3DCoat questions

[Metin Seven]

Hi,

I own 3D-Coat 4.9 and I've worked with it in the past, but have been using ZBrush and Blender the past few years.

The recent take-over of Pixologic by Maxon seems like the perfect moment to rediscover 3D-Coat. I've installed the latest 2021 version, and I get more and more enthusiastic as I go.

As I've been away from 3DC for years now, I'm refreshing my memory. Some questions:

1. Is there an equivalent to ZBrush's Repeat Last stroke ('1' key) ? I used that a lot in ZB to repeat the exact same stroke a few times when desired.

2. I couldn't get the numeric keypad keys to work in 3DC (5 to toggle perspective / orthographic, etc.). What could the cause be for that? The numpad keys work fine in Blender on the same system.
─ What's even weirder is that some numpad, like the + and - key, do work in 3DC.

3. What would be the 3DC procedure comparable to multiresolution sculpting in ZBrush and Blender (retopo, then subdivide and sculpt on different polygon subdivision levels) ?

4. Is there a 3DC equivalent to ZBrush's Insert (Multi) Mesh brushes?

5. What do I need to do to save the QuickAccess menu with my favorites (to port it to a new 3DC installation in the future) ? Is the menu saved along with the Hotkeys?

6. Is the old Angulator tool still present in the latest 3DC versions, or is there a new way of sharpening or beveling edges?

7. I'd like to upgrade my 3DC 4.x license, but when I bought it, I was using macOS. Right now I'm using Windows, but expect to return to macOS in a few months. Will I be able to switch between OS versions without issues or extra expenses?

Many thanks!

Edited January 10, 2022 by Metin Seven
Adjusted and added questions

[Евгений]

54 minutes ago, Metin Seven said:

Привет,

У меня есть 3D-пальто 4.9, и я работал с ним в прошлом, но последние несколько лет использовал ZBrush и Blender.

Недавнее поглощение Pixologic Максоном кажется идеальным моментом для повторного открытия 3D-пальто. Я установил последнюю версию 2021 года.

Поскольку я уже много лет не был в 3DC, я освежаю свою память. Несколько вопросов:

1. Есть ли способ показать сцену или отдельный объект с неглаженными нормалями (гранеными, видимыми многоугольниками) ?

2. Есть ли способ сделать так, чтобы размер кисти оставался неизменным при увеличении масштаба? В ZBrush это происходит, когда вы отключаете динамический размер кисти.

3. Я не мог заставить работать клавиши цифровой клавиатуры (5 для переключения перспективы / орфографии и т. Д.). В чем может быть причина этого?

4. Были ли заменены живые глиняные кисти опцией "Удалить растяжение" в каждой щетке поверхностного типа?

Спасибо!

1),2),4) Видео . 5) Num Pad , все работает штатно . Вопрос 4) Теперь есть Relax , который может сгладить любые дефекты  поверхности , как и в Zbrush 

[Ctc_nick]

Number 3: numpad is not activated! lg

[Carlosan]

This are the default shortcuts

Camera and Custom Navigation

NumPad 1    Bottom
NumPad 2    Front
NumPad 4    Left
NumPad 5    Toggle Perspective-Orthographic projection
NumPad 6    Right
NumPad 7    Top
NumPad 8    Back

Ctrl+Up Arrow           Add Camera Shortcut
Ctrl+Down Arrow      Delete Camera Shortcut
Ctrl+Left arrow         Switch to previous shortcut
Ctrl+Right arrow       Switch to next shortcut
 

[Carlosan]

1 Its Flat shade view useful ?

2. May be you have brush locked ?

3. Try switching on/off keyboard BloqNum

4. Live Clay has been replaced by the powerful new brush system.

Please take a look

[Metin Seven]

11 hours ago, Ctc_nick said:

Number 3: numpad is not activated! lg

Thanks, but in Blender the numeric keys work fine on the same system, only in 3DC none of the keys seem to work here.

Edited January 9, 2022 by Metin Seven

[Metin Seven]

1 hour ago, Carlosan said:

1 Its Flat shade view useful ?

2. May be you have brush locked ?

3. Try switching on/off BloqNum

4. Live Clay has been replaced by the powerful new brush system.

Please take a look

Thanks @Carlosan!

The non-smoothed normals turned out to be a shader setting. It works now.

Brush lock was indeed what I was searching for regarding the (non-)dynamic brush size, thanks.

Where can I find BloqNum? Do you mean keyboard NumLock or a 3DC option?

I'll check out the new brush engine.

