3D-Coat Thumber Application

[chippwalters]

Download for PC:

http://www.gadgetplugins.com/altplugins/3D-Coat-ThumberPC.zip

If there are Mac users who want a copy, holler and I'll knock one out.

Hi folks, I'm a newbie here and am very intrigued with the idea of using 3D-Coat and Merge Library Objects to create some nifty hard models like this quickie (demonstrating a single volume OBJ brush):

Anyway, I ran into a couple of problems trying to create my own library.

Within 3D-Coat, there is the possibility of importing your own OBJ (3D file format with extension .obj) models for use as voxel brushes. It’s a good way of creating hard surface models, and Tinker has graciously provided a very nice “pack” file for us all to use. He created them in Cinema4D, along with the thumbnails.

You can bypass the whole creation of a ‘pack’ file and put your OBJ files inside the correct 3D-Coat folder. To do this, just create a folder using any name such as: “myMergeObjects” in the path:

C:\Program Files\3D-Coat-V3\VoxStamps\Objects\myMergeObjects

Then copy your .OBJ files to it. Once they’re there, it’s time to use 3D-Coat Thumber.

From there, 3D-Coat will create it’s own thumbnail images for each of your OBJ files. But, if your OBJ has a group in it called “_negative”, it will render it as positive, thus hiding the original model from view. Not so good. This is problem ONE.

I like to use SketchUp to create these small model brushes. But, unfortunately, 3D-Coat doesn’t read OBJ exports from SketchUp correctly. This is problem TWO.

So, I spent an afternoon and wrote this little app which creates a thumbnail image for any OBJ file, and also fixes the OBJ file so it can be parsed correctly in 3D Coat. It’s pretty simple.

Here’s the interface.

You can press the (1) Load File button- or drag drop an OBJ file ON the button, and it will parse the file and create a wireframe. It shows the (4) file path of the OBJ as well. If the file is larger than 50K, it could take awhile, so be patient. The wireframe preview renderer is hand written and not optimized in the least ;-)

Once loaded, (12) the Number of polygons will be displayed at the lower right. BTW, if your file is larger than 50K, you might reconsider using it as a voxel brush as I've read it can chew up a huge amount of memory.

After the file loads, it will display a wireframe of the model in the (10) Thumb Area. If you like what you see, go ahead and press the Save It! button. You can make changes to the thumbnail settings, including changing the (5) Perspective (focal length), (6) Wireframe width and (7) the different Colors. If the Fix OBJ from SketchUp box is checked, the file will be changed so it now works inside of 3D-Coat.

After you make any of the changes, press the (11) Refresh Thumb button to see them. Once you are happy with the way your thumbnail image looks, you should press the Save It! button to write it out as a PNG.

The Perspective slider is set to handle a very large range of object sizes so you may find it works best towards one end or the other.

You should choose thicker Wireframe widths for objects with fewer polygons-- and thinner for objects with many polygons.

Don’t forget to press the (3) Update button. Also, the Help files are updated as well and will automatically be updated along with the rest of the application.

If you have any bugs or suggestions, you may contact:

Chipp Walters

chipp@chipp.com

Of course we make ZERO warranties, blah, blah, blah. Feel free to use this however you like. Currently it has only been tested on my SketchUp models and with Tinkers kit as well.

[Davaris]

Thanks for this.

[JimB]

Thank you for this tool,but I cant seem to get it to produce a thumbnail all I get is a green background with a yellow line running diagonally.

[JimB]

Currently it has only been tested on my SketchUp models and with Tinkers kit as well.

It appears that it will not load an object file from other sources.

[chippwalters]

It appears that it will not load an object file from other sources.

Can you send me a smallish obj file so I can test?

[chippwalters]

I updated the app to fix a couple problems. In particular, it wasn't recognizing multiple _negative objects-- now it does. Also a few other tweaks which may make it work better.

Just press the update button and it will update itself in place.

[chippwalters]

Been trying out some features in 3D-Coat Hard modeling. All the keys on "Green Stealth Monster" were created using a single click of the merge tool. Pretty cool. I can see we will soon be creating some great concept models...

[wailingmonkey]

looks pretty snazzy...thanks for sharing it, chippwalters!

[chippwalters]

Here's another one. These are just tests to try better and understand the workflow and resolution limits. This model was exported out of 3D-Coat at ~1.2M polys, which was a 50% reduction from the original. I didn't do any smoothing of the models before exporting. I used some merge objects I created including the switch bank, the black chrome rails, and the feet.

I originally started ultra low poly models, but it appears 3D-Coat doesn't really care as long as there's not too high a poly count (millions?). In fact the original cylinder feet had too low polys and it showed artifacts on the voxel model. I'm starting with a primitive model about 1/3 the size of the scene.

I'm thinking I should increase the density of the whole scene space, so that any merge to new object layers will have greater densities, but I'm not sure how to do that... anyone?

[JimB]

Can you send me a smallish obj file so I can test?

It will not load models from the 3DCoat samples folder.

[chippwalters]

It will not load models from the 3DCoat samples folder.

Fixed and uploaded. Press the Update button and you should now see things working. Let me know if you find any more issues.

[JimB]

Thanks, models now load ok but have yellow lines as in image below.

[Polygoon]

Hey! very helpful tool thanks "chippwalters". I don't know all that much about programing, so I guess when you mentioned " and also fixes the OBJ file so it can be parsed correctly in 3D Coat." That this fixes the issue with the _Negative Object having no transparency when transforming the merge object for placement on your Voxel model, Yeah.

Well anyway it has for OBJ. files that I have exported from SoftImage also. Thanks

[Davaris]

I'm thinking I should increase the density of the whole scene space, so that any merge to new object layers will have greater densities, but I'm not sure how to do that... anyone?

This thread explains it.

http://www.3d-coat.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=3480

[chippwalters]

This thread explains it.

http://www.3d-coat.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=3480

Yes, Thanks. I read that post. But it only talks about setting the density of a single volume, not the entire scene. Is there a way to change the density of ALL Volumes in a Scene? I seem to remember seeing something like this, but can't remember where exactly.

[Davaris]

Is there a way to change the density of ALL Volumes in a Scene? I seem to remember seeing something like this, but can't remember where exactly.

If you find out, please post the answer here.

I couldn't figure out how to select all of the volume layers at once, which I assume would be the logical way to do it.