3D-Coat 3.0 ALPHA

[JamesE]

Is there a way to avoid corruption of finer mesh elements like fingers on import? I cannot seem to get an obj into 3dc as voxels without the fingers being destroyed. Subdividing before importing doesn't work, nor does subdividing during import. Every attempt to bring in a base mesh with fingers ends up like this:

It would seem the only option is to create the base mesh in voxels so that you don't lose any important shapes.

[erklaerbar]

JamesE, my guess is that need to increase voxel layer resolution at least once before import. Also make sure that the imported model is a closed surface, no holes!

[philnolan3d]

Is there a way to avoid corruption of finer mesh elements like fingers on import? I cannot seem to get an obj into 3dc as voxels without the fingers being destroyed. Subdividing before importing doesn't work, nor does subdividing during import. Every attempt to bring in a base mesh with fingers ends up like this:

It would seem the only option is to create the base mesh in voxels so that you don't lose any important shapes.

Wow that's scary looking! :lol: Strange too, I imported a hand model and didn't have that problem, it looked perfectly fine. I'm about to import another one soon, so I'll have to see what happens.

[artman]

Cant you just press the local symmetry button for subtools in Zbrush?

yeah...but it won't work,as soon as you rotate the subtool with either transpose or deformation-rotate

the symmetry will be instantly lost while in 3DCoat when you use Transform the symmetry plane always

follow your reorientations.The only way to get that in Zbrush is to activate "posable symmetry" but there are a lot

of conditions needed for posable symmetry to work (ex:models musn't have been started from a sphere or a perfect cube,model must be 100 percent symmetrical ect...a lot of must and musn't.)

"Posable Symmetry" use the same thinking behind the "smart resym" feature I think,which is also very full of must and mustn't.(I like ZB alot still...but I got a loong story of problems evolving symmetry)

and NOW with new voxtree features you get hidden powers like:

if you use "clone space density" you get a completely mobile symmetry plane that you can move around and rotate around with Transform that you that can append anytime it by using "move to" from the object .

This way you get even parenting of symmetry plane.

Let's say if I got two guns hanging on each side of a character(and reoriented) ,in 3DCoat I can make 3 mobile symmetry planes,one to sculpt the 2 guns at the same time using the character's original symmetry plane and 2 others to keep sculpting each guns individually with their native symmetry on X

(keep in mind they've been rotated around so Zb local symmetry would't work)

.

Also with the complete mobility of symmetry plane Sym Copy becomes very powerful.

one could make an entire architecture using only one piece of voxel and sym copy.

"clone space density" with "transform" allows you to use Sym copy as a sculpting tool in itself.

It opens the door to alot of possibilities.

[3dioot]

JamesE

From a first glance it looks like the voxel resolution simply is not fine enough to support the finger detail. This has nothing to do with subdividing. Essentially you are importing a model with an amount of detail that you would normally have to step up the voxel resolution for. If this is the case you can fix this "problem" easily by scaling your model up 2 or 3 times before pressing enter and converting it to voxels.

JW

[JamesE]

JamesE

From a first glance it looks like the voxel resolution simply is not fine enough to support the finger detail. This has nothing to do with subdividing. Essentially you are importing a model with an amount of detail that you would normally have to step up the voxel resolution for. If this is the case you can fix this "problem" easily by scaling your model up 2 or 3 times before pressing enter and converting it to voxels.

JW

AAhhh! that worked. I wasn't aware of the dependency on size... though it makes sense after watching my objects in crease in size when I upped the resolution in previous builds. Will keep this in mind in the future.

Thanks for the tip 3dioot!

Also, thanks erklaerbar for the advice as well.

[tree321]

JamesE

From a first glance it looks like the voxel resolution simply is not fine enough to support the finger detail. This has nothing to do with subdividing. Essentially you are importing a model with an amount of detail that you would normally have to step up the voxel resolution for. If this is the case you can fix this "problem" easily by scaling your model up 2 or 3 times before pressing enter and converting it to voxels.

JW

That's correct 3d, and then just use transpose to scale.

[3dioot]

Your welcome

I see i missed Erklaerbar's advice.

Its the same thing only the other way around (instead of putting a bigger object in the same voxel resolution, you put the original sized object in the increased voxel resolution). His method is actually a bit better when you want to import multiple meshes on different layers while keeping their sizes proportionate to eachother (otherwise you'd have to scale em all up the same amount on import).

JW

[JamesE]

Your welcome

I see i missed Erklaerbar's advice.

