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Technical Talk

Ask technical questions about 2D/3D software & techniques & hardware, share shaders, scripts, and new software.

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Sticky How The F*#% Do I Model This? - Reply for help with specific shapes - (Post attempt before asking)

Alright, so i see time and time again that people tend have trouble doing certain things with hard-shapes and sub-d modeling. So i thought i would try something out here. I'm going to open this up to…
9.5K Last
Dvids

Sticky Blender Mega Thread

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOfdboHvshg[/ame] As usual I'm impressed with what the blender foundation has come up with.. not bad for a free program.
6.9K Last
sacboi

Sticky Making sense of hard edges, uvs, normal maps and vertex counts

Of interest to most who will read this thread, I wrote an extensive tutorial that covers this topic and many other common baking issues. It's geared towards baking in Toolbag, but most of the Bas…
747 Last
Eric Chadwick

Sticky Retro 3D Art FAQ - Everything you need to know to create PS1/N64/Dreamcast/etc. 3D art!

Welcome to the 'Retro 3D FAQ', a thread dedicated to sharing information about the creation of 3D art for game consoles made before the age of programmable pixel shaders. If you enjoy the look of 3D …
22 Last
Gasked

Sticky Upgrading or building a new PC? This is the thread for you!

If you're a 3D artist in need of a new computer, or just want to upgrade an old one, this is the thread for you!Building a PC can get very expensive, and many simply don't know enough about computers…
513 Last
PolyHertz

Sticky Long-Running Technical Talk Threads

We un-stuck many of your favorite long-time Sticky threads, to unclutter the forum and hopefully improve your browsing experience. A Practical Guide On Normal Mapping For Games Article: Game Art…
13 Last
Eric Chadwick

[MAYA] why there is no "parent" constraint?

It’s weird that such a basic (and mandatory) constraint is missing from the "top-tier" animation software.But before someone points to that thing labelled "Parent" under the Constrain menu, or shares…
3 Last
Eric Chadwick

Looking for any advice on finding buyers for a powerful workstation in UK

I'm looking for a bit of advice. I have a high end Scan built design machine that I moved on from last year.3990x Threadripper which is an absolute beast for rendering and video work. 256GB corsair v…
2 Last
PChap

Setting up a scene animation to allow adjustments later on (Maya).

Hey allIve started doing animation work for rendering and just wondering how people generally setup a scene for various cameras,lights,etcFor example my scene has 7 cameras and 1000frames, i've setup…
2 Last
pr1970

Is there a specific rule regarding the length of a wall, or can it be any dimension for modular

I am modeling a house, and the side wall measures over 4 meters in length using trims for texturing. I was curious if that is acceptable for a modular set, or if there is a maximum length require…
3 Last
dimwalker

[SOLVED] 3ds Max 2025: FBX Export with Path deform for Unity

Hello,I have animated a vertical shutter with slats using a Path Deform modifier. Upon exporting to FBX the keyframes are lost. As seen in other threads, people found a solution by using collapseTo, …
7 Last
ColMatrix

Thick modular meshes in games. Why?

I've noticed it a lot in recent games like Oblivion Remastered, God of War Ragnarok, etc. The modular meshes have thickness for some reason, even if they are tileable or unique. But some games like A…
3 Last
okidoki

Curve Brush resolution not done properly

Hi, I want to create hair for a 3D character. I am using a IMM Hair Brush I did myself. The problem is when I click on an specific topology line, all curves appears but only the clicked one appears w…
0 Last
drochroma

Substance vs Zbrush for panel lines

 I’ve been trying to create panel lines in ZBrush, but they’re still coming out jagged, even with a mesh subdivided to around 25 million polys. is there a better method for getting clean panel …
2 Last
iam717

Confusion with Normal baking issues around edges/borders

HiThis issue has been a reoccuring problem that I've not been able to figure out and was wondering if someone could help me? For a clothing asset I've made, I've followed this workflow on getting cle…
14 Last
pior

How do you use IRO for opaque materials?

Hello! I've been informed about the use of the index of refraction for opaque materials such as brick, and I'm curious about how they apply it in Unreal for opaque materials. Should I configure it wi…
8 Last
cturbo

Maya - (Need Help!!) Cloth Rig, Cape/Shawl

Hi! This is my first post, so apologies if it is not formatted ideally. TLDR; I need help finding a method to rig a character's shawl/cape that follows their arms beyond basic skinning. Any…
2 Last
pompomPia

[Zbrush] How do i sculpt this ?

Hi everyone, I'm currently planning a 3D environment that fuses the dramatic natural setting of Petra (Jordan) with the ornate and rich Levantine architectural style. The vision is to build a narrow…
1 Last
Fabi_G

Building a voxel sphere?

