Applying voxel details to an object imported from LW

[Beeavision]

Hello everyone and thanks for having me here as a member. I just want to let you all know its been just a few days now since I download the trial edition of your software, 3D Coat and I have to say it is quite simply amazing to work with. My prior experience in 3D stems back a few years working in both Photoshop and Lightwave. And because of 3D Coat's familiar UI I've decided to give it a try. Well with no further ado lets move on to my very first of many questions I'll be posting here on this forum.

As the vague title of this topic/thread reads I'm having trouble applying voxel details such as baked occlusion and normal map information to an object that was modified earlier in Lightwave and later imported into 3D Coat. The object is part of a series of tests I'm conducting to determine if 3D Coat works well in creating elaborate game environments that will later be used in Unity. Below I will demonstrate visually what I've done so far....

Below is the same low poly object as above with the exception that I changed out the retopology with a cleaner mesh in 3D Coat and went ahead and removed any unseen polys along the sides and bottom within Lightwave. The object was originally flat (one sided) with some raised surfaces but since I was going to be using voxels (volume based) to sculpt out the details I had to extrude the bottom out to avoid any errors later. I currently have a new UV map but can't seem to import the voxel version of the object back into 3D Coat to transfer both the occlusion and normal map information from. I also noticed that since I tweaked the object in Lightwave I can no longer edit it in 3D Coat under the Retopology tab. The file format is .OBJ at all times. Now with that said I did however try to remove the extra polys and straighten the edges/borders in 3D Coat but it seemed a bit more time consuming compared to doing the same procedure in Lightwave. Not only that but deleting the unwanted/unseen polys didn't change a thing in both the UV and Paint tabs/rooms.

Additional Questions:

(1) Also is there a way to save out a baked occlusion/light map separate from the object? It works for the other maps but not with occlusion.

(2) By the way I notice that when I'm using auto retopology I'm seeing areas in the mesh where an edge is missing. You can see it in a few areas in the last image I posted above. Ex. 6 point poly vs (2x) 4 point polys. Not sure why this is happening.

(3) Is it possible to hide the voxel object in the background within the Retopology tab so that your only seeing the low poly mesh version of the object?

Thanks

[Psionic]

1. Hide the colour/texture layers and just leave the lightmap/occlusion ON and 'Textures>Export>Diffuse map' export it on it's own.

[Psmith]

Beeavision:

I'm not sure I'm following the total, step-by-step process you undertook to get the results you got.

But, to just make a stab at it, I think you could bypass the "Lightwave cleanup" step and save yourself a lot of trouble. Keeping everything within one app means, by definition, keeping it simple - especially as regards the process.

So, I'd start and finish everything within 3D-Coat -

1) Model terrain in voxels, including fairly high res details.

2) Run the AUTOPO algorithm, shading areas of highest density - setting "Approximate polycount" to something lowish. Apply guide strokes as follows:

a) "Slice" the model horizontally and vertically, (as viewed from the top), as well as "slicing" it all the way through the cross section of the base shape, (rectilinear solid). This allows you to assign all the polygons on the bottom to one (very small) island before unwrapping.

3) Manually assign UV regions to completely encompass "mountain" areas and recesses, thus avoiding unsightly normal map problems.

4) For very nice, high resolution maps which work well in Lightwave, choose "Merge with Ptex" from the Retopo menu. This allows you to assign very dense detail areas to the largest areas on your UV map, and still generate a UV map in a format that most apps can read.

Greg Smith

[philnolan3d]

(3) Is it possible to hide the voxel object in the background within the Retopology tab so that your only seeing the low poly mesh version of the object?

Sure, go to Windows > Popups > VoxTree and you can have that panel in the retopo room. I keep it docked along with the Retopo Groups. Just remember if that mesh is hidden you can't snap the polys to it.

[wave of light]

For very nice, high resolution maps which work well in Lightwave, choose "Merge with Ptex" from the Retopo menu. This allows you to assign very dense detail areas to the largest areas on your UV map, and still generate a UV map in a format that most apps can read.

Sorry to hijack Beeavision, but Greg... I was under the impression that LW didn't support Ptex... or, are you saying that the 'merge with ptex' will just produce a UV map with more dense and detailed areas (user defined) that can still be used and imported into LW.

Ricky.

[philnolan3d]

Ptex in 3DC will export a UV map that is usable in any program that supports UV maps.

[Beeavision]

Thanks for all your very informative replies. I've never used a stand alone 3D sculpting program before so most of this is kinda of new to me. But I'm sure in the next few weeks I'll have this down pat. Thanks again for all your help.

[Beeavision]

I've got another question....is there a way to move dockable windows over to my second monitor in order to free up space on my primary screen?

[philnolan3d]

I don't believe there is, everything stays inside the main UI.

[wave of light]

Yep, I tried extending the window across both screens and then increasing the menus, but it didn't work how I was expecting, so I just reverted back to single screen.

Phil, thanks for the info on Ptex.