3DCoat 4.9 BETA testing thread

[Silas Merlin]

Also, navigation with SpaceNavigator has always been problematic when using "on plane" with any tool.
Because of the lack of a freecam mode, the less awkward mode among existing choices is "rotate around last pick point".... But when using "on plane", 3dc randomly but inevitably looses track of last pick point and then navigation gets totally out of control : 
 

[Silas Merlin]

Apparently there is a problem with merge with when you try to select the target by clicking on it : 3dc does not consistently pick the correct target volume. This depends on camera position.


While testing, I encountered a glitch, the camera going crazy while hovering over the different volumes.
I recorded a small video.
At first I am in a camera position that does not cause an issue.
Then, I move closer and suddently you see the viewscreen flickering.
When I move the mouse pointer away from objects, you will see that the camera ends up in a different position.

when I eventually click, the correct volume is merged, but I was told that this is not always the case.

Also, you may notice at the end of the video that when I finally click on the target, the view does not refresh until I move the camera.

[popwfx]

Not sure if this is user error (I searched to no avail and watched videos) or if this is a problem with the latest build - but why does Spacing not work with the Spline tool in the Paint room?  Pressing Apply does nothing unless the spacing checkbox is off - and I want spaced dabs..  Can anyone help or confirm if this is a bug please?  thanks!

 

[Silas Merlin]

Strange happenings in the retopo room, since a few versions at least.

[popwfx]

I was just in the Paint room using the poly line brush to fill (with Symmetry on) an area with depth and metalness when 3DC crashed hard.   I haven't had any major crashes with this version except this.  Anyone else having similar woes?

 

[lambertj21]

@Andrew Shpagin, lighting in the sculpt room is discussed by several others here over the past few days.  I think this is required to keep up with other tools and to provide expected user experience. 

[Silas Merlin]

49 minutes ago, lambertj21 said:

@Andrew Shpagin, lighting in the sculpt room is discussed by several others here over the past few days.  I think this is required to keep up with other tools and to provide expected user experience. 

Personally, what I would need would be a projector in the scene (projecting an image), ideally synchronized with stencil (to help with sculpting from the pixel value), and with the transform/copy tool in the paint room to actually project the image onto the object when the sculpting is done.
(and tied to the reference image system too so that you still have  a visible reference in the scene when you disable the projector, and to check that all the different aspects of the tool are indeed in sync)

The way I see it, when you add a projector it would initially attach to the camera, projecting forward.
You would place the camera according to your needs (straight on, or on a camera position placeholder exported from reality capture for example)
when satisfied with position (maybe it would be possible to adjust fov too?), you lock the camera in place. This creates a new saved camera position, so that you can get back to it using Ctrl+right/left arrow.
Once all is setup, in tool options you could activate/deactivate stencil mode.
When done, you would have a button in the tool options to go to the transform copy tool in the paint room.

Edited May 20, 2020 by Silas Merlin

[Andrew Shpagin]

On 5/18/2020 at 3:44 PM, Silas Merlin said:

Where is this "plane options button" please ?
Tool options panel is empty that's where I expected to find it;

I was going to try that relatively recent "on plane" mode in retopo room, but... with tool options empty to help define plane, I have no idea how to make use of it.

 

After more fidding, I find it is possible to go to the sculpt room to edit the plane settings and then come back to the retopo room.... but..... you'd want that accessible in the retopo room, really, yes ?

Also there is a huge problem, because plane controls are deeply tied to the RMB.... and so is the retopo room. Big conflict there.


 

As soon as you click "On plane" the Tool options panel appears. Probably you docked it somewhere.

[Silas Merlin]

14 minutes ago, Andrew Shpagin said:

As soon as you click "On plane" the Tool options panel appears. Probably you docked it somewhere.

 

no luck, even undocked

[b33nine]

Is there a way to utilize the old closed spline tools with the pose tool and the cut off tools? It had been a long time since I updated to a new build, and while all the functions of the new closed spline system seem cool, it just adds a lot of frustration and time to simple tasks now. Also I don't know why certain E modes were removed from tools that utilized them before, like the grow tool, something I used a lot previously to cut shapes away or add shapes with the lasso/spline tools.

[sprayer]

Check please for Move tool smooth on Shift not working after moving (without moving it works) in voxels

[Silas Merlin]

On 5/21/2020 at 7:04 AM, b33nine said:

Is there a way to utilize the old closed spline tools with the pose tool and the cut off tools? It had been a long time since I updated to a new build, and while all the functions of the new closed spline system seem cool, it just adds a lot of frustration and time to simple tasks now. Also I don't know why certain E modes were removed from tools that utilized them before, like the grow tool, something I used a lot previously to cut shapes away or add shapes with the lasso/spline tools.

Do you mean these green ones ?
Yes you can, but it can be a bit tricky to get them back.

