CrackArt 3D Texturing Tool

[Shadownami92]

Hey while I was looking around for stuff online I stumbled on this little open source tool.

http://crackart.org/

Basically it's a free open source 3d texturing tool that has projection painting, 3d painting and a 2d painting tool for the uvs and apparently decals as well. (at least for the beta but the beta seems to have undo and redo problems.)

But yeah I'm going to be trying it out. Looks like it could be good to use to get basic texture work done before doing into detail in photoshop or something.

It also has 2 layers, a background and a foreground. Basically you paint on the foreground and then you can flatten it into the background when you are done with it and then work on a clean foreground after that.

What do you guys think?

[Bbox85]

Wow... I love the art they present the tool with... Lol...

[Blenderhead]

Nice, nothing Blender can't do though.

[Shadownami92]

Nice, nothing Blender can't do though.

You know until you said that I didn't know Blender had a 3d painting option other that vertex painting, but after some searching I found a tutorial and it looks pretty cool. I'll have to try that out too.

[Blenderhead]

Yeah there used to be big problems with painting over the seams but they fixed that now. Really powerful feature.

[Elcura]

Is blender better than programs like deeppaint or bodypaint 3D? Without knowing more about it, I wouldn't think so, but I am here to be educated.

Well, aside from the fact that blender is free, I never found the interface to be friendly at all.

[LetterRip]

Hi Elcura,

Blenders capabilities are currently less than bodypaint 3D (no painting across multiple objects unless you make them into a single object, you can't paint in multiple channels at the same time, no layer support), and it doesn't have traditional brush textures like deeppaint does. On the other hand, you can use node based and procedural textures as brushes, which is fairly cool.

As to the UI - I think you will find that Blender 2.5 (currently alpha0, with alpha1 later this week, and the final release by Siggraph) much more familiar and easier to find your way around in.

LetterRip

[Blenderhead]

I doubt it has anywhere near the amount of options for projection painting as bodypaint. Bodypaint is a dedicated tool for that.

[FluxAmbassador]

Just to expand on one thing. Maxon BodyPaint once existed as both a standalone app and as an optional Cinema4D module. However, since 2006's Cinema4D r10, BodyPaint ceased to exist as either a standalone or a module. It has since been integrated into every version of Cinema4D, from Core to Studio. So, today, when you buy BodyPaint, you're actually just buying Cinema4D r11.5 Core app with the default GUI layout set to BP mode. That means that, unlike pre-r10 standalone versions, you actually have access to all of the modeling, animation, & rendering features of the entry level Cinema4D package.

As far as core painting functionality goes, you have to consider that BodyPaint's development seems to be heavily influenced by the input of high profile studios such as Sony Pictures. Not sure if that trumps Blender's community input, but it would seem that the demands of film studios are high enough to warrant a certain level of polish.

[LetterRip]

Is blender better than programs like deeppaint or bodypaint 3D? Without knowing more about it, I wouldn't think so, but I am here to be educated.

Well, aside from the fact that blender is free, I never found the interface to be friendly at all.

Blender has some different strengths and weaknesses,

some particular weaknesses compared to bodypaint are, no painting across multiple objects unless they are joined into a single object, no layers, no painting in multiple channels at the same time.

A strength is that the entire texturing system including all nodes, can be used as brushes.

LetterRip

[Blenderhead]

Didn't know that Flux, thanks for the info. Sounds like a good deal.

[grimdc13]

I have blender 2.49 now, have to try the newer version when it's out if it's friendlier as you say.

[Shadownami92]

I have blender 2.49 now, have to try the newer version when it's out if it's friendlier as you say.

Well if you want to test run it there are some versions that are at now, But they still lack some of the features of Blender 2.49 but it's got some neat newer features too.

[FluxAmbassador]

I'd probably hold off on 2.5 for a little bit. I mean, you can get a head start learning it if you want to, but I think I recently read something about the 2.5 Alpha 1 on Blender Nation. I'm willing to bet that the newer, more stable Alpha 1 build of 2.5 will be out soon. Especially since the Sintel site, which is pushing 2.5's development along, also just mentioned 2.5a1 yesterday.

[LetterRip]

Alpha 2 is out now, and you can download a slightly newer build at graphicall.org that has nice view projection that allows easy edit in your favorite 2D package.

http://durian.blender.org/development/image-re-projection/

LetterRip