3D Coat Questions

[Paint Guy]

Hi, I am trying 3D Coat with the head that came with it and I really like it. I went through the manual last night and I have a few questions.

1) Scuplting

So I want to "Sculpt" my clay. Is the "Sculpt" mode where I do all of my sculpting or in "paint" mode? I am confused because I see I can also move and sculpt the surface of the model in "Paint mode" Please explain the difference?

2) Scuplting Brushes

I want to choose a brush (mask) shape for sculpting with. It appears that I have to choose a brush shape in either "Voxel mode" or "Paint mode" as there doesn't appear to be any brush (mask) shapes in the "Sculpt mode". Is this correct?

3) Scuplting

It appears that "Sculpt" mode I see the little brush stroke icon just above the "move" button at the top left of the UI. Are the buttons along the left side in sculpt mode the only brushes available?

3) Jagged Sculpting

2) In "Sculpt" mode I cannot seem to get a smooth brush stroke (see attached image) unless I use the "Smooth" tool after I use a brush. I hope you don't have to use the smooth tool every time you want a smooth area.

My Settings

1) From the "Paint mode" I have selected a mask brush with the smoothest contour.

2) In "Sculpt" mode I have selected the "Draw" button and the following settings below, but when I sculpt it is rough and jagged looking (see image). Is there a way to pull and shape geometry so it is smooth?

Soft Stroke: unchecked

Radius: 36

Falloff: 0

Depth: 0.55

Smoothing: 1.00

Resetting UI

Finally, I somehow have messed up the UI. How do I reset it so windows and palettes etc. so they are back to their original positions?

Thanks

[Javis]

Wew... Long one there. Great questions, I'll try to answer them all for you.

First let me say though, that v3 is still a work in progress. So you will notice some overlap in areas where tools work and some where they should be, but are not yet. Right, so on to the answers...

Q: 1) Scuplting

So I want to "Sculpt" my clay. Is the "Sculpt" mode where I do all of my sculpting or in "paint" mode? I am confused because I see I can also move and sculpt the surface of the model in "Paint mode" Please explain the difference?

A: You can poly sculpt in both modes. There is no difference. This is one of those areas where there is overlap because of the current WIP interface change. There is however, sculpting specific tools that are in the Sculpt Tab that are not in the Paint Tab.

Q: 2) Scuplting Brushes

I want to choose a brush (mask) shape for sculpting with. It appears that I have to choose a brush shape in either "Voxel mode" or "Paint mode" as there doesn't appear to be any brush (mask) shapes in the "Sculpt mode". Is this correct?

A: This is also one of those areas where the tools haven't found their way yet into all of the areas where they can function (again, due to the WIP interface change). You can undock the tab if you like, and use them in any tab. Being that it does work in the Sculpt Tab, I suspect it will find it's way there eventually.

Q: 3) Scuplting

It appears that "Sculpt" mode I see the little brush stroke icon just above the "move" button at the top left of the UI. Are the buttons along the left side in sculpt mode the only brushes available?

A: No, they are just the poly sculpting specific tools that are in that tab. You can use any of the Pen (brushes) you find in the Pen Tab. You can also use Stripes as well (Again, WIP interface change).

Q: 3) Jagged Sculpting

2) In "Sculpt" mode I cannot seem to get a smooth brush stroke (see attached image) unless I use the "Smooth" tool after I use a brush. I hope you don't have to use the smooth tool every time you want a smooth area.

A: If you hold down SHIFT while brushing you can use the Smoothing brush any time you like. You don't need to go back and hit smooth in the Sculpting Tab. Also, if you're not yet aware, you can hold CTRL to do the inverse of what the brush does normally. So for instance if you're sculpting outward on your mesh, holding CTRL will sculpt inward. One more thing about sculpting in polygonal sculpting mode: You will get jagged edges no matter what, that is the nature of polygonal sculpting. Try voxels to avoid those jaggies.

