3D coat is full of functionality and is well-suited to create a 3D configurator in real time. With a wide range of tools, commands, functions and workflows, 3D coat is divided into clearly defined spaces that contain all the functions needed for each phase of model development. View each room as a “mini-application” connected through and through. The structure helps you to concentrate on one operation at a time and make your entire working time as productive as possible.

The Paint Room.

Like a 3D version of photoshop, 3D Coat`s Paint Room makes creating detailed textures for your models extremely fast and entertaining. With Paint Room, you can create multiple types of textures simultaneously – Diffuse/Albedo Color, Glossiness and Depth (which can be exported as Bump, Displacement or Normal Maps). Color layers can also be exported as other different maps, including Vertex Weight Maps, Emissive/Luminosity Maps and more. All tools should be familiar if you are familiar with Photoshop tools. Create seamless textures of organic characters, mechanical objects, or landscape elements – all qith a familar brush-based interface. Intuitive brush controls can be changed on-the-fly with the mouse.

Painting with the help of templates, stripes of repeating patterns, Smart materials consists of separate depth, color, gloss and metallization textures that only work when activated by the corresponding buttons in the surface. Use all the power of your tablet and stylus to create the precise textures and effects you need for your models. Whenever higher precision is required, you can use the different modes of the Hub Mode panel. Export any texture map in exactly the format you need, with or without alpha channels, and with just the right amount of cushioning of your UV maps. Use Viewer reference images for better orientation and any Paint Well image for color duplication and reference. Customize your Brush Alpha Panel with a complete arsenal of your favorite brushes and brush settings. Every time you start 3D-Coat, everything is ready.

Test your different UV Unwrapping schemes in the Paint Room before you decide to export. You can also paint Vertex Color Maps directly onto your voxel of surface sculptures and use the latest texturing techniques with Ptex. Beacon your vertex colors and Ptex textures to standard UV maps for use in various areas. If you need to paint very detailed and precise textures, choose the per-pixel texture mode or you can paint with Ptex without the concern of UV map seams and paint directly onto your voxel creations with vertex color.

The Sculp Room.

This room is home to some of the most unique tools and features found in 3D sculpture. Beautifully separated from other parts of the 3D Coat environment, the Sculpt Room contains a set of tools and features that allow you to construct the most detailed and elaborate organic and mechanical models imaginable. Essentially, the Sculpt Room consists of two working modes, Voxels and Surfaces (polygons).

Voxels create models with variable volumes, and in Surface Mode you can work with polygons that can either be streched, expanded, and contracted with an adaptive subdivision mesh by adding additional geometry only when you want it and whose density you control. You can choose to start with voxels and finally put your sculpture in Surface Mode or work with Surfaces from the beginning.

Many of the sculpting tools give the artist the freedom to build with the equivalents of clay, wax, wood, stone and paint. 3D-Coat also makes full use of the possibilities of your graphic tablet. Other tools provide the necessary precision for the construction of mechanical model forms.

The Retopo Room.

All tools and functions for creating and changing topologies can be found in the Retopo Room. Whether you use 3D Coat`s AUTOPO routine to automatically create a fine-tuning topology, re-create your mesh topology from scratch, or customize and refine the topology in an external application, Retopo Room has what you need.

Each VoxTree object can be edited separately from the Retopo Object Panel. These can be created automatically or manually if you isolate different areas of your model for different purposes and topology layouts.

The UV room.

If you have imported a mesh for UV mapping, or if you need to change or edit your UV maps, the UV room is available with a full arsenal of tools to modify your UV maps. The UV map of a mesh is like the paper patterns used to cut out the cloth for your model`s clothes. As with any decent garment, you would try not to make your pattern from many small pieces and keep it as large as possible. The UV room provides the precise tools you need to create a balanced UV map.

Like a paper sample, each garment is separated from the others and designed economically to make room for the rest. The tools and features of the UV room are primarly designed for positioning, sizing and aligning all pattern pieces. Since you can change your mind about the placement of pattern seams, all the tools in the Retopo room that deal with UV mapping are also on the UV room. There are also tools to help them prevent the stretching of sample parts – and how all parts are packed into the space of the entire UV map.

Since a model can have a variety of application, it is possible that you may need different maps. With 3D-Coat, you can create and modify as many different UV maps as you need for each project. Once you`ve completed your maps and placed your model in the Paint Room, you can use the Texture UV Editor to place details and labels that require precision that is difficult to achieve by painting in 3D Viewport itself. Use the Texture UV Editor to paint and position precise details directly on the UV map using all the tools available in the Paint Room.

The Tweak Room.

