Paint Guy

Sub-Tools and VoxTree When I merge an object into Per-Pixel it appears as a Sub-Object. When I am in Voxels and merge an object it goes into VoxTree menu. Both Sub-Tools and VoxTree are essentially the same then except that one is for Voxels and one is for polygonal objects. This has always confused me why thses menus need to be named differently. When you are in Voxels you are only in Voxels so renaming the menu "SubTools" instead of "VoxTree" would not cause any problems and it would make a more sense if there were consistency in naming. Use Consistent Names (Sub-Tools) for menus in Per-Pixel and Voxels! 1. I like how the VoxTree menu is open on default in the Voxel area, but I'd like to see the "VoxTree" menu name changed to "Sub-Tools". There's no reason to have them named differently and it is confusing too new users. Allow Menus to be open by default 2. Now in Per-Pixel the Sub-Object menu should also be open by default. (like the VoxTree menu in Voxels) It is very important to provide consistency in applications and having both menu's named the same and both menu's open by default will make more sense to any new users of 3DCoat.

Not here, It does not stay open. 3DCoat 3.00.08F Mac.

Sorry Andrew but found many problems. Please Address ASAP! 3DC 3.00.08F Mac I have been using 3DCoat quite a bit lately and am enjoying it a lot but as I am working I am hitting some stumbling blocks that are making working in 3DCoat very frustrating. I couldn't figure out why learning 3DCoat was frustrating me so much but upon further use I realized it was partly due to some major inconsistencies in the application. I imagine Andrew has a list as long as his arm to fix but I think these issues are important and need to be addressed ASAP, before new features are added. Building new features onto an poor foundation is a recipe for disaster IMO and will only make using 3DCoat more confusing down the road. Importing Multiple Objects in Per-Pixel Fails 3DCoat 3.00.08F (Mac) In Per-Pixel when you import an Object and then Merge a second object into the scene the merged object doesn't appear. Try this. In Per-Pixel load the default head object. Then select Merge object and select any object to merge it into the scene. The object won't be visible but is present in the Sub-Object menu. I hid the head and looked for the object thinking it maybe imported very small but I still couldn't find it. Obviously a bug. Please fix this? Please Make Sub-Objects window open on default Can Sub-Objects Menu Please be open by default in Per-Pixel and Voxels! When merging objects into the scene it is a real nuisance to have to go to Popups > Sub-Objects every time! Photoshop, Illustrator, Maya, 3Dmax, Cinema etc. all show the layers on default. It is really helpful Please make the Sub-Object layers visible on default! Thanks. Renaming Layers In the VoxTree can we double-click on a layer and then rename it? It would be faster than right-clicking and selecting rename layer. Most apps allow you to double-click to rename layers. Menu Doesn't Disappear In the VoxTree when you right click to make a selection from the menu, then select "OK" the menu should disappear, but it doesn't. You have to move the cursor away before the menu disappears. Please fix this as it feels like the mouse sticks. Imported/Merged Objects Disappear Problem - You merge an object into the scene and then size it and move it into position, then you select the "Clay" brush or another tool and "POOF" the merged object is gone for good! Very Very Frustrating! Solution - Could we please have a Warning pop up message to tell us that we need to select the "Return" so we don't lose our work. Better yet, please let the "Primitive" objects not disappear when a different tool is selected or when the file is saved if they have not been committed to Voxels. Thanks. Primitives Problem - You can't hide a VoxTree layer unless you commit it to Voxels. When I created a primitive (sphere) for an eye on another VoxTree layer I couldn't hide the eye unless I selected "return"? I wanted to leave the eye as a primitive and not commit it so I could easily resize it but this doesn't seem possible. Solution - Please allow primitives to remain as primitives until the user wants to commit them to voxels (including saving as primitives). This would allow a person to easily resize an eye for example after sculpting or saving the file. Currently if you save without committing the primitive to voxels the primitive will be gone when the file is reopened. SubObjects and Layers Problem - In the Voxel area, when you select "Merge object into Layer" you would think that the imported object would then reside in the SubObject layer, but this is not the case. If I create a new layer in the VoxTree menu and then select "Merge Object" the imported object will be in the VoxTree on a separate layer. So why is there a SubObjects window? Solution - Please allow Merged objects to "automatically" be placed in the SubObjects menu. Transform Tool Gizmo Problem - If you choose to transform something the transform menu pops up and then whether you use or don't use the transform tool the window still stays there. Sometimes you can do nothing to get rid of the Gizmo on the screen. If you choose a tool the Gizmo will sometimes disappear but not always. Solution - Please make the Merge Tool Merging objects into scene. There are 3 different ways to do this in Voxels but none of the methods are consistent. This is very frustrating and needs to be changed to provide consistency! Merge from VoxTree Menu If I merge a sphere from the VoxTree menu, I do not have the option to subdivide the merged sphere. The VoxTree you select (Import > Merge object) but the other options it is just Merge and not Import first. (Inconsistent!) Merge from File Menu This method browses to a menu of 3DCoat .obj files to choose from or allows you to browse and choose your own file. This method also opens the "Params" menu with all of the features and an option to subdivide the object further. This method you choose "Merge" but in the VoxTree you choose (Import > Merge Object) Merge from Left Button Menu This method opens a smaller "Params" menu but does not give you the option to choose a mesh right away unless you choose the "Select Mesh" button. This method opens a smaller "Params" menu with fewer features and an option to subdivide the object further. Solution! - Please make all "Merge" options "Consistent". I can't stress his enough. When using Merge from either: (File > Merge), (Button > Merge) or (VoxTree > Import > Merge) make the options ALL consistent and the same. If a "Params" menu opens make it the same in all 3 areas. It is very frustrating. Use Merge or Import (Please not both!) Problem! - In the VoxTree you select (Import > Merge object) but the other options it is just Merge and not Import first. (Inconsistent!) Solution! - Please allow all options to say: (Import > Merge 3D Object) "Import" is the Universal terminology! Merge Options Popup Doesn't Reopen a Second Time Once the Merge Window is closed you can't get it open again by clicking the Merge button on the left of the interface. Thanks

