Jump to content
3DCoat Forums

3D-Coat Retopology in 4.0 Beta


welchrs64
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Advanced Member

@AbnRanger - THat thing looks like what some my co-workers use with Solid Works at work. I use a mouse with my solid works at work I like this 3Dconnexion device/ I'm going to have to put that on my to do list and tell my kids about it also. I saw some on Amazon used for $124.00

Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

Now when export the skin colors from the High Res model don't export. I just get a gray model with the UV islands that I made. It worked yesterday. I can't figure out why the texture is not transferring now. I made the UV while in the Retopo room and then exported. I think that is what I did yesterday. Any advice?

post-12483-0-92770300-1356760277_thumb.jpg

I am stuck, I can't find, again, how to get the original textures to export with the retopo mesh.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Reputable Contributor

Now when export the skin colors from the High Res model don't export. I just get a gray model with the UV islands that I made. It worked yesterday. I can't figure out why the texture is not transferring now. I made the UV while in the Retopo room and then exported. I think that is what I did yesterday. Any advice?

post-12483-0-92770300-1356760277_thumb.jpg

I am stuck, I can't find, again, how to get the original textures to export with the retopo mesh.

Tough to say without know what app you are sending it to. You have Applink plugins for/to many 3D Apps., so that might help. If you're using Lightwave, you can export as an .lwo file and it sets your nodes up automatically.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

Tough to say without know what app you are sending it to. You have Applink plugins for/to many 3D Apps., so that might help. If you're using Lightwave, you can export as an .lwo file and it sets your nodes up automatically.

My options are, Carrara Studio, Unwrap3D, Blender, SIlo or Voidworld. After my first attempt I was able to get the retopo mesh to export with the original colored textures from the highpoly mesh all UV like I had drawn out in 3DC but now only a bare model and comes out with the UV seams I made in 3DC. I wish I would have made a note of every step,

I have been pointed to some excellent tutorials, The only thing that is lacking in them is that they all teach how to paint the model in 3DC. I want the textures from the reference mesh to go on to the retop mesh. I have been backtracking through all my revisions trying to find out how it magically happened that one time that I got lucky(-:

Does it make a diff if I export from the Retopo room vs the UV room?

Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Reputable Contributor

My options are, Carrara Studio, Unwrap3D, Blender, SIlo or Voidworld. After my first attempt I was able to get the retopo mesh to export with the original colored textures from the highpoly mesh all UV like I had drawn out in 3DC but now only a bare model and comes out with the UV seams I made in 3DC. I wish I would have made a note of every step,

I have been pointed to some excellent tutorials, The only thing that is lacking in them is that they all teach how to paint the model in 3DC. I want the textures from the reference mesh to go on to the retop mesh. I have been backtracking through all my revisions trying to find out how it magically happened that one time that I got lucky(-:

Does it make a diff if I export from the Retopo room vs the UV room?

Thanks

The general process is (if you need to use the Voxel Sculpting Room to sculpt/model) Voxel Room > Retopo Room (can use Auto-Retopo termed Autopo in the app, rather than manual retopo) > UV's in Retopo Room > Merge to Paint Room (through Retopo Menu) > texture if needed > Export from the file Menu in the Paint Room. If you have an Applink for Blender, you may have the option to > File Menu > Export to > Blender. In Blender, you should be able to bring the model in through the built-in 3D Coat Applink, within Blender.

http://vimeo.com/10890641

If I may say so, Blender is the most powerful app among all those you've mentioned, and thus it would be my suggestion to put your focus apart from 3D Coat, almost entirely there. It has a lot of really nice tools in practically every area of the application. The Cycles renderer is really nice. So much so, I've been tempted to stop working in 3ds Max and start learning Blender.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

@AbnRanger - Thanks! I'll try to follow those workflows and study the video you attached. I have started to get more used to Blender. Blender was a rough start for me but it is starting be be of more use. I can see the power it has. I had gotten pretty good with 3Ds Max for a newbie but abandoned it because it was only a student license and I don't see myself affording it anytime soon. I bought a training course for Blender and that has helped a lot. I'll post later this weekend if I get the workflows above working for me.

Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

The general process is (if you need to use the Voxel Sculpting Room to sculpt/model) Voxel Room > Retopo Room (can use Auto-Retopo termed Autopo in the app, rather than manual retopo) > UV's in Retopo Room > Merge to Paint Room (through Retopo Menu) > texture if needed > Export from the file Menu in the Paint Room. If you have an Applink for Blender, you may have the option to > File Menu > Export to > Blender. In Blender, you should be able to bring the model in through the built-in 3D Coat Applink, within Blender.

http://vimeo.com/10890641

If I may say so, Blender is the most powerful app among all those you've mentioned, and thus it would be my suggestion to put your focus apart from 3D Coat, almost entirely there. It has a lot of really nice tools in practically every area of the application. The Cycles renderer is really nice. So much so, I've been tempted to stop working in 3ds Max and start learning Blender.

