Linux updates news

[SERGYI]

The biggest problem for today with Linux build is GKT3 functions gtk_clipboard_wait_for_text, gtk_clipboard_wait_is_image_available, and gtk_clipboard_wait_for_image. I found a workaround for the crash after calling them on my Ubuntu 20.04. But the modal startup dialog with the license dialog is still flickering on my machine. When I remove those functions, there is no flickering. I suspect those functions are why you see the viewport disappearing on your machines. I plan to see how those functions work in GTK3 under 22.04 this week. It may reveal something important about this matter.

[StriderX]

On 1/26/2025 at 5:20 AM, sockpuppetkingdom said:

File open dialogue is still broken on Arch-based distros

Same here on my Arch install 

I could be way off but I think the culprit on arch is the linking directly to the library instead of the symbolic link

[Grakino]

@SERGYI I have read your messages, they make me feel sympathetic and a little sad. Studying the history of Pigway and having conversations with some of the developers, I am beginning to understand your burden and the burden of the team as a whole. In my subjective opinion, one of the reasons is Mr. Andrew himself as the head of the company, who took on too much for himself and the team. Too many ideas, too many ambitions, the desire to become the new Blender, creates a big burden that a small team can hardly lift (as far as I know, you are about 5 programmers).

About Linux, okay, I get it. Actually, in my video I tested the last two builds, as you wrote 32-1 and 27-1. I follow the forum and try to follow your instructions. I think it will not be always easy for me to recognize which problems in 3DCoat are Linux only and which are common, but I will try.

“3DCoat project is essentially a Windows-only project” - yeah i felt that. I learned this after I bought it.

You just get enough sleep , I'll wait

[SreckoM]

Quote

"3DCoat" project is essentially a Windows-only project. 

Figured that too. I really did not get anything for latest upgrade I paid. None of the versions worked on PopOS (Ubuntu 22.04), from Feb 2024. So I am not really holding my breath here. I also think that this will continue like this as you are just human and I do not see how can you keep doing this in a future. Will keep version from Feb 2024 and slowly start switching to Blender and MARI. Both work flawless on Linux. Anyway thank you for your hard work Sergyi! 

[Sorn]

20 hours ago, StriderX said:

Same here on my Arch install 

I could be way off but I think the culprit on arch is the linking directly to the library instead of the symbolic link

I can confirm in Arch it crashes on using the file dialog.
To test it, I installed a fresh Endeavour OS (basically Arch with some script helpers and saner installer) with Cinnamon desktop (to rule out Gnome and GTK4 issues) on a spare SSD and yes, it launched fine, but on using the Save as... menu it crashes immediately.

I could install any other distro/desktop if needed, but I think this is getting us nowhere. With the available knowledge, time and other resources, the sooner SERGYI manages to make a Flatpak the better, really. Put everything needed inside, and be done with it.

Edited January 28 by Sorn

[kumpa]

On 1/28/2025 at 8:22 PM, SreckoM said:

Figured that too. I really did not get anything for latest upgrade I paid. None of the versions worked on PopOS (Ubuntu 22.04), from Feb 2024. So I am not really holding my breath here. I also think that this will continue like this as you are just human and I do not see how can you keep doing this in a future. Will keep version from Feb 2024 and slowly start switching to Blender and MARI. Both work flawless on Linux. Anyway thank you for your hard work Sergyi! 

Yeah, I am done with it too. I feel we should be given a free license extension since no work has been done towards a functioning Linux version in the last year. 3dcoat earned  an infamous award for the only Linux app in the world which development cycle was halted by a humble file dialog. Well done guys, 6 years (and counting) of screwing up paying users.

[Sorn]

I do understand the frustration. And there's some history behind all of it, sure. And the people at Pilgway and us the users we've all had our fair share of joy and pains for years, now.

And yet, they didn't fail on purpose, I assume. They also didn't just cancel Mac and Linux ports either. So, now what?

Well, they are really trying, and improving; we can also see that. And some problems are yet to be solved. And us, the users, we can leave, stay, renew licenses or not. I myself seldom use this software any more (for now). But to discourage the improvement of the software or their efforts towards making it work serves no purpose and benefits nobody. It won't make you feel any better either. And we don't need to know if you stay or leave, really; it's your personal choice.

