Jump to content
3DCoat Forums

Education Version


marble51
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Member

Hi,

 

I have downloaded the demo version and am looking at some of the video training. I'm interested to use 3d-Coat in addition to DAZ Studio for creating morphs and textures, etc.

 

This is purely a hobby for me. I retired this year and live on the UK state pension so I cannot afford the Pro price. My question is: according to the "Buy" page, the Education Version is available to people such as myself - do I need to provide proof of any kind (obviously, I don't have a student card)? I don't foresee any possibility of using this or any other similar software for commercial projects - it will never be more than a hobby. 

 

I hope it does work with DAZ figures but I did check on their forum and a few people seem to be using 3d-Coat.

 

Thank you in advance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member

You can just go ahead and use the student version without getting into trouble :) Unless you break the rules (use it for commercial use), you are free to buy and use it.

 

If I'm wrong there's a swat team knocking on my door within 10 minutes of posting this. Haha, imagine w-... *sounds of people banging on front door*

 

...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member

You can just go ahead and use the student version without getting into trouble :) Unless you break the rules (use it for commercial use), you are free to buy and use it.

...

 

 

Many thanks. That's good to know but I'll have to wait until my next pension payment comes through.

 

I'm wondering how much of a restriction are the limitations of the "Student" Version? Someone on that DAZ forum said that 2K textures look fine (although I can understand why vendors need to use the higher resolution). But what about the number of layers? Looking at some of the tutorial videos, they seem to use dozens of layers. Is the 7 limit a big issue? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i used the edu version for 1 year to learn sculpt

 

2K and 7 layers are fine at the beginning

 

3DC let you Texture Projection using photoshop, gimp, krita... this help a lot too

 

http://www.3d-coat.com/play_video.php?link=http://www.pilgway.com/~javis2/DP/DP005-PhotoshopProjection.mp4

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member

i used the edu version for 1 year to learn sculpt

 

2K and 7 layers are fine at the beginning

 

3DC let you Texture Projection using photoshop, gimp, krita... this help a lot too

 

http://www.3d-coat.com/play_video.php?link=http://www.pilgway.com/~javis2/DP/DP005-PhotoshopProjection.mp4

 

Good feedback, thanks.

 

I had the ZBrush trial and got completely lost in the UI. I know that many people here use both 3DC and Zbrush - is there a good reason for that? Or would 3DC and Scupltris be a good combination (I haven't tried Sculptris)?

 

Anyhow, I have a lot of videos to watch and then work through some small projects. Any tips or tutorials from anyone who has DAZ Studio would be gratefully received.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member

OK - it seems I am limited to the number of times I can post on this forum so I'll ask one more question and perhaps I'll be able to follow up tomorrow.

 

The videos I have seen so far - even one that is called "starting from scratch" actually starts ahead of where I'm at: I have no clue what voxels might be. I've read the wikipedia definition but am no wiser. I just don't know how voxels relate to things I'm used to such as polygons, displacement, bump and normal maps. 

 

What happens when I import a model (.obj I presume) from another application? Do I need to convert the polygons into voxels? And how about exporting it back again? Do other apps need to support voxels? 

 

I arrived at 3DCoat by way of DAZ Studio and ZBrush (with excursions into other modelling programs such as Hexagon). None of them mention voxels as far as I am aware. But coming here it seems to be taken for granted that everyone knows what they are and how they fit in the big scheme of the 3D universe. Is there a *really* basic tutorial which covers this, please?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Contributor

Voxels relate to volume. If you import an OBJ, you can choose to not voxelize it and just work on it's surface. Surface mode is what you get for this choice. Think of voxels as a lump of clay and surface mode as a shell. Voxels allow for easy boolean operations, just like a lump of clay would. It is favored for defining the basic shape you want, whereas surface mode is generally used where greater detail is desired because it puts less of a load on your hardware and thus gives faster response to your tools. I believe the people who use both Zbrush and 3D-coat starteed with Zbrush, learned how to use it and wish to pay the modest price for upgrades (in other words, maintain their investment). As a pensioner like yourself, I started with 3D-Coat (couldn't afford Zbrush) and am satisfied with what Andrew has created (and continues constantly to improve).

