3D Coat - Working with Factures (Vertex Texturing)

[alexn007]

Finally had some time to get back into the Factures workflow. I've decided to make a walkthrough video of this feature, if anyone is interested in knowing more about it. I hope it continues to evolve, as it's a really cool idea.

Cheers!

 

Edited August 8, 2022 by alexn007

[KolmD]

Thank you for the tutorial, alexn007. I have created a simple mesh with factures on it. See the picture below. How do I prepare it for export as obj or fbx ?  I would like to import it to another 3D software, such as Blender. Should I freeze something, bake it or something else before exporting? There are so many options and I honestly don't understand all the 3D-jargon. Could you (or someone else reading this) make a step-by-step instruction on how to get my mesh with factures ready for export? Many thanks in advance!  

[Carlosan]

You need to bake over the UVmap similar to use any smart material.

[Ctc_nick]

On 11/8/2022 at 6:36 PM, Carlosan said:

You need to bake over the UVmap similar to use any smart material.

Hi! @alexn007 @Carlosan

You can export textured sculpt meshes WITHOUT baking from factures room as fbx. But the materials need some tweaking.

I started in Modelling Room and used 'retopo to sculpt mesh'. Also low polycounts look good. 

On export from Factures Room hit 'Export to'  or 'Export-Export Scene' as fbx and hit ' Don't decimate'

Hint: It looks great if you have displacement maps to feed in the materials!

Because of the tiled textures you can make big lanscapes/objects with high detail, which is otherwise not possible.

 

How does it work?

(Here I use Blender, but it should be working almost the same in other softwares.)

3Dcoat generates duplicated polygons of the underlying mesh when painting, which can be selected in Blender by the Material Slots in Edit Mode. You can use this to move the layers in the 3d View. As Example move the snow mesh a little higher then the ground. (as seen in the lower picture)

The FBX Mesh has Vertex "Attributes", which can be used for driving the color and transparency of textures.  The 'vertex alpha value' is used for fading the textures together.

This Vertex Data derived by the  Attribute Node — Blender Manual can be used in the Material.

In Blender you can plug in the "Attribute" Node (finds in add nodes) Multiply the Color and plug in the Alpha.

Use VertexPaint 'Ease Alpha' and 'Add Alpha' for repairs. It is helpful to plug in the Attribute Node directly into the Material Output temporarly.

You can also use Select Connected (ctrl+L) and Invert Selection (Ctrl+I) and hide (h/Alt-h) to isolate poly layers.

I must say it is a bit fiddly if you use a lot materials, so start easy. But I now see how I can use factures.  I'm working on a python script, to automaticly regather the textures and to connect the attributes.

In 3DCoat, If you make your own vertextures it is easier to find and reload the other texture slots in the 3d App because the diffusive channel already contains the right folder location to the other pbr files. 

It would be great if even more Attribute Channels for roughness/metallness/custom channels would be possible.

this video from @Andrew Shpaginalso displays the transfer in short:

All the Best!

Edited December 17, 2022 by Ctc_nick
written more tutorial likeish

[rosikowski]

so, if I may ask for a little help, Im trying to fallow Working with Factures tutorial but I`m unable to use Facture spot, this is a tool to project large textures on a surface object with one click right ? (Im makinga terrain in Gaea, I have one big mesh and one color texture) . when I click on facture spot (with flat projection set in 3dcoat) I just paint small stroke of the textures,

[Ctc_nick]

On 1/22/2023 at 12:42 PM, rosikowski said:

so, if I may ask for a little help, Im trying to fallow Working with Factures tutorial but I`m unable to use Facture spot, this is a tool to project large textures on a surface object with one click right ? (Im makinga terrain in Gaea, I have one big mesh and one color texture) . when I click on facture spot (with flat projection set in 3dcoat) I just paint small stroke of the textures,

Hi!

Simple:

In Spot Tool, with normal Brush mode, just click once, otherwise you 'smear' the texture.  -Set the Stroke Mode to Stamp or Stamp Drag instead.

You can also:

Make a new layer. Draw with Paint Tool, Lasso Mode.

Then in Vertexture Settings, activate ' Apply VerTexture Interactivley' and then edit Scale, Rotation, U and V Shift for positioning.

Happy Painting!

Edited January 25, 2023 by Ctc_nick

[Carlosan]

On 12/10/2022 at 6:57 AM, Ctc_nick said:

I'm working on a python script, to automatically regather the textures and to connect the attributes.

Hi

Do you have done the addon ?

[Ctc_nick]

@CarlosanHi!

Yes. Its a Plugin for Blenders Node Editor. It can:

-seek for the "Factures" attribute and connect it

-fetch all the PBR channels from one Texture Name

-restore the displacement channel

-switch Cycles Renderer automatically to Subdivision at Rendertime.

Im have not published yet, maybe I should put it on Gumroad for small Sponsoring. Never tried 

Thank You for your interest! 

Edited March 14 by Ctc_nick