I still want it to work well on Linux, and I won't use it until then for actual work. But I won't discourage them from trying if it's not working for me yet. I understand contacting them for a refund, asking CS for some clarification... but I wouldn't shame them publicly for no gain whatsoever. That's hardly ever the best way forward for anyone involved.

[JoseConseco]

I gave up on linux version too.     But   windows version + wine  work ok for me.  Maybe you should try it, rather than waiting another 6  years. 

[Sorn]

21 hours ago, JoseConseco said:

I gave up on linux version too.     But   windows version + wine  work ok for me.  Maybe you should try it, rather than waiting another 6  years. 

Interesting.
Did you manage to have hardware acceleration and Wacom working in 3DCoat in WINE?
Is there a guide somewhere on how to proceed with that?
Thanks in advance for any tips and info on this. It could be helpful until we have a proper working port to Linux.

By the way, I love your add-ons for Blender. Happy customer here! 

Edited February 8 by Sorn

[ebitz]

I agree with JoseConseco. Running the windows .exe in wine is a far better experience so far. Everything just works from my initial testing. The interface is much faster and better overall. My wacom tablet and using nvidia card worked immediately. So far I found it to be a 1:1 as if working in windows 11. I simply installed wine and winetricks from my distros repositories (Zorin OS). Downloaded the .exe. Ran the .exe thru installation wizard. I set the program installation folder to my linux home folder with all my other linux apps. By default It will try to save in a C: directory. After installation it runs thru a little wine configuration and just works. It appears to find and  use your existing user 3DCoat documents folder as well. Which was nice. I did not have to run thru a license wizard. I believe it just found my license info from my native linux install. It is even easy to pin to your dash without any extra setup. Applink between 3DCoat and native linux blender install doesn't seem to be working or I am missing something. I do get a new vox layer for the mesh from blender, but no actual mesh in viewport. Note: experience may vary.

[SreckoM]

So everything works without issues? Pressure from tablet? 

[ebitz]

Yes. Pressure from tablet works for me. There are  issues though. However these issues are present in the latest windows builds as well. In Voxel mode some brushes will extrude random voxels on and off the mesh. This is also present  in build .31. The move tool performance appears to be very slow in voxel mode and surface mode in build .32. Build .31 the move tool seems to work as expected.  In Surface mode I have not experienced any issues. Saving, baking, rendering, retopo all seem to be working. In conclusion, using wine on linux appears to be a 1:1 correlation, even with the same bugs as the latest windows builds. I am not sure in which stable windows builds you may want to use, that will be up to you. The windows .31 build does not have the move tool degradation, but it does have the voxel artifacting with the voxel brushes. You may want to try older windows builds.

[SreckoM]

Does not work for me on PopOS ()Ubuntu 22.04). I get warning that 3dcoat can not write to user pref folder and will not function properly.  After opening there are no text, most of icons are missing. UI is totally messed up.  

Edited February 9 by SreckoM

[Sorn]

18 minutes ago, SreckoM said:

Does not work for me on PopOS ()Ubuntu 22.04). I get warning that 3dcoat can not write to some folder and will not function properly.  After opening there are not text, most of icons are missing. UI is totally messed up.  

You could try with Bottles. https://usebottles.com/

[SreckoM]

Thanks  with bottles work but no pressure with XPPen tablet. 

[SreckoM]

Pressure works now too, thanks for tip!

Edited February 9 by SreckoM

[SERGYI]

