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3D-Coat 3.7 updates thread


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When using latest betas (.10A to .12E) on 64bit Linux, importing .lwo isn't working at all for me. Its reading the files and chunks (as seen in Log.txt) and the vertex count inside 3D-Coat goes up but the face count stays 0.

Happens on a variaty of LWOs I've tested from a simple unit sphere export to a 100K mode.

The .obj files that come with 3D-Coat appear and work normally.

The .lwo files are fine, not only Lightwave can load them but also my custom parser for my game engine can as well. They are pretty simple standard LWOv2 meshes.

Any ideas?

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Does nobody have problems with mask projections?

I am not able to switch the mask display off or set it to auto. It's really an ugly issue. It's already some weeks there. I guess since Version 3.7.12 or already 3.7.11.

-> http://3d-coat.com/m...view.php?id=513 (The same happens to masks everywhere)

Same here.

3.7.13(DX64)

I'm also having issues with painting on materials projections, the stroke is offset from the brush origin.

It appears to work fine on mask projections

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Hello, nice job on the UI !

Although in linux the new button icons are very slow !

No model on scene, visible especially in voxel room :

With icons : 11 fps

Without icons : Vsync @ 120 fps

Ubuntu 12.04 (tried with the simplest window manager, same result, no compiz activated)

gtx 260, driver 295.59

EDIT:

I think when you display icons it goes to software mode, I can see the performance level going back to 0 (2d) in nvidia driver panel; When you display only text, performance level going up in nvidia driver panel. Same result if I set nvidia powermizer to maximum performances.

EDIT 2:

it works @ Vsync if I check "Shader debug mode" in 3d-coat preferences !

Error thrown when switching from any room to voxel room : Custom/Shader_perso_1/mcubes | defines:(null) | compiling log : |

Please contact support.linux@3d-coat.com , he will help to find reason.

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By the way: Please don't forget to fix some very important painting issues, that came up while implementing the recent new features.

One of the most important is the projection issue with masks.

You will get all infos in mantis.

Thank you

Chris

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By the way: Please don't forget to fix some very important painting issues, that came up while implementing the recent new features.

One of the most important is the projection issue with masks.

You will get all infos in mantis.

Thank you

Chris

agreed... the smudge tool artifacts is also very important...

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"In move/pose/transform tools you will be able to modify voxels and retopo simultateously (optionally) - http://screencast.com/t/iTvfetHfI0t"

From Andrew's Twitter feed. I'm pretty excited about this.

Andrew, any plans to allow the opposite workflow, where adjustments to the retopo mesh will modify the the voxels? It would be nice to move or extrude geometry on the retopo mesh and have that modify the voxels.

I would like to see...

Extrude (faces)

The following with a optional checkbox for falloff:

Translate (selection of vertices, edges, or faces)

Scale (selection of vertices, edges, or faces)

Rotate (selection of vertices, edges, or faces)

I know it is currently possible to make adjustments to the retopo mesh and then merge it as voxels. This is not the ideal workflow though.

I think the best way would be to create a version of the move tool or pose tool which will allow us to make these adjustments to the voxels by manipulation of the retopo mesh.

One question. Does this function only with complete retopo meshes or will it work with a partial retopo?

Thanks Andrew. Great work!

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From Andrew's Twitter feed. I'm pretty excited about this.

Andrew, any plans to allow the opposite workflow, where adjustments to the retopo mesh will modify the the voxels? It would be nice to move or extrude geometry on the retopo mesh and have that modify the voxels.

I would like to see...

Extrude (faces)

The following with a optional checkbox for falloff:

Translate (selection of vertices, edges, or faces)

Scale (selection of vertices, edges, or faces)

Rotate (selection of vertices, edges, or faces)

I know it is currently possible to make adjustments to the retopo mesh and then merge it as voxels. This is not the ideal workflow though.

I think the best way would be to create a version of the move tool or pose tool which will allow us to make these adjustments to the voxels by manipulation of the retopo mesh.

One question. Does this function only with complete retopo meshes or will it work with a partial retopo?

Thanks Andrew. Great work!

The idea was not an expansion of the Retopo toolset, but just prevent the user from having to do a lot of additional work/adjustments to the Retopo mesh if one wanted to go back and make some structural changes to the voxel model, after the fact.

