3D Coat

efflux · December 23, 2008, 04:35:47 PM

There is no real work forthcoming from me at the moment because I'm currently trying to integrate my drawing skills by using a new tablet PC I got and I'm learning anatomy. Intentions are to use this as reference to begin work in 3D Coat. Then I'm setting up music production stuff. As usual biting off way more than I can chew and it could be a while before I start integrating stuff in TG2.

I have concepts for entire movies going back years. Piles of work on paper. An entire cast of characters made for animation. I even have music. All anybody has seen on the net is my landscape stuff in TG2 and Mojoworld. The trouble is there is simply no way I can single handedly realize all this stuff. This is why the software frustrates me and when an app like 3D Coat comes along it so cool.

jaf · December 23, 2008, 10:30:28 PM

3DCoat has become my favorite graphics program. The main programmer, Andrew Shpagin, is fantastic. He answers the forum questions promptly and turns out updates at a phenomenal pace. Take a look at the current alpha thread here:
http://3dbrush.kriska.hvosting.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=1412&st=0&start=0
... which started on September 5, 2008. There's 104 pages and the version is now at 47! Forty-seven updates in 100+ days!

He's gone from a 32 bit Windows version, to 64 bit dx and gl, Mac. He added the 3DConnexion Space Mouse or Space Navigator in just a few hours after it was requested. People have been "banging" on Newtek and other developers for that support and they either don't care or can't do it.

He has added Nividia CUDA support to the alpha versions.

And very freindly forums.

rcallicotte · December 23, 2008, 10:41:34 PM

Thanks efflux. I'm trying the demo and love it. I already own zBrush, though so I wonder about learning another application, etc.

efflux · January 05, 2009, 05:50:52 PM

ZBrush is still very good but it could be better.

These applications are emulating what you do in the real world. Sculpting and painting. Therefore they should not be difficult with todays computer power. It should take little time to master them. 3D Coat could be mastered in a week.

Apps like TG2 are different. Any previous artistic skills help in TG2 like any graphics app but unfortunately there is a massive technical learning curve in doing procedural landscapes because it doesn't have the same real world equivalent. To get good results you have to learn a huge amount about minutely tweaking distributions, fractals, atmosphere settings etc etc.

rcallicotte · January 06, 2009, 09:32:31 AM

What is critical is focus. There are so many applications that no one in my understanding of a real person could learn all of these and do well at everything.

efflux · January 06, 2009, 08:09:51 PM

I've wasted huge amounts of time on apps I never use now. The trouble is, you have to at least partly learn them to find out that they are no good at least not for you.

I'm in a phase of focusing now (actually working in TG2 at the moment). All apps I don't need have been ditched.

old_blaggard · February 15, 2009, 12:39:09 PM

3D-Coat is currently on sale for Mac users at http://www.mupromo.com, for $75. It has a normal upgrade path to version 3. The deal is only today, but it looks good!

Seth · February 15, 2009, 03:47:04 PM

damn ! that's cheap ^^
anybody using this software so far ?
i tried ZBrush some times ago and it was reaaal good so... i may try this one too but if someone is playing with it, i will be glad to hear some feedbacks

old_blaggard · February 15, 2009, 04:22:48 PM

I have played with it, and I haven't had time to go that in depth with it, but I really enjoyed it. Efflux is in love with it, so you can ask him for more input. You can also look on the internet for reviews and stuff. Note that this is for the Mac version only.

EDIT: Rephrased a sentence to make it sound less mean.

Seth · February 15, 2009, 04:44:02 PM

yeah i saw... and cried

Seth · March 14, 2009, 09:50:15 AM

i must say that i prefer ZBrush... but the price might be a good argument for chosing this alternative

Martians · March 16, 2009, 07:37:46 PM

Okay, after reading this post I decided to give 3D Coat a try..

It's compatible with my Wacom Tablet AND my Space Pilot (neither Mudbox or ZBrush are), which means 6 D freedom, while sculpting!!!

Combined with CUDA and and a 3.2 quad core it is a truly mind-bending experience...

I was never much into modeling, mostly due to the sometimes tedious process of pushing vertexes around. But now, that is going to change

The Voxel sculting in 3D Coat is just incredible...

rcallicotte · May 19, 2009, 10:08:31 AM

@efflux - Since I know you're into 3D Coat, I thought you would find this thread interesting, though the link to the final work is no longer available - http://setuptab.com/index.php/topic,198.0.html

efflux · June 12, 2009, 05:30:52 AM

3D Coat v3.00 is out now. The UI is much clearer to understand than trying to work in the alpha version.

If you just forget about the texture painting capabilities and try the the voxel painting it is a revelation. Worth buying just for that. You can build models in this from scratch then retopologize for poly model. It is so easy as to be insane.

Unfortunately I can't use those real time shaders due to my graphics card and running on Linux but even that is not a major issue considering all the things this app does.

efflux · June 12, 2009, 06:14:29 AM

Check out the videos:

http://www.3d-coat.com/voxel_tutorial.html

I just tested the cloth tool. This is mad. You can even bring in another object to use as cloth and melt it over your voxel shape. Then make the melted glob into voxels.