3D Coat v.4 hotfix: BETA 12A

Changes:

• Hotfix: Fixed mask / material distortion problem
• Hotfix: Fixed hotkey definition problem
• Several other mantis issues fixed

Click here to download the current BETA version: Wanna have it...

3D Coat v.4 update: BETA 12

Main intension of the build is bugfixing, big amount of mantis reported problems fixed. A lot of critical problems solved. Often mentioned lags problem fixed too.

Changes:

• Camera can be stored in a file and restored again to get the saved position
• Important change in masks painting: A volume preserving mode is now the default seeting. In this mode instead of just modulating effects by mask surface may be displaced in both sides - back and forward so that the average volume will be approximately preserved. It is very important if you use mask for detailing. This mode allows to avoid constant surface growing when painting.
• Models palette is now available in Retopo room to be merged directly in retopo room. Retopo layers may be dragged to that palette.
• E-mode circle/lasso/rectangle/spline etc. works closer to PS style now - SPACE + LMB will move the whole shape.
• Render room got improvements - prossibility to render blended states between several saved scenes. In this way short animated illustrations may be easily rendered. It was done mainly for Andrews son's personal project, he think it will be helpful for the community too. Andrew expects to be criticized for this little animation support, but it was his personal need, not just a new feature, so he says, he will be really sad in case of critics.
• German language update (Not final but Christoph Werner is working on it.)
• A lot of small but important changes...

Click here to download the current BETA version: Wanna have it...

App Tip: Subd Recovery

Here an application tip for you, I've found today:
You have lost your base subdivision levels of your highpoly model? Get them back with "Subd Recovery". You import your highpoly model and be able to recover your subdiv levels automatically. Great solution for highpoly assets! I imagine it could be useful for optimising scanned data too, when quadrangulated.

The official webiste: http://www.mariussilaghi.com/products/subd-recovery

Forum artwork by Frederic Bessy

Today I am happy to present you a very nice artwork created by Frederic Bessy. He posted this dragon in the 3D Coat forums. You can read more infos about the workflow, if you visit the forum link below the image.

To read the origin post, please visit: 3D Coat forums (direct post link)

To see more of Frederics works visit his portfolio: Website of Frederic Bessy

Featured artist: Fuad Ghaderi

Hello friends.

A long time has past when I posted a featured artist article on my blog. One of the main problems is to find extraordinary artists for my interviews. It is not important for me to use 3D Coat in the daily work. The main issue is that the most good artists have not much time to answer my requests. But anyway.

Finally I have found a very gentle and talented artist from Iran, Fuad Ghaderi. So enjoy the article.

Best wishes
Chris

The artist
1. Fuad, how old are you?
Hello Mr. Werner. I am so thankful that for choosing me for the interview. I am 22.

2. Where are you currently living?
Currently I'm living in Iran, near Alborz Mountains. The climate is nice and gives me energy.

3. Good art needs time, but what are you doing when you switch your PC off? Do you have other hobbies?
I enjoy playing video games. I allocate most of my time to it. I also believe listening to classical music and watching movies are among the most amusing entertainments of the mankind.

About the work

1. How did you get the idea to be an digital artist, why mainly digital?

That is a hard question. Maybe because of its infinite features and speeding up the workflow. However, it is not appropriate to classify digital art as another kind of art, since you need a complete understanding of art to create an artwork. Digital is just a tool for an artist.

2. Do you have a special aducation in arts or is all this self-aducated?

Unfortunately no. I followed this profession intuitively. I have no academic education. It was my choice because education costs in Iran are more than I can afford.

3. Are you employed or do you work freelance?
Currently I work as freelance, but I accept full-time projects from time to time. However, neither of them is considered professional in Iran. I have been employed.





4. Which recent projects were the most important for you?
Currently I am working on an independent video game with my friends. Maybe it is the most important project for me, which currently is a great concern for me.

5. Which project was a particular challenge for you?

Unfortunately there are not many important events happening in artistic production in Iran and I don’t have the opportunity to take part in significant projects. However, all of the projects assigned to me are challenging for me. In fact I like challenges. I should say characters are the hardest of them.

6. Your art is very special, where do you get your ideas from?
Idea is something that you get from reading a lot. I spent a lot of time reading historic mythology books and books about various civilizations and also reviewing the works of famous artists. That is really enjoyable and gives me a lot of ideas.

7. Are you working mainly with references or is all your work from imagination?
Basically I enjoy creating abstract atmospheres, independent of the real world. My speciality is designing organic and robotic elements, and linking them to form a general concept, and ultimately creating an image from it.

8. What are your plans as an artist for the future?
I do not believe in future. I am trying hard to enjoy art and being with artists and to learn and to update my works and reach ideal quality.

9. Which software are you using for your work, and which hardware?
I mostly use 3D-Coat, 3DSMAX and sometimes Blender and KeyShot for 3D and use Photoshop and ArtRage for 2D.

I don'tt have a powerful computer, here are the current specs:
4gb ram - gtx 560 ti 1024 mb graphic card  - AMD Athlon Dual CoreProcessor 5000+ 2.60 GHZ- wacom intuos 4 large tablet

10. Is there a tool or method do you like the most and never want to miss?
Voxel is one of the most revolutionary tools in digital sculpting. If it was not there, we could not be able to do many things we can do today. I am so thankful to Andrew Shpaghin for implementing this revolutionary and useful tool into 3D Coat.

Thank you very much for answering my questions Fuad!
I wish you all the best for the future.

The portfolio

Unfortunately Fuad has not left a website link to see more of his works. If you are interested to contact him, just drop me a e-mail and I will connect you with him.