This is by far the hardest software to get to grips with

[Dmitriy Nos]

49 minutes ago, pieralessi said:

I don't understand the getting its identifier by pressing RMB+LMB

Hover the mouse cursor over the desired element in the UI and press RMB+LMB. If successful, there will be a message below. Then click the ellipsis and Add command. And name it as you like.

[pieralessi]

2 hours ago, Oleg Shapov said:

Hover the mouse cursor over the desired element in the UI and press RMB+LMB. If successful, there will be a message below. Then click the ellipsis and Add command. And name it as you like.

Done but... now? Some good video? The tool don't have a name so I can find it on tutorials or documentation? This is the main cause of stubbornness when learning 3D Coat

Edited June 4, 2025 by pieralessi

[pieralessi]

Something happened suddenly, I click a lot and the node doesn't get deselected, it just rotates the view as if I were pressing ALT

[pieralessi]

7 hours ago, pieralessi said:

 

One piece of advice: you should look up video compatibility on the forum. It would help a lot, and it would save you time and the hassle of explaining what I need you to explain.

Some reply?

[Carlosan]

8 hours ago, Oleg Shapov said:

Please send me the curves with which these tools do not work.

As Oleg said, sent him the project to take a look.

It is difficult to replicate watching pictures.

[AbnRanger]

12 hours ago, pieralessi said:

Thank you for your response and that of everyone else on this forum. I don't know if this has happened to you, but I bought 3D Coat so I could use it as fully as possible, especially for product rendering without having to pay the hefty Autodesk fee or paying for numerous add-ons to make the complicated Blender easier.
I understand that some people will be more interested in one room than another, but that doesn't mean I have to settle for only what interests others and get frustrated with the rest. The documentation generally doesn't cover these topics or deals very superficially with them, and anyone who wants to delve deeper will find themselves in a literal battle of learning and discord for not being able to align themselves with the personal interests of other users and "teachers," whom I respect, but who continue to ignore the harsh reality: When I click on a certain part, something doesn't happen or happens as expected. Even though the program has many explanatory labels, they don't fully "illustrate" its function, much less intuit the steps that, once superficially explained, should be intuitive, but aren't. This also doesn't allow you to differentiate between a misused tool or a bug, which there are.
Although the program isn't just for painting, sculpting, and texturing, but also for modeling, lighting, and rendering, have you done projects with these rooms? You're probably wondering: "How complex is what you're looking to do?" And I'll answer: "How comprehensive are the tutorials and guides?" Or "How effective do you find the tools?" Have you ever started working with polygonal modeling after hours of watching tutorials? I was surprised too, and I liked many of them, but when you put them into practice, it's not the same. That surface you were looking for just doesn't turn out the same. In any other program (free or paid), there's clear documentation, certified courses, and a growing community focused on all the software. There isn't a single advanced polygonal modeling course on the entire web. I've taken a couple of the ones you show in the links, but those are limited to sculpting and texturing, and the instructors themselves admit they don't master everything or don't respond. You have no idea how tedious it is to have to spend days and even weeks contacting support or researching tutorials just to figure out that you needed to open a palette or window, dig through almost 40 lines of lists with unfamiliar nomenclature, and realize you had to click on something that you'd never imagine was related to the tool you were using, and then start the whole ordeal over again with another tool. Explaining to you exactly what isn't working or what you don't understand is like asking you for specific chapters and verses from the Bible without you being able to explain Christianity or the divine mystery to me. I invite you to look at the 3DCoat website for a list of institutions that supposedly teach this software worldwide and go into each of them. Did you know that 3D Coat is also promoted for industrial design? I invite you to challenge users to show real industrial design projects made with spline curve and polygonal modeling tools and explain them on a YouTube channel. Don't talk to me about a 30-day trial because you know it's impossible that in that time you can't understand if the difficulties you encounter are common or just a bug. I think many here, seeing what the website promises, don't need to ask themselves whether what is shown there is true or a pure fake. I have made complaints and suggestions since 2022, and I see that by 2024 there are no corrections in this regard.

