Professional artists or amateurs, exprienced designers or beginners: more and more people are experimenting with the potential of digital art. The fascinating thing about 3D modeling (for example to create a 3D configurator) is that it allows everyone to express themselves and give shape to the imaginary characters they want to create. Whether you want to print your creations in 3D or keep them digital, there are a variety of applications to choose from, from free sculpting software to applications to download. In the following article, we would like to assist you in your selection by presenting the 7 best sculpting software solutions currently available on the market.
What is 3D Sculpting Software?
3D sculpting software is mostly design suites that offer tools that allow you to handle and edit objects as if they were a real clay model, in addition to traditional 3D modeling features. The most basic actions you can perform on the model are pushing, pulling, smoothing, grasping or pinching to take the final shape. the geometry used in the various sculpting programs to represent the model can vary: each model offers different advantages and limitations. Some of the programs use either mesh or bird based geometry, or even a combination of some basic geometry representations. The reason 3D sculpting software is so popular with graphic designers, players, and CG developers is because it gives them the ability to insert details into meshes that would be difficult or impossible to create using traditional 3D modeling techniques. By using sculpting software, you can also achieve photorealistic and hyper-realistic results used in the film and animation industry.
ZBrush.
ZBrush is an application developed by the American company Pixologic for digital sculpting and combines 3D modeling, texturing and painting. It is considered to be one of the best and most popular software solutions for creating 3D models. ZBrush does not use CAD programs to create its models. Instead, it uses “3D pixel” technology similar to sculpture. Each pixel referred to as “pixol” contains information about depth, orientation, material and color value, making ZBrush one of the most user-friendly modeling and texturing software.
It is essentially aimed at experienced users, as this software has many complex functions and tools that offer greater freedom in design. ZBrush offers customization for almost everything from sculptures and brushes to materials and renderings, making it the industry standard for highly detailed digital art in film, computer games and illustration. The video below can help you understand what ZBrush`s new features can offer designers.
Mudbox
Mudbox is ZBrush`s main competitor and was acquired by autodesk. The application offers high-resolution digital sculpting, texture painting and displacement. Models created with Mudbox begin as polygon meshes that can be edited with various tools. It uses a more traditional approach than ZBrush in relation to the software, since the model can be divided and then the individual volumes of the part can be modeled with the available number of polygons. In addition, Mudbox, more traditional software, uses layers to store different detail passes. Add masks to the layers and mix them. In this way, users can model their 3D model without having to make constant changes.
The following autodesk tutorial gives you an overview of how Mudbox works:
Another 3D modeling software developed by autodesk, this time less sophisticated and more user-friendly. Meshmixer`s 3D sculpting tools are somewhat simpler compared to higher quality tools like Mudbox and ZBrush, but since they are combined with a dynamic remeshing infrastructure, it is possible to create extremely detailed surfaces with much fewer polycounts. It is recommended for beginners in 3d modeling, students, designers, engineers and 3D hobbyists, as all the information and tips that someone is looking for at the beginning of their design career are stored in a very detailed Meshmixer online manual.
The following video gives you an overview of how Meshmixer works:
Blender.
Blender is a free open source 3D modeling software developed by the Blender Foundation. It offers 3D modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing, motion tracking, video editing and game creation. Blender`s sculpting software is quite advanced, but still ideal for beginners, because thanks to the latest version and constant software updatesm users can enjoy sculpting and creating parts without having to worry about stretching the underlying mesh. Users can also consult the tutorials and manuals page, which is very helpful.
For those who use Blender software with the intention of printing their designs in 3D, this Sculpteo tutorial provides best practices for modeling, correcting, and exporting a 3D file for 3D printing with Blender 2.7
Sculptris
Sculptris is another 3D sculptris software developed by Pixologic and of you are a beginner in digital modeling, it provides a good basis to experiment with the basic tools of ZBrush. Its tools are easy to learn and it is quite user-friendly software that you can use without any previous knowledge. Another advantage of this 3D modeling software is the fact that beginners can start with Sculptris and continue with ZBrush as both software solutions are interconnected. In addition, sculptris files can be easily imported and sent to ZBrush at the touch of a button. If you already use sculptris and want to see your models printed in 3D, take a look at the following tutorial.
3D Coat is a great 3D sculpting software from Pilgway, designed to recreate organic and hard 3D models from scratch. Its main features are the use of 3D pixels (called voxels) to easily model the design digitally, the ability to create fast and user-friendly UV maps, the ease and variety of texturing, and the retopology tools it provides.
If you want to see how 3D Coat really works, watch the video below:
Last bot not least Maya is another software from autodesk, like MudBox and Meshmixer, but not for free. Maya software is able to create animations, models, simulations and renderings to help artists work faster with improvements to existing workflows and new tools. Recently the Maya 3D modeling software has been updated, it is also possible to model virtual 3D surfaces, as you can model real 3D objects from clay or other modeling materials. Instead of clay, the virtual 3D surfaces are constructed with polygons. It is recommended that you use a graphics tabelt to take full advantage of Maya`s sculpting capabilities. However, you can still sculpture with an ordinary mouse. Although it may be a difficult software for beginners and you may sometimes experience mistakes when designing, Maya is one of the industry`s leading 3D animation packages, it has won several awards and still has many users. It is also common for designers to combine autodesk software to achieve the final result as shown in the figure below.
SelfCAD is a recently introduced 3D modeling software that offers a wide variety of design tools for modeling, cutting and 3D drawing. It is a great CAD because it is a package that contains all the tools a designer needs. SelfCAD`s sculpting empowers creativity through gestures and helps their ideas get the desired shapes quickly and easily. It is easily accessible and you can use it online without downloading it. All you have to do is sign up here and start your free trial period.
If you`re interested in learning more about 3D modeling software, this article about top modeling software solutions may be for you.