I agree it would be very helpful to have the ability to import multiple objects and have them in separate layers.

No it's not Spideyman but it might be just as cool! If your like me you may enjoy sculpting a lot more than doing things like retopology, so I was thinking how could I make something I don't particularly like doing more enjoyable and QUICKER! Well I was on another website recently and one of the guys draws out his UV's first to get a good topology. When I was retopologizing today I thought why couldn't this method be applied to retopologizing a model. There would be a lot of advantages, one being that you could draw out your topology and get it looking exactly as you wanted it rather than creating it along the way. Here's how I envision this working! 1) Sculpt you mesh (Voxels, Per-Pixel or Microvertex) 2) Go into the Retopology area. 3) Take the newly created pen tool and "Draw" your topology directly on the model. Hold "Shift" to erase lines. 4) After your topology was just perfect you press the "Convert to Mesh" button and Presto! the perfect topology with less work! If needed you could use the current retopology tools to adjust the mesh if desired. Q: What about line thickness? A: You could choose the thickness/color of your lines. Q: How would the "Convert to Mesh" button create the final mesh from a thick line? A: The final mesh would be taken from the exact center of the line being drawn. Adobe illustrator and Photoshop use "Bezier" lines to outline vector art all the time, so this would be similar. Even crooked or jagged lines could be programmed to be made straight quite easily. I don't know if this is a good idea or not but I thought I'd share it anyways!

Andrew, just noticed a couple of things. 3DCoat 3.00.08F (Mac) Renaming Layers In the VoxTree can we double-click on a layer and then rename it? It would be faster than right-clicking and selecting rename layer. Most apps allow you to double-click to rename layers. Menu Doesn't Disappear In the VoxTree when you right click to make a selection from the menu, then select "OK" the menu should disappear, but it doesn't. You have to move the cursor away before the menu disappears. Please fix this as it feels like the mouse sticks. Thanks

Thanks. They say two heads are better than one. I just think it's great we can all contribute our ideas to help make 3DCoat better and better! Only problem is I am finding it difficult to keep up to all of the new features.

