3D-Coat 3.0 ALPHA

[Haider of Sweden]

Only in the alpha, but if you're looking to buy, you can buy the current version and then continue to use the alpha as much as you like until 3.0 ships, at which point you'll have to upgrade, which is pretty much just paying for the new features, not buying the whole thing all over again.

Thanks for your reply.

It's very cheap, almost free . But I got to try it first and try to get into it to see if this is the right thing for me.

[Taros]

... I will optimize CUDA but not now. I can't wait to start quadrangulation...

It is venture, no guaranteed result...

Very good news. Can't await that. I hope you will make it. Wish you all the best for this challenge!

Be creative

Chris

[JulesD]

The Preview pop up for material, disappears when going into full screen mode.

And it is not in the menu under pop ups.

How do I get it back.

Ok it seems if I go into full screen before doing anything, everything is fine.

[run]

I'm Having problems with the Vox Tree.

Versions

44 simple

45 simple and CUDA

OS Windows (XP in my case)

The RMB functions "Merge to", "Move to", and "Subtract from" do not work at all.

I know those functions worked when the Vox Tree was first introduced.

I'm not sure that the following issues are new, or have always been limitations

Volumetric Sculpting tool>Merge, both >Draw with pen & >Transform

will only work on the first level of the hierarchy (i.e. sub objects whose parent is "Root")

Vox Tree RMB function "Merge 3B file"

always creates a new 1st level sub object.

you cannot merge into any pre-existing sub object at any level.

_________________________________________________________________________

On the Direct X front; do you have to install DX10 or will the latest build of DX9.0c do?

(It's date is I believe November 2008)

_________________________________________________________________________

And; man, do I love this program.

Thanks Andrew.

Jeff

[SonK]

8 cores!! really powerful. I will optimize CUDA but not now. I can't wait to start quadrangulation...

It is venture, no guaranteed result...

Looking forward to the quadrangulation and direct painting :lol:

[kay_Eva]

maybe u can use curve guides or some form of arbitrary space volume molds or directional paint to help the program do quadrangulation it's stuff this is just fun guessing

[3DArtist]

I posted this in tree321's thread regarding working with multiple objects.

This made me think that it would be nice to be able to save a low poly proxy of each object and have a button to switch between low poly proxy and high poly object. The low poly proxy would not be editable but it would free up memory to work on other object(s). Also, being able to set a transparency level for objects would be nice too.

A quick question Andrew, when might we see object masking (freezing) implemented? I personally feel that would be quite useful.

[ldzywsj]

It seems Andrew have enough sense about how to make quadrangulation, that's great!

But in my view,it's almost impossible to automatically reconstruct/quadrangle a mesh only one click to make the topology perfect for animation or games!

so really can't wait to see new stuff about quadrangulation/simplification/retopo!

[JulesD]

Is this also a polygon reduction tool.

Cause I fined most reduction tools leave seams between different parts, or the texture is not proper after the reduction.

But this would be awsome.

One click and your High poly object will be able to have different levels of detail.

And also have the Normal map created to look like the high poly.

So 1 slider to choose level of detail, and a button to process it.

[Andrew Shpagin]

V 46 is there.

osx version of v46 is coming soon.

I decided to upload it before diving into quadrangulation.

There you can assign separate shaders for every object (as usual - RMB). If you have chosen shader that uses current color (like "Default" shader) - you can choose separate color for every object.

[lc8b105]

V 46 is there.

osx version of v46 is coming soon.

I decided to upload it before diving into quadrangulation.

There you can assign separate shaders for every object (as usual - RMB). If you have chosen shader that uses current color (like "Default" shader) - you can choose separate color for every object.

waiting osx version

[TOXE]

mee too!!

-TOXE

[ChadCapeland]

V 46 is there.

osx version of v46 is coming soon.

I decided to upload it before diving into quadrangulation.

There you can assign separate shaders for every object (as usual - RMB). If you have chosen shader that uses current color (like "Default" shader) - you can choose separate color for every object.

I assume OSX version won't support CUDA, right?

- Chad

[Andrew Shpagin]

I assume OSX version won't support CUDA, right?

- Chad

CUDA for OSX is not done.

[geo_n]

It seems Andrew have enough sense about how to make quadrangulation, that's great!

But in my view,it's almost impossible to automatically reconstruct/quadrangle a mesh only one click to make the topology perfect for animation or games!

so really can't wait to see new stuff about quadrangulation/simplification/retopo!

