Why is 3D Coat so frustrating to use?

[Upon Infinity]

After 2 weeks, I still can't model something, texture it, and export it.  I have no problems sculpting something, and then what?  Is there any tutorial that will show the absolute minimum needed to uv map, texture, and export an object?  The free tutorials of the rat were great, and then, of course, the tut for the UV Mapping is mysteriously missing?  And I come from a 3D background!  What am I doing wrong?

[Tony Nemo]

On the Home page is a Tutorial menu with a link to 3D-Coat's Youtube collection. Check out the ones labeled "Workflow".

[AbnRanger]

On the Home page is a Tutorial menu with a link to 3D-Coat's Youtube collection. Check out the ones labeled "Workflow".

Yes, and check out the Ghost (Game Character) series by Greg Whedon, in the "Training General" Playlist:

 

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL603B0C27026099E3

 

This is the first video:

 

Psionic has a Playlist on there, as well...that is very helpful:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlQ3JITh9bXM1jWm_zef5QiVebMReXqVL

 

[Aleksey]

The manual is a good place to start.

 

I personally find 3d coat wonderful to use. Im picking it up much faster than z brush, which i tried and failed to pick up about 3 times.

 

After the rat tutorial. The spider retopology tut was useful. The wokflow tuts from like 4-9 ive watched. There is a uv unwrap tutorial with a big orange dude on youtube. That explains everything well. but so does the 5 part tutorial on 3d coats youtube. with the two legged long nose creature.

 

the only thing that took me a while to grasp was how to get from retopo to uv room without exporting and importing an obj. And then i found that the uv tools are in the retopo room, that's kinda confusing. anyway after uving in the retopo room, just export from the retopo menu at the top, per pixel painting. And then from the paint room you can export with textures and everything and get it into any app you want.

[wilson66]

I absolutely agree, its hard to wrap my head around the general workflow in 3D Coat also. The tutorial series on youtube is great, and I'm thankful for the effort that person has made, but they are too long for a beginner. I would be thankful for one brief tutorial: sculpting -> retopologizing -> texturing -> exporting options -> re-importing after edits have been made to the lowpoly mesh in an external program (e.g. UV created outside, but maps extracted inside 3D Coat). A very simple object will do, some random sculpting on a sphere and a couple of paint strokes on the retopo mesh will completely suffice, outlining the ENTIRE workflow in one single tutorial is important.

Edited December 30, 2013 by wilson66

[AbnRanger]

I absolutely agree, its hard to wrap my head around the general workflow in 3D Coat also. The tutorial series on youtube is great, and I'm thankful for the effort that person has made, but they are too long for a beginner. I would be thankful for one brief tutorial: sculpting -> retopologizing -> texturing -> exporting options -> re-importing after edits have been made to the lowpoly mesh in an external program (e.g. UV created outside, but maps extracted inside 3D Coat). A very simple object will do, some random sculpting on a sphere and a couple of paint strokes on the retopo mesh will completely suffice, outlining the ENTIRE workflow in one single tutorial is important.

That's the difficulty of creating tutorials. One group wants short and sweet, and the other wants you to slow down and explain what you're doing. You catch it from both sides. The reality is, software like 3D Coat and ZBrush are DEEP. It's deep because people want more and more and more and more. And then new users have more and more and more to learn.

 

It's nearly impossible to show "THE" workflow because there is no one workflow.  3D Coat is essentially multiple apps joined into one. Different people use 3D Coat for different tasks...with different points of entry and exit. Different output formats, etc. So, there is no way to do a one-size-fits-all tutorial. Some of the more common ones are explained here, but there are complaints that it's too confusing.

 

 

Edited December 30, 2013 by AbnRanger

[Aleksey]

I think once i do a couple more characters, hopefully next couple of weeks. I'll try and document my process of creation - > rendering in cinema4d.

 

Short and sweet is how i do tutorials =)

 

I think i should be able to fit it into  a  30 min video.

[AbnRanger]

David tried to do some short and sweet videos, but I guess they aren't short, nor simple enough, either.

 

 

Edited December 30, 2013 by AbnRanger

[AbnRanger]

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Edited December 30, 2013 by AbnRanger

[AbnRanger]

 

 

Edited December 30, 2013 by AbnRanger

[AbnRanger]

....

 

[wilson66]

It's nearly impossible to show "THE" workflow because there is no one workflow.  3D Coat is essentially multiple apps joined into one. 

 

You are right, since 3D Coat is a program with such a broad range of features, there is not just that one single workflow for everything. There could be some quick tutorials though that describe the most common workflows. 

 

Lets say I want to create an animatable character, including all textures, in 3D Coat. To understand how that works its not necessary to watch a person for hours sculpting each and every single spot and pimple on the characters nose, whats important is the big picture, the outlining of the several different approaches. Just a couple of minutes, no details, e.g. what buttons do I have to click to get  my retopo mesh into the UV room, and extract the maps, without having to skip through dozens of long videos where he describes at time stamp 12min48 or whatever what you are looking for.

