New Member khay_amani Posted July 16, 2013 New Member Report Share Posted July 16, 2013 hey guys I need some help - I am a complete newbie to 3D coat, or any non nurbs 3d modelling software really. Currently use rhino to make and print my master models for my jewellery designs but myself and a bunch of other jewellers have started using 3D coat for a very specific purpose - that is, to bring our models in as OBJ and 'soften' them with smooth all command, autopo then bring back to rhino for rendering purposes. Some of us are running into trouble with very large/complex jewellery models (think a ring with heaps of holes and prongs for tiny diamonds), being able to smooth the hard edges a bit but not loose detail. I would also like to 'flow'' a design over a ring band for example taking a swirly leafy pattern with lots of highs and lows that define branches, leaf veins, and leaves and getting it to wrap around the surface of a ring. Can someone pretty please help me either with step by step instructions or a video tut for these two specific problems? Remember I am a complete newbie so hotkeys and some words go right over my head. Free virtual cake for whoever can help me! <3 :-) I just can't get it to smooth but retain enough detail plus be a small enough mesh that won't crash rhino. P.S. All I am doing is taking obj, scaling up to about 1.8mil polys clicking smooth all two or three times, saving out without additional smoothing or reduction, autopo with intermediate resolution at 180 and have tried polycounts of 50,000 or 100,000 and 150,000 even 200,000 but this model still comes up looking crap. what am I doing wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psmith Posted July 16, 2013 Report Share Posted July 16, 2013 Have you tried applying a "gold" (or other) matcap shader to your voxel sculpt and just rendering in 3D-Coat? With the right lighting setup - the renders can be quite nice. AUTOPO likes and makes use of very high res voxel data. So, the higher the resolution the voxel sculpt - the better the automatic topology becomes. Try "Res+" a few times (or twice) before applying AUTOPO. This may cause a huge slowdown - but might be worth the wait. Also, if Rhino can make use of a displacement map - you might want to "Merge for micro-vertex" Painting - select a rather large "Carcass resolution" - then, export at a mid to high poly setting (.obj export parameters). Probably the best way to either add positive or negative filigree to the outer surface of a "ring primitive" (or other circular object) would be to construct a repeating voxel model (with vine and leaf detail, for example) - use the "Cutoff" tool to cut it at just the right place, on both ends of the "vine" - so that it can repeat seamlessly - and turn the object into a "Spline" (hover mouse pointer over Voxel layer until you see the small icon in the title area - on the far right - and drag the Layer name by clicking and dragging this icon and dropping it into the "Splines Panel"). Be aware that you would need an extreme level of detail for your "Spline" object to translate into an appropriately scaled voxel model - which, in turn will then be the basis for AUTOPO to work well. You will need a very powerful machine with lots of RAM for this to be practical. I think, using "Surface Mode" for such a Curve situation might be problematic with the current builds - so I'd stick to voxels for all construction tasks. Now, you can use this Spline as a kind of repeating pattern extrusion while constructing an intersecting and curving "chain" by means of the "Curves" tool. To make your "Spline" cut out a relief from the ring, hold the "Ctrl" key down while you press the "Enter" key to commit the Curve. This is a lot of information for a new user, and really could use a detailed tutorial. I guess that's one more thing I've got to add to my list of things to do. Greg Smith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advanced Member Pix Jigsaw Posted July 17, 2013 Advanced Member Report Share Posted July 17, 2013 Khay, a picture of your problem would be helpful. Can you post an example of one of the pieces that isn't working well A before and after picture if possible. Maybe there is a simple work flow that could be developed to meet your needs without you having to become an expert in 3DCoat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Member khay_amani Posted July 28, 2013 Author New Member Report Share Posted July 28, 2013 It won't let me upload the file as it's too big but I will take a screen shot of the file in question so you can see, will have to do it Tuesday when we open again as I have turned my work PC off so can't access it via team viewer from this crud-bucket laptop. I managed to get it to kinda work but using the Res+ button but it's still really 'gooey' looking and makes even my render-beast computer work super hard and slow down. Greg Smith I realize what I am asking re the ring is a massive ask - as a lot of what you said has me sitting here like a deer in headlights right now. If you can help I will be forever in your debt! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlosan Posted July 28, 2013 Report Share Posted July 28, 2013 Merge the obj without voxelizing in this picture is off, turn it ON add details using Live Clay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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