3DCoat 4.7 (BETA testing thread)

[digman]

Ah, good you figured it out... I see your reasoning as well. I will have to test this out, interesting...

I might change the order of the default so as not confuse newer users since as you said they would not be aware of ghosting and would wonder what is going on.  Once they understand ghosting then they can check the input box in the dialog to ghost the layers... Personal opinion here though and would rather not have it on by default.

Edited March 10, 2017 by digman

[digman]

@ AbnRanger...  The cursor size problem you mention earlier when using the paint cage mode now I figured out why I was not having it. 

I have "Select" chosen under the Add Geometry tab. No problems when that is chosen. Other selections do cause the cursor ring size problem you mentioned to various degrees. Some effecting the cursor ring size entirely with no ability to change the cursor size.  Others you can change the cursor size but the cursor ring size gets small when holding down the shift key and you can not resize it. 

For now the "Select" appears to be the best choice to have highlighted before painting your cage as the cursor ring size works as expected even when holding down the shift key.

Edited March 10, 2017 by digman

[Grimm]

The 4.7.24 Linux download is broken, when downloaded it's only 24 KBytes in size. 

Edited: looks like it's either a network error or a server error.  I'm doing a wget that is more resilient with those issues. Seems to be working better.  Thanks.

Edited March 12, 2017 by Grimm

[digman]

2 hours ago, Grimm said:

The 4.7.24 Linux download is broken, when downloaded it's only 24 KBytes in size. 

Edited: looks like it's either a network error or a server error.  I'm doing a wget that is more resilient with those issues. Seems to be working better.  Thanks.

Like you said, Possible network or server error. When I click on the Linux link, the file was downloading correctly at the right file size.

[Grimm]

Thanks, I was able to down load the file.  Wget had to restart the process several times for it to work.  I have been noticing issues with my network connection of late.

[ajz3d]

On 10.03.2017 at 3:49 PM, Andrew Shpagin said:

Forgot to mention - Update islands issue resolved too.

Many thanks!!!

[stusutcliffe]

Something thats been annoying me today, In the shader palette  ,  I would like   to copy a shader into a different folder . So I right click the shader  and I get  to "copy" the shader to one on the list, witch it does fine . But the shader is now gone from the original folder. So technically the shader has been "moved" not "copied" It would be nice to have an option to "move" and "copy"

[Frimasson]

With a stencil or with a smart material, the distord option works with a 8 bit map but not with a 16 bit rgb or a 32 bit rgb.

[Taros]

@Andrew: Have you changed something to the autopo routine? The topology results seems to be much better for any reason.

[Frimasson]

Some thoughts about the Smart Material Editor :

Actually, in the Smart Material Editor, i have to use RGB 16 bits tif displacement maps, centered around a Grey between 80 and 90. Values lower displace inwards, values higher displace outwards.
3DC can't handle well 16 bits greyscale maps, neither PSD files.
Is it  possible to have a slider in the mat editor to set the Mid value/zero displacement for displacement maps ? It will simplier than adjusting the curve intensity of the map.
Changing the position/orientation/scale with the navigation in the stencil toolbar is unusable with a tablet. I have to use the mouse, or the transform gzmo.

Do you plan to add adjustement layers,  procedural textures, procedural masking, the possibility to change the parameters of a material afterwards ? 

Thanks.

[Thomas P.]

For the past few betas the Vertex-Lasso has been bugged. Usually it snaps to 45 degree angles when you hold Shift but it seems as the final position of the "shift-click" is now where the cursor is located. Maybe I messed up some setting somehwere? As it stands this makes it very hard to cut a straight line.

Video:  https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/449179/3DCoat/ShiftClick-Bug.flv

Edited March 15, 2017 by Thomas P.

[gbball]

How about a launcher similar to the Epic Launcher for managing versions of 3DC...could also connect to asset libraries/browser/maybe a marketplace...having different versions installed and having to manage the installs through windows is a bit unwieldy.

Also, a bit unrelated, but a topological move tool function is important for sculpting and not currently available.

1 more thing.  I know it's been mentioned a million times before, but the ability to sculpt after retopology with subdivision levels is the single biggest missing feature in the program...It seems there has been some stuff in development.  Just hoping that is part of the plan..

[Tony Nemo]

I'm stuck using the new scan depth tools inside the object. They don't appear to alter anything. I've tried them all with and without control and get no change. What am I missing?

[Tony Nemo]

When I press 'Enter'. it exits the Depth Adjustment tools without showing the depth change shown when the spheres were used. I need to stay with the tools until all problem areas are dealt with before exiting the tool. I am unable to effect any change in the geometry with any of the tools.

[RabenWulf]

Do we know whats going on development wise for the next version and or big update? Any future progress on sculpting (brush) improvements?

Edited March 22, 2017 by RabenWulf

[AbnRanger]

6 hours ago, Tony Nemo said:

When I press 'Enter'. it exits the Depth Adjustment tools without showing the depth change shown when the spheres were used. I need to stay with the tools until all problem areas are dealt with before exiting the tool. I am unable to effect any change in the geometry with any of the tools.

You are applying the changes with the BRUSH? 