" Merge to Paint Room (through Retopo Menu)"

What exact menu button in the Retopo rooms retopo menu to do I click to move the UVed model with the Reference mesh texture coloring to the paintrooom?

The videos have been helpful for I have learned how to make UV seems and prepare a model that I UVed for painting. I'm still lacking how to get the texture from the original reference model unto the new UV of the retopo mesh. I know it is possible because on the first pass days ago I must have clicked the right one and it happened but that model had a poor UV seem job and poor edge flow so I want to do it over and know how to do it right)-:

I hope in the future there will be a clear button in each room that says "Click here to send to the other Room" LOL I'm not going to quit or move on until I figure this out. Thanks in advance for any help.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Reputable Contributor

" Merge to Paint Room (through Retopo Menu)"

What exact menu button in the Retopo rooms retopo menu to do I click to move the UVed model with the Reference mesh texture coloring to the paintrooom?

The videos have been helpful for I have learned how to make UV seems and prepare a model that I UVed for painting. I'm still lacking how to get the texture from the original reference model unto the new UV of the retopo mesh. I know it is possible because on the first pass days ago I must have clicked the right one and it happened but that model had a poor UV seem job and poor edge flow so I want to do it over and know how to do it right)-:

I hope in the future there will be a clear button in each room that says "Click here to send to the other Room" LOL I'm not going to quit or move on until I figure this out. Thanks in advance for any help.

I'm not sure if I understand what you are trying to do. Are you saying that you had an original model, with textures, that you brought into the Voxel Room, to make some sculpting changes? Now, you would like to apply the original textures to your new Retopo'ed/UV'ed mesh? If so, what you want to do is 1) Export your new mesh to a directory of your choosing 2) In a new scene, import the model you want to extract the textures from 3) Use the Texture Baking tool and in the "target mesh" slot, just point to the .obj file of the new mesh (you just exported).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

@AbnRanger - Thanks. The video seems to be what I am trying to do. I attached a pictorial map of my work flow and what I am trying to do.

post-12483-0-80428900-1357011869_thumb.p

And here is the resuling texture from the Texture Baking Menu in the Retopo Room. The one from the paint roon is identical. I jusr haven't yet been able to get this onto the retopo mesh. Have tried setting the retopo mesh as the target Mesh but 3DC keeps still trying to put the original high Poly UV textures on it. This not a 3DC issue it is a Newbie issue.

post-12483-0-83292400-1357012901_thumb.j

I am trying the Merge with NM(Per Pixel) that Tony mentioned.

The video you attached looks like it explains a lot of what I am missing.

Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

Happy New Year Everybody!!!

Thanks to all your help and advice I finally got the textures from the highpoly reference mesh onto my retopo mesh at around 12:06 AM 2013.

I have started working on making the eyes and some armor concepts. I also plan to export and retopo the some of the gear that I put on the character in Daz3D/Poser projects,

I have attached a presentation slide/photo of what worked.

post-12483-0-57613200-1357026869_thumb.p

One step I forgot to mention in the above slide is, when I baked the textures I targeted them to the retopo mesh via selection in the Bake menu. The video AbnRanger posted for me went over this. So this and Merge with NM(Per Pixel) to get to paint room got this working for me.

135702919905.jpg

Thanks again for all your replys!

Robert

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Reputable Contributor

Happy New Year Everybody!!!

Thanks to all your help and advice I finally got the textures from the highpoly reference mesh onto my retopo mesh at around 12:06 AM 2013.

I have started working on making the eyes and some armor concepts. I also plan to export and retopo the some of the gear that I put on the character in Daz3D/Poser projects,

I have attached a presentation slide/photo of what worked.

post-12483-0-57613200-1357026869_thumb.p

One step I forgot to mention in the above slide is, when I baked the textures I targeted them to the retopo mesh via selection in the Bake menu. The video AbnRanger posted for me went over this. So this and Merge with NM(Per Pixel) to get to paint room got this working for me.

Thanks again for all your replys!

Robert

Happy New Year to you as well! By the way, it looks like it's starting to come together for you, now. You can do the same type of function as Mesh extract, in ZBrush...in the Voxel Sculpting Room. It's called the Vox Layer tool. You can offset the result, and extrude it to your liking. If you want to thicken it a bit more later on, you can always right-click the layer and select EXTRUDE. It's expands along the vertex normal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

I have been having the most wonderful time with 3D-Coat today. I practiced a lot of tools related to retopo, UV creation, and exporting those creations. I can't put into words how much 3DC is making the art side of my game development easier. I also played with Live Clay today. It is incredible.