3DCoat is like many, if not most, 3D applications. There are some areas where it excels and areas where it may simply be adequate. I don't know of a single 3D application where this is not the case. The Render room would be one of those that are just adequate (Although it does have Renderman support, albeit limited to still images and no shadow-catching material). Most of the focus has been on Sculpting, Texture Painting, Retopo and UV tools. Polymodeling and NURBS/Solid Surface tools are still relatively new in terms of development. Pilgway is trying to diversify and offer a growing set of CAD/NURBS tools, so that artists/designers from either industry can make and move assets from 3DCoat to CAD applications. Blender being free and getting tons of corporate $$$ is making it very difficult for other 3D applications (of all kinds) to compete and survive. Pilgway staff are also in the middle of an existential war and it makes it very difficult to conduct business at a normal pace.

Again, I ask that you take the time to go through that series about Polymodeling, that I linked to previously. You said there is no single course covering the polymodeling tools, please wait until you have finished that series, okay? Ian put a lot of work into it.

[pieralessi]

10 hours ago, AbnRanger said:

3DCoat is like many, if not most, 3D applications. There are some areas where it excels and areas where it may simply be adequate. I don't know of a single 3D application where this is not the case. The Render room would be one of those that are just adequate (Although it does have Renderman support, albeit limited to still images and no shadow-catching material). Most of the focus has been on Sculpting, Texture Painting, Retopo and UV tools. Polymodeling and NURBS/Solid Surface tools are still relatively new in terms of development. Pilgway is trying to diversify and offer a growing set of CAD/NURBS tools, so that artists/designers from either industry can make and move assets from 3DCoat to CAD applications. Blender being free and getting tons of corporate $$$ is making it very difficult for other 3D applications (of all kinds) to compete and survive. Pilgway staff are also in the middle of an existential war and it makes it very difficult to conduct business at a normal pace.

Again, I ask that you take the time to go through that series about Polymodeling, that I linked to previously. You said there is no single course covering the polymodeling tools, please wait until you have finished that series, okay? Ian put a lot of work into it.

What version is the polymodeling room on? Why are they charging for software that isn't finished? Was that clear in the software's offer? Pope Francis I said it well, and Leo XIV still maintains it: "We have lived through the Third World War in pieces." I am a Venezuelan immigrant in Italy. Russia has been in my country militarily, along with Iran and China, for more than 20 years. I lost all my working years because I left the country, and they won't recognize my $100 pension. I tried to start my freelance business in Italy after working hard in England. For family reasons, I had to come back, and illness XV+IV ended up destroying everything. Taxes wiped out the little I had earned, and on top of that, a good part goes to finance the war, but here we have to wait a year for a preoperative exam. I bought a program with great sacrifice that promises to do certain things, and it's impossible to discover its errors in 30 days. If other programs have defects, support resolves them completely in a short time. If you sell it to me cheaply, you still have to deliver what you promise, otherwise they already know what to do.

[AbnRanger]

19 minutes ago, pieralessi said:

What version is the polymodeling room on? Why are they charging for software that isn't finished? Was that clear in the software's offer? Pope Francis I said it well, and Leo XIV still maintains it: "We have lived through the Third World War in pieces." I am a Venezuelan immigrant in Italy. Russia has been in my country militarily, along with Iran and China, for more than 20 years. I lost all my working years because I left the country, and they won't recognize my $100 pension. I tried to start my freelance business in Italy after working hard in England. For family reasons, I had to come back, and illness XV+IV ended up destroying everything. Taxes wiped out the little I had earned, and on top of that, a good part goes to finance the war, but here we have to wait a year for a preoperative exam. I bought a program with great sacrifice that promises to do certain things, and it's impossible to discover its errors in 30 days. If other programs have defects, support resolves them completely in a short time. If you sell it to me cheaply, you still have to deliver what you promise, otherwise they already know what to do.

Every application evolves...including ZBrush. It wasn't long ago that they added some of it's most well known features, like Z-Remesher, Dyna-Mesh, Dynamic Subdivision (Sculptris Pro), etc. Was ZBrush "unfinished" before those tools arrived? When they added major tools, they often would improve them from time to time. So, likewise, 3DCoat ADDING polymodeling tools to it's Retopo toolset doesn't mean they are totally finished and will never see refinements and new features. Again, I ask you to watch the following series on Polymodeling in 3DCoat before you make statements like "Why are they charging for software that isn't finished?" Who said they are unfinished?

