[Feature] Sculpt on meshed with UVs

[makco]

Dear 3D COAT Team,

I used 3D coat for many different tasks, UV creation, painting voxel and mesh sculpting, etc.

I run into a situation where i would really like to use a low poly model to create uvs on (as is much easier to create with lower poly of course), and then i would like to subdivide the model and do a bit of tweaking to it. I can use the tweak room but is quite limited, so it would be great to be able to use the sculpt room tools to do the work, or bring more tools to the tweak room...

I tried a work around

subdividing the mesh with the UVs in max,

then import that mesh on the sculpt room, export to obj,  

import in max and morph (before morph i had to triangulate mesh as it gets triangulated from the export from 3D Coat)

This in theory should work, but the vertex order changes and the morph does not work correctly...

It would be great if you could import a mesh on the sculpt room and when exporting it without reducing it, it would be the exact same mesh, with same poly numbers and vertex orders.... so we could use the UVs already created.

Just a request in case this could come on a future version.

 

Thanks,

 

M.

[Javis]

Hi makco!

Unfortunately most this is impossible to do for a few reasons. OBJ format does not support morph maps/targets. Also as soon as you add one vertex, the whole vertex order is different, and therefore any vertex maps like a morph, will not work. UVs work with the OBJ format, and should still work in theory (Andrew would need to implement this of course), since you're just subdividing the mesh. But you'd have to stay in surface sculpt mode. As soon as you convert to voxels, that data would be lost.

Your best chance is to bake a normal or displacement map from the high res to your current res mesh. This is the standard workflow pretty much everyone uses. You can import your mesh to sculpt on it, and then also import the same mesh (with UVs, etc.) in to the Retopo room, and bake the sculpt results when you're completed sculpting, to your retopo mesh. Keep in mind, you'll still lose your morph maps, OBJ does not support morphs. But LWO does, as long as you don't subdivide or add any verts, it will remain in the .LWO format.

[makco]

Javis Thanks for the answer.

I was hoping that the vertex numbers would stay as long as you sculpt not in voxels or liveclay... as  know that will change the vertex numbers therefore morph wouldn't work...

I would just be great to be able to add some details on a mesh that is fully unwraped and subdivided....currently I can add some details but using normal maps on the paint room, but it would be great to add some further mesh modifications with the great sculpt tools ( without using liveclay or voxels).

Thanks again in any case.

M.

[Javis]

Hey again, pleasure to help, even if it's not positive. I agree with you, it would be a really great way to work. It's something that a number of us have asked for. I'm guessing it must be a bit far from trivial to implement.

[tokikake]

I bump  　there should be way keep vertex order, Retopo(with UV) mesh A >> sculpt room , surace sculpt>> retrun to Retopo mesh B,

meshA and meshB keep vertex count, (then ideally return as quad) and keep vertex order. 

Though 2021 seems offer way which improve how retopo mesh follow the sculpt mesh. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbWlDtBGiGA&ab_channel=3DCoat

But it not solve as true meaning.  I do not think,  If I use it,  retopo mesh perfectly follow same vertex postion of sculpted mesh (when their resolution is same)

Ideally we need kind of multi sub-D modifier, which can keep base as non destructive.

  At least we need way,  when Retopo mesh already sub-divided as high-reso,,  we can sculpt it directly with sculpt brush . (surface mode)

Edited March 5, 2021 by tokikake

[gbball]

I agree, I propose a Quad mode sculpt object layer type to go along with Surface mode and Voxel mode.  Something with a very limited number of sculpting tools initially, but lets you work non-destructively, via sculpt layers and subdivision stepping.  Ideally, leveraging the displacement-based sculpting workflow in the paint room.

I wouldn't expect any of the boolean tools to be available, but it would be nice to have the following as a starting point

• Instancing (Imagine being able to instance several pieces of UV'd/Textured foliage or debris throughout your scene and then exporting it to Maya/Max/Blender?)
• Clay
• Draw
• Inflate
• Pinch (Similar implementation to surface mode)
• Move
• Transform
• The ability to step through subdivision levels, with the sculpt detail from each level stored within the level as displacement data.
• The ability to reproject from visible sculpt  layers to the current sculpt

And then add more from that point forward.  This along with the Retopo and Modeling tools coming would be huge.

 

Edited March 5, 2021 by gbball

[tokikake]

I agree, gdball (my main purpose was generate VDM from sculpted and non sculpted mesh delta, then serch around related topics  in forum , then found this request)

So I just hope to sculpt with keep mesh vertex order. Then If sculpt brushes in retopo room will be offered, I hope it work better than old shape room (geometry editing room) brush,  and it can use brush textures normal as same as sculpt room  ^^;

 Anyway I may request again,, after 2021 released. (I understand, 3d coat dev team need to concentrate to fix or fine tune, already offered new tools for 2021 release (directly mail Andrew  or open in mantis,, I do not know)

I already  made almost same  topics in forum , sorry , if it bother others ^^;  '(I could not think different thing, when I concentrate this issue)