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Hi All :)

Since this forum cover a wide variety of topics and I can't track them all due to my slow internet connection I will try to focus on this thread insetead :)

Here I will post updates and will answer community questions as well if I can.

LiveClay is progressing very well, I'm finishing the smoothing part of the algorithm and soon will tackle extraordinary vertices that arises when the detail level between the pen and the base mesh is too different.

After that, I think there's no big showstopper to make the first public update, Andrew will review the code and commint some design changes, I can't foretell how long will that take but not too much ;)

Beta testers will be wellcome in this part in order to stress the new feature and discover improvements path (I'm not a modeler so I will need a good feedback to improve it further)

Further in the roadmap is the mesh simplification feature, dynamic subdivision is not only adding detail but also removing detail.

All of that in the Surface mode, but eventually all of those tools will be replicated into the Voxel Room to get a very powerfull Voxel LiveClay that will allow interchangeability between both modes without loosing adaptive detail and improving memmory footprint a lot :)

Voxels are very powerfull but currently in order to sculpt fine detail on relative small zones of an object you need to double the voxel resolution in the whole model, so having LiveClay for voxels will allow to finely refine any portion of the object in a local and adaptive way :)

More surface tools will come, polygons are inexpensive to handle by current graphics pipelines and many users find them very easy to work on, I see the voxels as the heart and the power of 3DCoat and the Polygons as the skin and the face, that way we can serve every modeling paradigm :)

Stay tunned.... I'm very ambitious in terms of development and research so with the Lord's help an with Andrew and the Pilgway tem help I think the sky is the limit ;)!

Cheers

Farsthary

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Thanks for the info. That really sounds great. Also the new smooth all tool is great. It really evens triangles faces nicely.

I don't know if this is your task or Andrews but when you press resample it changes mesh into voxel mesh density. Also when you do

smooth all -> resample -> smooth all -> resample -> smooth all = it brakes the mesh

But thanks again for joining to 3d-coat team. I think that even sky is not enough for you and Andrew :)

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Hi Raul! Thanks for the update. I'm glad to hear things are progressing nicely. I'm very much looking forward to testing 3DC with your LiveClay tools, especially the voxels. It should be very interesting. :)

Any thoughts on how you'll also integrate the LiveClay tools within the poly sculpting room?

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Any thoughts on how you'll also integrate the LiveClay tools within the poly sculpting room?

What do you have in mind Javis? A different workflow, an after retopo detailing sculpting?

This is a 'must' in some cases.

The ability to add geometry as in sculpting multi-res room... now I ask too much.

Raul is maybe familiar with this as this comes from blender development.

So we'll have three possible workflows.

1. one from voxels > retopo > bake (best for terrains and other subjects)

2. a surface (Raul's mode over voxels) > retopo > bake (best for interesting spontaneous forms as dynamic topology and easy moving helps a lot)

3. A after retopo multires detailed sculpting > bake maps ( a MV mode I suppose)

These at least three possible workflows make UI a little complicated but very clear to me.

Some people in this forum may not understand what I'm talking about but this isn't my concern.

Some may believe that they can sculpt with details and then retopo and bake.

In some cases this will work, in some other cases it will be a disaster.

We have to face it.

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Hi all :)

Just another quick update, I have implemented a zero shrinkage mesh relaxation that will solve the current issues with the SmoothAll tool, it is awesome because it preserves the shape in every detail while gives the advantage of the smoothing algorithms and improves topology, consider it as an upgrade of the new smooth, soon I will post in my site new screenshots and will sned the code to Andrew :)

It also performs very very well with LiveClay.

Cheers

Farsthary

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Just another quick update, I have implemented a zero shrinkage mesh relaxation that will solve the current issues with the SmoothAll tool, it is awesome because it preserves the shape in every detail while gives the advantage of the smoothing algorithms and improves topology, consider it as an upgrade of the new smooth, soon I will post in my site new screenshots and will sned the code to Andrew

It also performs very very well with LiveClay.

Stop teasing and let us play :D:clapping:

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What do you have in mind Javis? A different workflow, an after retopo detailing sculpting?

This is a 'must' in some cases.

The ability to add geometry as in sculpting multi-res room... now I ask too much.

Raul is maybe familiar with this as this comes from blender development.

So we'll have three possible workflows.

1. one from voxels > retopo > bake (best for terrains and other subjects)

2. a surface (Raul's mode over voxels) > retopo > bake (best for interesting spontaneous forms as dynamic topology and easy moving helps a lot)

3. A after retopo multires detailed sculpting > bake maps ( a MV mode I suppose)

These at least three possible workflows make UI a little complicated but very clear to me.

Some people in this forum may not understand what I'm talking about but this isn't my concern.

Some may believe that they can sculpt with details and then retopo and bake.

In some cases this will work, in some other cases it will be a disaster.

We have to face it.

You said it brother. :) That's what I have in mind.

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Hi Farsthary,

It's really exciting to see you working on these features for 3dcoat. I have a few questions regarding your work.