Q: My Settings

1) From the "Paint mode" I have selected a mask brush with the smoothest contour.

2) In "Sculpt" mode I have selected the "Draw" button and the following settings below, but when I sculpt it is rough and jagged looking (see image). Is there a way to pull and shape geometry so it is smooth?

Soft Stroke: unchecked

Radius: 36

Falloff: 0

Depth: 0.55

Smoothing: 1.00

A1: Nothing to answer here.

A2: EDIT: I couldn't see the image at first, now I can. This is the nature of polygonal sculpting. Again, that is normal for polygons. Try voxels. Falloff is off, turn it up a little bit if you don't want to effect the edges of your Pen/Brush. Smoothing only works with the Smoothing tool (Hold SHIFT to use)

Q: Resetting UI

Finally, I somehow have messed up the UI. How do I reset it so windows and palettes etc. so they are back to their original positions?

A: Go to View>Options>Restore Windows

Sometimes this will work, but, again being a WIP interface change, you'll notice that sometime this wont work. You'll then have to open the windows individually using either their hotkeys or by going to View>Popups>(Select the one you wish to open)

Hope this helps.

[Paint Guy]

Q) In "Sculpt" mode I have selected the "Draw" button and the following settings below, but when I sculpt it is rough and jagged looking (see image). Is there a way to pull and shape geometry so it is smooth?

Soft Stroke: unchecked

Radius: 36

Falloff: 0

Depth: 0.55

Smoothing: 1.00

Try voxels to avoid those jaggies.

A: I couldn't see the image at first, now I can. This is the nature of polygonal sculpting. Again, that is normal for polygons. Try voxels. Falloff is off, turn it up a little bit if you don't want to effect the edges of your Pen/Brush. Smoothing only works with the Smoothing tool (Hold SHIFT to use)

Hope this helps.

Thanks geothefaust,

Q1) I understand this is the nature of sculpting with polygons, but when I was using ZBrush 3.0 it would take a lot more to cause those "jaggies" than it seemed to in 3DCoat. I could use most any brush in ZBrush and manipulate the polys and I would easily be able to create a chin or a forehead for example and the geometry would remain smooth with no "jaggies" or distorted polygons. I'm not trying to slam 3DCoat, as this may just be my ignorance of the program as a new user, but even when I used a brush with a smooth contour and the "Smooth" selected etc. in 3DCoat (see my settings above) it seems almost impossible to pull out the geometry before you get all sorts of jagged polygons. Again sorry if this is my ignorance but I just hope there is a way I can get the kind of smooth look that was so easily accomplished in ZBrush as I like 3DCoat's UI a lot more.

Q2) Another somewhat related question. You suggested working with "Voxels" so I don't get those "jaggies" or distorted poly's. I imported a cube and when I went into "Voxel mode" the cube was a small round circle. Why did it look like it shrank? How do I import an head and eyes in .obj format and sculpt them in Voxel Mode. Why does it shrink them and is there a way to import the model and not have them shrink down?

Thanks

[Javis]

Thanks geothefaust,

Q1) I understand this is the nature of sculpting with polygons, but when I was using ZBrush 3.0 it would take a lot more to cause those "jaggies" than it seemed to in 3DCoat. I could use most any brush in ZBrush and manipulate the polys and I would easily be able to create a chin or a forehead for example and the geometry would remain smooth with no "jaggies" or distorted polygons. I'm not trying to slam 3DCoat, as this may just be my ignorance of the program as a new user, but even when I used a brush with a smooth contour and the "Smooth" selected etc. in 3DCoat (see my settings above) it seems almost impossible to pull out the geometry before you get all sorts of jagged polygons. Again sorry if this is my ignorance but I just hope there is a way I can get the kind of smooth look that was so easily accomplished in ZBrush as I like 3DCoat's UI a lot more.

