Member EduardoMC Posted August 13, 2011 Member Report Share Posted August 13, 2011 Hello everyone, I am completely new to 3D-Coat, I started playing around with it today. I have tried both the stable release and the latest beta and have some questions regarding painting with 3D-Coat. First off, I am getting some weird darkening with the smooth tool. Here is a picture I took to show it: This happens from 1%-Maximum % you can input. Second, what methods are there for blending colors in 3D-Coat? Is smudge the only way to mix colors? Third, is there a way to get smooth, straight lines in 3D-Coat? I am using the brush and have tried all the brushes but they all give blurry / pixelated lines. That's all so far, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philnolan3d Posted August 13, 2011 Report Share Posted August 13, 2011 Hmm not sure about the Smoothing problems. What I normally do is paint a base layer, then make a new layer and paint additional colors on top using a Wacom tablet and pressure sensitivity (Icon under the Paint tab or E key). Remember the layers also have all the same blending modes as Photoshop and more. For crisper lines you'll probably need either a higher res UV map or edit that part of the UV map so that it takes up more of the texture space. For straight lines there a a number of ways like the Curves Tool (Tooltip says Paint With Splines). There are also marquee type tools in that E panel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member EduardoMC Posted August 13, 2011 Author Member Report Share Posted August 13, 2011 Hmm not sure about the Smoothing problems. What I normally do is paint a base layer, then make a new layer and paint additional colors on top using a Wacom tablet and pressure sensitivity (Icon under the Paint tab or E key). Remember the layers also have all the same blending modes as Photoshop and more. For crisper lines you'll probably need either a higher res UV map or edit that part of the UV map so that it takes up more of the texture space. For straight lines there a a number of ways like the Curves Tool (Tooltip says Paint With Splines). There are also marquee type tools in that E panel. Hey, thanks for the info! I still don't know how to address the smoothing darkening. However, I've been playing around with the other stuff you suggested and it has helped a lot. This software has so much depth to it, shame there are barely any in-depth tutorials out there compared to other more popular tools. =/ The painting tools are some of the best I've seen, especially at such a low cost. Something I still don't understand is the workflow behind painting specular maps in 3D-Coat. I would assume you make a new layer and do all your specular work in there? Right now it seems like a lot of guess work when I am laying down the specular with the brush. Plus, the brush seems to leave pretty harsh specular corners. Anyhow, thanks again for your input! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philnolan3d Posted August 13, 2011 Report Share Posted August 13, 2011 Something I still don't understand is the workflow behind painting specular maps in 3D-Coat. I would assume you make a new layer and do all your specular work in there? Right now it seems like a lot of guess work when I am laying down the specular with the brush. Plus, the brush seems to leave pretty harsh specular corners. Sorry I can't answer about the smoothing as I don't think I've seen this problem. As for the spec you can make a new layer if you want but you don't have to. You can lay down color, depth, and spec all in one brush stroke, on one layer. For my current project (Ara Ang in the WIP forum) I layed down a base color, then went over it on the same layer with depth and spec. You can choose to see the spec only if it helps you, under the View menu I believe, I don't have 3DC in front of me right now. BTW if it helps I did a getting started tutorial in the June issue of 3D World, #134. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Javis Posted August 14, 2011 Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 Hello everyone, I am completely new to 3D-Coat, I started playing around with it today. I have tried both the stable release and the latest beta and have some questions regarding painting with 3D-Coat. First off, I am getting some weird darkening with the smooth tool. Here is a picture I took to show it: This happens from 1%-Maximum % you can input. I think what is happening is that it is smoothing out the red and blue, and thus making a purple color. I just gave a go with a test, and got the same result. Second, what methods are there for blending colors in 3D-Coat? Is smudge the only way to mix colors? There are some blending modes similar to photoshop in the Blending panel (Can be found under Windows>Popups>Blending), if you wish to blend layers. But as for colors, i think the smudge tool, smoothing and the aforementioned blending modes are the only ways I'm aware of. Third, is there a way to get smooth, straight lines in 3D-Coat? I am using the brush and have tried all the brushes but they all give blurry / pixelated lines. That's all so far, thanks! Phil covered that one pretty well, thanks Phil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member EduardoMC Posted August 14, 2011 Author Member Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 Sorry I can't answer about the smoothing as I don't think I've seen this problem. As for the spec you can make a new layer if you want but you don't have to. You can lay down color, depth, and spec all in one brush stroke, on one layer. For my current project (Ara Ang in the WIP forum) I layed down a base color, then went over it on the same layer with depth and spec. You can choose to see the spec only if it helps you, under