  • Are these features slated for 3d Coat V4 or are they intended as part of a point update to V3?
  • What sort of mesh res will we be looking at with these features? Will this toolset allow for micro details and sharpness on par with Zbrush?
  • Is the surface sculpting going to be a lot like sculptris, and would it be worth while familiarising ourselves with that tool in order to hit the ground running when these features are implemented in 3d Coat?
  • To clarify the eventual goal: We'll have the ability to work with high frequency details on a voxel object by switching it to surface mode. We will then be able to return to voxel mode and these high frequency details will remain intact over our low frequency voxel model(similar in a way to a texture on a low poly object). Is this right?

Thanks for taking the time to read this, I look forward to your reply.

-Heath

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Heath:

Because of Raul's slow connection in Cuba, he asked me to forward his reply, (which he sent to me via email):

>

Are these features slated for 3d Coat V4 or are they intended as part of a point update to V3?

Currently I cannot answer that, that will depends on Andrew's release plans, the full functionality may require some deeps changes but on the other hand some parts may be released punctually to get feedback.

What sort of mesh res will we be looking at with these features? Will this toolset allow for >micro details and sharpness on par with Zbrush?

I hope so ;) dynamic subdivision is suited for anisotropic detailed models (i.e models where details are clustered in different zones) but it won't replace traditional sculptings if you want evenly detailed models.

Is the surface sculpting going to be a lot like sculptris, and would it be worth while >familiarising ourselves with that tool in order to hit the ground running when these features >are implemented in 3d Coat?

Well, I haven't tried a lot Zbrush to tell, I will check it soon, the workflow will be just as it is now :)

To clarify the eventual goal: We'll have the ability to work with high frequency details on a >voxel object by switching it to surface mode. We will then be able to return to voxel mode >and these high frequency details will remain intact over our low frequency voxel model(similar in a way to a texture on a low poly object). Is this right?

That's the ultimate goal, currently, if you switch to voxel model the high frequency detail get lost, in orer to allow full interchangeability (the goal) then a LiveClay module for voxel model should be implemented, but the longest journey begins with a step, first the surface liveClay will be released, then will be the turn of Voxel LiveClay that will require some internal changes.

Cheers

Raul

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Wow! Thanks for the reply! I just saw the new videos on Rauls blog(farsthary.wordpress.com/)

The progress looks amazing and should really resolve some of 3dcoats current limitations as an end to end solution.

Thanks again Raul and thanks Psmith for passing this on.

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One thing i am wondering is with the really high subdivision will there be a way to smooth at the same time? In one of the videos there is what seems to be low res details and in the wireframe view it increases a lot in subdivision but the details remain the same, i know this is a feature but if we wanted to soften the surface as it increases would that be possible with a slider/user options also?

In a video you subdivide areas but can you brush really high details instantly? i guess what i am asking is if the general workflow is subdivide a area you need then use the brush or if you can just use the brush directly or maybe just either method, i am guessing you can just use either way which will be great.

The last thing i am wondering is as you can increase the subdivision so much will there be some sort of detail reduction options also? if yes this would make it great for making low poly game objects also. :D

Anyway though this will be really cool when it's available and i am looking forward to using this, great work Raul :)

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I think that is slightly different as that feature (from one of the earlier videos) seems to relax/smooth the whole layer/model. In the latest videos (Extreme subdivision no displacement test) there is brushing which adds a lot of subdivision detail but it appears to keep the same details that were there before, so looks low res but actually very detailed.

What i was asking is when doing this brushing to add a lot of subdivision if it's possible to smooth/relax at the same time. So rather than keep the lower res look but actually have a higher detailed surface you just have a very high detailed but smooth and relaxed surface instantly as you brush in the extra subdivision.

I guess i just need to wait for the beta versions with this to test :)

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Digital 777:

Raul's reply is as follows:

One thing i am wondering is with the really high subdivision will there be a way to smooth at >the same time? In one of the videos there is what seems to be low res details and in the >wireframe view it increases a lot in subdivision but the details remain the same, i know this >is a feature but if we wanted to soften the surface as it increases would that be possible with a slider/user options also?

Definately yes, the current code smooth but it preserves shapes, so the polygons "flow" over the surface without shrinking it, but offcourse there will be an option to allow the shrinkage effect and full smoothing :)

In a video you subdivide areas but can you brush really high details instantly? i guess what i >am asking is if the general workflow is subdivide a area you need then use the brush or if >you can just use the brush directly or maybe just either method, i am guessing you can just >use either way which will be great.

I'm not sure I understand this question ;) but the workflow is (subdivide/reduce)->smooth->deform on every LiveClay stroke , for the second video I disable the deform part intentionally just to show the subdivision engine, which by the way, I have improved a lot since that video ;)

The last thing i am wondering is as you can increase the subdivision so much will there be >some sort of detail reduction options also? if yes this would make it great for making low >poly game objects also.

Well, I guess I have answered that in the previous point: yes, in fact I will focus on the reduction part very soon and is a must :)

Thanks for the user feedback and opinions.

Cheers

Raul

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