jima

I just got cycles working to suit me, and the 3cd pbr material translated very well. I exported as obj with material. I get that Andrew wants to get every aspect of 3dc the best it can be, but I'm not sure improving the render room is worth much effort considering what already exists. Thanks all for the help. I have other things I want to get back to, but I appreciate the knowledgeable input from everyone.

ProRender looks good, but I'm completely new to Blender. I can't get ProRender added on. But I must say cycles is very nice as well.

I downloaded Unreal Engine a few weeks ago and didn't get back to it. I've heard about Octane, but did not realize it was free. Thanks for the tip.

Thank you very much Hdharris and L'Ancien Regime! I haven't looked at Blender in ages. It is way better than I remember. Been doing some of the online training. Hit a snag in getting ProRender working but cycles gives pretty good results.

So, is there a plugin for this to 3dc? Or standalone version? If not, what might be the simplest workflow to get 3dc assets rendered with this tool?

I've been experimenting in the render room with simplistic environment maps in an effort to get photorealistic results. Is there a particular environment image available to achieve this? I am trying to emulate a simple indoor scene a photographer might have in a studio. Possibly a video link? I'm thinking about buying rendering software that will give me the results I want - not happy about dropping $1000 on keyshot. Thanks all.

I've totally been looking in the wrong place to restore default environments. Here is where I should have looked: Thanks all for working on this.

How did you get to that part of the UI? Here's what I am doing : I chose an hdr file from outside of 3dcoat. Now, it always goes back to that directory rather than letting me choose from the original list. Thanks for working on this. I have also been trying to apply tips from this link: https://3dcoat.com/forum/index.php?/topic/19417-obtaining-additional-environment-maps-and-where-to-put-them/

Actually, I looked for that but it does not exist.

I was experimenting with alternative hdr files and now I need to know where to find the original ones. Thank you.

Excellent brushes! Thank you, lildragon.

Well, not yet. Because all of the versions were 4.8, I think they are probably using the same settings. The time I can devote to 3dc is rather limited. Whenever I can find the time, I may circle back around to this. Fairly sure it is something I am doing wrong since it works for everyone else.

4.8.32. I am aware that options.xml can have an impact. But it is the exact same file for both versions.

Dropping back to 4.8.03 alleviated the problem.

What I have been doing for a long time is importing an .obj file into the sculpt room in voxel mode, ramping up the resolution, and making changes and exporting the result as big honking .obj. I would use surface tools mostly. and get the results similar to what I was after. My background is in nurbs modeling - not polygon modeling. I discovered subdivision modeling recently and love the idea of just adding detail where I need it rather than making the whole model with excessive resolution. My problem is, when I export the model to .obj (under the same name or unique ones), I get a 1k byte file with no error displayed and no familiar input box prompting me to choose a resolution for the export. What am I doing wrong? Thank you any help you can provide.

Flat shading was the solution. I've been living with this for 4 years. I wrote to Andrew early on and he advised increasing the resolution several times. It seems like a majority of folks in the community are well experienced in voxel and surface modeling - all of my experience is in Rhino nurbs modeling. The video above was excellent (as usual).I'm having a related problem, but I will create a new thread. It seems like there are a lot of videos on youtube and other places. I really wish there was a standard orientation. I guess I would advise others to "pipe up" with problems and get answers from those more experienced. It always feels like I am complaining, but I can't think of another way. I will go ahead say that I am willing to pay money for tutoring in 3dc. I'd be glad to have it recorded and posted for all to learn from. Thanks to AbnRanger, especially, for his many videos. Also animk, your status shows as neophyte, but you know more than me. Sometimes a group of people who are new to a subject is the best source for discovering problem areas that could use more explanation. Thank you for your insight.

Since first using 3dc I have been struggling with resolution in the sculpt room. I can look at a model in other tools and the lines and edges are crisp and sharp. I can import that same model into the paint room and it stills looks correct. Opening 3dc in sculpt room and then importing the model there starts with the model in a severely lower resolution. Why can't the sculpt room import and display these models correctly? Edges and lines of the model can be jagged. I increase resolution and use subdivision and this helps some. I don't see others complaining about this, so it appears to be some mistake I am making. It really hinders my enjoyment of the product. Thank you all.

The price points are very different. Never used Zbrush, but I did my research before picking 3dc. As someone who has developed software for nearly 40 years, I think I understand why things are the way they are in 3dc. I see things like the room concept as a developer's way to limit inadvertent damage when changing things in one room that don't exist in others. In the "hybrid" rooms I imagine a way to improve related things without breaking something in the specialized rooms. The invention of the mclp format allows a modular separation of what 3dc "needs" to do its work from multiple formats adhering to externally defined standards. All of these sorts of things improve the chances of success when adding additional developers to the mix. These techniques also foster the searching for and the isolation of unexpected new behaviors (bugs). I believe in the product because some very sharp people believe in it. They believe in Andrew and so do I for the reasons mentioned above. There. Love letter over!

what happens when adding brush alphas - psd tif png? It looks like image files like psd, tif and png are acceptable to 3dcoat. A transformation process happens such that, in the case of png, the png file is deleted. It looks like two files are created - one with mclp as an extension and an xml file describing the settings for the brush. I assume the mclp file is some kind of standard file used by 3dc to hold graphic information in a proprietary format. This result is around 10 times bigger than the tiff image, and maybe 12 times bigger than the png image. Are png images converted to tif and then converted to mclp? I am aware of a new method coming out in 3dc for representing alphas. Will all of our old alphas in tif and png still work in this new way? Thank you.

Rygaard, That was really excellent advice. Thank you.

Didn't know about drag and drop. I'll try it, thanks.

I reviewed Javis' video on doing this. I got a bunch of brushes that are psd files, but most do not have the full gamut of layers/channels that Javis discusses, and are not following the naming convention he prescribes.. Were the psd files just re-made into .mclp? Javis shows a UI that is fairly old. mclp files do not open in PS if I change the extension to psd. I think I am dealing with an "old" way of doing things vs the "new" way. I am trying follow Javis' tracks and edit an existing working alpha so I can figure out how to fix these "broken" brushes. Thanks for the help!

Nope. I haven't seen that one yet.

So, the real question is how do I add detail to my model without increasing the detail of the whole thing. Probably a number of ways to do this. 1. Open 3DC in surface sculpt mode 2. Import a model 3. Under Live Clay Tools, choose Live Clay 4.Note that a tool options window pops up 5. Set the detail level 6. Set Brush depth to 0% 7. Apply the brush to areas where you want detail 8. Surface tools > Draw 9. Choose a stencil and/or special patterned brush any apply I have not found a way to get around watching the videos.

What is the proper set of steps to move a model from sculpt room to retopo room for the purpose of subdividing selected parts of the model?