Thanks Artman. That method involves a lot of steps and I was hoping there was a method that didn't involve retopology. In ZBrush you simply paint the area you want to extract and select "Extract". Incredibly simple and excellent results. I think it needs to be easier in 3DCoat but your method will be a good remedy in the mean time. Thanks for mentioning it

You've obviously given this a lot of thought (more than me) and I think we are on the same page in the end. I just want the ability to sculpt in High detail and also the ability to be able to export a low poly or low resolution object out of 3DCoat to be used in other 3D applications. Without this ability 3DCoat is useless to me. For example if I were to create an extremely detailed dinosaur, I would want the ability to sculpt that in Voxels and then export that out of 3DC as a low poly mesh to be used in other 3D applications. We agree the voxel sculpt needs to be converted to poly's to be useful in a 3D application so however this was done would not matter to me, but I want to export a low poly mesh out of 3DCoat and not a high poly one as it would be far too cumbersome. Thanks for the banter. leigh, excellent head sculpts. I see you have a lot of talent for sculpting and anatomy.

Thanks jedwards. I did a test using the "Copy" tool and although this tool has a lot of potential I didn't find it very useful in it's current state. For example using the "Copy" tool I created a "Vest" but the results were far from impressive. It would be too much work IMO to make proper armor, clothing, helmets or anything with the COPY tool in it's current state. I made a request in the Feature Requests area with a list of what the problems were and some possible solutions to make this tool Great! http://www.3d-coat.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2965 Name Change? I also think a name change would be very helpful. When I think of a copy. I think of an identical "duplicate", and not a tool with the possibility for making parts from a current surface (armor, helmets, clothing, etc.) then I think of it more like extraction rather than copy so maybe it could be called something different like "Extract" or "Extract Surface" as this helps me to understand what the tool is used for, whereas copy is confusing and too much like duplicate. Thanks

Hi, after trying the "Copy" tool in Voxels. I ran into some problems. 1. No way to adjust "Thickness" of copy material 2. Copied material has rounded edges. Not very realistic for armour, clothing etc. 3. Copied material fills in. (noticeable when original copy is hidden) 4. Copy does not sit above original material so when making a vest for example it sits on the same surface as the original. 5. Inside of copied material is not smooth, even after reducing depth to "0" and using the constant depth brush. Please Fix 1. Allow users to type in a numerical value for the thickness of the material. 2. Allow users to type in an "Offset" value for the copy. "0" would be the same surface as the original and +1 above -1 below -2 lower etc. 3. Please make the default to have a squared edge rather than the rounded edge now. It is easier to round a square edge than to square a round edge. 4. Please make the copy to be smooth on both sides. Currently the inside is rough. (see image). Thanks

Thanks, Geothefaust, I was panicking because I was using the clay brush and "Smooth" wasn't working with the "Clay" brush and I thought it was the same for all. Is "Smooth" not supposed to work with the clay brush too? I was just trying to describe it but you are right, so I hope there is the ability "SOON" to allow us to increase and decrease density of Voxels and increase and decrease polygons in Per-Pixel Sculpting. This is great and one of the most important features IMO. Mesh Extraction I also mentioned to Andrew the need to incorporate "Mesh Extraction" into 3DCoat as it's very fast and efficient for creating clothes, helmets, gloves and many other objects from any piece of geometry. (see link) http://www.pixologic.com/docs/index.php/Mesh_Extraction I tried using the "Extract Skin" feature in Voxels, but it extracts the whole object and not just a part of it. I think being able to paint the area you want to extract (like ZBrush) is a lot faster and allows you to extract a selected area rather than extracting the whole object like the extract skin currently does. Also if you use "Extract Skin" and then cut away material the edges come to a point whereas in ZBrush when you use mesh extraction the part that is extracted has a square edge so it looks more realistic like the edge of armor or the edge of clothing like a jacket. If there is another method for extracting in 3DCoat that is better then please let me know. Thanks

Oops, I was trying to download it from the downloads section. Now I have it Thanks! SMOOTH BUTTON Where did the default go to allow me to hold the "Shift" key down to smooth out my sculpt?? Somebody mentioned allowing the smooth to be separate for each brush so for example if you were sculpting fine wrinkles for example using a small # 1 brush, then the smooth would use the same #1 size of brush, but if you were using a large #6 brush, then the smoothing would use the large #6 brush and be more pronounced. This sounded like a great idea. INCREASING/DECREASING SUBDIVISION LEVELS in PER-PIXEL and VOXEL SCULPTING Any progress Andrew on adding the ability to increase/decrease subdivisions in Voxels and Per Pixel? Thanks

Any idea when 3DC 3.00.08 Mac will be available.

