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

[Elemeno]

1 hour ago, RobNash said:

Why does it have its own transform tool?

Am I right in understanding that every type of surface needs its own transform tool? 

basically from what i can tell , each "nurbs surface" is a sculpting plane , the editing of the geometry uses some sort of lattice deformer but you cant deform the low poly , the low poly is just a framework, ive managed to get a surface created by merging 128 surfaces to make 12 seperate meshes , however thats where im stuck because i cant move any edges or deform the mesh at all , however ive noticed unlike other nurb modelling tools , the edges cant be moved , meaning each surface moves independently ... i could be wrong but so far thats all ive managed to learn from this weekend . 

[Elemeno]

its very much destructive modelling , if your step 1 is incorrect then the rest will follow , hopefully im wrong and the whole mesh is uniform and adjusts the whole mesh when one area is manipulated. 

[Kodra]

Honestly I think Smart Hybrid is a misguided effort. It's such a complex concept that doesn't play nice with the rest of 3DCoat. It's also so bugged that the simplest operation causes unexpected result. Why can't 3DCoat just focus on making what it's traditionally good at (sculpt/painting/uv unwrap/retopo) an actual smooth and bugless experience? If I want Plasticity I will, you know, use Plasticity.

3DCoat kinda invented smart material, but then proceeded to lose the whole market share of texture painting to Substance Painter. I wonder why. Perhaps, just perhaps it was due to the development got spread so thin?

Edited June 21, 2025 by Kodra

[Elemeno]

9 minutes ago, Kodra said:

Honestly I think Smart Hybrid is a misguided effort. It's such a complex concept that doesn't play nice with the rest of 3DCoat. It's also so bugged that the simplest operation causes unexpected result. Why can't 3DCoat just focus on making what it's traditionally good at (sculpt/painting/uv unwrap/retopo) an actual smooth and bugless experience? If I want Plasticity I will, you know, use Plasticity.

3DCoat kinda invented smart material, but then proceeded to lose the whole market share of texture painting to Substance Painter. I wonder why. Perhaps, just perhaps it was due to the development got spread so thin?

see plasticity uses solid modelling , which isnt technically poly modelling , its very precise but smart hybrid is like a subd modifier but the original low poly model cant be manipulated ,

 the more i use it , the more i dont see a need for it , i cant accurately model anything using this method , its hard because honestly .. i wanna say to these guys leave it , remove the lot from the software and write it down as lost time , but i know these guys are trying to give the best tools to everyone and they work super hard , so instead im trying everything possible to help them squash bugs , fix current tools and hopefully with that they can make their own decisions to move forward with development .

[Kodra]

1 hour ago, Elemeno said:

but smart hybrid is like a subd modifier but the original low poly model cant be manipulated ,

Yeah and the irony is that we have had a subd where the original low poly model can be manipulated along the high poly version. It's ZBrush's "Reproject Higher Subdiv." This has been a solved issue for more than a decade.

I don't know, man, this whole Smart Hybrid idea tries so hard to be smart that it wraps around the meter and becomes dumb.

I'm not against new ideas. I welcome them. But sculpt -> retopo -> uv -> texturing is a very well established and widely used workflow. 3DCoat, despite its quirky way handling meshes (even after 3 years I still can't recall where every single Type A mesh -> Type B mesh button is...), does this workflow reasonably well. If Blender does this better people won't buy 3DCoat just because it has Smart Hybrid or something.

 

Edited June 21, 2025 by Kodra

[Dmitriy Nos]

On 6/10/2025 at 10:52 PM, AbnRanger said:

The CUT SLICE tool in the Curves Editor (directly to the left of the CIRCLE shape, and to the right of the PEN CIRCLE) just does not work at all, especially when I try to use it with the CURVES/STROKES tool.

Got a response from the developer on this matter: "it works fine with sculpt and with retopo objects"

That is, the scene must contain a sculpted object and a retopo mesh. In order for this to work correctly.

[AbnRanger]

1 hour ago, Dmitriy Nos said:

Got a response from the developer on this matter: "it works fine with sculpt and with retopo objects"

That is, the scene must contain a sculpted object and a retopo mesh. In order for this to work correctly.

The point I made is that IT DOES NOT WORK THE SAME WAY THE CUT SLICE FEATURE IN STROKES TOOL WORKS. The whole idea of the CURVES/STROKES tool is to replicate what the Strokes tool does, except with the new CURVES. Why would you need a retopo mesh AND a sculpt mesh...in order to build a completely new Retopo mesh from scratch. And why in the world does the user have to switch to the SCULPT room in order to apply the CUT SLICE tool...when you are trying to create a RETOPO mesh? This makes no sense, whatsoever, and is super frustrating for experienced or new users alike.