The Polymodeling tools are not intended to compete with major 3D apps, that have had 2 decades to build and refine their modeling toolsets. It's intended to give 3DCoat artists sufficient ability to model with polygons without having to leave the application to do it. It is also designed to compliment the Voxel Modeling toolset. One object may be easier to model with voxels > Retopo/Auto-Retopo and another object might be easier to build with polygons. 

[AbnRanger]

21 hours ago, pieralessi said:

I tried doing it with a plane divided into four, but when I clicked on the circular area, nothing happened. The video omits an important part: if I'm using the curve tools, I must first go to... and then... to be able to select the faces without complications. See the video above about a non-intuitive step before selecting when using curves.

You have to understand that when you are creating or editing CURVES, you are in an entirely different mode or stage of creating/editing a model. When you are done creating or editing Curves, you need to step out of that draw mode (hit the E-key to bring up the E-Panel and choose the mode you want to work with next), and into a Brush drawing mode or Shape SELECTION mode. I have to choose different selection modes in 3ds Max or Blender. Why does 3DCoat lose points for doing the same? When I am painting or working in the UV workspace, I know I may need to switch my drawing mode to something more appropriate for the specific tool or task. When you are creating & editing curves, you are in a CURVE draw mode. If you suddenly decided you want to select some polygons, edges or verts, you simply switch to the appropriate draw mode for that task. Again, please watch the Ian's series on "Low Poly modeling in 3DCoat." He covers a lot of ground and explains things in great detail, at a pace anyone can follow.

If you really want to speed up the process of changing draw modes, you can assign hotkeys to them (some of the F keys might be suitable for that) by hovering your cursor over the desired draw mode (in the E-Panel) and hitting the END key. That will allow you to make the keyboard assignment. Another option to quickly switch and you don't even have to look down at your keyboard, is to use the HMC Voice Command software. You don't even have to fool with making custom hotkey assignments. Just say the name of the tool, menu item, draw mode, etc. and it selects it for you, while you continue to focus on the model. It's a 3rd party plugin that is worth exploring.

[AbnRanger]

On 5/5/2025 at 2:02 AM, Elemeno said:

bit of a lengthy video , but it shows my frustration with the current workflows of 3dcoat , being able to do basic tasks .

i used the modelling room for 5 minutes and i couldnt carry on,

ive been 3d modelling for many years now, i started when i was young , and im an old man now ... ive used many softwares over my time , but this is by far the hardest software to get to grips with .

 

 

 

I was re-watching the video and noticed the questions you had towards the end. You could also use R-Fill or the Cap tool for that, depending on your needs. They both CAP (fill) an open hole in a mesh, but do it differently. Sometimes you just want to cap with a single N-Gon. Sometimes you may want edges converging into a single vertex in the center (ie., for eyeballs, ends of sharp objects like teeth, etc.). The Cap tool does both of those. Other times, you may want 3DCoat to cap with clean quads (R-Fill). Please watch Ian's series and you'll have a much deeper understanding/proficiency in 3DCoat, with regard to the modeling/retopo tools. 

 

[pieralessi]

57 minutes ago, AbnRanger said:

Every application evolves...including ZBrush. It wasn't long ago that they added some of it's most well known features, like Z-Remesher, Dyna-Mesh, Dynamic Subdivision (Sculptris Pro), etc. Was ZBrush "unfinished" before those tools arrived? When they added major tools, they often would improve them from time to time. So, likewise, 3DCoat ADDING polymodeling tools to it's Retopo toolset doesn't mean they are totally finished and will never see refinements and new features. Again, I ask you to watch the following series on Polymodeling in 3DCoat before you make statements like "Why are they charging for software that isn't finished?" Who said they are unfinished?

