Help me decide if 3d-Coat is right for me.

[lotusindigo]

Hello! It's hard to imagine NOT finding many uses for 3d-Coat, it looks like such an amazing program. But I have a project in mind with specific requirements and I'd like to know if 3d-Coat would cover them all. I have done searches on these topics, but I need further clarification than what I found.

Morph Targets:

- I need the ability to apply incremental morphs to faces, because my project involves genetics and I want to be able to blend parents' features together. I read something about being able to use layers to accomplish morph targets, but I don't understand that... could someone explain it to me in newb terms?

- Would creating morph targets using layers allow me to apply a morph gradually, as if I'm pulling a slider for that morph only part of the way?

Posing Tool:

- I know that 3d-Coat has a pose tool, which works out fine for my purposes. I don't need my figures to be truly rigged, considering I would only be making still renders of them, not animating them. But from the vids I've seen of the pose tool in action, I got the idea that it was a slow and cumbersome tool to use. What do you think of it? What's your favorite way to pose your figures in 3d-Coat?

- Does posing ever cause damage to the model, ie breaking of pinching?

That's all I can think of for now. I know the requirements that I just mentioned are pretty much covered by Daz Studio, which I have. Nothing against it, but I just found it too frustrating and strict a platform to work with. I don't want to use Genesis as a base or any of their other models; I want to create my own base and my own morphs. Daz3d's documentation is simply insufficient for helping a new user figure out how to do that, so I'm looking for an alternative and 3d-Coat seems to be a great option. Please help me decide if you can, thank you!

[artman]

You can import your mesh to paintroom using microvertex/or perpixelpainting then in in paintroom create some layers....

Now ,you can use the various tools in Sculpt tab (in 3.7.12 its now called Tweak tab) to create your morph targets,they will be automatically transfered as depth information to the currently selected Paintroom layer.

Create a new layer in paintroom when you want to store a new morph target and so on.

Then,you can use Depth Modulator slider in Blending tab of Paintroom(next to layers tab) to blend between morph target intensities .

same way you can use Drag Point tool along with Move/Select tool to rotate and pose sections of your model.

Posing is an art in itself and you need to be good at it,wether it is using this method ,surface mode Pose tool or Zbrush's Transpose.

This is nothing like manipulating a nicely rigged mesh ,it requires better artistic and technical skills.

Bad deformations either come from a lack of skill +patience or a bad underlying topology( a mesh topology that deform badly)

or a combination of both those elements.Anyway posing is not easy,its as hard as sculpting in some ways.

hope that helps

[lotusindigo]

Thank you, that is very helpful. I think I understand how morph targets with layers will work, though I'll probably have more questions when I get down to the nitty gritty. As for posing, I will have to see for myself if I have the skill/patience for it. :P What exactly constitutes bad topology? Would a good retopo solve the problem of bad deformations during posing?

[artman]

a good retopo will help greatly if topology isnt already optimal.

you need enough edge loops where sections are gonna bend and some meshflows

are more deformation friendly than others.

You can makes some posing test on some free animation oriented meshes you can find on the web and compare areas that are problematic on your models to those meshes topologies for example.

If from videos you found that it was a slow and cumbersome to use 3DC's Pose tool you will be disappointed,its same thing in Zb or Mb,manual posing require skill and patience.

If your base meshes are below 10k You might want to try this http://3d-coat.com/f...=0entry76352.

Or try to to rig and pose your model in Daz.

[Javis]

Here's a video I did some time ago on morph creation.

[lotusindigo]

Javis, thanks for posting your tutorial, but I guess I was looking to understand morph targets within 3d-Coat, without export to another program.

Artman, I looked at Mixamo some time ago, but I decided against it because I couldn't find anything on their website about being able to export posed meshes. They make it seem like you don't have a choice but to animate your mesh with one of their expensive animations. If they allow OBJ export of posed meshes, then I'm on board! Would you happen to know if Mixamo has that functionality?

[randomguy_j]

I haven't used mudbox for posing but I have used Zbrush and from my experience I would say its easier to pose characters in 3D coat then in Zbrush. However, you could try Blender for rigging and posing. Its free and has almost everything any expensive software has. Also since Blender has been around for a long time documentation isn't too hard to find. Infact, I even found a site that lets you download free digital magazines for Blender.