I see what you mean, but I don't want to always be thinking in terms of lifelike sizes when sculpting but more like ZBrush where you can slowly go up and down in resolution as needed. For example: If I import an head and I slowly add detail and then increase the resolution and add more detail and then all of a sudden I realize I want to do a major shape change to the head like add horns for example. In zBrush you simply lower the resolution and then sculpt the horns in at the low resolution and then increase the resolution back up very high and continue modeling. Then when you are finished with the sculpt you export a displacement map at the high resolution and then lower the resolution to it's lowest level and export the .obj file out at the lowest resolution. What you are left with is a low poly mesh with a very detailed displacement map, therefore it renders fast due to the fact that it is a very low poly mesh but it still looks incredibly detailed because it has a very detailed displacement map. If you know the size of your object (or estimated size) with this system you can pick the appropriate resolution. If you have a mesh thats finished and highly detailed you will import at level 6 and it will be turned into voxels with all the details preserved. If you have the equivalent of a basecage you would use in zb or mb you would import it at level 1 or 2. Completely predictable results (for the first time in the release of voxel sculpting. I don't see why you would need to guess what the resolution of the layer is in the first place? If you were in Voxels, then a simple number somewhere could tell you what the current resolution of the object was, but if you imported an object, then why couldn't it be a different resolution if it's already on a separate layer just look at the resolution count (assuming Andrew adds this) and then increase the resolution if you need to. If Andrew could allow a you to see the resolution somewhere in the UI, then this would help. I don't think there should be a problem with having different resolutions for different objects. For example if you had a warrior with armour, maybe the detail would only be added where the fine sculpting was added. So for example you have a basic armour shape and the back part is smooth so it would be low poly, but the front would automatically be more detailed as finer detail was added with the sculpting brushes. Just an idea but probably too hard to implement.

Andrew, you mentioned on your Twitter feed that you were thinking about how too allow the ability to increase/decrease mesh resolution. This is so sweet and I'm curious if you have something in the works and if you can pass along any information on any progress you've made in this area! Thanks. Great looking updated Andrew. It's a great time to be a 3DCoat user.

Well I think retopology is a somewhat universal term in 3D so I like "Auto-Retop" and I agree it would help if it tells you what it does.

Ah, thanks ghib, I didn't realize I had to name the layers specifically like that. I will give it another try. Thanks

Phil, I agree completely, I was just trying this tip from ghib http://www.3d-coat.com/forum/index.php?s=&...ost&p=22637 until Andrew creates a better solution for accurately placing images. Phil if you have found a better way please let me know. Thanks

Andrew, glad to hear your eye surgery went well. Working on the computer all day is hard on the eyes. Is there a download of 3DCoat 3.00.08 for mac yet. I went to downloads and it started downloading 3.00.07? Andrew, can you please tell me how possible it would be to add the option to increase/decrease subdivision count on meshes. Is this something that could be available soon or will we have to wait for a next release? I am finding it increasingly difficult and frustrating to work without this feature on a daily basis. Thanks Also I think "Mesh Extraction" is a feature that 3DCoat will eventually have to incorporate if it wants to compete with ZBrush as it's very fast and efficient for creating clothes, helmets, gloves and many other objects from any piece of geometry. (please see the link) http://www.pixologic.com/docs/index.php/Mesh_Extraction

ghib, thanks for this tip but for some strange reason I can't get the image to show up when I hit "return (mac) "enter" (pc). I just opened 3DC and selected Per-Pixel Painting then created a cube and used "auto-UV" then clicked on the transform/copy tool and selected Import to import my .psd file. Does my .psd file have to be a certain number of layers or do I have to save the cube as a .3b file first before this wil work for example? Thanks

http://www.3d-coat.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2871 Oh, thank you Andrew, I would be so happy to have this as I said in my thread. It seems like this is very popular request to have ability to increase or decrease poly count like ZBrush so please if you can implement this in Per-Pixel and Voxels this would be the best feature ever!!! And welcome back from Turkey Vacation!

Hi, I had this happen too. If you are importing a .obj then you need to delete the "texture tag" before exporting, otherwise your imported model will import with those problems. Also make sure you align the normals before exporting too.

Very nice sculpting Pedro. Yeah, that's how I felt the first time I used voxels too! Isn't it nice to actually be able to think about creating art rather than fighting an interface. Sure 3DCoat still needs improving but it sure is a step in the right direction.

Looks like a beautiful place. Not too many hot places like that in Canada. I hope Andrew and his family had a fun and restful time.