Blender is also getting easier. Voidworld is great also.

post-12483-0-35644800-1357109817_thumb.p

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Reputable Contributor

Looking good, thus far. I would just bring the specularity (less than 5-10%, overall) down considerably...whether in 3D Coat or elsewhere. Also, I don't know if you are familiar with the Spline Draw modes in 3D Coat, but they can make your texture painting a lot easier...including using it to make elaborate designs on your armor...cheaply.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

Thanks AbnRanger! This info is right on time. I was just at this moment experimenting with specular settings on test export of the armor plate from 3DC in Nvil Voidworld. Here is a picture.

post-12483-0-37979600-1357189718_thumb.p

Here is the verision 1.0 of my Leopardist Character in my game level. This from some months back when I did not know how to make UV's yet but I had learned to rigg in Carrar Studio Pro a decimated model that I made in to a female from the Genesis eunuch in Daz3D. I painted the skin on in a program I bought called blacksmith3D. In that program you could just paint a texture on. I have the chance to update that software but from what I have learned to do and what I have witnessed 3DC is capable of I may not need that tool as much but it is good tool also.

My current C# project that I momentarily pt on hold, while I get more acquainted with 3DC and blender, is my mounting system for my games. Here that is.

I going to study the spline tools today and tomorrow.

Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

@AdnRanger - It started getting late but I couldn't help but play what spline tool before I turned in. I also learned how to use texture I imported to painted in the paint room I was able to rough out the Leopard Body suite and play with splines on the prototype breast plate. I look forward to exploring these more tomorrow.

I used the theme for 3DC that Rob shared on the sharing Themes Thread.

post-12483-0-44255400-1357196330_thumb.p

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

*edit. Ba, noticed another N-gon straight after posting. It's on the cheek below the eye. Easiest way to get rid of them is by terminating your edge loops by making a traingle with a new by poly. 3d coat also notifies you of N-gons in the bottom bar with the other polycount information.

You can also go to the Retopo menu > Select faces... > Select N-gons...then you can either delete them or at least see them more easily.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

You can also go to the Retopo menu > Select faces... > Select N-gons...then you can either delete them or at least see them more easily.

Thanks alvordr - I will go back and fix that. That is probably why whenever I turned the model at a certain angle in some 3D programs and game engine that black culling mark shows up in the render. it seems to come and go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Reputable Contributor

@AdnRanger - It started getting late but I couldn't help but play what spline tool before I turned in. I also learned how to use texture I imported to painted in the paint room I was able to rough out the Leopard Body suite and play with splines on the prototype breast plate. I look forward to exploring these more tomorrow.

I used the theme for 3DC that Rob shared on the sharing Themes Thread.

post-12483-0-44255400-1357196330_thumb.p

If I may make a suggestion....watch this video on creating Layer Masks:

...then mask out some of the Cheetah texture layer, in the neck area, and possibly under the arms, feet, and the palms. A nice gradient blend. Also bring some high res fur texture into the Materials Pallet > enable just the depth channel, and paint some fur bump/depth onto the fur areas of the character (so it doesn't look too flat). I would also suggest connecting here armor all the way around the back (maybe some shoulder straps added, too).

Couple of helpful things to keep in mind...anytime you are working on a character, DO NOT go in with the attitude to trim as many corners as you can. Being efficient and cutting corners may seem synonymous, but they are different animals.

A good Pain and Body man can do a bang up job on a repair and be efficient...or he can purposefully cut corners and it will show. Every artist faces the temptation to cut corners, but when you see great art...it's usually apparent that a lot of work went into it. So, fight the temptation.

Secondly...always, always, always use plenty of reference material. Even the best artists out there make this a regular practice. Did I mention to always use reference material? :D Scour the web for examples you'd like to emulate, and store images in a reference folder for the character. You can load those images into the image picker, and have them right there in the viewport, for easy access. You can probably find some good stuff/ideas watching Blur Studios trailers, too. There are plenty of others, too....like Blizzard or UbiSoft, etc.

Using Materials, Masks (should be called Stencils to avoid confusion):

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

@AbnRanger - Thanks for the tips and videos. I will study those and enjoy working on the improvements afterwards. Lately I have been caught between the joy of getting the various things to work and repeating those task and actually working on perfecting the model for the game. So many times in the past I got something in one of my programs to work and moved on to quickly before mastering and documenting all the steps and found myself having to relearn it again weeks later.

The videos you share were along lines of the next questions that I was about to post here.

Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

@AbnRanger - Thanks for the tips and videos. I will study those and enjoy working on the improvements afterwards. Lately I have been caught between the joy of getting the various things to work and repeating those task and actually working on perfecting the model for the game. So many times in the past I got something in one of my programs to work and moved on to quickly before mastering and documenting all the steps and found myself having to relearn it again weeks later.