[digman]

I also tend to keep my projection cage close to the mesh and then use the brush to go over areas that need adjustment. Not sure what I am seeing here as in your 1st post you said you were working the inside of the cage but the fingers part of the cage are far out. I first see how close I can keep my projection cage to the mesh and then adjust the main parameters a little if there is just to many areas to paint. I try to strike a balance between the two.

Once you figure it out on how to use the brush to paint the local adjustments much better than the spheres.

Edited March 23, 2017 by digman

[Tony Nemo]

I can make the fingers correct by decreasing the scan depth but it gives errors elsewhere.

I sent the file to Andrew as it may be broken. It displays, "Partial symmetry 100.0%" in red and no use of Make Symmetrical  will change it. The Scan Depth tools don't effect the mesh.

[Javis]

On 3/22/2017 at 3:51 PM, RabenWulf said:

Do we know whats going on development wise for the next version and or big update? Any future progress on sculpting (brush) improvements?

Smart material layers, layers masks and UV changes/improvements are in dev right now. 

[RabenWulf]

3 hours ago, Javis said:

Smart material layers, layers masks and UV changes/improvements are in dev right now. 

Awesome! Thanks for info Javis. Looking forward to more details when its ready, especially in regards to workflow.

[Tony Nemo]

I found trying to give this fabric a denim texture impossible at 4K res.

If it seems too coarse, it shows where scale adjustment ceased without discovering a happy outcome. I think it would look OK at 8K but there doesn't appear a handy way to increase the UV resolution (tell me if I'm wrong). Cubic mapping but nothing better with other projections.

Edited March 27, 2017 by Tony Nemo

[Tony Nemo]

Smart Material added an interesting artifact but didn't really produce a solution.

[Taros]

On 27.3.2017 at 1:30 AM, Javis said:

Smart material layers, layers masks and UV changes/improvements are in dev right now. 

Very interesting.

I hope Andrew will add a Smart Material <-> Paint Layer Linking/Connection.

My dream: My layer painting information updates automaically, when a Smart Material was updated.

This is something I really would like to see in 3DC. I like this function in Substance Painter.

And something that sounds really unimportant but is one of the most needed features: Smart Materials list represented by text. Without any thumbnails.
And a better folder structure. We have dozens of materials in 3DC and can't master them anymore, because we see just thumbs and the material folders inside the smart material window overload the window header.

To see the materials name you have to mouse over it - something really annoying with 50 Materials and more...

Best wishes
Chris

[Taros]

19 minutes ago, Tony Nemo said:

I found trying to give this fabric a denim texture impossible at 4K res.

If it seems too coarse, it shows where scale adjustment ceased without discovering a happy outcome. I think it would look OK at 8K but there doesn't appear a handy way to increase the UV resolution (tell me if I'm wrong). Cubic mapping but nothing better with other projections.

You have different choices. Why not use more than one UV sets f.e. ?

[Tony Nemo]

Thanks, Chris, I'm not familiar with that. I could return to Retopo to bake an 8k map but how would I use two?

[Javis]

34 minutes ago, Taros said:

Very interesting.

I hope Andrew will add a Smart Material <-> Paint Layer Linking/Connection.

My dream: My layer painting information updates automaically, when a Smart Material was updated.

This is something I really would like to see in 3DC. I like this function in Substance Painter.

And something that sounds really unimportant but is one of the most needed features: Smart Materials list represented by text. Without any thumbnails.
And a better folder structure. We have dozens of materials in 3DC and can't master them anymore, because we see just thumbs and the material folders inside the smart material window overoad the window header.

To see the materials name you have to mouse over it - something really annoying with 50 Materials and more...

Best wishes
Chris

Hey Chris.

 

The Smart Material Layer, is going to be exactly as you're describing. A lot like Substance or Quixel, but no doubt with the Andrew-style added in for good measure.

For resource tracking, I completely agree!

[Taros]

On 27.3.2017 at 10:36 PM, Taros said:

Very interesting.

I hope Andrew will add a Smart Material <-> Paint Layer Linking/Connection.

My dream: My layer painting information updates automaically, when a Smart Material was updated.

This is something I really would like to see in 3DC. I like this function in Substance Painter.

And something that sounds really unimportant but is one of the most needed features: Smart Materials list represented by text. Without any thumbnails.
And a better folder structure. We have dozens of materials in 3DC and can't master them anymore, because we see just thumbs and the material folders inside the smart material window overoad the window header.

To see the materials name you have to mouse over it - something really annoying with 50 Materials and more...

Best wishes
Chris

Hey Javis. This information sounds really great. I am curious for the result...

Best wishes from germany!

[Taros]

On 27.3.2017 at 10:41 PM, Tony Nemo said:

Thanks, Chris, I'm not familiar with that. I could return to Retopo to bake an 8k map but how would I use two?

See my attachments. Every UV set will get an own texture page. They can even be in different size. If you don't need a high resolution for individual elements.

You have to move the UV islands to the UV set it have to be used for and unwrap them. Then you can make a new bake. The texture sizes will be set before the baking process.

 

[Tony Nemo]

After your suggestion I watched one of Don's videos on the  subject. I'm also going to try vertex painting.

[jene]

in my personal opinion, the rendering software is enough .

I hope that sculpting capability of 3D-coat is improved  rather than rendering.