I think it doesn't have to be perfect. Just not at this level of super high poly meshes that voxel simplification is making. It will be easier to merge/edit polys from a lower mesh count than trying to retopo the whole voxel which is almost as long as polymodelling if you're retoping a complex voxel.

[tree321]

Just playing around with the new shaders for sub objects,got to say it's awesome!Thanks Andrew.Now we need more shaders and finer control over tones and and other variables.

[Jokermax]

nice v46 Andrew! Sub-materials are very helpful, thanks! I can see Decrease density button there too

P.S. is there a forum admin or helper who can consolidate all alpha versions changes to front page?

[lc8b105]

Alpha 27

1) Retopo tool can work directly with voxel object

2) Many bugfixes (export also)

3) [x] Grow on pen motion is add to many tools

4) Default sphere radius decreased for faster start

Alpha 28

I have fixed critical bugs, add "double sided" to 2d-paint, "Start form first point" in sphere tool.

One note about "Merge into scene" in retopo tool (to Juan at first) - it is better to choose resolution that is only slightly (10%) more then voxels resolution.

Alpha 29

I worked hard over makeing airbrush and other growers to work correctly with noisy alphas. It resulted with performance improvement and many bugfices, to more correct work of brushes.

Alpha 30

1) Hide tool !

2) Less memory usage, faster work, less leaks, better stability (I hope, but need testing)

3) Much less 3B file size, 3x or 4x less. But: please keep backups, file format was essentially changed

4) Improvement in carve tool - better work on thin surfaces

5) Minor improvements in corves/snake

6) Retopo & VS speed improvement

7) Faster Inc resolution and smooth all. But inc resolution still requires smoothing.

Minor UI style tweaking

Alpha 31

1) Incremental render! In this mode only changed parts of mesh will be rendered. It leads to big performance boost especially at big polycount. It needs some testing on different video cards because of it is slightly hardware dependent.

2) Very good quality of "Increase resolution"

3) Accurate smoothing checker

4) More smooth surface in retopo tool in "Merge in scene"

5) Mass bugfixes

Alpha 32

I worked mostly over stability, bugfixes, speed. Now after crashes result will be auto saved. But anyway it is worth to use autosave every 10 min.

Alpha 33

1) Slice tool works in retopo with voxel models even on HUGE models ( Jokermax - for you:) ).

2) Use RMB to change depth/radius.

3) Faster incremental render, compatibility with older video cards.

4) Updated text in hints

Alpha 34

1) Faster work on huge objects

2) Support of all pen options: spacing, jitters for all tools - carve, airbrush, grow...

3) Support of material/mask for airbrush and extrude

4) Better/faster work of curves/spikes/snake

5) Experimental: cubic interpolation in sphere tool (I have made many experiments, not all was successful)

6) Mush more smooth brushing with airbrush/grow/build

7) Constraints for depth/radius change using RMB

as always bugfixing and optimisation

Alpha 35

1) Transpose tool

2) Auto-simplification in "To polygones"

3) Bugfixes

Alpha 36

I have add selection with alpha, but it is slightly unfinished (undo works not perfectly with selection). But anyway I have made this update because there was fixed 2 very important longstanding bugs.

- bug that causes slowdowns after some time, cracked quads, crashes without possibility to save result. At least it was fixed. Thank to wailingmonkey who has given me so full descriprion of the bug that I have fixed it immediately

- compatibility/rener speed bug fixed.

Alpha 37

I have implemented new handlers like 3dioot described (with small altering)

Alpha 38

) More accurate work of transpose (selection without holes)

2) Advanced gizmo - many new options, digital input

3) Possibility to smooth seletion using SHIFT in pen mode

4) Airbrush-style selection

5) More correct undo

6) Many bugfixes

Alpha 39

64-bit support.

Alpha 40

1) Less memory consumption, especially in 64-bit version

2) Bugfixes, stability improvements. Now all painting (non-volumetrix) functions work well in 64-bit mode.

3) "Invert tool action" in most of volumetric brushes - it is like sticky CTRL

4) In "Increase resolution" you will be notified how much memory is required to perform operation.

Alpha 41

This is the very first CUDA supporting version.

Only CUDA supported tools:

-fill/smooth/grow

-sphere

Only 64-bit executables support CUDA

There is CUDA checker to compare speed. Speed growth is very noticeable on bigger brushes.

Also you can press ALT+ENTER to enter fullscreen mode. It works faster.

