3DCoat 2026 GPUPPP Development

[carrots]

We are pleased to present the Preview version of a major update to 3DCoat, which fundamentally changes the approach to creating materials and textures. The main novelty of this version is the powerful, fully procedural Node System, which opens up endless possibilities for non-destructive texturing on UV (Per-Pixel Painting).

Key innovations of the update: 

- Non-destructive texturing (Node-Based Workflow) No more limitations of classic pixel painting! Now you can create materials, masks, and effects using a visual editor (Node Editor). Any element — rust intensity, base color, glossiness, or scratches — remains editable at any stage of work. Change parameters and instantly observe the result on the 3D model in real time.

- High-performance GPU nodes (NGL) Under the hood of the new system, dynamic compilation of nodes into optimized shaders based on NodeGraph Language (NGL) is working. All procedural magic, mathematical operations, and noise generators are calculated directly on the graphics card (GPU).

- A new generation of smart materials, masks, and other presets:

• NGMaterials: Procedural smart materials that perfectly adapt to the curvature, shading (Ambient Occlusion), and other properties of your model.

• NGMasks: Procedural "smart" masks for generating realistic wear, dirt, scratches, etc.

• NGModifiers and NGFilters: Powerful tools for geometry deformation and procedural post-processing of current layers.

- These materials support approximately 30 channels; you can read more about them in the documentation, in the PBM Channels section.

- You can find more detailed documentation on these features in the Node System and GPU Texturing  sections; the documentation will be updated.

 

Updated User Interface New windows have been added for convenient work: Node Editor (the main space for building logic), Node Inspector, and Object Inspector. You can pin any node parameters (using the "eye" icon) in the general object or layer parameters and easily change them via the Object Inspector. This allows for configuring complex materials with convenient sliders without constantly diving into the node graph.

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A short video demonstrating the main functions:

The first video lesson on the basics of the new system:

 

Huge thanks to everyone for participation, patience and feedback!

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The links to download:

Windows, 2026-03 NS (Beta GPU Per-Pixel Painting)
3d-coat-5-27-2026NS.zip (Just unpack and run 3DCoatGL64.exe)

Windows, 2026-02 (Preview GPU Per-Pixel Painting)
3d-coat-5-16-2026.zip (Just unpack and run 3DCoatGL64.exe)

This is an early beta version. Not recommended for use in production environments.

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Other changes (besides those announced above) made after 3DCoat-2026-01:

3DCoat-2026-03 NS Beta
Wed May 27 13:13:52 2026 -0700
ATTENTION: Existing fabric materials will be replaced with new fabric materials in the next build.

- Retopo/Modeling Room: Added option "Switching Pen Mode to Rectangle After the Select Transform Activated"
- New nodes are now created at the location where the right mouse button was clicked to invoke the menu—rather than at the location where the mouse cursor happened to be at the moment the node was created.
- The "Soft Displacement" property has been added. This is a displacement effect designed to be used in conjunction with a normal map: Soft Displacement shifts vertices without affecting shading, and its impact on shadows is reduced by half; the normal map is then used to define the orientation of each pixel, ensuring correct shading. This feature is crucial for creating high-quality fabric materials.
- Retopo/Modeling Room: "Polygon Tree" has been improved. Speed up work for large files.
- Retopo/Modeling Room: tool Cap - bug fixed and improvements.
- Node header default colors are now category-based (each category has its own distinct color).
- Normal Map Support in Node-Based Materials
- Fixed a crash that occurred while clearing the Node Graph in the Node Editor.
- Fixed selection of multiple nodes using a rectangle or CTRL.
- Added the ability to select multiple painting layers, move selected layers within the painting layer tree, and group, hide, unhide, duplicate, or delete them.
- In GPUPPP mode, layer masks affect based on brightness, rather than exclusively based on transparency.
- SoftDisplacement, combined with Sheen, can simulate fur, while FWSNormal defines its direction. To enable support for PPP texturing, "Show Displacement Mesh" must be enabled, and tessellation must be configured.
- A tool for extracting MicroprotrusionsColor based on pixel brightness has been added to the PBRTiler extension.

