Thursday, February 24, 2011

Insider news: New voxel surface functions announced

The helmet wings are based on curves.
(Note the slight bend in the wings.)
Andrew announced some very nice functions to create voxel shapes, based on curve informations. Some of you maybe already worked with nurbs based tools like MOI or Rhino 3D. Such tools create shapes based on curve informations. The minimum of three curves can describe a shape.
This kind of modeling will be supported in 3D Coat soon. Of course, you will not have the whole flexibility like a real nurbs based modeler, but this method is a good expansion for creating clean shaped models.

Here is an example animation:
Best wishes
Chris

Friday, February 18, 2011

3D Coat BETA Update - Version 3.5.13A

Changes, written by Andrew Shpagin:
  • SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) import fron "E" panel. It is a bit raw, needs testing - http://bit.ly/dRpeVs, http://bit.ly/e4OUGn
  • Quality of voxel drawing with "E" panel curves/lasso improved a lot.
  • Al lot of small bugfixes to make 3D-Coat more stable, recovering from problems of 3.5.12
Download the current beta here: Wanna have it...

Andrew has introduced a new beta status: "beta not verified". After some days of testing it will change to "verified".

Monday, February 14, 2011

3D Coat BETA Update - Version 3.5.12B

Changes, written by Andrew Shpagin (mostly cleaning and bugfixing):

  • I improved image picker a lot. This is how it looks/works now - http://bit.ly/hKF7Vz
  • Voxel surface layers will be correctly baked with occlusion (including not voxelized layers).
  • I made that merging without voxelizing will create 1 volume per object for convenience. OBJ files from Wings3D with instancing supported.
  • I made much more accurate fading on edges while getting back projection from Photoshop (or other) - http://bit.ly/fqs2I6
  • Options.xml split ot several logical parts to avoid loosing important data if you deleted it.
  • Support of FBX export/import done.
  • Bugreporting system after crashes restored.
  • I made painting over edge to be anti-aliased even in not "Fade on edge" mode - http://bit.ly/fP4rAs
  • Topological symmetry problem in microvertex mode fixed - http://bit.ly/gUautz
  • Fixed problem of incorrect behaviour of objects/materials palette - http://bit.ly/hMz0XF
  • Slider ploblem resolved - http://bit.ly/fUFmMN
  • "Apply blending" problem solved - http://bit.ly/f0Q5ak
  • Fixed problem of adding Masks folder - http://bit.ly/gnxTBs
  • The interface problem related to floating windows fixed - http://bit.ly/dKDaIx
  • Fixed "Auto-scale" in UV room problem - http://bit.ly/gsMzSj
  • "New" will reset primitives and merge tool - http://bit.ly/eI76YO
  • Fixed automapping bug - http://bit.ly/g4hRTn 
Download the current beta here: Wanna have it...

Friday, February 11, 2011

Tips & Tricks: How to transform imported mesh objects?


Hello together,

my todays new quick video tutorial explains, how to transform imported mesh objects in 3D Coat. Imagine you are painting a model and need to move, rotate or scale it, without loosing it's UV coordinates.

Best wishes
Chris

Friday, February 4, 2011

Insider news: 3D Coat 3.5.11 in Deutsch übersetzt

Hallo zusammen,

endlich ist es soweit. Die aktuelle BETA-Version von 3D Coat ist komplett in die deutsche Sprache übersetzt. Derzeit ist es Version 3.5.11.

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.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Featured artist: Leigh Bamforth


Hello,

my february featured artist article is dedicated to Leigh Bamforth. Leigh is a very talented british artist, who impresses us with great sculpts of monsters and crazy characters.

Enjoy the interview!
Your Chris

The artist
How old are you?
33 years old.

Where are you currently living?
Currently Im based in United Kingdom.

What are you doing, when you switch your PC off? Do you have other hobbies?
Well I spend the majority of my free time with my son (a hair away from 3 yrs old) and partner.
But apart  from that it's movies and games.





About the work
How did you get the idea to be an digital artist, why digital?
Well 4 years ago now I was showing some of my sketches to a work colleage, who's partner was in publishing, One thing lead to another and I ended up putting pieces forward for a series of childrens books. Unfortunately these never materialised into anything. But I decided to explore my artistic nature with a few 2d paint programs of the time, Painter X (still my favourite sketcher), Then I found Z-Brush and seeing the artwork that was being produced just blew me away. From there I was featured in Ballistic Character artist compendium 'Exotique 3' and almost immediately landed a job developing mocap driven facial rigs and character designs.

Do you have a special education in arts?
Not so much, but thats mainly due to my age as this type of work/training just wasnt there when I was in education, Though I always wished for something like it,  so for the most part Im self educated.

Are you employed or do you work freelance?
I'm currently freelancing Modelling and Texturing for Games, with alot of my free time going into my training workshops and website (Scary-Monsters.org). In the current climate Im always looking for something a bit more stable.

Which recent projects were the most important for you?
Recently I was commissioned for some creature designs for Newtek for the LightWave 10 launch. This has probably been my most important and enjoyable project to date, And I worked closely alongside some veteran VFX artist. You can see some of this over at the Newtek Lightwave 10 site, and more is coming in DL content over the next few months.

Which project was a particular challenge for you?
In a previous role I have developed facial transfer systems and character creation tools, I always enjoy the challenge of scripting, and building tools that make life easier.

Where do you get your ideas from?
Hmmm. Depends on what Im charged with coming up with. With nasties I often eat cheese before bedtime :-P, but honestly I can grab ideas from Animals reference and others work. I study anatomy quite closely nowadays, and find biological mechanics very inspiring.

Are you working with references or is all your work from imagination?
Again it depends on what im working on, I have been asked times before to sculpt a likeness, in this case only the best reference will do, but if im charged with a creature or character then alot starts with Imagination, then I back up with similar research and reference.

What are your plans as an artist for the future?
AAA titles and Movies O course. But with Many aspects of what i do becoming more automated I feel driven closer to creatures and monsters (the more imaginary mythical creatures). Im also working on free training worshops from my domain

Which software are you using for your work, and which hardware?
Custom built (though aging) workstation Dual 23" screens and Large Wacom intuous 4, Im also running alot on my vaio Laptop with smaller intuos 4.

As to software, Im still most comfortable and trained in Softmage for animation, But use Lightwave regularly for modelling and rendering. For my sculpting though I own license for both ZBrush and Mudbox, I find myself turning every job using 3D-Coat.

Which tool do you like the most and never want to miss?
Yep I already mentioned 3D-Coat didnt I.

The portfolio
If you are more interested in Leighs work, feel free and visit his website: