Vacation and some Infos

Hello friends,

before I start to my vacation tomorrow night, you should know that a new featured artist interview is already prepared and ready to be published on the 1st of May. Be curious!  :-)

After two weeks of relaxation, I will continue to inform you with news and infos about 3D Coat and releated topics.

Best wishes
Chris

Neues Tutorial Video in Deutsch: Kopieren von Kanalinformationen in 3D Coat

Kopieren von Kanalinformationen in 3D Coat

Themen dieses Videos:

• Kopieren von Kanalinformationen innerhalb von Kanälen (Beispiel: Kopieren des Rot-Kanals in den Grün-Kanal etc.)
• Tip: Wie man Objekte mit Texturen füllt ohne das sie Nähte aufweisen
• Tip: Wie man die Helligkeit und Kontrast von Kanälen nachbearbeitet

Auf www.lernfaktor.de ansehen -> Anschauen...

3D Coat BETA Update - Version 3.5.18

Updated to 3.5.18 (Win only , Max+Lin - probably tomorrow)

Changes:

• 3D Coat supports alpha image mip-mapping now. This method results in really good stroke quality. Compare: http://bit.ly/ea0WCL and http://bit.ly/eS5cqK . It is especially important if alpha with high contrast values is used. Old style strokes were too noisy, new style is smooth like in PS now. More images to compare - http://bit.ly/guuQjL and http://bit.ly/eWxOZz .
• You will be able to see the amount of UV vertices in retopo room. It is important if you have a budget of polygons for video game models f.e.
• Inverted chisel brush issue fixed - http://bit.ly/guiy7k 
• Freeze and Rapid2 issue fixed - http://bit.ly/hSQxMP 
• Brushes preview problem solved - http://bit.ly/ev515y 
• Importing of subdivided T-Shapes fixed - http://bit.ly/gslNP2 
• Curve tool issue fixed - http://bit.ly/euee4N 
• In latest couple of builds there was an error in non-english Win versions that caused in screwing some brushes settings (like depth modulator). Now fixed.
• Specular brightness issues fixed - http://bit.ly/fuWr6e and http://bit.ly/e6m62d 
• An issue with mesh breaking is fixed - http://bit.ly/ii3H6h 
• Andrew found one potential rare source of small dots artifacts while transforming from surface to voxel mode. He has rewritten the code to prevent the problem.
• Wireframe in paint mode will be shown without missing chunks.
• Absolute brush issue fixed - http://bit.ly/dJnURk 
• Fixed important bug: possible crash after using hotkey to make something massive - like import mesh for PPP.
• A crash issue fixed - http://bit.ly/fYf7Cr 
• For a better acccess you will be able to import retopo mesh for voxelizing directly from File menu now.
• The problem with incorrect UV-Sets resolved - http://bit.ly/dIkgrb 
• tif/exr included in regular texture export format. You will be able to choose one of the formats in the Textures menu, if you need a texture with or without alpha information.
• Adding materials folder improved a bit - http://bit.ly/e2uKSB 
• Andrew added "Apply to visible" and "Apply to subtree" in the shaders RMB menu.
• Image picker navigation will work correctly even if picker is docked.

Download the current beta here: Wanna have it...

3D Coat - Aktuelle Version (3.5.17E) übersetzt

Hallo zusammen,

die aktuelle BETA-Version von 3D Coat ist komplett in deutscher Sprache übersetzt. Derzeit ist es Version 3.5.17E.

Ich habe mir größte Mühe gegeben, es kann aber immer sein, das etwas fehlt oder Rechtschreibfehler enthalten sind. Wenn Ihnen also etwas bei der Arbeit mit 3D Coat auffallen sollte, einfach bescheid geben.

