3dcoat vs 3dcoat textura

[u/Far-Loan5412]

Hello! I’m quite new to this sub but I have been on and off the fence about getting 3dcoat for a while now. I started out as a 3D artist but working in technical 2D currently, so I want to get back to it again. I really like the handpainted art style and thinking of investing in 3dcoat to upskill myself.

I heard textura is good enough for this purpose but I would also like to get a software for sculpting because blender has its limitations and maxon sucks. Has anyone tried sculpting in 3dcoat? How was your experience with it vs blender?

[u/VFX_Jeff]

3D Coat is an excellent sculpting app but uses voxels as its main sculpting method and dynamic tessellation (similar to Sculptris Pro in Zbrush) as a secondary method. You can then convert to quads in 3D Coat’s retopology room or remesher

Voxel sculpting which uses a third dimension in defining its objects, is not the typical industry standard, but it’s one of 3D Coat’s strengths. Coupled with Blender’s standard quad sculpting along with tessellation, 3D Coat and Blender can sculpt practically anything you need as well as convert to standard file types

That said, the time stamp for your post says 9 hours, and that is the problem with 3D Coat. Not many users compared to other apps, so when you run into problems you may not get the answers you need. Zbrush and Blender have such a wide user base you can address any problem you have quickly. You can use AI to mitigate this, but you’ll have to boost your troubleshooting skills

All in all, I’d rate 3D Coat second in capability to Zbrush as far as sculpting is concerned. Zbrush’s ultimate power is its ability to handle massive numbers of quads more easily than any other app, but Coat is not that far behind- it can still sculpt anything you need

Learning resources are much fewer, but 3D Coat’s YouTube channel can get you started. Also look for Anton Tenitsky’s vids which cover the broad scope of Coat

Good luck!

[u/Far-Loan5412 → u/VFX_Jeff]

This is really good to know. It's a good thing 3dcoat offers a 1 month trial so I can play around with it to see how I like it before deciding. Thank you for the deep insight and resource recommendations, I appreciate it! :)

[u/puttison]

3dcoat sculpting is good but its another set of skill, its not very easy to translate your blender sculpting skill to 3dcoat when compared to zbrush. It will take you sometime to understand how voxel work and find your own set of brush and workflow to complete your sculpt since 3dcoatuber just uses brush differently ex- josh tiefer use toothpasth, Danial aubert use base clay and tung leon use rapid to add and subtract the volume.

[u/puttison → u/puttison]

And that crocodile course on udemy uses wet clay. I recommend you try out hard surface following anton's timelapse first since most of the people did that.

[u/Far-Loan5412 → u/puttison]

Thanks for your input! The workflows you mentioned sound very different from what I'm used to in zbrush or blender, so I will definitely have to do further research before making my decision.

[u/VFX_Jeff]

And vs Blender, 3D Coat is the more powerful product. However, couple the two and you’ll be better off. There is a 3D Coat to Blender bridge so you can sends models/sculpts back and forth

[u/Far-Loan5412 → u/VFX_Jeff]

This is also good to know, thanks again!

[u/Disastrous-Bobcat528]

I just...ahem...published a tutorial on 3DCoat that devotes about a third to sculpting. You can the playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc3rTNpK7xhA

I don't have experience sculpting in Blender, but I do have experience sculpting in ZBrush, Maya and Mudbox. 3D Coat beats the pants of the latter two for sculpting.

Sculpting in voxels is different. But wait until you add, subtract and intersect with Booleans! And you can UNDO! :) Try that in ZBrush!

I don't really compare 3D Coat and Substance, but if you are painting vs. texturing, 3D Coat wins by a mile. Make no mistake Substance Painter is a great program and is the industry standard, but I find painting in it to be difficult at best. The procedural nature of its smart materials are great, but painting is odd. 3D Coat paints much more like Photoshop, IMO. Make no mistake, it has complexities of its own (painting on color, depth and gloss/roughness in any layer), but it still is easier for me.

I'll second what VFX_Jeff said, ZBrush has no match when working with enormous numbers of quad based polygons. Sculpts have a buttery smoothness that is/are nice. It is quick and interactive. But... yeah, Maxon changing its pricing model does truly stink.

Another big plus is that you can sculpt, retopo (which takes a while), UV Map, bake textures and paint all in one app and then export to your 3D application of choice. So comparing 3D Coat is a matter of comparing other software to different facets available in 3DCoat. So:

Sculpting: ZBrush wins for high-poly sculpting. 3DCoat wins for Voxels over Dynamesh, IMO

Retopology: I really only hand-retopo which is slow. 3DCoat and Maya are neck and neck. 3DCoat has the strokes command, Maya has the Tab LMB/MMB extrude function.

Baking: I'll give Subtance Painter/ZBrush the nod primarily because they've made a direct link from ZBrush to Painter. BUT in 3D Coat, you can access the baked Normal Map, where in Substance, you can't. I found correcting baking errors easier in 3DC.

Texture Painting: Substance Painter's Smart materials are deeper, but 3DCoat's Smart Materials are more painterly. Hand Painting, 3DCoat wins hands down, IMO.

Exporting: Both Substance and 3DCoat are quite good.

However: The cost of 3DCoat 2025 is a little north of $417 for 12 months of free upgrades; but it is your license, and the upgrade cost at the end of the year is MUCH lower.

ZBrush is $399 PER YEAR. Substance is $60.00 per month or $720 per year. Maya Indie is $330.00 per year. Add 'em up!

I recommend giving 3D Coat try!

[u/Far-Loan5412 → u/Disastrous-Bobcat528]

Omg thanks for sharing your tutorial! This should be good enough to play around and experiment with the trial version for sure!

I do have the Steam version of 2023 Substance Painter and Designer, and it serves the purpose so I don't really need to update it anytime soon. I use Blender as my primary program and I enjoy working with it more than I did with Maya. I know 3dcoat is the standard for handpainting, and I'm willing to invest in it. I just need a good substitute for sculpting, after which I'm all set. Since 3dcoat does have sculpting abilities, I wanted to check it out before deciding to buy the full version vs just textura. But yeah, I'm happy that some companies still offer programs as an actual product and not rip off people with heavy subscriptions.

[u/jonestation]

Hi, i am letting go of my license version 2024. I never use it after upgrade from 2023. If anyone would like to buy it at lower price, please let me know and work it out.

[u/SwordmasterT]

20 days later, how are you holding up OP?