[Fixed] Blender 4.3 applink creates new objects

[TemporalClockwork]

1. So in Blender I hit send on the 3D-Coat Applink Tab for PPP(I've tried other modes aswell).
2. In 3DCoat I apply the model. I then paint the model to change it up a little.
3. At first I tried Export to blender But it crashes without fail every-time. So I tried open in external app and export as FBX to the file that's created by the Applink plugin in Blender.
4. When I switch over to Blender, Blender automatically import the FBX as a new model. This happens every-time I change something in 3DCoat and export. This is the problem
5. When I hit GetBack it updates the material, but nothing else such as moved vertices in the modelling room.

How do I get the applink to work without re-importing new models, and actually update my original model?

Is this a bug? or am I missing something. I've spent multiple days just trying to get the applink working.

 

[Carlosan]

To move vertices use Teak category on Paint Room, not modeling room.

 

You can import only the textures into your original model.

NodeWrangler is a nice addon that can help on this task

[TemporalClockwork]

Aw no! Hopefully that changes in the future. So then do you have to hit open in external app everytime you change the textures? Or do I just have to hit get back?

 

Thanks heaps.

[TemporalClockwork]

I just watched Ian Thompson's video "3D-Coat - Poly Modelling Part 3" and his blender does not create a new object in blender after he painted his model. I do as he does but for some reason blender keeps bringing in new models even though I'm exporting over the original fbx just like Ian. I guess this is the main issue I'm having with the applink.


Please help! I don't want a new model for every texture update.

[Carlosan]

Bug reported

Thanks for point it up

[45cend]

On 12/3/2024 at 11:21 PM, Carlosan said:

Bug reported

Thanks for point it up

Hello Carlosan! Could you please update us on this. Is this something planned for fixing in a forseable future? Thanks

[Carlosan]

I was asking Ian directly at discord channel his workflow
< Still waiting his reply

[45cend]

Apologies for being annoying with this. I had hopes this will have been resolved with the Blender 5.0 update, but it still persists. Could you please let us know what priority level the fix is given. With large projects this is rather a significant issue, as texturing is an iterative process and after several rounds of exporting blender gets polluted with redundant geometry pretty quickly. Just to re-iterate, when re-exporting textures of the same object it would be nice if new material is assigned to the originally exported object - for situations when "Export texture" is enabled and "Export geometry" option is disabled. So the bridge always 'remembers' what object is being worked on as if blender is a continuation of 3DCoat as one of its rooms (I know it's a bit more complex than that in reality xD). Thanks for attention! 

[Carlosan]

This issue was not solved on latest version 2025.15 ?

 

[45cend]

Hey Carlosan! Thanks for a speedy response! The link itself is working. The video shows the exporting of a Vertex Painted sculpt and it's imported only once there, but this was not the issue. We were discribing a scenario where we would export an unwrapped mesh from the Painting room to Blender, make changes to textures in 3DCoat and re-export to Blender. In this case it would carry over a new mesh instance to Blender even with the export geometry option is disabled.

Blender will treat this as a new object and append 00# suffix to its name. In my understanding the Applink should recognise that it's the same instance unless the output mesh is given a different name or the connetion between two apps is aborted.

 

[Britain]

Theres a bit of confusion about the app. Where is the correct one located at? The github appears to be outdated. Blender extension has none or least I cant locate it. The video doesnt mention what app is being used.

For me Ill use the old fashion import and export ways

[Carlosan]

All this info is detailed here

 

[Britain]

App isnt working. I can send from Blender paint, modify then get back. The textures appear but not the modifications. The .fbx model with the mods is sitting in the 3dc2blender/applinks folder. Its not being brought into blender but the textures are. I read others are having the same issue. In any case the applinks folder gets cluttered if you dont keep an eye on it. Should have an option to delete file contents on open in external app  from 3dcoat.  Nuff said. Just import-export works for me.

The above info supplied is from 2022, blender has changed so has 3dcoat. I wont invest up grading to 2025.15 until app can work with other 3dcoat versions such as 2025.09.

[AbnRanger]

2 hours ago, Britain said:

App isnt working. I can send from Blender paint, modify then get back. The textures appear but not the modifications. The .fbx model with the mods is sitting in the 3dc2blender/applinks folder. Its not being brought into blender but the textures are. I read others are having the same issue. In any case the applinks folder gets cluttered if you dont keep an eye on it. Should have an option to delete file contents on open in external app  from 3dcoat.  Nuff said. Just import-export works for me.

The above info supplied is from 2022, blender has changed so has 3dcoat. I wont invest up grading to 2025.15 until app can work with other 3dcoat versions such as 2025.09.

That's the issue. BLENDER broke their addon structure around 4.3 and every addon developer had to scramble to get their addons working again. The GitHub file helped partially, but Andrew had to re-write the addon to make it work fully. I had some troubles initially (build 2025.12), but after a fresh install of 3DCoat (2025.12) + Blender 4.5 + add 3DCoat and Blender to my system's firewall and antivirus exceptions list, it finally worked.

[Britain]

19 hours ago, AbnRanger said:

That's the issue. BLENDER broke their addon structure around 4.3 and every addon developer had to scramble to get their addons working again. The GitHub file helped partially, but Andrew had to re-write the addon to make it work fully. I had some troubles initially (build 2025.12), but after a fresh install of 3DCoat (2025.12) + Blender 4.5 + add 3DCoat and Blender to my system's firewall and antivirus exceptions list, it finally worked.

Yes Ive seen the 3dcoat posts that it works now. But this should also work with earlier versions of 3dcoat. Not being a programmer I feel this is a Blender issue, 3dcoat is doing what it needs to (unless Im missing something). Is Andrew going to release this publicly or keep inside 3dcoat? At present time Ive no need to upgrade from 2025.09 to 2025.15. Import-export works fine for me but would it be nice to have an upgraded app. Edit: It was broke in Blender 4.29 also.

Edited Thursday at 05:20 PM by Britain

[AbnRanger]

On 12/4/2025 at 6:07 PM, Britain said:

Yes Ive seen the 3dcoat posts that it works now. But this should also work with earlier versions of 3dcoat. Not being a programmer I feel this is a Blender issue, 3dcoat is doing what it needs to (unless Im missing something). Is Andrew going to release this publicly or keep inside 3dcoat? At present time Ive no need to upgrade from 2025.09 to 2025.15. Import-export works fine for me but would it be nice to have an upgraded app. Edit: It was broke in Blender 4.29 also.

Send this request to support@pilgway.com, and perhaps Andrew will consider adding this fix to earlier builds that were broken. It's understandable if a software company doesn't want to go back and add fixes retroactively to older builds. They could get bogged down doing that for every single build for this past year. I remember many times, with different applications that I bought. If there was an outstanding bug that got fixed with a new version, I would have to consider upgrading in order to receive the fix. That is just how it is, whether I like it or not. I have never seen a company go back and add the bugfixes to older versions. Have you?

[Britain]

1 hour ago, AbnRanger said:

Send this request to support@pilgway.com, and perhaps Andrew will consider adding this fix to earlier builds that were broken. It's understandable if a software company doesn't want to go back and add fixes retroactively to older builds. They could get bogged down doing that for every single build for this past year. I remember many times, with different applications that I bought. If there was an outstanding bug that got fixed with a new version, I would have to consider upgrading in order to receive the fix. That is just how it is, whether I like it or not. I have never seen a company go back and add the bugfixes to older versions. Have you?

Nope. Dont use the app that much, import - export works for me. Andrew should sell it on Superhive or Gumroad for anyone that may requires it for other 3dcoat versions.