Its the same thing only the other way around (instead of putting a bigger object in the same voxel resolution, you put the original sized object in the increased voxel resolution). His method is actually a bit better when you want to import multiple meshes on different layers while keeping their sizes proportionate to eachother (otherwise you'd have to scale em all up the same amount on import).

JW

Yeah both methods worked great. I'll probably use the layer rez approach more often than not, but it's good to know I have more control over this now.

[3DArtist]

Some sort of layer density preview and/or number could be useful to help prevent merging objects with too low of res. Or merging an object with too high of res and lock up the computer for a few minutes.

[tree321]

Some sort of layer density preview and/or number could be useful to help prevent merging objects with too low of res. Or merging an object with too high of res and lock up the computer for a few minutes.

This also is a good idea.just hover mouse over layer name.

[Andrew Shpagin]

V 57 uploaded

Changes:

1) New experimental brush - "Rough & fast"

2) Most brushes has got interpolated curves

3) Curves has got "Filled" checkbox - now curves can be filled inside!

4) Quadrangulation tuned, better works with symmetry.

5) Many bugfixes

Btw, I have installed new Q6600 2.4 Quad core processor and CUDA performance is still much better with 9800GT (at least 2x-3x). I have downloaded 2.1 CUDA toolkit & drivers.

Can someone confirm it?

[artman]

Filled curves is super!

A little idea :You could make a loft object creator with it....user would create 2 curves with same number of points on Y axis and 3Dcoat would make inbetween copies of curves and merge them.Same principle already works great for making lathe object with axial symmetry.

Quadrangulation works back again on my models but very very slow.With default setting on 1-2 mil models it is at least

30 times slower than alpha54( 54(I think) I should not delete previous alpha it is stupid of me.But I clearly remember it was very fast to quadrangulate same models.

Anyway,I need to format because my computer is full of crap,I'll test with a clean os install and I"ll get a real feedback on performance.

But again,very impressive,Filled curves is just amazing,

very clean and precise.

Thanks

[artman]

another thing....very weird thing

I get a massive increase in resolution capacity...

here is totally workable 29millions polys sculpt....

(work is fluid only with small brushes...but anyway,crazy polycounts are made to make small details)

I have a very old dual with 4gb ram

(Dell steal me 1gb out of it(no memory remapping thing in bios or something like that)

with Quadrofx1700(not best card for 3DCoat)

....in all,I think I have a pretty ordinary machine.

29MILLIONS!!!

I can't reach that in Zbrush or MB2009.

It is an overwhelmingly pleasing surprise

[3DArtist]

I'm trying to smooth two sub-objects at different densities together. Would it be difficult to allow sculpting and smoothing multiple sub-objects at the same time?

On a lesser note, object instances could be useful, ie columns, trees, hard surface elements, etc. with options to place individual or paint instances on other geometry.

[tree321]

Getting ready to download, will give feedback shortly.

[tree321]

Alpha 57dx64:

Filled curves=Awesome!That was quick.

Rough and rapid may need to go back to the lab for further experimentation.Still a little rough(see pic)

Installed latest Nvidia files on 9800gt. Performance seems the same to me on a 44,000,000 tri. scene.Will test more.

What is:2) Most brushes has got interpolated curves?Maybe I missing it.

Was hoping for new transform manipulators in this one ,but I can live with this.

Edit:There seems to be problems with undo when using curves.You may want to look at it.

[artman]

Andrew,It seems Decreasing space density resolve the quadrangulation speed issue I encountered.

The quadrangulation gives a far better result with symmetry now.

I clearly remember this model had holes along symmetry plane in some previous alphas and now everything is fine.

but there is another problem,is that there is another object quadrangulated inside my

model...I don"t know where it comes from.

Any Idea?

[philnolan3d]

Btw, I have installed new Q6600 2.4 Quad core processor and CUDA performance is still much better with 9800GT (at least 2x-3x). I have downloaded 2.1 CUDA toolkit & drivers.

Can someone confirm it?

I'm not sure what you're asking here. I also have that same processor. I'm not sure how it would affect CUDA though since CUDA is on the GPU. Personally I don't see a HUGE difference between having CUDA on and off.

Rough & Rapid seems to do what it says. One odd thing that I noticed right away can be seen in this image. The red strokes were made first just by brushing the same spot a few times, then I made the orange strokes. I looks like the strokes should lay on top of any previous strokes but as you can see some of them do not.

here is totally workable 29millions polys sculpt....