Here is a report about my progress so far. I installed Ubuntu 22.04, but it was impossible to build 3DCoat under it. There are errors in C++ standard headers. According to forums, this is a known problem in Ubuntu 22.04. Then, I installed Ubuntu 24.04. "3DCoat" successfully builds, runs, and works without issues, except for the issue of the drawing tablet not working. It turned out that Wayland is not sending pressure information into GTK3. The pressure value should be obtained using other methods. As was mentioned here, the core problem is file dialogs are not working under some distributions. So, I focused on file dialogs. Some of the file dialog reporters use Linux Manjaro. Under Windows 11, I installed VMWare Player and installed Linux Manjaro inside it. Then, I downloaded and installed 3DCoat builds one by one from the recent down to the build with working file dialogs. The last build with working file dialogs is "4.8.23". In the next build, "4.9.66", the file dialogs do not work. I looked into source control to understand what happened between these builds. It turned out that "4.8.23" was built under Linux CentOS, whereas "4.9.66" was built under Ubuntu. There was no change in the source code related to the file dialogs. The change of build systems had introduced the problem with file dialogs. To remedy the file dialogs problem, I changed the build system from Ubuntu to PopOS 22.04. To build "3DCoat", it was necessary to make some changes in the Makefile because the build environment under PopOS is not the same as under Ubuntu. The result is "3DCoat 2024.32", which successfully displays file dialogs under Linux Manjaro:
https://pilgway.com/~sergyi/3DCoat-2024/3DCoat-2024.32.tar.bz2
I have attached a screenshot with a file dialog under Linux Manjaro. Note that the file dialog has a modern theme because 3DCoat uses GTK3. In GTK2, the file dialogs have a classic Linux style without a theme. 
The culprit of the file dialogs problem is revealed. Different build systems generate code that works differently, which is terrible for developers. Next, I will resolve issues known under PopOS.

[Sorn]

In case this is relevant:
I tried the new build running on EndeavourOS (basically Arch) with Gnome 47 on Wayland. The file dialog indeed opens, but on loading a scene it crashes instantly. On saving it works, though.
There are other issues, but those would be for another time. After all, until saving and loading are working there's no real point in testing much of the rest.

Anyway, it's an improvement nonetheless! A few wrinkles to iron out still but, hey!, thanks for keeping your efforts. It's appreciated.

[Flobee]

2024.32 did fix my issue with constant crashing in file dialogue boxes.  However this version now freezes anytime I try to paint the model.  Once I release the mouse the strokes are applied and the mouse move to where it should be but cannot see any movement on screen during press.  Obviously unusable in this state though unfortunately.  Ubuntu 24.04.1

[MarkDigital]

On 3/14/2025 at 10:18 PM, Flobee said:

2024.32 did fix my issue with constant crashing in file dialogue boxes.  However this version now freezes anytime I try to paint the model.  Once I release the mouse the strokes are applied and the mouse move to where it should be but cannot see any movement on screen during press.  Obviously unusable in this state though unfortunately.  Ubuntu 24.04.1

Hey flobee, I'm having the window freezing issue on my brushes too. But for me, it's been with every version other than 24.06.

Can I please know which version you used before this one, where it wasn't freezing on brush clicks?
Also on Ubuntu 24

[ymesh]

On 3/13/2025 at 12:09 AM, Sorn said:

In case this is relevant:
I tried the new build running on EndeavourOS (basically Arch) with Gnome 47 on Wayland. The file dialog indeed opens, but on loading a scene it crashes instantly. On saving it works, though.
There are other issues, but those would be for another time. After all, until saving and loading are working there's no real point in testing much of the rest.

Anyway, it's an improvement nonetheless! A few wrinkles to iron out still but, hey!, thanks for keeping your efforts. It's appreciated.

The same on Fedora 40, X11 Cinnamon 6.2.9.
The file dialogs are working, scene saves, but crushes on loading (((
But.. it looks a bit promising already )))

[Flobee]

2024.06 Linux version works for me in all ways except save/load dialogue boxes will generally crash 3DCoat.  2024.32 has functional file explorer boxes but has the freezing issue.  For what its worth installing windows version 2024.31 via Lutris and just using that works fine thus far for me.

[MarkDigital]

1 hour ago, Flobee said:

2024.06 Linux version works for me in all ways except save/load dialogue boxes will generally crash 3DCoat.  2024.32 has functional file explorer boxes but has the freezing issue.  For what its worth installing windows version 2024.31 via Lutris and just using that works fine thus far for me.

Thanks Flobee, this is the closest thing to a solution I've found. My wine attempts weren't working, but Lutris must have automatically installed something I was missing.

It sounds like we are having the same issues with the same versions. I'm on Manjaro now, have swapped distro so many times, so I'm thinking distro/desktop environment isn't the main problem.