I think you will first have to make sure that you select non-spline stroke mode for each tool in the left panel.
Then, disable "advanced curves toolset" in the beta section of the preferences.
restart 3dc and select closed spline stroke mode for cutt off tool or pose tool and if all went well, you'll have the green ones back.

If not, start over, reenable the new ones, and try different combinations of steps, involving more closing of 3dc and restarting.
And double checking that no tool has the new cuves still activated.

Hope this helps.

[Rygaard]

Sculpt Layers (possible bug):

1) Create a new Layer (Layer 1).
2) Sculpt on Layer 1.
3) Create a new Layer (Layer 2).
4) Sculpt on Layer 2.

5) Selecting Layer 2 (Top layer - on top of Layer 1), press the Button: "Merge the Current Layer with the layer below".

The following will happen:

- The details (sculpture) of Layer 2 will go to Layer 1 which would be exactly what the command defines "Merge to below". But Layer 2 still exists in Sculpt Layers.

I don't know if that would be the normal behavior of the program, but I think the operation would be to merge Layer 2 into Layer 1, and then Layer 2 be deleted, leaving only Layer 1 in Sculpt Layers.

[Rygaard]

Voxels Mode - Smudge Brush (possible bug)

Using the Smudge Brush (Voxels Mode). As soon as you drag with the Brush. I think speed can influence it, but several strange Voxels have appeared.

[Rygaard]

Freeze Brush (Surface Mode) - Freeze Menu  / Hide Frozen Area - Possible Bug:

1) Freeze brush (brush any area)
2) Freeze Menu  / Hide Frozen Area
3) Geometry Menu / Invert Hidden

Result:

4) Freeze's inverted area appears with a visual bug:
This means that it shows the area as if it were in the Freeze and active state, but it is just a screen error, because Freeze no longer exists.

[Silas Merlin]

35 minutes ago, Rygaard said:

Voxels Mode - Smudge Brush (possible bug)

Using the Smudge Brush (Voxels Mode). As soon as you drag with the Brush. I think speed can influence it, but several strange Voxels have appeared.
 

Ah yes, true.

however, when this happens, keep holding the LMB, an "jiggle" your mouse/stylus a little bit until those unwanted voxels go away.

But... Smudge tool seems to behave differently from what I remember. I quite like it now.

I've never used it because it shares the most annoying flaw Blender has in my opinion : Blender seems unable to ever know where you are brushing : If there is something in view directly behind the area you are working on, it will brush there too. 3dc doesn't do that, it "knows better" :)
The exception being the smudge tool, the carve tool, and one mode of the sphere tool.

With the smudge tool, as soon as your pointer touches geometry behind the area you are working on, it starts acting there and forgets completely about the area in the foreground you were working on. That's why I have never used it.

Carve tool I use because, well, I have to, it is too useful. But the annoying aspect is that as soon as you touch somehting behind, it creates a straight line accross the void to reach that distant geometry.

Sphere tool I don't use much anymore, (it used to be my favourite tool, but it's too buggy now, unable to pick correctly at the start of a stroke)
if you uncheck "draw from first point", sphere tool works a bit like carve tool in that respect, but nicer :

 

[Rygaard]

14 minutes ago, Silas Merlin said:

however, when this happens, keep holding the LMB, an "jiggle" your mouse/stylus a little bit until those unwanted voxels go away.

But... Smudge tool seems to behave differently from what I remember. I quite like it now.

I've never used it because it shares the most annoying flaw Blender has in my opinion : Blender seems unable to ever know where you are brushing : If there is something in view directly behind the area you are working on, it will brush there too. 3dc doesn't do that, it "knows better"
The exception being the smudge tool, the carve tool, and one mode of the sphere tool.

With the smudge tool, as soon as your pointer touches geometry behind the area you are working on, it starts acting there and forgets completely about the area in the foreground you were working on. That's why I have never used it.

Carve tool I use because, well, I have to, it is too useful. But the annoying aspect is that as soon as you touch somehting behind, it creates a straight line accross the void to reach that distant geometry.

Sphere tool I don't use much anymore, (it used to be my favourite tool, but it's too buggy now, unable to pick correctly at the start of a stroke)
if you uncheck "draw from first point", sphere tool works a bit like carve tool in that respect, but nicer :

I will try to use Voxels Mode more often.
In fact, I use voxels just to form a base mesh so that I can sculpt in Surface Mode.
I know that Voxels also have big problems regarding the performance of the brushes (not all), but some Voxels brushes on my PC (amd Radeon VII) become very slow according also to the Voxels resolution of the Sculpt Tree Layer. Unfortunately, for me with a few million or thousands of TRIS, it becomes very difficult to sculpt in voxels for the reasons I told you above.
I don't know if this performance problem of sculpting with Voxels (very slow) happens to other users.

I really like Voxels brushes, but once in a while some problem happens.

[Rygaard]

EDITED: Cut & Clone is working correctly! Sorry about my mistake!

Cut And Clone (Possible Bug):

Result of the Cut:
The resulting geometry of the Cut and Clone is a cut below the real line that the cut was made.