I'm trying to find an easy way to make a voxel sphere. Basically it needs to look like this, ideally solid rather than hollow: [url]http://www.plotz.co.uk/_gfx/voxel_sphere_1.png[/url] I'm using May…
12 Last
tsungyuw

Texel Density & Trim

Hello , i am working on ornamental door as part of learning how to do trim sheets properly so am working by texel density 2k for 2 meters which is in maya supposed to be 10.24 px/unite but i cam…
7 Last
poopipe

Trim Sheet help required !

Hello ,Kindly i need help with this one I am working an ornamental door as part of my trim sheet exercise " this is my first one " so am figuring out stuff while working , i know i need to have my te…
14 Last
ZacD

Personal Question for character model

Hello there. So I had it where I shared this anime character I made. I was able to get some great feedback but from the feedback it does make me wonder on these. Now i use these on substance painter …
4 Last
Eric Chadwick

Inconsistent FOV (perspective) between ZBrush and Maya

I'm designing my character for a game for Unreal Engine. Games usually have a big FOV (angle of view), such as 90 degrees typically. I set FOV to 90 in UE, Maya. and ZBrush. The perspective in Unreal…
9 Last
Neox

Technical Study: Overwatch [Image heavy]

G'day mates,The Overwatch beta was a blast and the game looks simply gorgeous.I decided to grab a bunch of screenshots and a few ripped models and have a look at how Blizzard are making Overwatch loo…
58 Last
Djyver

UV performance cost when packing vs tiling UV islands?

Hi guys, trying to wrap my head around UVs and how they affect performance in-engine. Is the performance cost of the UV map the same whether islands are packed into one tile, or split across adjacent…
4 Last
poopipe

USD Updates for Maya and 3ds Max

The USD Team at Autodesk is happy to announce the releases of USD for Maya 0.32 and USD for 3ds Max 0.11. USD for Maya 0.32 comes bundled with Maya 2026.1 and is now available on Githu…
0 Last
shawnolson

[3ds Max] miauu's Drag&Drop Pro

miauu's Drag&Drop Pro makes file handling in 3ds Max faster and smarter by adding intelligent drag-and-drop functionality for assets, proxies, and materials. What can it do when you drop f…
0 Last
miauu

Ghost of Tsushima's blood in water effect. How?

So I've spent the last few days trying to figure out how to do blood particle with water interaction like in Ghost of Tsushima but in Unreal Engine 5, but I can't seem to figure it out. I know t…
4 Last
Klunk

NEW --- FlexToon v1.1 -- Toon Shader (Maya/Arnold)

NEW ----> FlexTonn v1.1OSL Toon Manager is a tool for Maya designed for artists working with custom OSL shaders (like FlexToonShader or Toon_Eyes). It allows you to:🎯 Create and man…
0 Last
Titof

How do you texture different pattern bricks around a window?

Hi there! I'm working on creating a brick pattern texture around the windows, but I'm unsure of the best method to achieve this. Could anyone point me to some tutorials or advice that could assis…
14 Last
cturbo

Low poly baking issues (NEW)

Hello,recently decided to move on with texturing some assets so I thought I'd start with the most simple...however, it seems like ran into an issue right from the get go :(there's this horrible 'pinc…
51 Last
vavavoom

Creating torn fabric and strands for games

HiI need some advice/pointers on how best to approach torn fabric and fabric strands for games. I'm currently making a ragged robe asset for an enemy, so there's going to be plenty of rips and tears …
0 Last
DustyShinigami

Free cc0 pbr textures by ShareTextures.com

Hello. If you need texture, kindly check our new website www.sharetextures.comYou can download 4096x4096 px textures with diffuse, displacement, normal, specular, ambient occlusion, opacity maps.All …
4 Last
sharetextures

Blender Edit Mode Performance

Hey,I experience awful blender performance when switch to edit mode even with low to mid poly models (50k etc.). Is there a magic button in the settings that i missed to enable? I got rtx 4080 w…
2 Last
Celosia

FJTools - ZBrush plugin

Hey fellow Polycounters!FJTools is a Plugin for ZBrush, that will help you to organise your Subtools and speed up your workflow in general. It does so by automating repetitive tasks, or solving t…
111 Last
IIIXIII

How to save 16bit rgb and depth from Zbrush 2,5d canvas ?

