Some impressions/questions

[wailingmonkey]

Hi Andrew,

I can see you are constantly trying to improve 3d-Brush, and that is

probably one of the largest reasons that compelled me to purchase

(that and the fact that you've got a ton of handy things built in already.)

So I got to work a little more with 3d-brush today and ran across

a number of things I'd like to ask about:

- Is resolution around stroke edges (where polys get pushed in or pulled out)

of subdivided mesh dependent on having millions of polygons (if I want

cleaner deformations, do I have to work in the 4million poly number

instead of 1-2million)? I'm finding the stroke edge to be too 'furry'

and wonder if there's room for an anti-aliasing setting, or whether

it's just too few polygons (again, was in the 1-2million range), or

whether a better brush alpha can be used (like 512X512 pixels instead

of 256X256 or something)

- I know we can draw with lines, but it would be handy to have a

"shift-constrain" on the tablet brushes as well that would constrain

a stroke according to the camera in vertical, horizontal, or 45-degrees,

depending how the user moved the pen (similar to zbrush, or photoshop)

- Is there an overall radial fade that can be applied to the pen alpha?

- I'm finding the pressure response with a tablet pen is significantly

less reactive when ending my strokes (the stroke start works nicely, but

the response at the end with less pressure seems to remain at a constant

size/depth rather than according to pressure I'm applying)

- Is it possible to isolate a fully customizable settings palette for the

smooth brush? If I'm using a particular alpha pen to sculpt, I generally

want to use another default smoothing alpha instead of, for instance, my

noisy alpha I was sculpting with. I've kinda found zbrush's ability to

hotkey a specific group of settings (like having the smooth area itself

be 1.5 times larger than the brush size you're sculpting with) to be ideal.

I could see this seperate options palette allowing for parameters relating

to specular and color, as well as displacement...

- Is it possible to fill the entire object irrespective of different 'zones'.

For example, say I've got a pattern fill on an arm, another on a leg, and

some text displaced on a chest. Can I fill the whole object with a semi-

transparent gradient pattern so that it affects everything? I tried by

adding another layer and filling, but it still only fills the region I've

clicked on, not the whole object.

- Is there a better way to uniformly smooth the entire object at once? (I've

thusfar been using the 'paint with elipse' with 'shift' and dragging till

the elipse goes outside my object.

- Is there a shortcut key to show/hide the viewport grid?

- Is it possible to list the shortcut key next to a function's tooltip

at the bar on the bottom of the screen?

- I ran ambient occlusion at 128 lights and it still seems kinda rough...is

it possible to add the ablitiy to blur the map while still retaining seamlessness

across UV-seams (instead of running at 256 lights or trying to hack it in Photoshop)?

Sorry for the long novel, but I'm really excited about the capabilities I see

in 3d-Brush.

Kind regards,

wailingmonkey

[Andrew Shpagin]

Thank you for propositions! You know I try to make most of requests, 3DB grows quickly. So I will try, it is really important to get propositions, propositions "build" the program. Some comments:

- Is resolution around stroke edges (where polys get pushed in or pulled out)

of subdivided mesh dependent on having millions of polygons (if I want

cleaner deformations, do I have to work in the 4million poly number

instead of 1-2million)? I'm finding the stroke edge to be too 'furry'

and wonder if there's room for an anti-aliasing setting, or whether

it's just too few polygons (again, was in the 1-2million range), or

whether a better brush alpha can be used (like 512X512 pixels instead

of 256X256 or something)

What does mean "resolution around stroke edges" ? The detalisation of surface depends on millions of polygons.

- I know we can draw with lines, but it would be handy to have a

"shift-constrain" on the tablet brushes as well that would constrain

a stroke according to the camera in vertical, horizontal, or 45-degrees,

depending how the user moved the pen (similar to zbrush, or photoshop)

good, will do, but SHIFT is used for smoothing. How do you think, how it could be done in interface?

- Is there an overall radial fade that can be applied to the pen alpha?

There is "Focal shift"

- I'm finding the pressure response with a tablet pen is significantly

less reactive when ending my strokes (the stroke start works nicely, but

the response at the end with less pressure seems to remain at a constant

size/depth rather than according to pressure I'm applying)

will check it

- Is there a better way to uniformly smooth the entire object at once? (I've

thusfar been using the 'paint with elipse' with 'shift' and dragging till

the elipse goes outside my object.

