Good news, I’ve just heard that a “new 3DCoat will ship within Q4 this year as 3DCoat 2021 … including the new user interface”. Most people think of 3D-Coat (now “3DCoat”) as model texturing software. But its relatively easy 3D sculpting also makes it one of the few viable alternatives to ZBrush. The drawback there is that it suffers from a poor sculpting UI. Not “thrown together by mad imps” like ZBrush or Blender, but rather too off-puttingly stolid and a bit too fiddly and cluttered for the new user.
So a new UI sounds enticing. However, a little research discovers it’s actually going to be a tweaked and slightly tidied-up UI according to the official preview video. Not a “new” UI in terms of being a radical replacement. What a pity.
However knowing about this relative lack-of-makeover means that if 4.9.x Amateur comes up in the Black Friday sales at 50% off (i.e. $50) it should probably be grabbed, because it’ll be no use hanging around in the hope of a shiny new wholesale UI makeover. The current Amateur licence limits you to 2048px textures and 7 layers, which will be fine for most users. Non-commercial use too, but apparently that means ‘earning more than $10k a year from it’. Again, fine for most people.
Also, so far as I can tell from the 2021 announcement, prices will go up and not down for the new 2021 version. The new version will stay as a perpetual licence. It may even be possible to get a free upgrade via a Black Friday offer on 4.9.x Amateur, but it may not…
It can also do PBR materials, which also makes it interesting re: the new SuperFly in Poser 12, and how easy it is to plug a PBR material in there.