I know there is grab brush that saves depth as alpha  and  rgb separately  but you have to do save two times  instead of just once.   It's extremely annoying   …
0 Last
gnoop

Struggling to Create High-Quality Grass for UE5 – Need Help Before I Go Insane

Hey everyone, I’ve been trying every possible way to create high-quality grass (clumps, density per m², etc.) that is optimized and functional in Unreal Engine 5 with a 4070 Super. I’ve looked at so…
4 Last
gnoop

Skybox layered 360 matte paint - workflow questions

Hi everyone! I have been looking to do some skybox art myself and I have some questions about the workflow, specifically about how it is all set up in 3d. Say, I would like to do a skydome with …
4 Last
Eric Chadwick

autodesk maya: busted rotation gizmo

how can autodesk get away with that!!as there are bugs, and there are laughable bugs, this one falls into the later categoryamong all the problems that maya has, this one is the most telling about th…
11 Last
Joopson

IMM curve brush floating issue

I would like to make thisWhen I use an IMM Curve Brush in ZBrush to create a decorative pattern, I scale the inserted mesh using size graph in curve modifier tab. But from the side view, I can see th…
1 Last
Eric Chadwick

The New Website to Download the 3D Models and Free Textures

Hi guys，I guess I find the new website to download the 3d models and textures. [removed by admin] has enough high-quality 3D models and textures. And most of textures are free. It covers variou…
2 Last
Eric Chadwick

How would you approach this? 3ds Max

Hi!So I'm a 3ds Max user and I'm trying to model this particular soccer ball.I've tried everything I could think of,including splines modelling,conform modifier,trying to model every patch then use t…
14 Last
andreygheorghe

Mesh resolution

on a AAA game, how much of the details are modeled VS normal map? Like on the helmet and the armour.
23 Last
BlenderBob

Modeling clothes for Real Time.. do I add thickness and how to handle this in rigging?

I'm creating clothes using Marvelous Designer. My question is what is the right way to add thickness and how would I prevent self intersection and rig it properly for games. I'm using Unreal.  I…
1 Last
Fabi_G

which exterior should i build for my portfolio?

Hello! I'm currently working on an exterior model and I'm curious about which option would enhance my portfolio more: a terraced house or a historical structure like the Banqueting House in Westm…
1 Last
Benjammin

What is the consensus on 3DConnexion hardware?

Hello!I've scoured for what others think of these devices, but most of the threads are quite old (10+ years), or they are focused on CAD. I have been having hand pains, and I have tried a variety of …
9 Last
poopipe

Substance Painter Texture to Godot

I know I can search this up but there are so many tutorial that keep going in different direction so was wondering if anyone could let me know how I can import my textures that i export out from subs…
1 Last
poopipe

CAD Export Topology issues

Hey,When the cad model is exported from cad software(most likely autocad) as an stl file. i get the issues you can see in to photo. Especially with cylinder and around the bevels.The Problem is: …
3 Last
Noren

Hanging clothing in games

Dear Polycount.I sort of asked this already on Discord, but figured I should frame my question in a more organized manner.The question is: what is the better (or more "reasonable" for an indie team) …
3 Last
stray

Workflow for Morph Targets (Unity Engine) and Normal maps!

Hey everyone! I'm a 3D modeler working on a character that needs morph targets for an extreme facial transformation think something like a "Venom-style" mouth opening, with a lot of jaw and face def…
4 Last
kiraykell

Cannon animation for godot question

Hi so part of a team for a gamejam were were just wondering on the the animation of the cannon. Can we simply move the cannon up and down by mouse pointer in godot? Or does the cannon animation look …
1 Last
poopipe

Maya do not working move tool with vertexes edges

Maya.Do not working move tool with vertexes edges.I can move the object. I can select vertice or edges, but cen't moove it. How to fix it?
3 Last
shinobik

Colored Ztool grid, turns to grey color when it is imported.

Hello artists,I have a colored grid as ztool format, whenever I import it, it comes as grey color. I have colorize in polypaint tab ticked, but I don't know what is wrong.I put 2 screenshots for how …
1 Last
Benjammin

Bad mesh deformation during skinning test in Unity

Hello! I was wondering if anyone might be able to help me troubleshoot this issue. I’m skinning a mesh to an existing skeleton in Maya, and everything looks fine when I test the deformation ther…
2 Last
CheeseOnToast

Zbrush displacement issue

Hello everybody,I'm experiencing an issue when I export displacement maps from zbrush.It seems that the software can't catch deepest details. Let me show you some images to be more clear:This is…
1 Last
pxgeek

Normal baking object with thin straps

Modelling software: BlenderRendering software: UnrealUse case: Real-time render modelling portfolioI'm trying to figure out the best way to get good normals on a backpack object, with its various thi…
3 Last
dimwalker

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