A few more questions:

5. What would be the 3DC procedure comparable to multiresolution sculpting in ZBrush and Blender (retopo, then subdivide and sculpt on different polygon subdivision levels) ?

6. Is there a 3DC equivalent to ZBrush's Insert (Multi) Mesh brushes?

7. I'd like to upgrade my 3DC 4.x license, but when I bought it, I was using macOS. Right now I'm using Windows, but expect to return to macOS in a few months. Will I be able to switch between OS versions without issues or extra expenses?

Thanks!

Edited January 9, 2022 by Metin Seven
Added another question.

[Carlosan]

Sorry my slow replies.

If you need faster responses please take a time to join discord* chats, users are very helpful

https://discord.com/invite/a5TJyRA

https://discord.gg/014EEW9TajlBYvRg9

Cheers

//Edit

*Both are not official.

[Metin Seven]

That's great, thanks. I've asked my questions over there.

Which Discord channel is preferred, the official one?

Edited January 9, 2022 by Metin Seven

[Carlosan]

5. What would be the 3DC procedure comparable to multiresolution sculpting in ZBrush and Blender (retopo, then subdivide and sculpt on different polygon subdivision levels) ?

3DC dont have multires modifier as ZB or Blender, you can use Proxy Mode but it is not the same procedure

6. Is there a 3DC equivalent to ZBrush's Insert (Multi) Mesh brushes?

Sadly no, there is not any equivalente to IMM or Micromesh. This feature request was asked time ago, but still no luck.

7. I'd like to upgrade my 3DC 4.x license, but when I bought it, I was using macOS. Right now I'm using Windows, but expect to return to macOS in a few months. Will I be able to switch between OS versions without issues or extra expenses?

v2021 license is multi OS, you dont need to buy additional licenses. Please contact sales@pilgway.com to get more details about it.

[Yousung]

On 1/9/2022 at 1:30 AM, Metin Seven said:

4. Is there a 3DC equivalent to ZBrush's Insert (Multi) Mesh brushes?

  

On 4/5/2019 at 9:32 AM, Carlosan said:

Hi!

Try Sculpt Room> Import Tool

You can also save a Sculpt Object as a preset for the Import tool. That should do the trick for you. 

To use the normal alignment like in ZB, tick on "On Brush" in the Tool Options panel.

And to make it a preset, RMB on the layer you want to save, then Export>Save to Meshes Panel.

Hope that helps.

 

You can do similar with the Import tool.

[Metin Seven]

Thanks for your replies guys!

A few more questions:

8. Can I activate an option somewhere to have the camera rotate around the last brushed point?

9. Can I reassign the Enter key (re-voxelize) to a different key?

Thanks!

[Yousung]

19 minutes ago, Metin Seven said:

8. Can I activate an option somewhere to have the camera rotate around the last brushed point?

 

 

 

It seems that we need to hear the answers from the developers for question 9.

Even if I reassign the shortcut key, the window does not appear,
I'm guessing it's probably hard-coded.

[Metin Seven]

1 hour ago, Yousung said:

It seems that we need to hear the answers from the developers for question 9.

Even if I reassign the shortcut key, the window does not appear,
I'm guessing it's probably hard-coded.

Thanks for your answers!

I've tried changing this in the 'options_hotkeys.xml' file:

But the new key assignment didn't work, and the Enter key didn't work anymore either, maybe because the new shortcut was already assigned?

Edited January 11, 2022 by Metin Seven

[Melik]

I don't believe your question about repeating strokes was addressed, was it?

"1. Is there an equivalent to ZBrush's Repeat Last stroke ('1' key) ? I used that a lot in ZB to repeat the exact same stroke a few times when desired."

This is a feature I would kill to have in 3DCoat.  Any headway here in your 3DC rediscovery journey?

[Metin Seven]

6 hours ago, Melik said:

I don't believe your question about repeating strokes was addressed, was it?

"1. Is there an equivalent to ZBrush's Repeat Last stroke ('1' key) ? I used that a lot in ZB to repeat the exact same stroke a few times when desired."

This is a feature I would kill to have in 3DCoat.  Any headway here in your 3DC rediscovery journey?

Thanks. The closest equivalent would be using a curve to guide the stroke, but that's more cumbersome than a 'repeat stroke' tool.

I'm still much enjoying my 3DC rediscovery journey, viewing lots of interesting video tutorials.

One new question:

Once you're creating a curve with the Curves tool, is it possible to change the outer end red sphere from which the curve will smoothly continue? In other words: how do I smoothly continue building a curve from the start sphere, in stead of the end sphere? I hope I'm clear enough. 