3DCoat-2026-02 GPUPPP Preview
Sat May 16 01:26:03 2026 -0700
- Implemented a new non-blocking iterative anti-aliasing system for the 3DCoat viewport that activates automatically during idle periods.
- Directional Occlusion and Geometry Info map types added to the Light Baking Tool.
- RGBA Curves and Gradient Support in Nodes
- Ability to make visible and hide individual node properties in the Object Inspector.
- Image reading and writing file formats can be replaced via Python extension
- Objects created by C++ functions from Python scripts will not be garbage collected by Python, thus avoiding double freeing.
- Checking compilation codes before setting up a node graph
- Node source codes have been moved to the UserPrefs/Scripts/GPUNodes folder
- The node system has been updated to prevent links between incompatible properties. The material preview renderer has been updated. A button for inverting input channels has been added. Required maps, such as AmbientOcclusion and Curvature, are now automatically calculated. The ability to use input channel correction curves in the node source code has been added.
- Python on Windows has been moved to ProgramData, which avoids incorrect operation in some cases.
- Added a color selector extension based on QT.
- Fixed a crash when using cStr in Python, including in cIDE, the expression editor, and node source code.
- You can now set parameters in standard input fields using Python expressions. If there are no functions involved, you can simply enter the expression, for example, "10 + 20 * 2". If functions are used, start the line with "PY:", for example, "PY: abs(sin(123)*100)+2". If you need multiple lines, separate them with a semicolon and return the value using `return`, for example, "PY: a=10; b=3; res = a * b; return res + 5". The expressions include functions from the math and CMD modules.

3DCoat-2026-01 

Tue Feb 17 14:13:36 2026 +0200

- Better style of no-modal input, same color as UI in general, no windows-style OK button.

- Node source codes have been moved to the UserPrefs/Scripts/GPUNodes folder

- The node system has been updated to prevent links between incompatible properties. The material preview renderer has been updated. A button for inverting input channels has been added. Required maps, such as AmbientOcclusion and Curvature, are now automatically calculated. The ability to use input channel correction curves in the node source code has been added.

- Python on Windows has been moved to ProgramData, which avoids incorrect operation in some cases.

- Correct supports rendering

- New important UI feature! Press CTRL-F or use Popups->Search in UI to find and execute any accessible item in UI in the current room.

- In Curve subtool was Added Check "ShowPoints"

- Retopo/Modeling Room: Tool "Select Transform" has been modified

- Restored GROW tool depth on pressure dependency icon

- New SPACE menu approach (older may be got back from settings) - type to find tool quickly.

- Added a color selector extension based on QT.

- Fixed a crash when using cStr in Python, including in cIDE, the expression editor, and node source code.

- Retopo/Modeling Room: The tool "Delete Face/Edge" polished a lot. Pre-selected edges or faces are removed.

- Fixed crash in live booleans (when unghosting)

- Fixed too small-scaled STL-s import

- Eraser with CTRL works correctly on frozen area (ppp)

- Retopo/Modeling Room: The tool Welding has been improved.

- Sculpt Room: for tool "Blob" - "Do Filling" was sped up several times. For "Smart Hybrid".

- Sculpt Room: Tool "Blob". A new option for lasso placement has been added to the "Smart Hybrid".

[Mihu83]

Out of curiosity, will this new system work with existing smart materials, or it will be based on smart materials created from scratch with nodes? Also, all the editing possibilities will work with painting on high poly, without UV's?

[carrots]

54 minutes ago, Mihu83 said:

Out of curiosity, will this new system work with existing smart materials, or it will be based on smart materials created from scratch with nodes? Also, all the editing possibilities will work with painting on high poly, without UV's?

By right-clicking on a smart material, you will see a menu item that will convert it and apply it to the open year editor. Yes, these node materials can be used both for UV PPP drawing and for sculpting objects, they are universal.

[Mihu83]

43 minutes ago, carrots said:

By right-clicking on a smart material, you will see a menu item that will convert it and apply it to the open year editor. Yes, these node materials can be used both for UV PPP drawing and for sculpting objects, they are universal.