This room is often overlooked and underused, but it has some of the simplest and most powerful tools for creating mesh modifications, model poses, and morph targets. Any changes you make here can also be made after topology, UV maps, and textures have been created. Ideal for short-term changes without ruining all your work. Even small sculpting jobs can be done in the Tweak Room with brushes and brush options.

As in other rooms, the upper bar contains the usual brush settings. It is important to note that both the Paint Room and the Tweak Room use both imported meshes found in the Paint Objects Anel. If you any reason you want to delete a mesh from one of these rooms, you can do so by clicking the X for each mesh object in the Paint Objects area.

The Render Room.

In this room, you can test your model and its textures in an environment much closer to a third-party rendering environment and create animated turntables and fly-thorughs of your model and scene. You can add multiple colored light sources, adjust the depth of field of the camera, mitigate or accentuate shadow effects, and control how many rays are tracked in the final rendering. Real-time rendering is also possible, so you can quickly and easily see the many possibilities of lighting, focus and ambient occlusion from any angle.

Once your model is in the texturing phase, you can immediately view the results by simply defining your render settings and clicking the Render button on the Render panel. Render stills or turntables and flythroughs at any resolution by rotating clockwise or counterclockwise with up to 32-bit-color information, and choose whether to include the alpha channel in your final rendering. Upload your animated scenes directly to YouTube or Vimeo, or upload a screenshot to the Pligway servers to share with other users – all from the 3D Coat Help menu.

Camera and Navigation.

3D-Coat has a very intuitive and comprehensive set of controls and keyboard shortcuts to help you handle your workspace and 3D scenes. We`ve tried to integrate the most common navigation conventions used in the most common 3D applications and created ways to adapt them to almost anything.

Defaults.

Common to all rooms are the standard methods for displaying your scene and individual models in 3D Viewport. If you hold down the ALT/OPTION key in the 3D viewport and then drag the LMB, the camera rotates around the scene. If you hold down the SHIFT key, the camera will snap to the next box level. If you hold down the ALT/OPTION key, click and hold it, and then drag the RMB, the view is enlarged or reduced depending on the direction of movement. While holding down the ALT/OPTION button and dragging the MBB, the view modes.

Camera settings.

A click on the “Camera” drop-down arrow at the top right of the interface will show you some options for your camera as well as the use of presets or customizing the navigation in 3D Coat itself. You can also create shortcuts for the camera position/rotation for later use. These camera shortcuts also save all types of 2D grid, stamp, or template position/rotation/scaling settings, making it easy to use and reuse tools with repeatable results when needed.

You cans et a pivot point for your camera`s rotational navigation.

Reference & Wallpapers.

The Viewer background fills the background of the 3D Viewer. Select Use background image and select your image from the dialog that opens. The default image is a star field. Reference images can be used for each view axis X, Y and Z. You can edit the image placement for each image plane on each axis with a transform widget. You can edit the position, scaling, rotation, and opacity of the view.

Control Panel Icons.

The navigation panel is located in the upper right corner of the viewport. This control panel gives you access to the Viewer’s navigation functions, all camera settings and focus functions, as well as the Viewer’s positioning and intensity settings. From left to right, these are the functions of each icon:

  • Ambient Brightness: Click and drag the LMB to the right or left to increase or decrease the ambient brightness of the scene.
  • Primary Light Intensity: Click and drag the LMB to the right or left to increase or decrease the intensity of the primary scene light.
  • Primary Light Direction: Click and drag the LMB around the scene to adjust the position of the primary light in the 3D Viewer.
  • Rotate the view: Click and drag the LMB to adjust the user view by rotating the main camera around the object in focus.
  • Panning the view: Click the LMB, then drag the user’s view by moving the main camera right, left, up, and down.
  • Zoom the view: Click and drag the LMB to the right or left to move the main camera closer or further away from the focused object.
  • Vary the field of view: RMB to reset it to the default value. Frame the view around all visible objects.
  • Focus the view: on the position of the brush.
  • Reset the view: Switch to the default setting. You can then choose between a perspective and an orthographic view.

Use a pen tablet.

The navigation within the 3D viewport is really intuitive and comfortable when using a stylus, the mouse control and navigation are the same for a stylus as for a mouse mentioned above.

Customize your 3D Coat experience.

You can assign single and multi-button shortcuts to almost any 3D Coat function or tool directly in the user interface. Simply press the END key while moving the mouse over any element, followed by the keyboard shortcut of your choice. If you find that you are using rare or never specific, unclear features of the application, select Customize User Interface from the Edit menu and disable any items you no longer want to be displayed in the user interface to avoid unwanted clutter. Use the Edit/Preferences option to customize the color scheme and appearance of the entire 3D Coat interface.

Thanks for reading.