The videos you share were along lines of the next questions that I was about to post here.

Thanks!

I'm gonna spend most all my learning time in 3D-Coat and Blender this week. I got a good enough start in Unity 3D and other programs for now. Looks like I can pull it altogether nicely with a better grasp of these two programs. I regret I spent so much time rigging in Character Studio in 3Ds Max, Great Program but expensive, because I found that Rigify is Blender is the pretty much the same thing and it is not a student license.

Some time I have to stop and take a breath because I'm still amazed at the few things I was able to do in 3D-Coat this past week.I probably will get the final version of my main characters done correctly over the next few months which is much sooner than I had anticipated before I came back to 3D-Coat and Blender.

To sum up how good I 'm feeling about now let me share this. In Nov 2011 I was trying to make a box in Milkshape (very cheap but cool Modeling Program) ans struggling and also trying to put a bought character into the Torque engine and struggling. I didn't even know what UV's were nor bones (as they relate to animation) for that matter. Since that time I have made Characters, working levels, written and debug Unity C# script and Torque script, and now getting better grasp of Sculpting and texture painting related topics.

My end goal is to not only publish my games but to teach game development in some Detroit Metro Area after school or Church programs. I think it will get the young people interested in Art, Math, and engineering.

Thanks for the pointers you all have shared with me on this thread and others.

Robert

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

That's a lot to have learned in that time frame. Are you also taking classes then?

In mid 2011 I took two terms at IADT. The Art courses and Adobe Photoshop courses have proven to be very valuable. I had to drop out of the program becasue i had used up all my financial aide on my Engineering and Physics degrees)-: I have children still in college so I just couldn't afford the luxury for Game Dev school for myself. However I have treated Youtube and several other sites including this one now, like a online university. Thanks God for Youtube, free lectures on itunes, Blender Cookie, 3DBuzz, 3D-Coat tutorials, and many more.

I had wanted to study Game Dev when I was an undergrad but back then there were no programs in Michigan for that and I had a baby on the wau so Electrical Engineering trumped my own desires. Now I have time in my life to pursue this although by less than traditional learning paths.

I do plan to pursue a masters in Computer Science or Computer engineering if my Job continues tuition rembusrement. I'm looking to do that in 2014

Thanks for asking,

Robert

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

I've got one more term or so at the school I'm going to. It is difficult to balance life duties with it, but it should be rewarding enough, assuming I can find work. I like the work that you've done, by the way. Your game looks interesting and fresh.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

I've got one more term or so at the school I'm going to. It is difficult to balance life duties with it, but it should be rewarding enough, assuming I can find work. I like the work that you've done, by the way. Your game looks interesting and fresh.

Thanks alvordr! Congrats on being done with school soon. It is worth it to hang in there and get it done. I know you will find work in your field of interest. I'm very thank for having finished and working and I'm also equally thankful that I was blessed to have time later in life to pursue these Game Dev related things that I willingly put off for love of raising the children. it is so fun now because as they have grown up to be young adults, most of them, their interest overlap with mine. We play many of the same video games and use some of the same software like Gimp/Photoshop and wacom tablets ect.....

The college degree and knowledge and skills obtained period tend to take you to the most unexpected and wonderful places. I have lived in Hungary and Mexico about 8 or 9 years ago doing engineering work and Ansi C programming and small electronic design for Automotive testers on the electronic assembly lines. So glad to hear you are all most done.

Robert

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Reputable Contributor

Pretty amazing at how diverse your skills are. Engineering, programming...now game creation? Hat's off, to ya. Having said that, if you want to teach 3D at some point, then finishing a degree would certainly be important. I would say one thing school did help and that is having to take anatomy and life drawing classes I otherwise would not have taken, probably. Principles of Animation and Character Animation as well. Modeling and texturing....didn't learn anything I didn't know already, except doing so in Maya. I would highly recommend finishing it at a State institution, if possible, and not a private school, like Art Institute or ITT. Those schools will rake you over the coals, financially, as they are simply in it to make bank...and lots of it. And you'll come away with a mill stone of debt hanging around your neck.

On another note, the more you narrow your tools down, the more productive you'll be in them. All the different tools out there to use....it's like being a kid in a candy store. And it never stops. There is always something cool one app or renderer does, that entices you. But I find it's best to just settle on one main 3D App (that can do everything you want it to do), and one texture/sculpting app. When you factor in cost, and you are doing personal/freelance work, it really is hard to beat Blender and 3D Coat. If you want to stay current in an app., so it's easier to find work in most studios, then you do need to consider Autodesk apps, Lightwave or C4D.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...