(work is fluid only with small brushes...but anyway,crazy polycounts are made to make small details)

I have a very old dual with 4gb ram

It looks like I need to get an older CPU or something! I barely got to 17 million just now and I started to hit the button one more time but it said it would need 5.8GB ram, wouldn't wouldn't leave much for anything else out of my 6GB.

[JamesE]

Andrew,It seems Decreasing space density resolve the quadrangulation speed issue I encountered.

The quadrangulation gives a far better result with symmetry now.

I clearly remember this model had holes along symmetry plane in some previous alphas and now everything is fine.

but there is another problem,is that there is another object quadrangulated inside my

model...I don"t know where it comes from.

Any Idea?

Heh, that pic is a great seller for using the auto mesh generation =]

[tree321]

Testing new curve feature for making cloth.

[artman]

Testing new curve feature for making cloth.

Wow,great idea! Very effective!

[tree321]

Manipulating ideas. (Unifying manipulators)

Goal:Create universal manipulator for controlling objects in 3D-Coat.

Attempt to conform to industry standards for manipulating objects in scene.

Maintain unique look of 3D-Coats manipulators as they stand.

Manipulator may work best with voxel objects and merged meshes.

Primitives have special controls for adjusting shapes such as the capsule, tube,cylinder, etc.These features should remain.

Current Transform manipulator should be used for Transpose.But could this manipulator be used as an option?

Anybody else got any good ideas?Alterations,variations,suggestions.

[PoopaScoop]

Manipulating ideas. (Unifying manipulators)

Goal:Create universal manipulator for controlling objects in 3D-Coat.

Attempt to conform to industry standards for manipulating objects in scene.

Maintain unique look of 3D-Coats manipulators as they stand.

Manipulator may work best with voxel objects and merged meshes.

Primitives have special controls for adjusting shapes such as the capsule, tube,cylinder, etc.These features should remain.

Current Transform manipulator should be used for Transpose.But could this manipulator be used as an option?

Anybody else got any good ideas?Alterations,variations,suggestions.

Nice Idea. A less fussy manipulator is much needed. Some kind of indication of the axis in used, would be a bonus.

[tree321]

Some kind of indication of the axis in used, would be a bonus.

Your right

[otsoa]

Good idea !

[Psmith]

There are so many things to say regarding this latest release - from me - all positive. Firstly, let me say I think what Andrew has produced is a gift to us all. I'm sure everyone can see how this one tool will empower all of us to work faster, with more freedom, with more beauty - like artists rather than programmers.

All of the "drawing" tools are absolutely unlike anything offered elsewhere - very spontaneous, yet they can be quite accurate, unusual and liberating. The "fill" option for the curve tool makes so many things possible and simple to achieve. Each of these tools produce art that flows out and is smooth to apply, almost like 3 dimensional paint - making it attractive to those who prefer "painting" mediums and techniques as well as those who love sculpting. They are appealing to artists of every medium.

The shader technology is fantastic and beautiful. The stone shaders are really stunning. I'm sure more user control is in the works for applying all of these.

If I could request anything, here, it would be to have the option of saving the real time rendering of the screen, just as we see it while using 3D Coat. Many times, I prefer the renders produced by the real time renderer over those of the more complex and delayed one. The effects produced by both the shaders and the texturing tools often look better, inside 3D Coat, than when the models are exported and rendered elsewhere. I realize we could simply use external screen capture tools, but it would be so nice to directly export real time images , (and animations?), from inside 3D Coat.

I don't think it will be easy for me to let go of the idea of skeletal rigging inside 3D Coat, either. Think of all the additional steps and tools that could be comletely eliminated from many "pipelines". I, personally, would spend most of my quality time using 3D Coat instead of the many applications I am now "forced" to use. I'm sure many of you feel the same way. Mind you, I'm not suggesting having rigging tools added now, but the promise of rigging in the not so distant future would be something nice to look forward to. And, I'm sure, nobody could implement rigging more nicely than Andrew.

Thanks again, so much, Andrew.

Psmith

[PoopaScoop]

Is there anyway of getting rid of the defualt sphere?

[kay_Eva]

Is there anyway of getting rid of the defualt sphere?

+1

and also to have symmetry to default "don't show symmetry plane" cuz with the little crosshair you can tell symmetry is on and I always have to turn the plane off

[JulesD]

Yes, get rid of the sphere when clear. If we want a sphere we can load one in our selves.