Increase "Color difference" in Fill tool (to 256-600) and click on surface with SHIFT

- Is it possible to isolate a fully customizable settings palette for the

smooth brush? If I'm using a particular alpha pen to sculpt, I generally

want to use another default smoothing alpha instead of, for instance, my

noisy alpha I was sculpting with. I've kinda found zbrush's ability to

hotkey a specific group of settings (like having the smooth area itself

be 1.5 times larger than the brush size you're sculpting with) to be ideal.

I could see this seperate options palette allowing for parameters relating

to specular and color, as well as displacement...

The version with "Psesets" panel coming soon...

- Is it possible to fill the entire object irrespective of different 'zones'.

For example, say I've got a pattern fill on an arm, another on a leg, and

some text displaced on a chest. Can I fill the whole object with a semi-

transparent gradient pattern so that it affects everything? I tried by

adding another layer and filling, but it still only fills the region I've

clicked on, not the whole object.

Increase "Color difference", also may be I will add checker "Fill entire area" in Fill tool

- Is there a shortcut key to show/hide the viewport grid?

In "Options"...

- Is it possible to list the shortcut key next to a function's tooltip

at the bar on the bottom of the screen?

Usually it is listed there. May be I have forgot to list something?

- I ran ambient occlusion at 128 lights and it still seems kinda rough...is

it possible to add the ablitiy to blur the map while still retaining seamlessness

across UV-seams (instead of running at 256 lights or trying to hack it in Photoshop)?

You can smooth the layer with shift, like it is described before. But I want to add slider "Additional smotthing steps" in occlusion tool

[wailingmonkey]

Thank you for the feedback., Andrew

I will try your suggestions for filling and smoothing the entire object. In regard to your other

comments:

What does mean "resolution around stroke edges" ? The detalisation of surface depends on millions of polygons.

I had thought I'd read that you were not fully subdividing the object but 'emulating' it's effect on the screen

(maybe I'd confused your technique with the way zbrush is able to get HD geometry in the 100's of millions of

polygons). I will test higher resolutions from now on, and weigh them against viewport interactivity vs. final

quality.

good, will do, but SHIFT is used for smoothing. How do you think, how it could be done in interface?

It has traditionally been done such that the user first clicks the tool then holds down shift and moves the mouse/pen.

There is "Focal shift"

Yes, but I wasn't able to get the finer control of radially fading my alpha on the pen itself...perhaps user-error

on my part, or I need to experiment more with it.

The version with "Presets" panel coming soon...

Sweet!

In "Options"...

I figured out how to do it, but hadn't noticed a hotkey for it. (like 'G' or something)

Usually it is listed there. May be I have forgot to list something?

I'll double-check as well...perhaps I just overlooked the hotkey placement.

You can smooth the layer with shift, like it is described before. But I want to add slider "Additional smoothing steps" in occlusion tool

Nice! I was manually smoothing with 'shift' over the areas that were rough, but of course, a button to do it

automatically with some uniformity and degrees of intensity options would be handy.

Looking forward to your next updates!

Kind regards,

wailingmonkey

P.S. By the way, it's awesome to be able to paint specular real-time with custom alpha's and transparency

control, all on it's own layer......worth the price for this feature alone. (yay!)

[wailingmonkey]

Hi Andrew,

just bumping this topic to see if you've given any more thought to adding the 'Shift-constrain'

feature which would basically constrain the brush direction (relative to camera view) to

horizontal, vertical, and 45-degrees.

Once again, this would work similar to Photoshop/Zbrush in that the user left-clicks(and holds)

first THEN holds the Shift-key down to constrain the stroke. I'm finding I miss this option quite

a bit for non-organic linework.

It would also be advantageous to allow for this stroke to affect the geometry in a uniformly

displaced manner (from the poly normals)...the reason I mention that is that I find using the

pen with the line stroke (or curved line stroke) has a tendancy to not affect the geometry

uniformly over the surface. It tends to skip hills and valleys.

cheers.

wailingmonkey