[SERGYI]

I have reverted Linux-related code to "2024.06" and copied it into "2025". This fallback to GTK2 solves problems with OpenGL glitches and makes drawing tablets work again. Knowing that Linux Ubuntu generates an executable in which file dialogs do not work, I built "3DCoat 2025.01" under PopOS 22.04:
https://pilgway.com/~sergyi/links-Linux.html
The executable should work similarly to "2024.06" but include the recent changes and show file dialogs.

[Sorn]

It seems to work fine in Gnome 48 on an Arch variant. Thanks!

Actual testing of the program is still needed, of course, but it now launches, saves and loads fine.

[Sorn]

I can't seem to license it properly with the license file nor via login in the web. Both used to work fine.

It stays in "(learning)" mode. My license hasn't expired either.

Is it a Linux issue? I don't see anyone raising the issue in the Windows forums.

Edited March 23 by Sorn

[SERGYI]

12 hours ago, Sorn said:

I can't seem to license it properly with the license file nor via login in the web.

1. To license "3DCoat 202x", please go to the site: https://pilgway.com > SIGN IN > Enter the email that you used when purchasing the license > Enter your password if you know it or click "Forgot your password?" > LOG IN > Click icon PROFILE (in the top right corner) > On the tab LICENSES/ACCOUNTS, locate your license > click [DOWNLOAD LICENSE] next to it > this will download file "3DCoat.license". Start "3DCoat 2024" and click the button "Load license" to load the downloaded file "3DCoat.license".
2. "3DCoat 202x" caches license inside the file "Documents\3DCoat\data\Temp\litemp.dat". The cached file is bound to a particular system and will not work on another. Only the original downloaded in the Step 1 file works on any system.
3. Web licensing works only under Windows because the web licensing code crashes under macOS/Linux. I excluded it for macOS/Linux builds that use the license file downloaded in Step 1.

[Sorn]

OK, it did work with the license file through the button.

I had to uninstall the license first (I guess it ran with a temporal trial license) and then I got the window allowing me to use the add license file back. Just drag'n'drop the file into the interface didn't do the trick before. This time it worked (through the license window with the button). Other options are still there, making it a little confusing since in prior versions it actually worked well, the web activating license.

Thanks for your help and for keeping the work on 3DCoat for Linux. It's truly appreciated.

[Sorn]

28 minutes ago, SERGYI said:

(...)
3. Web licensing works only under Windows because the web licensing code crashes under macOS/Linux. I excluded it for macOS/Linux builds that use the license file downloaded in Step 1.

I was wondering if this is going to be the way forward or are we to expect a return of the on-line activation? I'd update the licensing part of the guide to install 3DCoat on Linux in these forums if that would be a permanent change from now on.

Thanks.

[Jorge]

On 3/22/2025 at 8:04 AM, SERGYI said:

I have reverted Linux-related code to "2024.06" and copied it into "2025". This fallback to GTK2 solves problems with OpenGL glitches and makes drawing tablets work again. Knowing that Linux Ubuntu generates an executable in which file dialogs do not work, I built "3DCoat 2025.01" under PopOS 22.04:
https://pilgway.com/~sergyi/links-Linux.html
The executable should work similarly to "2024.06" but include the recent changes and show file dialogs.

Hello SERGYI,

I got file dialog and license working on the 2025.01 version in OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. It is working great!!!. Thank you for the Linux support!!!.
I need to check something:

When I try to export a FBX it crash!
The actions I made are:

File > Export Poly Object > Select FBX and set a location and write a filename
In the console I get this error:
/3dcoat: symbol lookup error: ./3dcoat: undefined symbol: _ZN6fbxsdk20FbxLayerElementArray8SetCountEiNS_19EFbxMemoryClearModeE

3DCoat just crash and write the filename with the Fbx extension but the file is 0KB size.
Is just when I try to save a FBX, I can save OBJ, GLTF and others format normally. I just want to know if it is only me or do I need some Linux package to be installed.

It happen to me even with a simple 3dcoat cube from modeling tab.

Thank you for the support!!

Edited March 24 by Jorge