 

Edited May 24, 2020 by Rygaard

[Rygaard]

EDITED: Split Tool is working correctly! Sorry about my mistake!

Split Tool (Possible Bug):
Split Tool's result is very similar to Cut and Clone Tool.
I used the Ortho view mode to have no problems with the camera perspective and the one on purpose I cut (split) in the same line of the navigation area so that we can have a comparison of the before and after the split of the geometry.

The result is strange and wrong.

Edited May 24, 2020 by Rygaard

[Silas Merlin]

19 minutes ago, Rygaard said:

Split Tool (Possible Bug):
Split Tool's result is very similar to Cut and Clone Tool.
I used the Ortho view mode to have no problems with the camera perspective and the one on purpose I cut (split) in the same line of the navigation area so that we can have a comparison of the before and after the split of the geometry.

The result is strange and wrong.

 

(edited) Split tool has the same option and you are not seeing it for some reason (it does not show up on your screenshots)

sorry, your screenshot is for split tool and mine for cut and clone, but both have the same border width parameter.

Default is 2.5 hence the discrepency unless you change it to 0

 

 

Edited May 23, 2020 by Silas Merlin

[Rygaard]

41 minutes ago, Silas Merlin said:

(edited) Split tool has the same option and you are not seeing it for some reason (it does not show up on your screenshots)

sorry, your screenshot is for split tool and mine for cut and clone, but both have the same border width parameter.

Default is 2.5 hence the discrepency unless you change it to 0

 

 

It is true!
A million excuses! Sorry for that mistake about the Split Tool and Cut & Split Tool.
I totally forgot the properties on the top tool. It was 2.5 in value ....

Split Tool and Cut & Clone Tools are working correctly without erros... Once again sorry! My mistake!

thank you @Silas Merlin to correct me!

[Silas Merlin]

I'm trying to find a way to combine textures from different bakes on an atlas for someone on the discord (something that would be useful for others now and then, I am pretty sure).

However, I am hitting a problem with 3dc. Not quite a bug maybe, but an annoying behaviour at least.

That is, apparently you can not alpha out an area of the texture that is not on an island :(((

[Andrew Shpagin]

25.05.20 4.9.45 (beta, close to stable)

- Different view modes for the retopo mesh - separate options for wireframe, seams, sharp edges, colored islands preview, smooth mesh view.

- Fixed incorrect selection in UV window (slowly mowing gizmo. growing polycount...)

- Activation surface presets will not trigger to voxels to surface if this surface mode supported in voxels.

- Items sorting in Windows->Popups menu.

- Fixed shaders edit problem.

[Silas Merlin]

MAJOR issue for me here :


 

"Clip mask layer" has no effect when the blending mode is "multiply" (light baking layer, occlusion layer, etc..)

 

Edited May 26, 2020 by Silas Merlin

[AbnRanger]

On 5/25/2020 at 1:55 AM, Andrew Shpagin said:

25.05.20 4.9.45 (beta, close to stable)

- Different view modes for the retopo mesh - separate options for wireframe, seams, sharp edges, colored islands preview, smooth mesh view.

- Fixed incorrect selection in UV window (slowly mowing gizmo. growing polycount...)

- Activation surface presets will not trigger to voxels to surface if this surface mode supported in voxels.

- Items sorting in Windows->Popups menu.

- Fixed shaders edit problem.

I cannot install the build. I immediately get an error message saying "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have appropriate permissions to access this item."

I rebooted my PC, and ran the installer as the Administrator, etc.

[philnolan3d]

Maybe the download got messed up? Try downloading again?

[AbnRanger]

20 hours ago, philnolan3d said:

Maybe the download got messed up? Try downloading again?

It was Avast blocking it. I don't know why it didn't block previous versions and decided this one needed to be blocked.

[Silas Merlin]

Pose tool, surface mode  > "Pick selection from the layer" has no effect ?
(you have to right click the layer > freeze painted pixels" to restore the selection)

[Andrew Shpagin]

29.05.20 4.9.46 (beta, close to stable)

- Fixed lag after navigation when Incremental render used in sculpt room. It resulted with better sculpting performance on high-poly meshes (50M+).

- Fixed warp/bend/twist preview. Now it works over selected only.

- Modulate/Modulate 2X handles masking by layer correctly.

- Transform gizmo got possibility to separate (if need) scale, rotate, translation using keys (QWER) or droplist.

[jene]

3 hours ago, Andrew Shpagin said:

- Transform gizmo got possibility to separate (if need) scale, rotate, translation using keys (QWER) or droplist.

great . implement thank you.

it is getting better and better.

 

this is a request.

...if possible,  I want to click gizmo more roughly.

clicking area of 3D-coat gizmo is strictly. that work is tiring.

 

for example, this GIF is Blender. I don't have to click an moving arrow strictly. it is convenient.

 

anyway , I am grateful your development. thank you