Die aktuelle Datei wird innerhalb der nächsten Versionsupdates veröffentlicht. Wer es jedoch nicht bis dahin abwarten kann, der nutzt die Anleitung auf der folgenden Seite, dort ist auch die neueste Version der Sprachdatei zu finden: 3D Coat in Deutsch

Viele Grüße
Christoph Werner

For the international readers: This news are for german speaking 3D Coat users. I have translated the complete current version into german.

Tips & Tricks (German): Erste Tutorial-Videos in Deutsch veröffentlicht

Hallo zusammen,
ich habe begonnen, erste Tutorial-Videos in deutscher Sprache zu veröffentlichen. Dazu nutze ich meine Platform www.lernfaktor.de. Dort findet ihr alle Videos zum Ansehen.

Geplant sind zwei Arten von Videos: "Quickies", die jederzeit kostenlos angeschaut werden können und professionelle Videos, die etwas länger sind und Themen im Detail beschreiben. Die Profivideos kosten dann ein paar Euros.

Neben 3D Coat plane ich Videos zu weiteren Programmen, wie Softimage oder Photoshop.

Best wishes
Chris

Wechseln zu: www.lernfaktor.de

Tips & Tricks: How to change the vieport camera zoom speed in 3D Coat

Hello together,

in my new quick tutorial video I will show you how to change the camera zoom speed of 3D Coats viewport camera.
This is important, when you are working on tiny details of your models. The fast default zoom speed can disturb the workflow sometimes.

Best wishes
Chris

3D Coat BETA Update - Version 3.5.17

Changes:

• Andrew restored an older version of the surface clay brush and combined it with the new brush engine, it produce a really nice brush now!
• Rapid2/Mud2 brushes as smoother and nicer versions of Rapid/Mud brushes now. That new brushes are based on the same principle as new Clay brush.
• Andrew implemented a checkbox "Smooth back faces" in the "E" panel of the voxel room.
• Smooth in voxel surface mode is now CUDA accelerated. It is especially obvious under big smoothing degree (500% for example). Non CUDA smooth improved a lot too.
• Andrew made an additional checkbox "CUDA smooth boost" that will enable 3X strength of smoothing if CUDA is enabled.
• You are able to assign hotkeys to any button in the 'E' panel now.
• Andrew tuned the Surface Fill tool to make it better.
• Andrew implemented a new brush based on surface clay that acts close to Build in voxel room and "wax", known in Mudbox. The n ew tool is a small modification of clay, but it seems to be cool for building up basic shapes. Andrew called it "Buildup".
• Andrew improved merge surface->voxels algorithm to produce much less artifacts like that - http://bit.ly/i4rmT6 . They were usually appearing after the surface was smoothed in voxels a lot and then the move function was applied (as well as any surface change). It is hard to avoid them at all, but they will appear rarely now. To remove this kind of artefacts at all use the depth shader or the function "To global space". Those artefacts are not actually surface distortions but rather normals calculation problems. It happens due to voxel surface thickness variation. Smooth makes the surface thicker, this is why this problem appears.
• Snapping to voxel surface became faster, fixed possible lags and hangups.
• Slice tool in retopo room works correctly with non-voxelized meshes too.
• For programmers: Andrew updated the AppLinks specifications a bit - http://bit.ly/gadLuD 
• Fixed several bugs in retopo transform tool.
• An issue about retopo transform solved - http://bit.ly/gxsJ5W 
• Fixed problem of holes in big faces in ppp mode when 8k textures are used.
• Fixed problem in retopo symmetrical copy, when multiple UV sets are present
• Problem with "Edit points table" in "E" spines menu solved.
• Problem with "To global space" and instances solved.
• A problem with the move tool tearing and symmetry were resolved.
• Fixed a bug in "Apply UV", it have produced holes in meshes in some cases.
• Andrew found the reason why using huge brush radius leads to massive slowdown (almost hang). It is fixed now and results in a sculpting speed improvement.
• If SHIFT and LMB is pressed simultaneously, then even if SHIFT will be released, but LMB is still pressed, 3DC will interprate this as SHIFT is still pressed.

