3D-Coat and CINEMA 4D

#21

Damn, why is there NEVER Mac support for these great apps?

Apple is gonna have to provide incentive or stop making it increasingly difficult.
Otherwise they’re gonna start losing customers.

As it stands, I most likely won’t buy another Mac.
I’ll probably get a Boxxx or build my own PC so I don’t have to go through all this.

I like the Mac, I like it alot more than windows as far as OS’ go.
But everytime I turn around there’s a great new app or plugin that isn’t supported on OSX.

ZB3 is pretty much a no-go for the Mac.
You hear rumors about when it will be here, but it never happens.
I can’t imagine what would take them this long to get an OSX version.
So now I’ve just accepted the fact that it’s not gonna happen, ever.

I’m probably just gonna buy Modo, or get a PC so I can run Max and ZB3.

Apple and Pixologic really dropped the ball IMO.

#22

Thanks for the info Pavel, it looks like an interesting app. Will have to take it for a test drive sometime, though since I already have ZB3, Modo ,Mudbox, Silo and of course BP it may be overkill :slight_smile: The curve and transform tools in 3D-coat do look quite intriguing…would be great to have in BP.

My workplace is Mac based , so I also wouldn’t mind this on Mac as well. For the Mac guys, keep in mind that Blender does some quite nice sculpting for free. I have been able to get the res (about 2 mill polys) in the same range as Modo/Mudbox/Silo . This is plenty for general sculpting, but of course not enough for pore level details. Can’t beat ZB3 for that…

The Blender sculpt tools allow you to use procedural textures as well as bitmaps and has the same basic brushes as ZB(flatten, inflate etc).Sculpting on both sides of a mirrored cage mesh is another nice feature. Certainly check out the Blender sculpting capabilities when the new 2.46 comes out any day now, it is very nice…

#23

Sorry for the off topic…

IMHO that’s not a real arguement… You can get a mac pro for less money with probably better performance and install native windows through bootcamp, if you’re willing to switch to windows… Our request lies in the fact that we want to use OSX, not windows…
Besides, soon most companies will probably consider having a mac version of their programs as a no-brainer.

#24

nice thread. i just want to add one thing. for the fine details 3D Coat uses Vector Displacement Map. The highest resolution is 4096 X 4096, that equals 16 million vertice worth of detail…thats how much i can push in ZB3 on my machine…but 3D Coat is more robust.

i want to mention one bad thing about 3D-Coat,which i hope Andrew address in the near future:

Mesh sculpting has alot sculpting tools with vector displacement sculpting your limited to the depth brush. This is way i still do my sculpting in Mudbox and for fine detail like wrinkles, i bring the mesh into 3D-Coat.

keep up the good work! IMO, the sculpting and painting is still ALOT better then Modo’s.

#25

Although sometimes, that isn’t quite the case - An interesting bit of news that might bring some cheer to some here (if this isn’t already universally known) - Rhino is coming to OS X - currently an alpha version is being tested - and its possible to join & test (though it IS an alpha, not beta)

http://community.irhino3d.com/

Cheers,

#26

Would very much like to see a Mac version of this too.

Steve

#27

Ok, if you want to push to Andrew for Mac version, please write him to this thread on 3D-coat forum…

http://3dbrush.kriska.hvosting.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=948

Thx Pavel

#28

Done.

Steve

#29

I wouldn’t personally touch another 3d paint app besides BodyPaint, not unless there was a 3d bridge to Photoshop. That would be the only thing imho to match its power.

#30

Whoa! Nice find, Pavel! This is the perfect answer to creating displacement without having to buy an app that has tons of stuff you’ll never use. The interface looks a lot more comfortable than some of the others, too. Cool. :wink:

#31

a Gorilla

Cheers Pavel

#32

hello all
I tested an other feature. If you heavy change a topology of your model (for example you “collapse” some polygons for “sharper shapes”) you can have problems with next normal and displacement painting. There is a chance to do it same as in ZBrush pipeline. You can export a low poly model with UV coordinates, improve them and import back to 3D-Coat. it works really cool.
I tried all formats and ways and next way is best for us I mean.
Export model as a LWO, improt as OBJ. It is easer like obj/obj

from my project

low poly (done in C4D)

Hi res (a bit improved eyes and mounth)

Cheers Pavel

#33

Great stuff, Pavel. Thanks for the mini “how tos”!

How is actually sculpting in 3D Coat? Someone mentioned earlier in the thrread that it’s strong point is texturing and painting, but not so much sculpting.

I’ve played around in Silo 2 and the sculpting is good, but I can’t get a high enough poly count (and still sculpt) to get fine details as you seem to get in 3D Coat.

#34

He’s not using a high res mesh, he’s manipulating image maps (displacement). Only the render engine simulates the high res mesh at rendertime. Even ZBrush does not work with high res geometry internaly as it would bring everything to a crawling halt. All it does (and that very well) is manipulate image maps which drive all the detail. Only render engine smoke and mirrors ;). Try to export a highly ‘subdivided’ mesh in Zbrush. Most likely you will fail because of the memory amount necessary to generate ‘real vertices’. No need usually for anything else than medium res meshes with nicely created displacement maps. And that seems to be the goal in D-Coat as well. So, using 3D-Coat together with C4D or Silo should enable you to rival the most intricate of renders.
Good luck!
Rainer

#35

Well, I thought the process is usually to subdivide the mesh in the sculpting app, sculpt, export displacement/normal maps, then in C4D, for instance, load the low res mesh and apply the displacements.

Can meshes be subdivided in 3D Coat and follow this process?

#36

Hello Robert
3D-Coat is really SCULPTING and texturing application, but it works different to ZB or MudBox and other. If you “paint” with paint tool you sculpt model directly in two connected ways. In normal and standard “displacement” deformation. It is amazing system based on two “high res mesh”. First one is used for basic displacement and second one for “normal maps and displacement maps” generating.

if you use “basic sculpt tools” you work with basic high res model only. Paint tools work with high-high res model.

Tools in basic sculptin mode (I write an artticle on it just now - fourth part of my 3D-coat serie):
Basic brush - “normal direction brush”
Drag by pen - “magnet tool” (if you use tablet don´t use pressure depended brush tool)
Select and move - you can select area in polygons with falloff, it has very close to “soft selection” but you can use move, scale and rotation. Great for global shape updating
Drag points - works similier like ZB ZSpheres if you use them as a “bone system”. It is same, works good. Andrew prmised me move axis and rotation bands
Collapse/Expand - same as C4D
Shift/Tangent Shift - in this brush are polygons streched on surface in pointer moving direction
Set plane - flatten tool
Smooth - standard

But dont forget, you have there other combination with basic pen shape menu - for example “dot” and “brush” systems (like ZB)…

Ideology is a bit different, but very robust for me.

I hope you understand me :slight_smile:

P

#37

Yes, I do it so!

You can export many version (5 or 6 I think) and correctly normal and displace maps suitable to shape (and subdivision) you exported. It is really cool feature of this application

P

#38

Thanks again for the explanations, Pavel.

Well, all sounds good to me. Hope they are able to get a Mac version going soon…

#39

Hello, a short news from Andrew (from 3DC forum)

Andrew wrote:
“Today we have hired a man to port 3DC to Mac platform. If all will be ok, 3DC will be ported in 2-3 months. We have set 3 months for him as a maximal time to port.”

Cheers Pavel

#40

Great news! Thanks for the update, Pavel…