The Ultimate 3D Paint Program

[Ron Pfister]

After receiving 3DBodyPaint by Maxon last week and working through the short tutorials I have to say that the program has to be one of the best I've used. It's stable and intuative, especially if your already aquainted with Photoshop. 3D Body Paint allows you to paint in multiple channels (layers) at the same time, create masks, set individual blend modes for your layers, brushes and colors (again much like Photoshop). New brushes are easy to create either from scratch, or you can import bitmaps drawn in other paint programs. While working in the Texture View you can select to "Show UV Mesh" to be used as a guide while painting your textures (the UV mesh is a 2D, flattened version of the model that you're working on) or you can actually paint your texture onto your model in real time. Combining both methods works extremely well and is very acurate.

The only draw back to 3D Body Paint that I've seen so far is memory usage. It can be a bit of a pig on RAM but this can be avoided in two ways...a RAM upgrade or by working efficiently ie. flatten multiple layers, keeping your layer resolution to a reasonable size etc. Mac users may not feel comfortable in the unMac like interface but I think that the quick rendering engine (same one used in Cinema 4DXL) and the incredible power of this paint program as a whole, are more than a fair trade off.

Because everyone has a different learning curve it's a good idea to work through the tutorials. Don't buy into the notion that you'll be a pro in just a few minutes. The program isn't that nasty to learn but you can save plenty of frustration by taking your time and doing the work. In a couple of days you should be chomping at the bit to do your own models.

Happy rendering!!

Ron7

Ron Pfister
http://www.imaginationmagic.com

[Ron Pfister]

After receiving 3DBodyPaint by Maxon last week and working through the short tutorials I have to say that the program has to be one of the best I've used. It's stable and intuative, especially if your already aquainted with Photoshop. 3D Body Paint allows you to paint in multiple channels (layers) at the same time, create masks, set individual blend modes for your layers, brushes and colors (again much like Photoshop). New brushes are easy to create either from scratch, or you can import bitmaps drawn in other paint programs. While working in the Texture View you can select to "Show UV Mesh" to be used as a guide while painting your textures (the UV mesh is a 2D, flattened version of the model that you're working on) or you can actually paint your texture onto your model in real time. Combining both methods works extremely well and is very acurate.

The only draw back to 3D Body Paint that I've seen so far is memory usage. It can be a bit of a pig on RAM but this can be avoided in two ways...a RAM upgrade or by working efficiently ie. flatten multiple layers, keeping your layer resolution to a reasonable size etc. Mac users may not feel comfortable in the unMac like interface but I think that the quick rendering engine (same one used in Cinema 4DXL) and the incredible power of this paint program as a whole, are more than a fair trade off.

Because everyone has a different learning curve it's a good idea to work through the tutorials. Don't buy into the notion that you'll be a pro in just a few minutes. The program isn't that nasty to learn but you can save plenty of frustration by taking your time and doing the work. In a couple of days you should be chomping at the bit to do your own models.

Happy rendering!!

Ron7

Ron Pfister
http://www.imaginationmagic.com

[s.winders]

I have just started using Bodypaint as well Ron and I am very impressed [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] In combination with my tablet the soft is just incredible.

I had to install my copy sperately as it spat the dummy on my art serial number but approved the Bodypaint one,and then let me install them separately without a problem?

I end up flattening layers as well [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

There are also some extra Bodypaint brush files on Maxons site as well.

Cheers.

Stu.

[randyrives]

Ron,

I agree that Bodypaint is awesome. Being a 3D newbie, the learning curve was probably steeper for me. There are still some things I do not understand yet. But it sure does make texture making a whole lot easier. I would recommend it to anyone. You do not have to have Cinema4D to use it either. You can import your models (obj, rds, dxf etc) and paint and render.

Ron, you did an excellent job on the head painting tutorial. I love the additions of the rings in the nose and ear. Great job!

--Randy

[Ron Pfister]

Stu

Thanks for sending the extra brushes. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] ?

Ron Pfister
http://www.imaginationmagic.com

[Erik Heyninck]

but the general light comes from the left, and the light on the eyes comes from the right. This isn't logical.
And there should be a shadow on the upper side of the eyeballs too as they are protected/hidden by the upper eyelid and eyelashes.

[Ron Pfister]

But the model was used to perform the 3D BodyPaint tutorial and was not lighted as it would have been had it been meant to be a finished product. The graphic is a simple illustration of how powerful the 3D BodyPaint program can be.

Toodles.

Ron
;

Ron Pfister
http://www.imaginationmagic.com

[s.winders]

Youre welcome Ron [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]


Randy I would have sent the zip to you too but I couldnt find your address.But there are a handfull of extra brushes on Maxons site.

Check the 3d art here guys.
http://www.raph.com


Hail the all powerfull Bodypaint [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]


Stu.

[Ron Pfister]

Stu,

You might get a kick from RustBoy...

http://www.rustboy.com

It's my pick for "interesting web site of the week".

Happy renders,

Ron>

Ron Pfister
http://www.imaginationmagic.com

[s.winders]

Cheers for that Ron,what a neat concept for a character that is.


Can you tell me in Cinema if we can bend lights or spotlights etc,so that say you can take a really long spotlight and arc the light in an S fashion or similar,and can we apply lights to splines etc? or does this have to be acheived by using a material glow on a primitive or spline.

Thanks.

Stu.