I asked Andrew, awhile back, about the possibility of a soft (gradient) selection with the Select Tool, so one could use it in conjunction with the Transform tool. He said it would be a lot of work. There are some other functions I'd like to see...like a SHIFT + Drag to create new edges/edgeloops on the fly, like you can in Max. It acts as an EXTRUDE tool, except you never have to leave the TRANSFORM tool. You can do both at the same time.

And many of us have been waiting on a SHELL tool. So, perhaps our requests can all be considered when Andrew has time to focus on the Retopo Room.

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I wasn't necessarily suggesting that it be within the retopo room, instead in the voxel sculpt room, as an extension of the existing model/pose/transform toolset (That being said, he'd have to do some work in the retopo room to get it to work I suppose).

I realize it would require a bit of work, but it would allow for great deal of precision in terms of sculpting and I believe well worth the effort. I see how adding a few basic modelling tools will create a desire for more. But I think just covering the very basics would be enough. The best part is the fact there is now a link between the sculpt and retopo room.

If there is more important stuff to do, I totally understand that. I do hope something like this in the plans for the future though.

Cheers,

G

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Wow!!Great!! :brush: Transform/pose/move transfer to retopo mesh is very powerful feature.

Im sure a lot of users will need this at some point in their workflow.

While you are in retopo/transformation Land:Just some suggestions...maybe some are easy to do :)

1-:It would be great if Retopology of a voxel instance could somehow be duplicated over all other instances of that volume.

2- Very important.:currently when using To bound Center and To Center mass in Transform tool,gizmo is not accuratly oriented .

Right now there is no change in gizmo's orientation.

Using Bounding box points its probably very easy for you to make 3DCoat establish the correct gizmo's orientation.

(at least I think it is easy,maybe it it is not)

3-It is currently not possible to bring an object back to center in 3DCoat.Most important issue I want to talk about.

Reset space button rarely works and when it works, I need to press it several times until the object is properly recentered.

(it seems to work by small increments,bringing the object closer to center each time I press the button,until after pressing it like 10 or 15 times object stop moving and is properly recentered.)

But 90% of the times the button just does nothing,especially if a lot of transformation have been done.

I want to press that button only one time and object regardless of the amount of transformation it endured would be instanly recentered and reoriented,ready for retopo purpose.

(then using import/export (see point no.6 ) we could restore the retopo mesh's postion/orientation back to where it was in the original voxel design,ready for render purpose)

4-To be able to center/orient object to macth gizmo (the inverse operation of To Bound Center)

5-To be able to center/orient symmetry plane to match Gizmo orObject bounding box.

(again based on bounding box points it is probably not so hard to do)

6-to be able to import/export (to file) gizmo/object positions (probably as buttons within Transform tool,like Pose Tool selections).

It is to be used along all the feature request above,it gives total control over object placement and orientations.

This way user can transfer and match position and orientations of many objects and switch between Retopo and Render purpose.

7-Finally,probably most difficult but still very useful,I talked about this a lot in past times but it would be great if user would be able to use the the currently selected volume space symmetry plane as the working retopo symmetry plane.

It's very important feature to be able to do retopo on meshes/sculpts that have been oriented/manipulated

(like character accessories,machine parts and such.)

It seems Topogun already went that direction as I was afraid it would happen.

In Topogun 2.0 beta you can pick two vertex oriented in any ways and Topogun will create a symmetry plane between the two.

I think 3Dcoat needs to be on the top of the game in the retopo field.I haven't bought a licence for retopo but I know a lot of users did.

It would be cool when the time come if all those users would buy a v4 upgrade and not a new 100$ topogun licence instead.

(just one of the many opinions I've got regarding 3dCoat marketing...not that it matters :) )

Anyway,points 1-6 give enough power to workaround this issue without need to change default retopo symmetry plane.

Again,just ideas here...Im not on a deadline or anything like that,just a hobbyist. :)

But I can testify I did lost litteraly hours in 3DCoat trying workarounds to recenter/reorient objects to center.

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"In move/pose/transform tools you will be able to modify voxels and retopo simultateously (optionally) - http://screencast.com/t/iTvfetHfI0t"

Wow!!!!! That is great! Very useful! THANK YOU!

