Attached Link: http://www.3dcoat.com/

I have spent pretty much seven full days and nights except for sleeping, in Vue's function editor, in Hexagon and Silo trying to get the modeling and UV thing, and in a brand new tool called 3dCoat.  It was a vision quest. A walkabout. And on return, I have but one thing to say.....

You have got to get this tool!!!

It is super fast growing and the developer never seems to sleep or tire, having fixes and updates and new tools and options on almost a daily basis. The customer support is every bit as good as the product. And what a surprising tool it is.

I would call it a 3d detailer / modeling program with all the capabilities of Photoshop and a bit of Mudbox and Zbrush thrown in. Now I have Zbrush, there's no knockin' it, and the others as well, but I must say this one's different and it works astoundingly well for Vue stuff.

All the layers you want.
Uv mapping so easy it's shameful. No smears, no overlaps.
Retopolization that is clean and easy
Many different ways to do a thing
Export all the parts as one texture and object or as a  .psd file with all layers intact
Displacement and normal map export in several different flavors.
You can actually use the exported object in Vue as opposed to the heavy meshes of Zbrush.
Photos, abr brushes, vectors, grayscales, texture maps, objects themselves, anything can be used as pen or brush.
All kinds of masking
All the lines and geometric ways to paint found in the other tools
On the fly...
Very fast
Very stable
and best of all......

It is perfect for Vue. All the maps, bumps, displacement maps, specular channels..everything generated out of 3dCoat is pristine in Vue. Just as you painted it. I don't know about you but many times when I've done something texture wise in some outside painting apps, it's just not the same when taken into Vue. You gotta flip it, or somethings missing, or it's not mapped right, or it seems faded etc...

Well not here....everything is spot on in Vue and quite gorgeous. I'm sorry I don't have any samples as of yet to show you. My digital room is a mess, with texture parts everywhere. But another good thing about it is it has brought all my other texture tools together with new uses.

It's only 120 bucks for the pro version. Nothing to shake a stick at....this ain't no kid's toy!!

You can't tell I like it can you?

Vue's own procedural and texturing capabilities are awesome. Now there's a tool to bring in perfectly painted, mapped and modeled objects into Vue looking killer. And new ways to generate bump and distribution.

I can't even imagine how good it's gonna be for Poser mappers and content creators....

Currently I'm making distribution maps for mixing Vue's native elements. Techno textures.

What a joy it is to be able to paint right on the model where you want things to go and have it be imported and applied in Vue immaculately.

Ok, done babbling....time to collaps...off to bed...

Gnite,

M