#3d coat free smart materials software#
#3d coat free smart materials Pc#

If that is something you’re looking for you can use Marmoset Toolbag or the light baking options in a real-time engine like Unity or Unreal Engine. It also has no options for baking lighting into your textures, which is something you usually do not want from a PBR workflow anyway.

#3d coat free smart materials software#

This is where software like Substance Painter can work better, especially for more complicated materials that react dynamically to the environment. You are much better using a dedicated polygonal modelling program for this task, like 3ds Max or Blender. This is a very good piece of 3D software, but it has a couple of downsides that are worth mentioning.įirstly its tools for modelling are very limiting. Applinks need to be downloaded separately and they’re all on the 3D Coat site. Pretty cool!īy using Applinks you can quickly and easily move your models and textures between different programs. From there the geometry of that low poly model will be used as a base for the retopology of the voxel mesh. If you’ve made a low poly mesh in a modelling program before moving it to 3D Coat for sculpting and texturing, you can then import that low poly model. It has an automatic retopologising tool that uses edge loops that you define to generate the poly mesh. I strongly recommend looking into this portion of the software since it can really speed up your workflow as you can import models from other programs like 3ds Max or Maya.Īlso note that 3D Coat also has powerful tools for retopology. You can target individual parts of the model and edit them separately if they haven’t quite gone as planned. It uses a “Global Uniform” algorithm to give you clean spread UV maps. UV mapping can be a tedious task, but the tools in 3D coat make it much easier. UV unwrapping is where most artists agree this package really shines. It will do this automatically, but you can then use its mask and layer options to add and remove little areas to suit your fancy. These materials can do things like add areas of worn paint and rust onto corners of you model where those signs of wear are more common. Similar to Substance Painter, with 3D Coat you can calculate and bake ambient occlusion and curvature maps from your mesh and then use this with smart materials. It also uses a PBR material workflow which means it’s compatible with most other 3D programs and game engines. You can create textures up to 16k resolution using their large selection of pre-set brushes and materials. It’s a useful feature if you want to print off small models of your sculpts.ģD Coat also allows you to texture your mesh. This makes 3D Coat an excellent choice for aspiring 3D printers.ĭue to voxels making a solid model similar to that in CAD software it’s much easier to convert it to a format 3D printers understand.

When you’ve finished your sculpt in 3D Coat you then have the option to export it directly for 3D printing using their wizard. There’s a nice long list of brushes on their website to check out. It comes with dozens of brushes built-in to aid all of your 3D projects, all with the ability to add more brushes based on whatever you need. Its sculpting tools behave similarly to other programs, however there are no topology restraints in 3D Coat that you may face in other programs. Image source What is 3D Coat Used For?ģD Coat primarily markets itself as a texturing and sculpting program. This makes some sculpting and deformation techniques easier, both computationally and creatively for the artist. The other benefit is that your 3D object is solid and isn’t just a shell like a polygonal mesh.

#3d coat free smart materials Pc#

Since the mesh in 3D Coat uses voxels, you do not need to subdivide polygons which can give you better performance on some PC setups.

Similar to how polygonal meshes are flat planes that can make smooth curves by having a high number of polygons and using smoothing groups. While voxels are based on cubes, the high resolution of the grids means smooth curves are still possible. Low resolution voxels are a common art style in video games, for example Minecraft or Roblox. The word voxel come from combining the term pixel with volume. It produces a virtual grid in 3D space and the mesh then occupies sections of this grid to form its shape. Voxels are like a 3D equivalent of pixels. The big difference that separates 3D Coat from other sculpting programs is that instead of using polygonal meshes it uses voxels.

Though it is similar to these programs, it also has a lot of unique features, like it’s UV unwrapping tools. That means if you buy something we get a small commission at no extra cost to you( learn more)ģD Coat is a sculpting and texturing package often likened to ZBrush or Mudbox. Tips 3D Written by Thomas Denham Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links.