The case of the vanishing polys

[gypsyBytes]

Hi guys, just grabbed the demo version of 3d coat this afternoon and have been playing around with, I'm really liking it, even more than zBrush and Mudbox!

Anyway, and call me a n00b, but I'm going a bit crazy here on the retopo thing.

I'll sculpted some voxels and now I'm trying to retopo it, but my polys are like vanishing as soon as I make them.

I'm dropping down dots with the left click in Points&Faces mode, but then when I right click on them to create the poly, it just vanishes.

I suspect they are lost down inside the model somewhere, but when I jump over to voxel mode to hide my model then jump back, I still can't find them.

Any sherlocks (or even just someone who knows their way around 3D coat) have any tips for a stressed out n00b?

Thanks in advance.

Awesome product!!

[philnolan3d]

Here's a thought, if you have symmetry on you have to create your retopo on the +X side of the symmetry line. If you did it on the other side they won't appear. You can check the Invert Mirror box along the top to reverse this effect.

[gypsyBytes]

Yes, I found another post here in these forums 5 minutes after I posted on the same subject, I cammed over to the other side of the model and then it worked great.

It was weird though, I had to do it on the left side instead of the right side on that model. I'm practicing some retopo stuff now with the human head bust, and the symmetry is on the right side on this model.

I'm having another issue though, I should prolly start a new thread, but I'll just keep it in my n00b thread here

I'm having problems with not being able to see my polys though the reference model while retoping, and if I switch over to the sculpt or voxel tab to hide the model and then switch back the quad tool doesn't work very well and I have a real hard time connecting up new polys. I'm finding myself adding way too much geometry with ring splits just so I can pull them out of the reference model.

I'm sure there's an easy way to add transparency or somethign to the reference model in retopo mode?

[philnolan3d]

Well you could Apply Symmetry (Retopo menu), delete the polys from the side you don't want, then turn symmetry back on, this time you're working on the side you like. That should work anyhow, I haven't actually done it.

A couple of things can be done here, assuming I'm understanding correctly. You can adjust the Z-Bias slider along the top, that should help with being able to see. Also you can have the VoxTree in the Retopo room, just look under Windows > Popups > VoxTree. I keep it docked along the right with the Retopo Groups.

[gypsyBytes]

awesome! thanks man, turning up the z-bias, reapplying symmetry and bringing in pallets from other tabs (windows->popups->) all work great! Just the kinda little tips to speed a guy out of n00bness!

[AbnRanger]

You can also make a "Transparent" shader that you can use during the Retopo process. That will come in handy quite often. You right click on the default gray shader and select "Construct New Shader" > Rename "Transparent" > decrease Opacity to whatever level you want (you can edit it any time by right clicking the same shader and selecting "Edit Current Shader" and adjusting the opacity).

You can have not only the vox tree panel present in the Retopo Room, but the Shader panel as well...for these very reasons. If one of your verts gets stuck beneath the surface of the voxel object, and you can't select it, then you can quickly hide the voxel layer and access it (I would also temporarily disable snapping...in the upper left hand cornet of the UI).