Material Ideas

[philnolan3d]

A couple of ideas that could really improve the Materials tools I think.

1. Make an option to turn off tiling. Tiling is great for some things but for others, like placing logos or decals on a model, it makes things very difficult.

2. Now that tiling is off have an option to warp the image like Photoshop's Warp tool. This could help to match the photo reference to your model before you paint it on.

Example video:

http://screencast.com/t/shYc9wjYQu

Edit: I don't know, maybe the current Distortion option is good enough, but the first idea still stands.

[Rich_Art]

That would be a great option to have indeed.

Peace,

Rich_Art.

[michalis]

I don't know, maybe the current Distortion option is good enough, but the first idea still stands.

The idea is good. As for the current distortion I had some problems(bugs) from side views.

Is there a way to use Ps as the zaplink (zbrush?)

What I do is to export a screen capture to Ps, use a layer for wrap distortion or anything else (already resided the capture) then delete the background preview and save the transparent layer as png. This automatically works as stencil in 3DC.

[philnolan3d]

Much easier than that is to go to Edit > Edit Projections in Ext. Editor. It will basically do the same thing, except automatically send it to Photoshop. When you're done, just his the Save button and go back to 3D-Coat, the texture will automatically update. I did it in a Ptex related

I made a while back. Of course this way is only good for placing a color texture, not spec or depth.

[michalis]

OK thanks phil, I couldn't find it, I was sure that it was somewhere.

So you can practically do what you like using a photo editor.

Transparency does not behave as expected, masks can't support a 0-255 alpha. It works for color but never as a mask. Mask behaves as a cut out.

[philnolan3d]

Another idea would be a temporary material. Lots of times, especially with things like logos / decals you want a material but you don't need it to stay in your "library" because your only going to use it once. So if you could load up a material or just a flat image, then have it automatically clear out as soon as your done that would be great. It saves the step of having to delete each one after you're done using it once.

[wailingmonkey]

michalis -- masks seem to work fine with windows version (3.5.03 64-bit DX)

you just need to 'apply' them in Photoshop before saving back to 3DC...below is a

simple gradient-masked circle area on a projected layer. You can see the strips layer

below it. (maybe Mac version is busted?)

[michalis]

No it works as in your example. Try to load a transparent colored png (layer) to masks palette. It works as a mask too but ...

[wailingmonkey]

yeah, I had a feeling I was misunderstanding you.

(apologies for the derail, Phil)

[David Walters]

1. Make an option to turn off tiling. Tiling is great for some things but for others, like placing logos or decals on a model, it makes things very difficult.

Yes please this is the #1 annoying thing for me. Painting with small textures is very difficult. It's been asked for many times, it's a shame such a seemingly simple feature has never been addressed in all this time