The Polymodeling tools are not intended to compete with major 3D apps, that have had 2 decades to build and refine their modeling toolsets. It's intended to give 3DCoat artists sufficient ability to model with polygons without having to leave the application to do it. It is also designed to compliment the Voxel Modeling toolset. One object may be easier to model with voxels > Retopo/Auto-Retopo and another object might be easier to build with polygons. 

Everything you're saying is unfounded because there are new features like the Nurbs feature, but the Polymodeling feature hasn't been developed yet. What you're saying about ZBRUSH is absurd because you're confusing "new tools" with "existing but buggy ones" (and years old). I'm not the only one making complaints about this on this forum.

[pieralessi]

1 hour ago, AbnRanger said:

You have to understand that when you are creating or editing CURVES, you are in an entirely different mode or stage of creating/editing a model. When you are done creating or editing Curves, you need to step out of that draw mode (hit the E-key to bring up the E-Panel and choose the mode you want to work with next), and into a Brush drawing mode or Shape SELECTION mode. I have to choose different selection modes in 3ds Max or Blender. Why does 3DCoat lose points for doing the same? When I am painting or working in the UV workspace, I know I may need to switch my drawing mode to something more appropriate for the specific tool or task. When you are creating & editing curves, you are in a CURVE draw mode. If you suddenly decided you want to select some polygons, edges or verts, you simply switch to the appropriate draw mode for that task. Again, please watch the Ian's series on "Low Poly modeling in 3DCoat." He covers a lot of ground and explains things in great detail, at a pace anyone can follow.

If you really want to speed up the process of changing draw modes, you can assign hotkeys to them (some of the F keys might be suitable for that) by hovering your cursor over the desired draw mode (in the E-Panel) and hitting the END key. That will allow you to make the keyboard assignment. Another option to quickly switch and you don't even have to look down at your keyboard, is to use the HMC Voice Command software. You don't even have to fool with making custom hotkey assignments. Just say the name of the tool, menu item, draw mode, etc. and it selects it for you, while you continue to focus on the model. It's a 3rd party plugin that is worth exploring.

My friend, if it's that obvious and simple, why isn't the start and end of a drawing session determined by a separate room or a good contextual palette, like polygonal modeling tools? I've been using programs for 30 years, and there's something called "UX Design" that determines "UI Design." You can research the acronyms on the web. I'm a user, and I've realized that I have to adapt to the thinking of a certain number of "collaborators" who should all follow the same work philosophy; otherwise, the software would remain a mess of hidden options, as if it were a video game. 3D Coat must adapt to the needs of users and improve the product. Not keep releasing dated versions with seemingly new features that are always in development. Fixing a bug isn't exactly a tool's advancement; modifying it and giving it more functionality is quite another matter. Do you know how much time I've wasted demonstrating things that are too complicated to understand, testing tools numerous times to figure out where the strange results come from, and researching first to test and then complain? I've made many complaints about tools on this forum, but they only respond to a few or ask for the original file because it's impossible to send them a video here. Do you think I'm having fun playing the hater when after three years I should be able to just use my program? If you sell me a car and tell me the wheels are being manufactured or I had to connect the battery from the hood, you know what to do.

[pieralessi]

58 minutes ago, AbnRanger said:

I was re-watching the video and noticed the questions you had towards the end. You could also use R-Fill or the Cap tool for that, depending on your needs. They both CAP (fill) an open hole in a mesh, but do it differently. Sometimes you just want to cap with a single N-Gon. Sometimes you may want edges converging into a single vertex in the center (ie., for eyeballs, ends of sharp objects like teeth, etc.). The Cap tool does both of those. Other times, you may want 3DCoat to cap with clean quads (R-Fill). Please watch Ian's series and you'll have a much deeper understanding/proficiency in 3DCoat, with regard to the modeling/retopo tools. 