[AbnRanger]

You are right, since 3D Coat is a program with such a broad range of features, there is not just that one single workflow for everything. There could be some quick tutorials though that describe the most common workflows. 

 

Lets say I want to create an animatable character, including all textures, in 3D Coat. To understand how that works its not necessary to watch a person for hours sculpting each and every single spot and pimple on the characters nose, whats important is the big picture, the outlining of the several different approaches. Just a couple of minutes, no details, e.g. what buttons do I have to click to get  my retopo mesh into the UV room, and extract the maps, without having to skip through dozens of long videos where he describes at time stamp 12min48 or whatever what you are looking for.

Again....that was done in the Common Workflows Pt. 1 and 2 video listed above. Did you watch those already? Even has a schematic diagram to simply it. But if the person isn't willing to watch a few videos, then nothing is going to suffice, I'm afraid. You're never going to get the gist of an app like ZBrush in a 5min video, either. You can go to Lynda.com, Gnomon or Digital Tutors and none of them have a 5min video that walks you through a major workflow.

 

They all have an introductory video and then bite sized videos for different sections of the app.

Edited December 30, 2013 by AbnRanger

[alvordr]

For what it's worth, I did a tutorial on 3D Coat on Udemy.com (https://www.udemy.com/introduction-to-3d-coat/?sl=E0IacF9XQxMALBoeCRAcKBM%3D) that is intended for the new user.  Feel free to take a look at the free videos in that course to decide if it's right for you.

[Tony Nemo]

The point you made about brevity suggests a PDF tutorial that takes a product through the rooms with snapshots of necessary visuals inserted along the way.

[Upon Infinity]

Thanks to everyone who replied.  I am slowly learning this software.  I was initially frustrated by attempting to learn this software quite quickly and was probably spoiled by other 3rd party software's (Terragen) inclusion of a "beginner's option".  I actually do appreciate how diverse and precise 3D Coat is and recognize that it is essentially several programs merged into one.  My usual strategy for learning new software is to punch a small hole through it; learn the bare minimum I need to accomplish something basic and then expand from there.  That's what initially frustrated me.  I can now do this, and am really looking forward to using this great software.  I didn't mean to cast any negativity on using it, if that's what was interpreted.  

[AbnRanger]

Thanks to everyone who replied.  I am slowly learning this software.  I was initially frustrated by attempting to learn this software quite quickly and was probably spoiled by other 3rd party software's (Terragen) inclusion of a "beginner's option".  I actually do appreciate how diverse and precise 3D Coat is and recognize that it is essentially several programs merged into one.  My usual strategy for learning new software is to punch a small hole through it; learn the bare minimum I need to accomplish something basic and then expand from there.  That's what initially frustrated me.  I can now do this, and am really looking forward to using this great software.  I didn't mean to cast any negativity on using it, if that's what was interpreted.  

If you will simply follow Greg Whedon's Ghost tutorial series, you'll have enough to go on, to get around in the app pretty well. Then follow that up with the first few "Intro to 3D Coat" videos, that cover the UI. From there, you can kind of cherry pick which tuts suit what you are trying to do.

[ScrotieFlapWack]

I have the same issue. I mainly want to use 3D Coat to make objects for games things like, a wall and ceiling and floor, so I can bring this into any game engine and use as a prefab and put it all together in there. The problem I am facing is once I have made my model I have no idea what to do with it next. Is there a workflow for this particular type of thing? Is there something set in stone for what I need to do?

 

Thanks! 

[AbnRanger]

I have the same issue. I mainly want to use 3D Coat to make objects for games things like, a wall and ceiling and floor, so I can bring this into any game engine and use as a prefab and put it all together in there. The problem I am facing is once I have made my model I have no idea what to do with it next. Is there a workflow for this particular type of thing? Is there something set in stone for what I need to do?

 

Thanks! 

Start with that very first video...of Greg's Ghost (game character) tutorial. Notice the very 1st words spoken. He's attempting to show others a typical workflow. It's about 6-7 videos, and you'll come away with a decent grasp of how to start from scratch, in the Voxel room > Retopo > UV > Texture Paint > Export

[ScrotieFlapWack]

Thanks alot AbnRanger, everyone is so helpful on this forum and I am thoroughly enjoying using 3D Coat. I'll check out the tutorials page and see if I can find it!

 

Thanks again!  

[AbnRanger]

Thanks alot AbnRanger, everyone is so helpful on this forum and I am thoroughly enjoying using 3D Coat. I'll check out the tutorials page and see if I can find it!

 

Thanks again!

The list of the videos can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL603B0C27026099E3

 

The first video embedded in this thread, shows the first one

[ScrotieFlapWack]

Thanks alot. I watched all of these videos. Thank you so much for recommending them, this has really boosted my knowledge and workflow. I understand about UV mapping and retopology. I have a general workflow now when modelling. Just gotta learn the paint room now