Psmith

Olly: When you choose AUTOPO - you might want to choose the specific "AUTOPO for per pixel". The default polygon number of 3000 may, indeed, be too low to capture all the detail you need in your finished product. Try a much higher number - then adjust downward to get the result you require. In areas like the teeth - you might actually be better off making those as separate voxel layers - so that you can assign them an adequate number of polygons for texturing, without giving too many polygons to areas of your model that are less detailed. Adding density shading while running AUTOPO can also let you selectively choose which parts of your model get the highest density of polygons. When you run AUTOPO, the program will try to project as much detail as possible from your voxel sculpt to your lower resolution polygon mesh - by means of normal maps and, if you choose, ambient occlusion. The end result is an illusion of higher detail than is actually present in the rather low poly mesh. Not knowing what the final purpose of your exported mesh will be - you can always choose to paint "diffuse color" directly on your voxel model - and render it directly in 3D-Coat - giving you a nice still image or, if you wish, an animated fly-by or turntable animation for the display of your model. The 3D-Coat rendering engine is adequate for many purposes. Let me know how it turns out. Greg Smith

Try checking "View/Show voxels in Paint Room". Make sure "Show beta tools" is checked in "Preferences". Greg Smith

Can you tell us which version you are using? Greg Smith

Could you give us the precise version number you are using and what your system specs are? Thanks, Greg Smith

We need to know which version of 3D-Coat you are using - and your system specs to help you solve these problems. Thanks, Greg Smith

You can start with Javis Jones tutorials on the Paint Room, here: Greg Smith

We need to know which version of 3D-Coat you are using and what your system specs are to help you with questions like this. Greg Smith

Set the primary color in the Color Palette to white, to avoid tinting your Material - and hold the "Alt" key down ("option" on Mac) when navigating to move the model without moving the texture. Make sure you have enabled only those "channels" (Depth, Diffuse Color, Specular Intensity) that you wish to transfer to your model. Greg Smith

Did you watch the "3D-Coat from Scratch" video? In this video, I spend a considerable time covering AUTOPO (without music) and how to make it work well for an organic character: http://pilgway.com/~greg/RatAUTOPOFinal/RatFromScratch5.mov Greg Smith

Of course, you've tried the latest beta version 4 to see if this problem persists? Greg Smith

Can you tell us what version of 3D-Coat you are using and what your system specs are? Greg Smith

You might try the latest beta 4 version to see if your problem persists. Greg Smith

It really helps us to know just which version of 3D-Coat is giving you a certain problem - also, it helps us even further if you can tell us your system specs, as well (for some particular problems). Can you provide these? Greg Smith

Can you give us a screen capture of your shader settings? Greg Smith

To get access to the "attaching files" option - make sure to use the full post editor "More reply options" at the bottom of the "Reply" section. You can "Choose a file" and "Attach files". Load your screen capture with this option. Greg Smith

The way the software is improved and maintained - you will often find fixes and new features (new names of things) in these latest releases. 3DC is continually in "beta testing" mode - so if something is broken or different - you are often doing yourself a favor by trying the latest beta version to see if a problem has been resolved. Greg Smith

The "Sculpt Room" is now the "Tweak Room" - in the latest releases. Make sure you are using the latest beta version of 3D-Coat. Greg Smith

Since "pure" voxels include the entire volume of an object, surface "masking" doesn't really address the aspect of interior volume (a surface shading mask has no way to convey how deep the mask should penetrate into the volume). Therefore, Andrew has provided a method with the "Hide" tool that also reveals how deep the "mask" should be. It is the only way that the concept of a mask fits the context of a volume. When this tool is used with some of the spline based "E" panel tools, it behaves more like the voxel "Cutoff" tool. Greg Smith

Not all Voxel shaders "Bake" equally well. Sometimes, in fact, the result rendered in the Paint Room is quite different than what is seen in the Voxel Room. So, you can only loosely compare Voxel shaders with the "Materials" available in other apps. It's a trial and error proposition in 3DC. If you want the most controllable result - you may be better off doing all texturing work in the Paint Room using the Diffuse Color, Depth and Specular modes along with carefully designed "Materials" - which are really a complex form of Texture, within 3DC. Just look to the right of the interface while in the Paint Room to see the "Materials Panel". When you add a new Material to the default group, using the "+" button - you are presented with a dialog which allows you to assign the same or different bitmaps to be applied in each of 3D-Coat's "Channels" (Diffuse, Depth, Specular). Painting over your model with these kinds of complex texture combinations really allows for an infinite variety of texturing effects and real world "material" simulations. Greg Smith

The second kind of "Baking" requires the existence of a Voxel or Surface mode sculpt to act as a "base" form for your Retopology work. If either of these exist, you would still need a Retopo Mesh to act as the recipient of the Normal, Bump or Displacement data - which becomes editable in the Paint Room, upon "Merging" there. Nothing is "Baked" unless there exists a Retopo Mesh to bake into - and Voxel or Surface data to "Bake" from. In your case, where you simply want to use a "Reference" mesh as the "base" for your Retopology work - there exists no high frequency detail information to be "Baked" - so no "Baking" takes place - only "Merging" of the Retopo Mesh and its UV coordinates into the Paint Room (where you can add high frequency detail with the texturing toolset that exists there). Perhaps we use the term "Baking" to describe too many processes, over here at 3DC central. It is not the most descriptive word. Greg Smith

Merging is really just a combination of transferring your created topology (automatic or manual), and its associated UV coordinates - along with any sculpted detail, if that exists (which is usually of much higher resolution than your Retopo Mesh) - into the Paint Room and Tweak Room for adjustments and texturing. So, there is this aspect of "Baking" which takes into consideration any existing Voxel or Surface Mesh detail - for projection as real time Normal (Per-Pixel) or Displacement (Micro-Vertex) data - which you can add to by Painting in the Paint Room. It's probably one of the deeper concepts in 3DC to get a grasp of. If you are not using a Voxel or Surface mesh as a "base" for Retopology, then no "Baking" takes place - and you only have the option of "Painting" this detail from within the Paint Room. Greg Smith

Can you send us more information? We need to see which version you are using, your system specs and a set of screen shots or a short movie or an ordered list of steps you took to see the problem - to really provide you with help. Thanks, Greg Smith

Did you try unchecking the box in the tool parameters (for the Axial tool) called "MergeAxialAsInstances"? Then, all duplicates appear on one layer. Also, you can brush a detail and make that appear as a radial element: 1. Choose the Build tool with a prominent Brush Alpha. 2. From the "E" panel, choose the "Stamp" modifier 3. Stamp the Brush Alpha, creating a detail - choose "Axial" and it will automatically duplicate in the 3D Viewport. 4. Press "Enter" or "Apply". 5. Everything happens on the original layer. No new instances are created. Greg Smith

Yes, I would agree with Javis on this one. The ordinary DX version works quite well. Greg Smith

Try this experiment: 1. Start with a Voxel Primitive Cylinder (scale to 1/3 viewport size) - Press "Enter". 2. Use the "Merge" command with "On pen" and select a model from the "Models" tab - place it where you wish. 3. Choose the "Axial" tool - (you should see the duplicates distributed radially on the surface) - press "Enter" or "Apply". Now, there does appear to be a bug - because 2 surface "sub-layers" have been created. 4. To workaround - "Right-Click" on the Voxel parent layer and choose "Merge subtree". That oughtta do it. Greg Smith