 

I don't understand why, when I asked my questions about surface tools a while back, support contacted me directly with the programmer, who only showed me videos from his own channel in Ukrainian, without showing the shortcuts and with poorly translated subtitles. I recently came across these videos, which have been around for a while and are very good, but they're lacking. There are options not mentioned, and testing them in the program is impossible because they aren't explained. Trying them out just by looking at the gray labels isn't enough. Showing a simple surface with one or two tools doesn't illustrate the program's potential. I can test the tools one by one, but I end up on the forum and spend a lifetime doing it because they end up sending videos of other tools that aren't the same even though they look similar, which is confusing. I'll give you an example, when I saw the Surface Patch video I understood that it could perfectly replace the other similar ones because it allows me to preview the result, but when I put them into practice it is not the same, yesterday I explained it in a post above (look for it and you'll see), then, inexplicably for me some curves were joined perfectly through the tools to join nodes in the curves but when doing it with another it simply did not give me the result, they asked me for the file because they will have no idea what happens, was the curve corrupted by any involuntary operation trying options? I least know.

[AbnRanger]

12 hours ago, pieralessi said:

Everything you're saying is unfounded because there are new features like the Nurbs feature, but the Polymodeling feature hasn't been developed yet. What you're saying about ZBRUSH is absurd because you're confusing "new tools" with "existing but buggy ones" (and years old). I'm not the only one making complaints about this on this forum.

How can you know they are underdeveloped when you don't even know how to use the tools yet, according to your own words? I politely asked you to watch the tutorial series covering the subject in great depth, but instead, it's as if you prefer to come here and argue. If there is indeed something wrong with the tools or they are in need of improvement (of course most every toolset can use some degree of improvement), then yes, it's helpful (for everyone) to bring it up...but in a constructive, rather than a derogatory/abrasive manner.

3DCoat is primarily a Texture Painting, Sculpting (and Voxel Modeling), Retopo and UV Editing application. In the past few years, Pilgway has tried to add to the Retopo toolset and offer a PolyModeling workspace, so users don't necessarily have to leave the application for this task...so, yes, the Polymodeling toolset is relatively new compared to the other areas that have been in development for over a decade, and is still being improved incrementally.

The same thing applies to NURBS. Some NURBS-based tools have been in the application for a while, and the ability to convert a polymesh to NURBS > export to a CAD centric application is still a work in progress. This is how Public Beta works...instead of Pilgway sitting on a feature for a year (until a new release), like many applications, the developers allow users to get their hands on the tools in the early beta stages and help them refine the tool or toolset...which naturally includes their input on improvements or additional features/options added to it, but also Bug reporting. You can either have a good and constructive attitude about the Bug reporting or a bad one, that isn't constructive for anyone. That choice is yours.

I have had to report many, many bugs in the past and continue to, because it not only helps me get a stable toolset, but it helps the developers and other users also. If you do send support@pilgway.com a bug report, it might be helpful to mention the word BUG prominently in the email title because Andrew prioritizes Bug fixing over feature development, and will generally stop whatever feature he is working on, to fix a bug that is reported.  

[AbnRanger]

12 hours ago, pieralessi said:

My friend, if it's that obvious and simple, why isn't the start and end of a drawing session determined by a separate room or a good contextual palette, like polygonal modeling tools? I've been using programs for 30 years, and there's something called "UX Design" that determines "UI Design." You can research the acronyms on the web. I'm a user, and I've realized that I have to adapt to the thinking of a certain number of "collaborators" who should all follow the same work philosophy; otherwise, the software would remain a mess of hidden options, as if it were a video game. 3D Coat must adapt to the needs of users and improve the product. Not keep releasing dated versions with seemingly new features that are always in development. Fixing a bug isn't exactly a tool's advancement; modifying it and giving it more functionality is quite another matter. Do you know how much time I've wasted demonstrating things that are too complicated to understand, testing tools numerous times to figure out where the strange results come from, and researching first to test and then complain? I've made many complaints about tools on this forum, but they only respond to a few or ask for the original file because it's impossible to send them a video here. Do you think I'm having fun playing the hater when after three years I should be able to just use my program? If you sell me a car and tell me the wheels are being manufactured or I had to connect the battery from the hood, you know what to do.

Have you watched the video series I posted twice? It's as if you just want to rant before you watch the training material provided by the company, and that will not achieve any productive results here.

It's very simple and easy. When you are working with Curves, you use a CURVE DRAW MODE. When you are done creating or editing CURVES, you pick another draw mode from the E-Panel. Why must you argue with me about this?