Also, Artman's suggestion is very good:

"1-:It would be great if Retopology of a voxel instance could somehow be duplicated over all other instances of that volume."

That way we could retopo one tooth and then use instances of it to fill an entire mouth. Then we could convert those instances to separate objects and edit them in the voxel room. Then all voxel changes would be updated to the retopo meshes in retopo room! This would be like a dream come true!

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The Clone tool (in the Retopo Room) was created so you could duplicate retopo meshes in this fashion. But you still have to move the duplicate in place, manually. That can be tedious and time consuming. So, maybe this is an important first step in allowing the Instancing Tool in the Voxel Room to Instance it's corresponding Retopo Mesh. Good idea, Artman.

While we are talking about Instances/Clones...I find a nagging problem with the Clone tool (Retopo Room), if I want to use it to create a shell. The normals are still pointing in the original mesh's direction. There needs to be and option to FLIP NORMALS. Additionally, we could finally have a SHELL/THICKNESS tool (sorely needed) tool if Andrew could add an option in the Clone tool, to "Bridge to Parent." This would prevent us from having to send meshes to an external application, just to do this operation.

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I ask Andrew once, why when you translate an object in the voxel room, then go to retopo room your symmetry plane is off...

The Voxel room is local space and the Retopo room is world space was the answer. So in the retopo room the axis is always world centered regardless of the model's translation in the voxel room. In fact it appears that the render room and the paint room are world space too. The reason the model appears to jump to a new location in the render room if you have moved your model off world center in the voxel room and in the paint room if your are painting a surface mode model. The model is not moving but the space is moving from local to world...

Andrew said he could not figure out how to change it but that about 2 years ago. I wish he could so your retopoing symmetry would be local space based upon the model's symmetry axis and not world space. It would make retopoing extras or several characters in a scene much easier...

Of course many of you know this already but for those who don't....

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I ask Andrew once, why when you translate an object in the voxel room, then go to retopo room your symmetry plane is off...

The Voxel room is local space and the Retopo room is world space was the answer. So in the retopo room the axis is always world centered regardless of the model's translation in the voxel room. In fact it appears that the render room and the paint room are world space too. The reason the model appears to jump to a new location in the render room if you have moved your model off world center in the voxel room and in the paint room if your are painting a surface mode model. The model is not moving but the space is moving from local to world...

Andrew said he could not figure out how to change it but that about 2 years ago. I wish he could so your retopoing symmetry would be local space based upon the model's symmetry axis and not world space. It would make retopoing extras or several characters in a scene much easier...

Of course many of you know this already but for those who don't....

Using features described in points 2-7 of my post would alleviate the need to have local space symmetry in Retopo room,

User could save and load 2 differents object positions/orientations :one for Retopo room and one for rendering.

But just for you Digman, here is the workaround I use,its a very powerful trick. :brush:

When creating an object make an instance of each object you are working on and this,at the very beginning of your project,

be sure to create each objects/layers at the world space center when you start them, then make an instance of them..

Instances can change positions and orientations withoutt affecting the original

The trick is when you want to do scaling transformations you use Pose tool(using object selection mode) instead of Transform tool.

This way any scaling manipulations get transfered to the original volume but not position and orientation. :)

This way you get 2 copies of your sculpt as you work:one ready for Retopo room and baking,one for render/design purpose.

The problem of restoring the retopo mesh to the instance pos/orientating for Render of ingame model for example is still problematic tough,

but allowinfg to save/load to files pos/orientation would solve this issue.

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Thanks for the tip... :good:

I would hope somehow that Andrew would be able to do number 7 of your request. This request is similar to what I was asking Andrew about discussed in my post. When I got the answer from Andrew at that time, I figured it might have something with the base code and how 3DCoat works at it's core level. Maybe a complete rewrite of the underlying code so all rooms can be local space. This is only a pure guess on my part as Andrew did not elaborate the reason why he could not do it...

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Thanks for the tip... :good:

I would hope somehow that Andrew would be able to do number 7 of your request. This request is similar to what I was asking Andrew about discussed in my post. When I got the answer from Andrew at that time, I figured it might have something with the base code and how 3DCoat works at it's core level. Maybe a complete rewrite of the underlying code so all rooms can be local space. This is only a pure guess on my part as Andrew did not elaborate the reason why he could not do it...