Sounds nice, thanks.

[Elemeno]

this looks fantastic!

[MJonathan]

Amazing update! Let me add some comments that could improve the user experience:

1. I wanted to select multiple nodes to move or delete them using the rectangle selection and it was not possible. That was a little frustrating.
2. I wanted to delete the selected nodes by pressing the Delete key, but instead the layer deleted all its content. That’s a bad user experience because in every node editor like Nuke, Mari, ComfyUI, etc., this shortcut should delete the selected nodes. It should act on the graph context, not the layer.
3. Ctrl+Z is not working properly. When I modify settings, curves, etc., 3DCoat is not registering those events correctly, so undo fails and a lot of progress can be lost because of this implementation.
4. Nodes are created at the position of the final click in the menu instead of the initial right-click position.

Please fix these issues! The node graph is looking awesome, and with these changes people will feel much more comfortable using it without frustration.

[Carlosan]

Some operations are recorded in
C:\Users\<username>\Documents\3DCoat\UserPrefs\TimeLapse

(are video files and image sequence)

and take up a lot of space

[Henry Townshend]

You guys actually did it... speechless. What a spectacular puzzle piece for 3D Coat to have fallen into place.

Thanks for all your hard work on this and carefully listening to user feedback. Seems you really thought about everything and more in regards to non destructive adjustments, masking, and their previews! Utterly impressive.

And offering a video walk through and docs from day one is very appreciated. Plus even having new common shading models now like SSS etc is an absolutely mind blowing bonus that will make texturing in 3D Coat so much more accurate for target, and enhances rendering possibilities inside 3D Coat immensely.

Absolutely insane update. Congratulations. I think it is early Christmas now for many users.

P.S.: Please add the still missing ability to select and move/drop into groups multiple layers at once. This is such a disconnect now with such a powerful system in place to still have to re-arrange your layers in the layer stack painfully one by one.

Edited May 17 by Henry Townshend
forgot feedback

[SreckoM]

Looks great, can not wait for Linux version to try this.

[gbball]

It seems I've lost a bunch of my brushes.  I'm missing Pinch and Inflate.  They're missing in surface mode and voxel mode.

I've only tested on one machine so far.  I first noticed after installing this new version - 2026.02.  I also have the same issue in 2026.01

Edit:  I think a bunch more are missing, but those are the two I use the most.  It looks like most of the clay brushes are gone too.

Edited May 18 by gbball

[yoohasz]

I DL-ed the preview build of this and got a licence related error. FYI: I only have one workstation, with one instance of 3DCoat installed, and this test build prompts me to exit immediately, since my serial number is used on another PC. No it is not. I don't even have another PC. :/ Can this be resolved somehow? 

[Elemeno]

8 hours ago, gbball said:

It seems I've lost a bunch of my brushes.  I'm missing Pinch and Inflate.  They're missing in surface mode and voxel mode.

I've only tested on one machine so far.  I first noticed after installing this new version - 2026.02.  I also have the same issue in 2026.01

Edit:  I think a bunch more are missing, but those are the two I use the most.  It looks like most of the clay brushes are gone too.

this isnt a main build , this is an early beta , thats why you unzip it ... use 2026.1 cause 2026.2 isnt release yet

[gbball]

50 minutes ago, Elemeno said:

this isnt a main build , this is an early beta , thats why you unzip it ... use 2026.1 cause 2026.2 isnt release yet

It looks like something happened with my 3DCoat folder settings in my windows documents folder.  I changed it's name and had 3DCoat generate a new folder which seems to have fixed the issue.

Edited May 18 by gbball

[stas3dc]

21 hours ago, yoohasz said:

I DL-ed the preview build of this and got a licence related error. FYI: I only have one workstation, with one instance of 3DCoat installed, and this test build prompts me to exit immediately, since my serial number is used on another PC. No it is not. I don't even have another PC. :/ Can this be resolved somehow? 

Please email to sales@pilgway.com and tell us the email address you used for the Pilgway account, and we will look into it.

[mxhunterx]

Will both 3DCoat and Textura have these features or is this only for 3D Coat? I Only have Textura, so just curious.