Hello everybody,

Sculptris is a great new free sculpting tool currently in the alpha 
stage of development. In some ways it is already better than Blender's 
sculpting tools.

 From DrPetter's homepage:
"This is a work-in-progress sculpting tool that I've been developing 
since early December 2009. Its main feature is dynamic mesh tesselation 
that will provide additional detail where necessary, without the user 
needing to worry about it."

What this means is that you won't have to select regions and subdivide 
to get more detail. You won't be stuck with too much detail either, 
since there is a painting tool for reducing the poly count in local regions.

There are several shaders you can choose from, so you won't have to 
sculpt under poor lighting conditions.

There are many tools to choose from. There are tools for 
adding/subtracting, inflating/deflating, pinching/unconstricting, 
smoothing, reducing detail, flattening/undulating (you can make 
brain-like surfaces this way), creasing, transforming and grabbing. You 
can mirror all brushes (useful for modeling heads), work in a wireframe 
view, and use masks. The new version even appears to support tablet 
sensitivity.

The obj export is sometimes a little buggy. In alpha 2, I was unable to 
export a model to a format usable in other apps... but it doesn't happen 
with all meshes.

DrPetter had originally intended to keep the program as freeware. I 
think he will continue to do so, with the option of donating to support 
his cause.

Here's the link:
http://www.drpetter.se/project_sculpt.html

Give it a try, and give him some encouraging words, why don't you?

Sam

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stbenge wrote:
> DrPetter had originally intended to keep the program as freeware. I 
> think he will continue to do so, with the option of donating to support 
> his cause.

 From DrPetter's forum 
(http://drpetter.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=sculptris&action=display&thread=93):

"I have no solid plans yet, but have been thinking about a kind of 
donation-based system. Basically I'd like people to be able to pay what 
makes sense for them - a hobby user who will only play around a little 
bit might not want to spend more than $10, while a professional artist 
could possibly invest $100 and maybe get some personal support for added 
value.

It's not in my interest to deny anyone access to the application, but I 
do need money to keep doing what I do, and something like this seems 
like it could work out reasonably well. I will also have some form of 
free version that anyone can download and try."

So it will probably cost you something when it's past the alpha stage. 
It will still be worth it, I think, for hobbyists like us who don't make 
money from our rendered images :)

Sam

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stbenge wrote:
> Hello everybody,
> 
> Sculptris is a great new free sculpting tool currently in the alpha
> stage of development. In some ways it is already better than Blender's
> sculpting tools.

Looks very similar to older versions of Zbrush at this point. Worth a
couple dollars if it works the way his videos show.

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stbenge <UN### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:

>
> Here's the link:
> http://www.drpetter.se/project_sculpt.html
>
> Give it a try, and give him some encouraging words, why don't you?
>
> Sam

Thanks for the link!
I just tried it for half an hour or so and it seems very inuitive and promising.
Sort of like the Blender sculpt feature but maybe better. I especially like that
feature that everything is done symmetrical(which could also be switched off I
think).
I guess Blender can do this too but I hadn't have the energy to search all the
menus ... .
I'm planning to model some classic alien creature with sculptris and see how far
I'll come ...

Best regards,

Simone

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mone wrote:
> stbenge <UN### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
>> Here's the link:
>> http://www.drpetter.se/project_sculpt.html
> 
> Thanks for the link!

Sure! It pays to visit the Blender Artists Forums occasionally ;)

> I just tried it for half an hour or so and it seems very inuitive and promising.
> Sort of like the Blender sculpt feature but maybe better. I especially like that
> feature that everything is done symmetrical(which could also be switched off I
> think).
> I guess Blender can do this too but I hadn't have the energy to search all the
> menus ... .

You can go into sculpt mode and then either:
1) Press 'n' to bring up the pop-up menu, go to Symmetry and press X, Y 
or Z.
2) Go the the Editing field (F9), go to the Sculpt tab, go to Symmetry 
and press X, Y or Z.

> I'm planning to model some classic alien creature with sculptris and see how far
> I'll come ...

Good luck Simone!

Sam

Post a reply to this message

stbenge <UN### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> mone wrote:
> > stbenge <UN### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> >> Here's the link:
> >> http://www.drpetter.se/project_sculpt.html

>
> You can go into sculpt mode and then either:
> 1) Press 'n' to bring up the pop-up menu, go to Symmetry and press X, Y
> or Z.
> 2) Go the the Editing field (F9), go to the Sculpt tab, go to Symmetry
> and press X, Y or Z.

There are the buttons, I seem to have overlooked them.

> > I'm planning to model some classic alien creature with sculptris and see how far
> > I'll come ...
>
> Good luck Simone!

Thanks!
Maybe I will post it at the povray.images, but only if it looks good.


Simone

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