the View menu I believe, I don't have 3DC in front of me right now. BTW if it helps I did a getting started tutorial in the June issue of 3D World, #134. Haha, I actually bought that issue online from Zino a moment ago. So far it looks great. That tip from the view menu is great as well, thanks. I think what is happening is that it is smoothing out the red and blue, and thus making a purple color. I just gave a go with a test, and got the same result. There are some blending modes similar to photoshop in the Blending panel (Can be found under Windows>Popups>Blending), if you wish to blend layers. But as for colors, i think the smudge tool, smoothing and the aforementioned blending modes are the only ways I'm aware of. Phil covered that one pretty well, thanks Phil. The darkening happens even when using a single color: It happens on both the release and the latest beta. I tried using both my quadro 4000 and the 470gtx, both give out this dark area when using smoothing. I will try out the smudge tool, thanks. Edit: philnolan3d i saw your WIP, I like the idea. It's shaping up quite nicely! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philnolan3d Posted August 14, 2011 Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 Thanks. And yes now I see this darkening too. Perhaps it is a bug. http://screencast.com/t/B6teplEzA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member EduardoMC Posted August 14, 2011 Author Member Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 Well, I am glad I am not the only one with this bug! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advanced Member Spiraloid Posted August 14, 2011 Advanced Member Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 Well, I am glad I am not the only one with this bug! yeah I get the same thing. the math is wrong for smoothing. needs to pre multiply the alpha before smooth or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Applink Developer haikalle Posted August 14, 2011 Applink Developer Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 Hi! Darkening smoothing issue is reported here http://3d-coat.com/mantis/view.php?id=324 There you can leave feedback about the issue too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philnolan3d Posted August 14, 2011 Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 I added a comment with video to that report because I remember now that this was happening when smoothing normal maps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Javis Posted August 15, 2011 Report Share Posted August 15, 2011 The darkening happens even when using a single color: It happens on both the release and the latest beta. I tried using both my quadro 4000 and the 470gtx, both give out this dark area when using smoothing. I will try out the smudge tool, thanks. Ah man that's a bummer. I've added this thread to the pool of voices in the Mantis report. Thanks for the heads up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reputable Contributor AbnRanger Posted August 15, 2011 Reputable Contributor Report Share Posted August 15, 2011 I think what is happening is that it is smoothing out the red and blue, and thus making a purple color. I just gave a go with a test, and got the same result. There are some blending modes similar to photoshop in the Blending panel (Can be found under Windows>Popups>Blending), if you wish to blend layers. But as for colors, i think the smudge tool, smoothing and the aforementioned blending modes are the only ways I'm aware of. Phil covered that one pretty well, thanks Phil. Yeah...I noticed this too, and meant to ask about it. SMOOTH in the Paint Room tends to respond more like a BURN instead of a BLUR. It does that no matter what map you're painting on (color, depth or spec). I don't want SHIFT to be an on the fly burn tool, but that's what it has been in my experience. This needs to get fixed ASAP as this is a vital function. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philnolan3d Posted August 15, 2011 Report Share Posted August 15, 2011 Actually for depth I think it works fine, I've been using it a lot of my current model, it's just image based stuff like normal maps and such that darkens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member EduardoMC Posted August 17, 2011 Author Member Report Share Posted August 17, 2011 Ah man that's a bummer. I've added this thread to the pool of voices in the Mantis report. Thanks for the heads up! Hey thanks for reporting it, it really is an extremely important part of painting in 3DCoat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Javis Posted August 17, 2011 Report Share Posted August 17, 2011 My pleasure. I agree, it is very important. I'm sure Andrew will nip it in the bud soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Shpagin Posted August 20, 2011 Report Share Posted August 20, 2011 There really exists problem of darkening in 64 bit win builds. Now fixed, wait for 3.5.24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philnolan3d Posted August 20, 2011 Report Share Posted August 20, 2011 I was glad to see this fixed. I'll look forward to testing it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Javis Posted August 20, 2011 Report Share Posted August 20, 2011 There really exists problem of darkening in 64 bit win builds. Now fixed, wait for 3.5.24 Thank you Andrew! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member EduardoMC Posted August 22, 2011 Author Member Report Share Posted August 22, 2011 So this is fixed according to the patch notes, just waiting on the new revision! =D Edit: Oh I see andrew already posted. I cannot believe the speed with which this was fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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