 

You don't need other apps to support voxels because you don't export voxels but rather a 'shell' of polygons that you place on the voxel shape in the Retopo room. You export an OBJ with UVs like you may have imported in the first place.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member

Seems I have 1 post remaining for today so this is it.

 

Tony, many thanks for your reply - I understand now. My main use initially would be to modify/morph objects exported from DAZ Studio so I don't think I would be sculpting from scratch. The people on the DAZ forum who have tried 3DC seem to appreciate the painting and UV features and that's also what was attracting me. But I think they are commercial artists and would have the Pro version.

 

Now that I look at the product pages, most skin textures for DAZ characters are 4096 x 4096 and the Education Version we are discussing here is limited to 2048 x 2048 so I'm afraid that is probably a show stopper. That's really a pity because I was getting quite excited at the possibilities opening up.

 

EDIT: Now that I have posted this, the message tells me I can now make 35 more posts. Should I just ignore that message?

Edited by marble51
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Contributor

Voxels are basically what Tony Said. Imagine them as 3D pixels. The denser the volume, the greater number of them are packed in a specific 3D area . In 3D Coat you can't see voxels per se - only a triangulated polygonal cage wrapped around them. Do check Ken Silverman's Voxlap engine page for some fun and to get a better understanding what they are and how they look; his interactive demos are pretty cool. There's also the Voxelstein game worth playing... ;)

If you have access to Maya, its fluids are using voxels too. If you convert them to polygons, that's roughly what 3D Coat does in its viewport.

 

And again I'll repeat after Tony, 2k textures are perfectly fine in most cases. Unless your animation has some extreme close-ups in full HD, it should do. Just use UV tiles to create several 2k textures per object.

Edited by ajz3d
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member

 

And again I'll repeat after Tony, 2k textures are perfectly fine in most cases. Unless your animation has some extreme close-ups in full HD, it should do. Just use UV tiles to create several 2k textures per object.

 

Thanks again for the advice. I guess I can only try the demo version and see how the results come out. Just to be clear though, my hobby is not gaming. Most of what I do is akin to still photography but using 3D characters and scenes. This gallery at deviantART will give you an idea of what I mean (NOT my work - I'm still a novice):

 

http://luxrenders.deviantart.com/gallery/37637218

 

So animations rarely come into it - although animations are possible with the software I use and I have tried a few. As you indicate, though, texture quality is not so important for animations. Nevertheless, I rarely produce close-ups where, for example, the texture of pores would be important. Most are full-body or upper-body shots.

 

The reason I mentioned the 4K skin textures I have from DAZ is that I'm not sure how the import/export works. Is it possible to import a character complete with maps (texture, bump, displacement, specular) and add features? I'm thinking wrinkles, scars, wounds, maybe even body hair, etc.? If so, those imported maps (the torso and the limbs) would be 4096x4096. So even if I could import them, would I be able to export them back again?

 

Perhaps it might be possible to create a 2K resolution overlay layer with the wrinkles, etc. and then merge that with the original in photoshop? The displacement or normal maps don't need to be high resolution, I'm pretty sure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member

Marble perhaps you could advise where you got the Zbrush 'trial' as I wanted to try out Zbrush but was unable to find a trial of Zbrush from Pixologic?

Surprised you were interested as its well over twice the price of 3DC pro and the educational version is less than $100!

Sorry to have mislead you - I used 'trial' as a convenience. I recently retired from a computer company and had access to a lot of software and a PC at home. I still go in some days but that won't last much longer. The PC has been returned and I now have a Mac at home (my retirement gift to myself). Now I have to buy my own I am somewhat careful about splashing out cash.

I am now thinking again about Blender. Perhaps it is worth spending time to learn it though it is rather daunting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...