It is interesting if it will work without CUDA drivers:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_get.html

Alpha 42

CUDA-related changes:

1) Almost all voxel tools support CUDA

2) Almost all voxel tools use masks and materials as tool degree multiplicator (clay, smooth, fill, build, airbrush, extrude, carve)

Non-cuda changes

- possibility to render rotated model (or fly around cam shortcuts)

Alpha 43

1) Tree-like structure (don't forget to press RMB on tree view panel)

2) Copy tool

3) Bit better "To polygones". Slightly slower but without holes.

Alpha 44

1) Axial symmetry tool

2) Import point cloud (experimental)

3) Possibility to import huge meshes in VS (up to 10 M)

4) Bugfixes

Alpha 45

1) Support of PLY & STL

2) Much better export - see RMB menu. Also you don't need to press "To polygones" to export object.

3) Possibility to use some object as a patten for curves and merge tool

4) Many new patterns for merge tool and curve profiles.

5) Bugfixes

Alpha 46

Here you can assign separate shaders for every object (as usual - RMB). If you have chosen shader that uses current color (like "Default" shader) - you can choose separate color for every object.

[Andrew Shpagin]

Wow! Thanks Luo Chen! I have inserted your text to the first post.

[Andrew Shpagin]

I'm Having problems with the Vox Tree.

Versions

44 simple

45 simple and CUDA

OS Windows (XP in my case)

The RMB functions "Merge to", "Move to", and "Subtract from" do not work at all.

I know those functions worked when the Vox Tree was first introduced.

I'm not sure that the following issues are new, or have always been limitations

Volumetric Sculpting tool>Merge, both >Draw with pen & >Transform

will only work on the first level of the hierarchy (i.e. sub objects whose parent is "Root")

Vox Tree RMB function "Merge 3B file"

always creates a new 1st level sub object.

you cannot merge into any pre-existing sub object at any level.

_________________________________________________________________________

On the Direct X front; do you have to install DX10 or will the latest build of DX9.0c do?

(It's date is I believe November 2008)

_________________________________________________________________________

And; man, do I love this program.

Thanks Andrew.

Jeff

Please try it in V46. There was random bug that was able to cause this. It was fixed I hope.

[Andrew Shpagin]

OSX V46 uploaded!

[Frankie]

Hi andrew.

As you'll be starting the quadrangulation soon, I wanted to share some idea here.

I started with this reflection: Mesh reduction generally doesn't give good results on hi-density, hi-detail source material, but works well for smooth surfaces. On the other hand, retopo tools enables to subdivide a simple quad mesh to better follow a complex underlying geometry.

Then why not make best of both world:

1. Quadrangulate based on a smoothed version of the voxel mesh. At this stage the user should be able to choose the smoothing level and the number of quads (as few as possible)

2. Then bring the low quad mesh to the retopo tool and subdivide the low quad mesh to snap the result to the original voxel mesh.

Additionnaly, this pipeline has the benefit of adding the possibility of fine tweaking by hand with the retopo tools afterward if needed.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Franck.

[TOXE]

OSX V46 uploaded!

Thanks! It's one of my favorite gift for xmas!

-TOXE

[Andrew Shpagin]

Hi andrew.

As you'll be starting the quadrangulation soon, I wanted to share some idea here.

I started with this reflection: Mesh reduction generally doesn't give good results on hi-density, hi-detail source material, but works well for smooth surfaces. On the other hand, retopo tools enables to subdivide a simple quad mesh to better follow a complex underlying geometry.

Then why not make best of both world:

1. Quadrangulate based on a smoothed version of the voxel mesh. At this stage the user should be able to choose the smoothing level and the number of quads (as few as possible)

2. Then bring the low quad mesh to the retopo tool and subdivide the low quad mesh to snap the result to the original voxel mesh.

Additionnaly, this pipeline has the benefit of adding the possibility of fine tweaking by hand with the retopo tools afterward if needed.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Franck.

Agree, all tesselation should be made over smooth enough mesh. All small details should be baked further.

[philnolan3d]

You can pick shaders for each object now, but it would be nice if the old shader menu would change everything, right now it doesn't do anything.

[Deadman21]

Thanks! It's one of my favorite gift for xmas!

-TOXE

Ahhhhh I was just Dreaming of A Voxel Christmas

[Andrew Shpagin]

Win version updated to V47

Not much changes - most important of reported bugs are fixed - shaders related, deleting/export single object problem fixed.

[bisenberger]

WOW! your fast. I had just downloaded V46.

[Juan Carlos Montes]

Nice!! downloading V47

[philnolan3d]

I notice that "Recent Files" is missing from the File menu.

Edit: never mind, it's just that every time I loaded the program recently, a new version had been freshly installed so it didn't have a list to show. Not a bug.