[Yousung]

Sorry, I don't know if the translator is translating properly.

Do you mean that you want to swap the start and end points of the curve?
if that's the case
1. Right-click on the curve.
2. Select 'Curve Operations - Reverse Curve Direction'
3. The direction of the curve is reversed.

 

 

[Metin Seven]

Thanks @Yousung!

I meant the Curves tool with the red spheres. In the example below I've started adding curve points from the bottom to the top, but the next point is always drawn from the last placed point. How do I indicate that I'd like to smoothly continue building the spline from the bottom point?

Edited January 16, 2022 by Metin Seven

[Melik]

8 hours ago, Metin Seven said:

Thanks. The closest equivalent would be using a curve to guide the stroke, but that's more cumbersome than a 'repeat stroke' tool.

Right, that is the way to "repeat stroke" in 3DC, but you can't apply varying pressure to a stroke using that method (with pen tablet etc)

The other work around is to create a new sculpt layer, make your stroke on that layer, and then duplicate the sculpt layer once and many times to get the amplification of the stroke you just made.  I wish this could be done with one click like in zBrush.  Seems like such a small request - maybe it's a coding nightmare...I don't know.  But it's something that has been requested in the past and doesn't look like we'll get it.

Happy to see you enjoying your 3DC rediscovery mission!  Keep us posted!

[Yousung]

oh that curve 
I haven't used that curve much
It seems to work by setting the Edit mode from 'Extrude' to 'Move' and then adding a point in the middle.

 

To insert, when you hover the mouse over the curve and a green sphere appears, left-click.

There is a way to create and continue a new curve with 'New Curve', but this will produce slightly different results than working with a single curve.

 

https://3dcoat.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=general:sculpt_workspace:curves

[Metin Seven]

Thanks for the tips, much appreciated.

I've just been discovering the curve editor. Nice! 

[Metin Seven]

In this video you can see a live-subdivided version of the also visible low-poly cage. How do you activate that mode?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUWNIcmSlGM

[Yousung]

This option can be activated in Modeling Room and Retopo Room.

You can use it by checking Sculpt Mesh in the upper Mesh menu.

If you want to switch to a Sculpt Mesh while working, press Unlink Sculpt Mesh.

If you want to see the poly model transparently like the video (if you want to see only the Sculpt mesh)
Just lower the Opacity value at the top.

Edited January 18, 2022 by Yousung

[Metin Seven]

3 hours ago, Yousung said:

This option can be activated in Modeling Room and Retopo Room.

You can use it by checking Sculpt Mesh in the upper Mesh menu.

If you want to switch to a Sculpt Mesh while working, press Unlink Sculpt Mesh.

If you want to see the poly model transparently like the video (if you want to see only the Sculpt mesh)
Just lower the Opacity value at the top.

Great, thanks! 

[Metin Seven]

Trying out live subdivision, and after activating symmetry and extruding, the symmetry is not present in the subdivided result. How come?

 

And another question, sorry:

The Expand brush comes closest to the Inflate brush in Blender / ZBrush, or not? In that case, Control + brushing doesn't deflate. Is there a separate brush or mode for that?

I found that performing a Smooth All on a layer also deflates a little, but it'd be great if you could deflate on a brush level.

─ Edit: Control + Fill seems to work for deflating thin, low-polygon geometry. I would love to see Control + Expand offering a real deflate effect though.

Edited January 18, 2022 by Metin Seven

[Yousung]

When you use Symmetry in Modeling Room, it appears to be working symmetrically in the viewport, but it is actually in a state before it was created.

It's because of Mesh - Virtual Mirror Mode, do Apply Symmetry or

You need to do Symmetry Copy from Polygroups.

[Metin Seven]

Thanks a lot for your help, @Yousung, much appreciated!

[Metin Seven]

I just wanted to try the Radial Array, but I don't see anything change in my scene. Does it work in Voxel mode?

[Metin Seven]

4 hours ago, Metin Seven said:

I just wanted to try the Radial Array, but I don't see anything change in my scene. Does it work in Voxel mode?

This question doesn't really matter anymore, as I've just discovered the Axial tool. Perhaps that's the successor to the Radial Array layer menu item?

Edited January 27, 2022 by Metin Seven

[Metin Seven]

And another question... 

What's the easiest way to create a straightforward (non-radial) array / ordered number of copies of a layer?

And is it possible to get the result into the same layer in stead of getting tens of layer copies?

Thanks in advance!

Edited January 28, 2022 by Metin Seven