I'm trying to sculpt with marshmallow, instead of clay. The new surface tools have helped immensely, but they still feel a bit off for some reason. Again, so close, but they could still use a bit of tuning (beyond custom brush settings) in my oppinion. Anyway, I hope you find the tutorial useful. I also hope it gets more people to try out 3D-Coat and realize the power it has! Cheers, -ShaneO

Hey all, They just put up my new course over at Digital Tutors. Here's the link! http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/1122-Retopologizing-a-High-Resolution-Sculpt-for-Games-in-3D-Coat I'd love to hear feedback! And thank you Pilgway for making such a great piece of software! Thanks for checking it out! -ShaneO

I found the same thing when displaying normal maps in Maya properly (with the help of BeatKitano). If you invert the green channel in Photoshop, it will display properly in Maya. Please consider that an official request 3D Coat folks. Please invert the green channel output by default when choosing Maya Normal Map style in the Preferences. Cheers, -ShaneO

Thanks again for the tips. I can't seem to get the Pref Y and Z to work either... it flips a black silhouette the other way. Flipping the green channel inside Photoshop did the trick for now though. The only difference between the two maps after the flip is the padding size, which is adjustable and doesn't really matter. I've never heard the term "swizzling" before heh, but I think I get the meaning. Thanks again, -ShaneO

Thanks for the tips BeatKitano! It looks like it will work by flipping the red channel, thanks for taking the time to do that. I'm looking for a process that takes as few steps as possible. So if I can get a normal map out of 3D Coat that I don't have to swap the red channel in, that would be the ultimate. Swapping the red channel is simple, but it's an added step. Still, it allows for some good testing, thanks again! I've attached an image of all of the settings I used to get the results that I did. Please let me know if I've missed something? All of my prefs are set to Maya output as far as I can tell, yet I get inverted normals. Also, I tried flipping the Y and Z, and I got strange results (image attached). I got a black sillouette of my mesh (presumably flipping the Axis to Z up like Max, then it only bakes where the flipped model crosses through my cage. Thanks again, -ShaneO

Okay, thanks for clearing up the confusion. Here is the example I made. On the left is what came out of 3D Coat, and on the right is what came out of Topogun. I'm trying to figure out what options I need to set in order for 3D Coat to output like Topogun. Thanks again! -ShaneO

Thanks for the quick responses guys! @ BeatKitano: I figured out how to import Polypaint the way you described right after I posted. Thanks! @ Artman: Thank you very much! I'm flattered. Your presets and tutorial videos are what made me decide to try sculpting in 3DCoat again (Along with Andrews fabulous updates of course) @ AbnRanger: Yes, I use that basic shader all the time. Thanks for the tip! Also, thanks for helping out all of the 3D Coat users over the years. Both you and Javis have been pillars in helping 3D Coat be what it is today. Speaking of which, is BeatKitano Javis? So on to my next question. Last night after I was able to bring in my Polypainted mesh (2mil polys in surface mode), I imported my low using Import Retopo Mesh, which worked great. Then I followed Artman's tutorial on the front page of 3DCoat on how to transfer the maps using Retopo/Merge with NM. Thank you Artman! I then set up my cage and raycast distance. I have all of my Preferences set to Maya as far as exporting normal maps, since that's where I'm going with them. Then I hit go! And I can't believe how quick it pumped out all of the maps into layers WOW! They look great, way to go 3DCoat team! Fastest map generation I have seen to date. Okay, so after that long-winded explanation of a process, I hit Ctrl +p so send it over to Photoshop. Even though the maps looked fantastic on my low-res version in the Paint Room, they were inverted in Photoshop (and the texture UV editor in 3D Coat).I would like to post an image, but this forum only allows me to point at one currently on the web? I could email it if someone would like to see what I mean. Thanks again for all of your help. -ShaneO

Heya 3D Coat peeps, My mind is currently boggled. Today at work, I swear I was able to import a poly-painted dynamesh from Zbrush as a voxelized object (using the app-link), and have it import into 3D Coat with it's polypaint in-tact. Now I'm trying to repeat the process here at home, and I'm unable to bring the polypaint in along with it. I'm using the latest version of 3D Coat Beta 4.0 A13A. Am I missing something? Did I forget to check some box when importing? The only difference I can think of is I'm using Zbrush 4r4 at work, and 4r5 here... but that doesn't make sense why it wouldn't work. Thanks in advance for any advice, -ShaneO