As another beginner getting used to 3DCoat, I completely feel your pain - I ran into the exact same brick wall when I started! This software handles things pretty differently compared to traditional stuff like Blender or Max. When you just go to File -> Import, the FBX often gets brought in as a reference or guide mesh, which the Modeling Room tools can't actually edit. If you want to edit your existing geometry directly, you need to import it into the Sculpt Room (as Voxels or Surface mode) or bring it straight into the Retopo/Modeling room as an active layer during the import setup. Once it's in as sculpt geometry or an active retopo layer, you can manipulate the mesh or push it over to the modeling tools. Hang in there! The workflow is definitely unique, but once it clicks, it gets a lot easier.

Thanks for the quick 2026.09 RC release! Fixing the shader preview rendering and having UVW nodes automatically created when converting smart materials is a massive QoL improvement. Also, Carlosan's suggestion for Node Groups and hotkeys to hide sockets (similar to Blender) would be an ideal feature to declutter the UI when node trees get huge.

Aside from current node system, are there any chance for VRAM leak fix, especially in Render Room? It seems like 3DCoat is caching/stacking memory, so I can easily hit over 14GB of VRAM usage with 20 - 30 million poly meshes, which is a crazy situation and huge VRAM waste. Also, been wondering about DLSS - maybe it would be a good idea to implement that technology? It could potentially boost the performance with newer GPU's.

Feature request: - Node Groups: Grouping nodes can simplify a node tree by hiding complexity and reusing common functionality. Group Input and Group Output nodes are used to represent data flowing into and out of the group. - Node Toggle icon option: Toggle the visibility of node icons. Press H hide/toggle off the node's socket icons and drop-down properties.Press H again to turn the icons and visibility back on. (to avoid icon rebuilds render time) - Mute Node: Select it in the Node Editor and press the M key (or Right-Click and choose Toggle Node Mute). Muting bypasses the node, connecting its input directly to its output, without breaking your existing noodle links.   //edit New Layer Blending adds = amazing !!

Very fast iteration. Thank you for your constant work. I am very hopeful about the node room!  

Windows 3DCoat 2026.09 RC Portable 3DCoat, 3DCoat Textura, 3DCoat Print Jul 20 2026 - Fixed an issue where shader previews would incorrectly render as black or solid white, ensuring that your custom color, gloss, metalness, and emissive settings are now accurately displayed. - Procedural node-based materials now correctly respect layer color blend modes - Selecting blending modes like Normal Map, Emissive, or Occlusion will no longer automatically change your selected Color Channel, while still rendering exactly as expected. - When using the 'Convert To Object Nodes' menu item to convert old smart materials into nodes, textures like Color, Depth, and Gloss are now automatically created as separate, minimized UVW texture nodes and connected to the material, giving you more flexibility to edit them. - Fixed print shader - Fixed Emissive in PBM shader - Fixed toon shader  

yo thats way cool!!

yep this seems fixed for me as well

3DC does not have a SubD modeling. Textures cannot be added to the Modeling Room model either. The workflow is different.  

OK! That worked, thank you very much. Sorry for all the questions, but you must admit, to a newcomer, trying to understand 3d coat is like climbing a flat wall. There are no logical clues about what to do and how, I have to say.  Well, I imported the mesh, and it's editable! But now, when I simply move a polygon on a low-poly object, it's extremely slow. Clearly it's trying to compute something in the background, or something. Also I know this is a "retopo" mesh (Is it trying to find a base mesh that's not there?). So it seems I still have to do something different to do simple modeling operations.  I'll ask one last question, if you can help Carlosan. And that's do I need to do something to put this model into "normal low poly modeling mode?" Otherwise I can't do anything with it.  Like I said, maybe I'm trying to use 3d coat in a way that it's not meant to be - but man.... I wish there were some more standard operations or normal functionality, like "import a mesh and start modeling on it" without all these strange steps. It's frustrating.  

Try importing the fbx with this command

Carrots: The MatCap shader hasn't changed since 2022; you can easily remove that highlight by deleting the line C.xyz+=vec3(fr2,fr2,fr2); or by downloading the GLSL file attached. mcubes.glsl

Windows 3DCoat 2026.08 RC Portable 3DCoat, 3DCoat Textura, 3DCoat Print 3DCoat-2026-08.exe 3DCoatTextura-2026-08.exe 3DCoatPrint-2026-08.exe - Added the new inGizmoTransform node, which connects to the UVWTexture, TriPlanar, and FragCoord nodes to control texture position, rotation, and scaling. - Selecting a node with transform properties now automatically spawns an interactive 3D Gizmo in the viewport, letting you visually move, rotate, and scale it in perfect, two-way sync with the node's numeric values. - Fixed an issue in the node graph where a locked preview would prevent you from temporarily previewing other nodes by hovering over them with Ctrl pressed. - Fixed a bug in orthographic projection where models would only update after releasing the brush stroke, as the camera's performance optimization incorrectly assumed the model was out of view. - A Projection mapping mode has been added to the nodes. - Resolved critical normal mapping issues on sculpt objects, ensuring that fine surface details are correctly preserved even when using Soft Displacement - Support for matrix-type properties in the node system - Bugs and crashes have been fixed. - Added the highly requested 'Auto Pick' and 'Ghosted' options to the top bar in the Print3D room - Significantly accelerated the rendering of node previews and channel viewing (via CTRL+hover), while eliminating lag, unnecessary loading popups, and fixing bugs with black material previews and layer masking.  

Well, I watched the videos and it didn't help me with my specific roadblock.  I'm trying to edit an imported model, with the modeling tools. I imported an FBX into the modeling room, and it looks like the attached screenshot. I can't seem to "edit" the mesh as is.  I did get one thing to work (sort of?), which was autotopo. I got a "colored" mesh that I could interact with. Which was in addition to my existing mesh (why didn't it edit my existing mesh, I don't know). But I tried to do it again with different settings, but nothing happened. Now I can't get it to work again?  I did realize I could create new geometry with the primitive tool, and that is colored and "editable." So I understand how to create new geo in the modeling room. But I have existing models, and don't want to re-model them.  I get that when you import a model, it's supposed to be a base for retopo or sculpting - but I can't seem to figure out how to continue modeling my imported meshes.  Maybe 3d coat isn't supposed to do this, and I'm trying to use it in a way that's not intended? But if any one has any help to give, or info to help clarify, I would appreciate it very much!

Thank you for the links. I'll watch them and will hopefully learn what I need to know!

I am using Blender 5.0, but it now works after deleting the python folder -  (" E:\MyDocs\3dcoat2026\python-3-8-10).

I woke up this morning with a fresh mind. I guess with my upcoming major surgery this week there was a bit too much swimming around in my pea brain. I did as suggest in the 3DC forum and deleted the python 3.8.10 folder  (" E:\MyDocs\3dcoat2026\python-3-8-10) And it magically worked!