Download the current beta here: Wanna have it...

Tips & Tricks: MaCrea, a free shaderball creating tool by Taron

Hi folks,

Taron has released a very nice helper tool for creating shaderballs. Shaderballs can be used in the most sculpting software to define the surface representation of your models.

Here is a introduction video for MaCrea:



To download his free software visit Tarons website: Wanna have it...

Featured artist: Nicolas Garilhe

Hello friends,

this month I am proud to present you my interview with Nicolas Garilhe, a french artist, who is currently living in Canada and working for the game industry. Nicolas impress us with very nice character artworks.

Have fun with the article
Chris


The artist
How old are you?
I'm 25 years old.

Where are you currently living?
I'm from France, but I'm currently living in Montreal, Canada.

What are you doing, when you switch your PC off? Do you have other hobbies?
When the PC is off, which is not often, I like to enjoy a movie in theater, a good restaurant with my girlfriend, or simply chill in a café with my friends. Oh ! And video games of course ;)

About the work
How did you get the idea to be an digital artist, why digital?
Actually, from the very beginning, I wanted to do games. At first I thought to be programmer, so I started to learn by myself the basics, and try to create my own video games. I quickly needed some graphics, and that's how I try for the first time digital art. I really enjoyed it and since then I try to learn by myself 3D modeling. My path is quite atypical cause I started with digital art, and then try traditional one when I felt the need to improve my poor drawing skill.

Do you have a special education in arts?
Again, my education was atypical since I had a diploma in physics. It was mostly to please mom and dad, who weren't really sure video game was a good path, and I can understand them. The industry is relatively young, and it's hard to land a job. But after this, since I was still highly motivated, I finally found a school in Montreal, Canada at the Campus Ubisoft, which was great for me since Montreal is a great place of opportunity in the video game industry.

Are you employed or do you work freelance?
Currently, I'm working at Gameloft Montreal, as a character artist for 1 year now.

Which recent projects were the most important for you?
I love to enter on line 3D contest. It helps a lot for your personal training, for several reasons. One of those is because it impose you a deadline. You have to create a polished piece before this deadline. I'm the kind of guys who can spend months on a piece, so it's really helpful. But probably the best reason is because you compete with other artists, who share with you their tricks and tips and are pleased to help you.

The last contest I entered was the comiccon challenge 2010 on gameartisans.org. I learnt so much from great artists, and some pieces were truly inspiring.

Which project was a particular challenge for you?
I was recently asked at work, to make the main character of the game I'm currently working on. It was the first time for me so it was a big responsibility but a great opportunity. You really need to put all you go into it because the character will be seen from all angles and during hours. But I can't wait to see people playing with my character, it gonna be a crazy feeling !

Where do you get your ideas from?
Tough question, and I don't think I got a clear answer. All I can say is it can come from everywhere. A movie, a game, a book of history, a discussion … A great way to get inspired is to browse as much as you can picture database like deviantart.com or cghub.com. I try to do it daily.

Are you creating realistic artworks too or mainly abstract?
Actually I never tried to create abstract, I tend to make semi realistic, mostly because realistic artworks is really hard to achieve and I don't think I've got the skill yet to it

What are your plans as an artist for the future?
My ambitions for now is to keep training myself, to be able one day working on AAA games,

Which software are you using for your work, and which hardware?
I principally use 3DSMax, Zbrush, Photoshop and 3DCoat for personal work. I work on a PC platform, with an Intel i5 processor, a Nvidia GTX460 cg card with 16gb of memory.

Which tool do you like the most and never want to miss?
To be absolutely honest, I would have to say Zbrush, but mostly because I work with it for several years now. But the more I play with 3DCoat, the more I'm amazed with this software, and now it's definitely part of my workflow.

The portfolio
If you are more interested in Nicolas work, feel free and visit his website:
www.nicolasgarilhe.com