Q2) Another somewhat related question. You suggested working with "Voxels" so I don't get those "jaggies" or distorted poly's. I imported a cube and when I went into "Voxel mode" the cube was a small round circle. Why did it look like it shrank? How do I import an head and eyes in .obj format and sculpt them in Voxel Mode. Why does it shrink them and is there a way to import the model and not have them shrink down?

Thanks

Hey there again.

ZB and 3DC do definitely handle sculpting low poly stuff slightly differently. But, it also helps to turn down the amplitude of the displacement/height of your brush a bit. It's easy to do with holding RMB and dragging up/down. Coming from ZB as well, it took me a week or two to get accustomed to the different nuances, so keep plugging away, I'm sure you'll find the sweet spot for you.

So for your voxel question, that's a good one! Luckily, easily solvable.

If you're using alpha release 79, go to the Voxel Tab>Merge (tool bar on the left hand side, toward the middle/bottom)>Select Mesh

Then just point the file requester to where the mesh is you want to convert to voxels.

Easy peasy!

[Paint Guy]

Thanks geothefaust.

Well I finally got my model imported into the 3DCoat voxel area. (Not sure what else to call the voxel are so if there is a proper name please let me know. lol.

I selected subdivide 2x and here is where I am at. geothefaust you have been very helpful and I do not expect you to lead me through every pase of modeling but I am looking through my 3DCoat manual and I cannot find anything on "how to sculpt and work with voxels".

Is there a "Step by Step" tutorial somewhere that will lead me through the steps? I am lost as to where to go from here. Do I select one of the brushes from the left, because when I did choose a button from the left side of the GUI my fish seems to disappear and all I see is a small sphere in it's place.

I am so excited to actually realize my sculpting dreams but I am not sure what to do next.

[wailingmonkey]

Hi Paint Guy,

You'll need to hit 'enter' after you've selected the mesh to merge (or it won't merge it into the scene

as a voxel object). See here for video: http://www.3d-coat.com/forum/index.php?sho...amp;#entry18284

As to a manual, we're still in alpha, so none is currently available. Best to just play with the tools

on the sphere that you start with when you enter the voxel area, IMO.

Hope it helps.

[Javis]

I know how you feel!

I'm glad I could be of assistance. Unfortunately right now there aren't very many tutorials, especially for voxel sculpting. But, there may be something coming down the pipeline for that...

Anyway, since there is the interface change at the moment, a few things you should do to get ready for voxel sculpting.

Currently, I have docked: Pens (T), VoxTree (No hotkey), Layers (L). Optionally you can dock other stuff like color if you want to change it, etc..

Then, on the left hand side, choose a tool. Firstly, I would mess around with each one for a few minutes to get acquainted with them. Find out what they do, or get a general idea of what they do. Then after a while, start applying different pen/brushes to them. You'll notice that you can do quite a few different things. It's a very powerful program. You can create your own brushes as well, out of images OR, alternatively, out of an .OBJ or .LWO itself. Very powerful, cool stuff.

Anyway, that should get you rolling.

Thanks geothefaust.

Well I finally got my model imported into the 3DCoat voxel area. (Not sure what else to call the voxel are so if there is a proper name please let me know. lol.

I selected subdivide 2x and here is where I am at. geothefaust you have been very helpful and I do not expect you to lead me through every pase of modeling but I am looking through my 3DCoat manual and I cannot find anything on "how to sculpt and work with voxels".

Is there a "Step by Step" tutorial somewhere that will lead me through the steps? I am lost as to where to go from here. Do I select one of the brushes from the left, because when I did choose a button from the left side of the GUI my fish seems to disappear and all I see is a small sphere in it's place.

I am so excited to actually realize my sculpting dreams but I am not sure what to do next.

[Paint Guy]

Thnaks guys, but one big problem still. I select a tool from the left and it doesn't do anything to the model. The geometry seems like it is frozen. Could you please tell me what tool to choose as I don't know if I am selecting the right one. I have tried all of the buttons on the left but nothing.

Ok, I have gotten help with this. You select the "return" button to allow you to sculpt.

Thanks