Member wktb Posted February 19, 2016 Member Report Share Posted February 19, 2016 Hey there, I am testing 3d coat and I thought that this was fairly an easy program, I really dislike the interface of zbrush and 3d coat has more appeal to me cuz of its clear info and all nice displayed icons. But nevertheless I find myself with a problem. I have a low to mid poly character with correct uv's and want to sculpt some detail onto it, some displacement and perhaps some normal maps, but what I am most concerned with is how to get them baked out... What I did was this, I imported an obj into the sculpt room as a surface sculpt or whatever you call it, not voxels and after some sculpting I went to the retopo room and imported the low ress mesh with the correct uv's. Then I went to the paint room to export or bake the displacement but I can't see uv's in the texture editor and I don't know how to get it done. I don't know this process and I really want to know this cuz I think this program is very nice but lacks some simple fast workflow tutorials. Can anyone help me with this problem or point out a decent tutorial cuz I am already spending 4 days on this problem. Cheers, Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reputable Contributor digman Posted February 20, 2016 Reputable Contributor Report Share Posted February 20, 2016 (edited) You are missing a step. Here is a basic video on baking for your maps from the retopo room to the paint room. This applies for normal maps, displacement maps or Ptex... Here are some more tutorials on baking... Some are older and the interface changed some but all the features are still there... You can figure out the changes in the UI as not that much has changed. https://www.youtube.com/user/PILGWAY3DCoat/search?query=texture+baking Edited February 20, 2016 by digman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contributor TimmyZDesign Posted February 20, 2016 Contributor Report Share Posted February 20, 2016 Digman is right of course, but if the video tutorial isn't enough, here are some step by step instructions: 1. Import your model to the Sculpt Room. 2. Sculpt your hi poly details. 3. Now go to the Retopo Room and import the low poly version of your model with UVs. Now you will have two versions of the model occupying the same 3D space (one is high poly and one is low poly). Some notes: You can only edit the high poly version topology in the Sculpt Room, and you can only edit the low poly version topology in the Retopo Room. You can also make or edit UVs on the low poly version in the Retopo Room if you want. Additionally, you will see that the high poly version is in the Paint Room, but the low poly version is not yet in the Paint Room. The reason that the high poly version is in both the Sculpt Room and Paint Room is because 3D-Coat supports vertex color painting, so you can paint the vertices of the high poly version if you want. If you don't want to see the high poly version in the Paint Room go to the View menu in the Paint Room and uncheck "show voxels in the paint room". 4. To send the low poly version to the Paint Room, first go to the Retopo Room, then go to the Bake menu, and choose a bake option. You can choose to bake a color map, a normal map, or displacement map, or whatever other option you want. To get a normal map, choose a Per Pixel Paint option. To get a displacement map, choose a Microvertex option. After you choose the option you want, 3D-Coat will bake the maps and finally send the low poly version to the Paint Room. The maps will be put onto layers in the Paint Room and you can see them on the model in the viewport and also in the 2D texture editor window. 5. You can continue to paint your model and when you are done, choose Export from the File menu to send the model and maps out of 3D-Coat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member wktb Posted February 20, 2016 Author Member Report Share Posted February 20, 2016 Thanks to both of you for the elaborate explanation! Very helpful and clear! I tried this indeed but I have to wrap my head around this program some more I guess. But my problem lies with the model, it is a rather thin model and when exporting a displacement map I have issues in several locations of the mesh.. It is not a stone model with one thickness and I have tried using the local thingy's but that doesn't help me either. So I will try some more! I will get back on this for sure. What I don't get is why it is so hard, when I import a obj with the good uv's and polyflow into zbrush and start sculpting I can export a ok working displacement map in no time. Is there perhaps another way I am missing with 3D coat? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reputable Contributor digman Posted February 20, 2016 Reputable Contributor Report Share Posted February 20, 2016 Without having your complete workflow with some pictures are a good video, it is hard to see what the problems are... Sometimes if possible sharing the model in question if allowed for others to test is a way of getting to the root of a problem quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member wktb Posted February 20, 2016 Author Member Report Share Posted February 20, 2016 No problem, I attached my low res mesh. I used this mesh as a base to add the detail in and do the rest as in the posts up above is mentioned. But perhaps you could do a fast test with it. It would be very much appreciated. Nick creature_14.obj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reputable Contributor digman Posted February 21, 2016 Reputable Contributor Report Share Posted February 21, 2016 I had a little time to test the model... late here so no time to post information but I will. Baked to the paint room using Mico-vertex for a displacement map. I added some funky skin stuff after I baked... The chest and abs were baked in the displacement map. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member wktb Posted February 21, 2016 Author Member Report Share Posted February 21, 2016 Ok, that looks ok, if I baked it to the paint room I got all kinds of artifacts.. How about it if the deformation is bigger, now it is on the skin. Perhaps you could walk me through it if you have time:D Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reputable Contributor digman Posted February 21, 2016 Reputable Contributor Report Share Posted February 21, 2016 (edited) Do you use Skype for voice and screen sharing... That would be the fastest way to walk you through it... I at times offer a free skype session for users to help solve a problem or figure out a workflow. PM me if you are interested. I will address two areas though for larger deformations in the sculpt model to help with the baking. For large movements with the pose tool or move tool in the top tool bar select " Conform Retopo Mesh" This will move and conform the retopo mesh to match the large deformation move of the sculpt model. Now your baking cage does not have to be so extreme as the mesh now is closer to the topology of the sculpt room model. In the Retopo room, you can use the brush tool to relax those polygons that got moved to remove some stretching of them. The other workflow is bypass the sculpt room and import your model into the Paint Room, choosing Paint w/ deep displacement (mico-vertex) Be sure to give your model enough Display mesh resolution and millions of polygons which 3DC internally uses to create your displacement map. In this mode your Model's polygon are displaced in realtime. This is true polygon displacement not a normal map. When you export the model, export the low-polygon version and your displacement map. There are other areas to consider but these will get you going if skype is not an option. Edited February 21, 2016 by digman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member wktb Posted February 22, 2016 Author Member Report Share Posted February 22, 2016 Thanx for the info, I am on the other side of the world (the netherlands) so it is hard to find time for skype I guess, but still super awesome you want to do that! Now I am at work so time is short, I will let you know! Thanx for your time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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