THE CURVES/STROKES tool does not work correctly in this current state...as demonstrated in the videos I shared.

https://app.screencast.com/VUrH47uhfNLFB

[Dmitriy Nos]

3 minutes ago, AbnRanger said:

THE CURVES/STROKES tool does not work correctly in this current state...as demonstrated in the videos I shared.

I absolutely agree with you! Therefore, I am passing on your constructive comment on the operation of this mode.

[AbnRanger]

On 6/12/2025 at 9:46 PM, AbnRanger said:

Who needs to make a cut slice of a Retopo Mesh? Just like in the legacy STROKES tool, you make a Cut Slice profile on the SCULPT OBJECT within the RETOPO workspace....in order to make a Retopo Mesh. You use it to make a Retopo mesh...not cut a current Retopo mesh. As stated in the following video, the CURVES/STROKES tool is totally inferior to the legacy Strokes tool and thus should be removed if the same functionality the Strokes tool provides is not matched or exceeded. It cannot do 2/3's of the work the legacy strokes tool does. Can we please fix this?

https://app.screencast.com/VUrH47uhfNLFB

...also, as I was talking about in the video, when a 3DCoat user wants to create a SHAPE/LASSO from the E-Panel, 3DCoat will scale it from the CENTER...not from the corner. With the CURVES tools for creating shapes, it does not scale from the center, but the corner instead. This makes it really hard...unnecessarily hard...to place shapes accurately within other shapes, such as a smaller circle within a bigger circle. This forces users to have to create improperly aligned shapes and move them with the Transform tool AFTER they are created. This is totally inefficient and annoying because it forces users to make extra clicks and extra effort, spending extra time performing the same exact task.

Another problem with the CURVES is that Andrew recently applied SCALING from CENTER for E-Panel Shape Draw Modes, but this option was not ALSO applied to the CURVES. This is a critical problem with the 3DCoat UI and a big part of the reason there are so many complaints about the UI. IT IS NOT CONSISTENT from one workspace to the others. 

When one part of the application gets a new feature or function, this is often not applied to the other workspaces. A great example of this is the 3 different mesh panels. The SCULPT TREE panel has gotten the most attention/development while the other 3 Object panels get neglected and the same functionality in the SculptTree panel is not applied to the others...features like MULTI-SELECT (in order to quickly delete or group multiple layers). ALL OBJECT PANELS & PAINT LAYERS PANEL NEED MULTI-SELECT! The Retopo Meshes (PolyGroups) panel and the Paint Layers panel has the color reference feature, but the PAINT OBJECTS panel does not. If you have 30-50 Paint objects in the scene (not uncommon for a character will lots of clothing elements and props), and need to delete many (if not all of them) to do a re-bake or something, it is a MASSIVE pain in the butt because the user has to click the delete button PLUS answer the DO YOU REALLY WANT TO DO THIS > YES prompt in the center of the viewport...with every single object and then wait for 3DCoat to think about it before it deletes the object. No 3D app should work this way. It requires WAAAAAAAAYYYYY too many clicks, is way too time-consuming and is super annoying. You can multi-select with the Sculpt Tree panel...but nowhere else. WHY? I cannot believe this has been overlooked all these years. This is largely what critics are talking about in their complaints about the UI. Too much is left in legacy 2008 mode, and we are now 17yrs later in 2025! The Tweak Tools are largely non-functional because the selection and transform gizmos have not been brought up to date with the current ones in the Sculpt, Modeling/Retopo workspaces.

There is no hierarchy/grouping in the Paint Objects panel, but it needs it for the same reasons it is needed in the Sculpt room. You also have Ghosting and Selection Contour in the Sculpt Tree panel, but not for Retopo/Modeling Meshes or Paint Meshes. This could be useful in the Paint Workspace as well, so that Painting could be restricted (optional in the Tool Options panel) only to a currently selected Paint Object. I know you can fill objects by clicking and that objects can be locked in the Paint Objects panel, but the panel should work almost exactly the same way the Sculpt Tree panel does...if for no other reason, except for CONSISTENCY.

I don't mean to be hypercritical, here. I just want to express the urgency needed to replace the legacy elements that are weighing the application down and causing a lot of frustration and confusion...due to the massive inconsistencies.