I think so too.Its probably too much work.

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Updated to 3.7.14 (win)

- Applying masks and materials via cubemapping is now available in bot - paint and voxel rooms.

- Transform improved, now pivot points will be transformed together with child objects, in so way posing of chunked objects becomes very easy. Obj files export/import will srore/restore pivot point.

- Invert tool action got possibility to assign hotkey, this checkbox appeared in paint room too.

- fixed inmortant ppp problem - appearing of random spot of big depth.

- Retopo opacity may now be varied, other UV-sets are visible too (more transparent).

- fixed - Masks can't be hidden and UNDO is not working at the same time - http://3d-coat.com/mantis/view.php?id=513

- fiхed - Arranging layers buggy - http://3d-coat.com/mantis/view.php?id=537

- fixed:"Render result" button brings up dialog that is always filtered to jpg, not the extension in use - http://3d-coat.com/mantis/view.php?id=533

- fixed: Info panel at bottom of screen in Retopo room not updating correctly - http://3d-coat.com/mantis/view.php?id=524

- Place image along spline - Erase bug - http://3d-coat.com/mantis/view.php?id=535

- fixed: Brush source image flipped http://3d-coat.com/mantis/view.php?id=527

- In move/pose/transform tools you will be able to modify voxels and retopo simultateously (optionally) - http://screencast.com/t/iTvfetHfI0t

- I made that pressing SHIFT within transform tool allows to move only gizmo as if "Move only gizmo" chosen.

- All tool got better consistency with E panel, unused E-mode are hidden now for each tool.

- Scrollable panels got inertia.

- Fixed several problems related to planar mapping and re-wrapping separate islands. There was problem with fitting updated islands.

- Fixed set of unwrap problems over hardsurface models. Ther was problems with accurate unwrapping of multiple T-junctions.

- Current selected point in spline will be highlighted when you edit points ias table. example - http://bit.ly/LBymU5

- Important export option for real production - DXF export of UV islands contours for further laser cutting in real scalse. In so way you may retopo object, map it, export and cut it from leather, acryl or plastic.

- A lot of proxy-related problems fixed

- different primitives problems fixed

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I have a few issues with Inertia. Random selections (when using Middle and Right button), and inertia Misfires, also Possibillity to have Elastic effect at limits would ease use of new scrolling in menus, No more nasty abrupt halting.

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- I made that pressing SHIFT within transform tool allows to move only gizmo as if "Move only gizmo" chosen.

I thought SHIFT was for snapping the rotation in 45 degree increments? Has that function been erased and replaced with this new one? If that is the case, then I don't think I like this change.

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This is not related to the new Beta and anyone is welcome to correct my statement as I just trying to figure things out...

I tested to see how much ram is used for one layer at 4096 x 4096 filled with a solid color in the paint room. 64 meg is normal for an 8 bit color image That is 8 bits per channel R,G,B or in other words a 24 bit image.

Export a 4096 image from 3DCoat filled with a solild color an you get the 64 meg image...

Now in 3DCoat it appears to take about 100 meg of computer ram per layer at that resolution. That means there is some overhead use by 3DCoat of about 36 meg per layer.

10 layers of filled solid color would be appox 1 gig of computer ram then.

Now what I do not understand yet, is that I am using a 2 gig video card and having only layer "0" and layer "1" that when I add another layer and fill it with a solid color the layer uses 100 meg of computer ram.

Even with some video ram used to display 3DCoat in open GL mode (Linux) and general os overhead, I know I could not be using all my video ram yet.

So here is my question would be why is 3DCoat using appox 100 meg per layer of computer ram when I still have vram left to store textures from the layers in the paint room.

One possible answer is that it is also storing the texture in the Undo buffer in the computer's ram... If that is the case we could use a clear undo command to clear the undo buffer when necessary...

Computer ram usage was taken from Linux system monitor...

Like I said, I,m just trying to understand how 3DCoat functions and am all ears for answers...

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Updated to 3.7.14 (win)

- Retopo opacity may now be varied, other UV-sets are visible too (more transparent).

Thanks so much for this Andrew, this feature will really make precise retopo so much easier and nice!

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