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I admit my ignorance. Why we can't have VOXELS with NON-UNIFORM density for the same object ?


mkdm
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Hi 3D-Coat team and everyone.

I admit my ignorance and probably this is a very old questions, I don't know...

So...

Why we can't have VOXELS with NON-UNIFORM density for the same object ?

If it were possible I think that this feature could give us an unpredictable freedom in modelling processes.

But maybe I'm saying a banality.

 

Have a nice day,

- Marco (mkdm)

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A voxel represents a value on a regular grid in three-dimensional space. As with pixels in a bitmap, voxels themselves do not typically have their position (their coordinates) explicitly encoded along with their values.

Instead, the position of a voxel is inferred based upon its position relative to other voxels (i.e., its position in the data structure that makes up a single volumetric image). In contrast to pixels and voxels, points and polygons are often explicitly represented by the coordinates of their vertices.

A direct consequence of this difference is that polygons are able to efficiently represent simple 3D structures with lots of empty or homogeneously filled space, while voxels are good at representing regularly sampled spaces that are non-homogeneously filled.

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Hi Carlosan,

and thanks a lot for your reply.

I asked that questions because I'm wondering how can I handle a common situation that occurs during modelling in 3D-Coat :

1) Start sculpting with low density voxel object

2) Increase, when needed, the voxel density during the modelling process

3) Transform the final voxel into a surface object. Let's say that the final voxel is about 1M triangles.

4) Working in surface mode to add very detailed features to a restricted area of the object.
Let's say that this restricted area covers about 1/10 of the entire object, and after using some live clay brush, it's composed by 300,000 triangles.
So, the total amount of triangles of the whole object is about 1,300,000

5) Now I need to transform the surface object into a voxel for some macro modifications.

AND THIS IS THE CRUCIAL POINT :
If I need to preserve the details present only in the small 1/10 portion of the entire object,
I MUST work on a voxel object made by some millions of triangles, let's say 7-8 M,
that is MUCH MUCH more  than I needed.

Am I wrong with this thinking ?
What is the correct way, if it exists, to tackle this problem ?

 

Best,

- Marco (mkdm)

Edited by mkdm
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1 hour ago, mkdm said:

Hi Carlosan,

and thanks a lot for your reply.

I asked that questions because I'm wondering how can I handle a common situation that occurs during modelling in 3D-Coat :

1) Start sculpting with low density voxel object

2) Increase, when needed, the voxel density during the modelling process

3) Transform the final voxel into a surface object. Let's say that the final voxel is about 1M triangles.

4) Working in surface mode to add very detailed features to a restricted area of the object.
Let's say that this restricted area covers about 1/10 of the entire object, and after using some live clay brush, it's composed by 300,000 triangles.
So, the total amount of triangles of the whole object is about 1,300,000

5) Now I need to transform the surface object into a voxel for some macro modifications.

AND THIS IS THE CRUCIAL POINT :
If I need to preserve the details present only in the small 1/10 portion of the entire object,
I MUST work on a voxel object made by some millions of triangles, let's say 7-8 M,
that is MUCH MUCH more  than I needed.

Am I wrong with this thinking ?
What is the correct way, if it exists, to tackle this problem ?

 

Best,

- Marco (mkdm)

Do your macro modifications in proxy mode...you will have access to all surface mode tools on a lower-resolution proxy model ,all your changes are gonna be transferred to your 1.3 mill mesh without loss of details in the Liveclay areas. Do not convert a Liveclay detailed models back to voxels.

Voxels are to build the global form of your sculpt and do your booleans and stuff like that..(although you can do booleans in surface mode without altering your Liveclay detailing but generally SF mode booleans are more heavy calculation)

What are the macro modifications you have in mind? Im pretty sure you can do them in SF mode, most voxels tools have SF/Liveclay counterparts...

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44 minutes ago, artman said:

Do your macro modifications in proxy mode...you will have access to all surface mode tools on a lower-resolution proxy model ,all your changes are gonna be transferred to your 1.3 mill mesh without loss of details in the Liveclay areas. Do not convert a Liveclay detailed models back to voxels. Voxels are to build the global form of your sculpt and do your booleans and stuff like that...although you can do booleans in surface mode without altering your Livecaly details (but SF mode booleans are more heavy calculation times) What are the macro modifications you have in mind? Im pretty sure you can do them in SF mode, most voxels tools have SF/Liveclay counterparts...

Hi artman!

I wish to thank you for your precious help!

I don't quite know yet all the 3D-Coat features and with your suggestion you've helped me a lot!

For macro modifications I mean all the modifications that involve large area of the objects, that is mainly : moving large area, posing large area, expand/shrink large frozen area.
if possible I would do this type of macro operations without stretching the topology.
is it possible ? I have noticed, for example, that while in proxy mode, the Move tool does not have the "Remove stretching" option.

What do you think ?

Is that the correct workflow ? That is, working on proxy to do that type of modifications, in the case I have already started to add details with live clay tools ?

Thanks again and have a nice day!

- Marco (mkdm)

Edited by mkdm
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14 hours ago, artman said:

yeah exactly,choose a decimated or degraded proxy mode (4x) and you should be able to do moving/posing of large areas comfortablly.

You will have to redo your frozen selections tough I think ...

Hi artman and thanks a lot for your suggestions!

Just two more questions :

1) When you say "decimated or degraded proxy mode (4x)" what do you mean ?
Do you mean the "Downgrade volume" command accessible in the VoxTree ?

Here's a video capture of 3D-Coat http://take.ms/DtepM
Where is the "decimate" command ?

2) How can I do this type of macro operations without stretching the topology ?
Is it possible ? I have noticed, for example, that while in proxy mode, the Move tool does not have the "Remove stretching" option.
That is, after doing the macro operation which is a good way to relax the streched area ?

 

Thanks and have a nice day.

- Marco (mkdm)

Edited by mkdm
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1 hour ago, mkdm said:

Hi artman and thanks a lot for your suggestions!

Just two more questions :

1) When you say "decimated or degraded proxy mode (4x)" what do you mean ?
Do you mean the "Downgrade volume" command accessible in the VoxTree ?

Here's a video capture of 3D-Coat http://take.ms/DtepM
Where is the "decimate" command ?

2) How can I do this type of macro operations without stretching the topology ?
Is it possible ? I have noticed, for example, that while in proxy mode, the Move tool does not have the "Remove stretching" option.
That is, after doing the macro operation which is a good way to relax the streched area ?

 

Thanks and have a nice day.

- Marco (mkdm)

1)Geometry menu-Proxy Method-Decimate 4X

2)RemoveStretching is for building up your volume (in  my workflow it almost completely replace Voxel usage.)

You dont need it to make macrochanges ,your 1.3 million poly sculpt can probably be posed/ tweaked alright unless your are planning some extreme changes like using the Move tool to stretch some giant appendage out of your character. Playing with proportions is not really destructive to details ...

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