question about what programs to use for theese tasks.

jimpaw · Jul 2010

Hi Everyone,

I am new at Polycount and have a couple of questions. Right now i am working on a game company (internship) and use 3ds max 9 for modeling and Photoshop CS4 for textures.

1. I need some program or plugin that allows me to paint directly on the model like you can do in Hemisphere uv paint. there seems to be a lot of programs today and its hard to know what to go for.

2. I also need some kind of program that ONLY take care of the uv mapping (that part in 3ds really sucks), I have been thinking about Unwrap 3d ( right now i am using a max script called Textools that works okay for now.

thank you.

Lamont · Jul 2010

And here's the wiki...

PolyHertz · Jul 2010

Seperate package for Paint and unwrap eh? Sounds like 3DCoat is what you'd be looking for.

xk0be · Jul 2010

1 - Bodypaint 3d is the only released one I know of. Mudbox and Zbrush also have those features though. Max 11 has that feature too I think..

2 - UVLayout. http://www.uvlayout.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 - There are vid tutorials on their site

Disco Stu · Jul 2010

So you think theyre going to get you seperate programs for your internship?
Bodypaint offers both but the unwrapping part sucks balls.

soulstice · Jul 2010

3DSmax unwrapping is great, just put a little more effort into the tools. For projection painting, I like bodypaint myself.

jimpaw · Jul 2010

Thanks a lot PolyHertz,

That looks like a solid program, actually i forget to write that i am going to learn z-brush as well (for hi detail modeling for normal maps) becouse i feel that is what the industry uses the most. How are the uv mapping funktions in z brush ?

One function i have been looking is snapping identical islands to the same space quickly. I do a lot of modeling of buildings and to repeat the snapping from hundreds of verts to one that has already been moved to the right location is very time consuming. Have you seen unwrap 3d yourself ?

jimpaw · Jul 2010

xk0be wrote: »

1 - Bodypaint 3d is the only released one I know of. Mudbox and Zbrush also have those features though. Max 11 has that feature too I think..

2 - UVLayout. http://www.uvlayout.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 - There are vid tutorials on their site

1. okay bodypaint sounds good, how good are the painting and uv unwrapping tools in z bruzh ?

2. UV layout is out of the question. that program has some layout issues for real.

thanks man.

PolyHertz · Jul 2010

Yes, ZBrush is the most widely used sculpting app, though Mudbox is used by many as well. ZBrushs UV Master tools are extremely simple, and only useful in some specific cases (go here for info on that). ZBrushs painting tools are not very good unfortunatly (this may change with zb4 which will be getting shown at the end of the month at siggraph). Mudbox is significantly better in this area atm.

As for stacking similar shells, textools used to have this option, but I believe it was removed a while ago. Otherwise not sure.

jimpaw · Jul 2010

thanks alot for the response,but what tools in 3ds unwrapping makes you think it works great ? ,it has no tools whatsoever to show if the mesh is distorted,it can locally snap vertecies on islands. if you don´t apply the material in the right order you cant even see the texture in the editor. and so on.. it has ALOT of flaws. it doesnt even use seams. blender by default is a hundred times better.

jimpaw · Jul 2010

PolyHertz wrote: »

Yes, ZBrush is the most widely used sculpting app, though Mudbox is used by many as well. ZBrushs UV Master tools are extremely simple, and only useful in some specific cases (go here for info on that). ZBrushs painting tools are not very good unfortunatly (this may change with zb4 which will be getting shown at the end of the month at siggraph). Mudbox is significantly better in this area atm.

As for stacking similar shells, textools used to have this option, but I believe it was removed a while ago. Otherwise not sure.

I think i am gonna try out 3d coat,it seems to be a great program. the retopology tools looks amazing ! ,and the uv mapping i think could be useful. the problem with most of the uvmapping programs seems to be for organic shapes like humans. I would like tools that really helps you doing repeated stuff. like when you are modeling houses. thanks alot man !

Disco Stu · Jul 2010

Uvlayout only pretends to have layout issues.
Watch the videos on the site and you wont worry about it ever again because
youll only be using hotkeys.

Ark · Jul 2010

Don't go buying bodypaint, Mirai will pretty much kill it when its released.

PolyHertz · Jul 2010

Ark wrote: »

Don't go buying bodypaint, Mirai will pretty much kill it when its released.

I think I'll have to agree with this. Check out Mari:

http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/articles/2010/03/29/6/the-foundry-unveil-mari/
http://www.youtube.com/TheFoundryChannel#p/c/7AC5E8A3441FBEC2/0/X3WskWrQh4E

No firm release date yet, but I wouldn't spend any serious cash on a paint package just yet with Mari and ZB4 coming soon. 3DCoat is a relativly cheap product that might cover your needs for the time being, but be sure to pay attention to what happens at siggraph at the end of the month before deciding where to invest.

Michael Knubben · Jul 2010

Ark

Mirai eh?

Ark · Jul 2010

Opps, getting confused with the other 3d app with a similar name.

Neox · Jul 2010

UVMaster in zbrush gives you a very decent start for uvs especially if you put your seams wisely but you won't get past using any mayor 3d app for the fine works, what it does really well is creating 1click very clean unwraps if you know how to handle it, depending on how complex your model is, it will definitely take some work, but basicly - this is a 1 click 1 second unwrap from UVMaster and its really awesome, would take way longer to do in classic unwrapping with max or maya, it did it really well and exactly like i wanted the final result to look, all i had to do is define the one seam at the bottom at first. I don't trust the AO Seam Masking that much, even though its a nice idea as well

jimpaw · Jul 2010

Thanks alot guys, i have seen Mari to, but for now i have to go with 3d coat. I feel like most of theese programs are better for humans than buildings. The only program i have seen that has this option to snap to closest vertex is unfold 3d.

EXAMPLE:lets say that i cut out a side on a house and want the other side snap to the same possition in the texture space,i move that island to the first and mark all the verticies and they snap at the same time to their closest vertex so that i don´t have to sit and snap each one of them by hand.

question about what programs to use for theese tasks.

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