Sculptris

[sanctuary 19]

On TIGSource i noticed this small but wonderfull and awesome free sculpting program :

Sculptris

The free and powerfull program Blender 2.49 (current stable version) features a

too, with the difference that Sculptris interface is incredibly user friendly and so intuitive that any beginner may be able to start sculpting few seconds after launch.

Blender has a longer learning curve for a beginner.

After a few tried, i was able to have some fun sculpting those simple things :

Some people have done some very impressive sculpture if you check the Sculptris board.

is a youtube 10 mn challenge from a Sculptris user to showcase how the tool works.

Sculptris is able to import and export object in .OBJ format.

It is in Alpha version, so there are a few bugs (do not use the Reduce Detail to reduce the facecount of some parts of your sculpture, that's a sure crash few minutes after)

If you need to reduce the facecount of your sculpture, by example export it in OBJ and import it into Blender to use the "decimate" modifier instead, then use Blender to export the modified object into OBJ so you can re-import it into Sculptris.

Edited January 13, 2010 by Sanctuary

[sanctuary 19]

As a demonstration of what Sculptris allow to do even for a complete sculpting beginner like me, i made this small video :

on how from this

i end into that basic face :

[dmakatra 1]

That's pretty cool. How's working with less organic models, like vehicles and such?

[sanctuary 19]

In Blender, as you can sculpt and rework your model more classically in the same time (Sculptris is only for sculpting currently), it can be interesting to create modelled scratches and some finer details for use if you want a high poly model to generate normal maps (then use the same blender to lower the polycount with the decimate function).

Scultpris, at least that current alpha version, is more about sculpting organic shapes and may not be the ideal tool to build a non organic shape.

But it has some impressive features that Blender does not have in term of sculpting that makes it a great companion to it (or anything that can import .OBJ files made with Sculptris) .

Edited January 24, 2010 by Sanctuary

[dmakatra 1]

Yeah, figured as much. I'm not into 3D modelling myself, just felt a bit sorry that there was no discussion seeing as it really looks like a user friendly and intuitive tool. :p

[vektorboson 8]

@sanctuary

Since you mentioned Blender; did you try using Blender to make any OFP-stuff? Do you think Blender is a good modeling tool to create OFP models?

[sanctuary 19]

Blender is a lot less easy and less intuitive to use than O2 to be honest, it relies on lot of keyboard shortcuts that one need to learn to really exploit the program capacities.

I have used Blender mostly for its sculpt mode for fun, not for game modelling.

But that said Blender is a -very- powerfull application, more than most of the other alternatives to it, it is basically nearly on par with professional expensive softwares despite it is free, so i guess it can be very interesting for addon modelling, once you manage to get over the learning curve.

Blender can additionally import/export in lot of format.

But its 3DS export miss the KData, so you always need to import it in Anim8or , and use the Options->Debug->Dummy 3DS KData then re-export it into 3DS always from Anim8or to obtain a 3DS you can import in O2.

By example , in Sculptris i sculpted for fun this :

Then i exported it in .OBJ and opened it into Blender, in which i used the very good Decimate function to get its face count from +80000 to +/- 3000.

I exported it in 3DS and imported it in Anim8or, added the Dummy 3DS Kdata and exported it into 3DS again, then i could open it with O2 :

Sculptris for now does not support texture painting, so i believe that's something you may need to do in Blender that support it (painting directly on the mesh i mean), along UV unwrapping and all.

But from what i have read, texture painting along many other features will be present in the next version of Sculptris.

Could be very interesting for complex models.

[vektorboson 8]

Blender is a lot less easy and less intuitive to use than O2 to be honest, it relies on lot of keyboard shortcuts that one need to learn to really exploit the program capacities.

I have used Blender mostly for its sculpt mode for fun, not for game modelling.

Yeah; I have looked at Blender again and again and I could never motivate myself to learn it enough to use fully. I hoped that someone here used Blender for modding OFP and could give a few hints how to use it effectively with O2.

The reason I ask: I have a semi-working P3D importer/exporter for Blender; but since I had not enough experience with Blender I did not know how to map some features of the P3D (for example selections, or named properties) to the Blender interface.

[sanctuary 19]

Hopefully amongst the many modellers apparently found in this community, there must be at least one experienced Blender user.

A p3d import/export from such free and very powerfull application could be very usefull when you can't afford the commercial alternatives and that O2 or other free modelling apps do not fit your modelling project.

Out of just sculpting in Blender, i am unfortunately way too beginner with it to help on such level.

[Bavator 8]

Blender is a lot less easy and less intuitive to use than O2 to be honest, it relies on lot of keyboard shortcuts that one need to learn to really exploit the program capacities.

Well, once you´re used to the shortcuts, working with Blender is really fast and efficient. And you can always try the Blender 2.5 beta, much more emphasis on a user-friendly interface.

The reason I ask: I have a semi-working P3D importer/exporter for Blender; but since I had not enough experience with Blender I did not know how to map some features of the P3D (for example selections, or named properties) to the Blender interface.

I think this would help a lot of people, me being one of them. I tried to get used to O2 for the last 3 weeks but I simply hate that prog. :o

[sanctuary 19]

Well, once you´re used to the shortcuts, working with Blender is really fast and efficient. And you can always try the Blender 2.5 beta, much more emphasis on a user-friendly interface.

Strangely, i find the new "user friendly" interface from the current alpha0 even less easy to work with than the old interface from 2.49 and lesser.

[vektorboson 8]

I think this would help a lot of people, me being one of them. I tried to get used to O2 for the last 3 weeks but I simply hate that prog. :o

I guess it'll take some time till you learned O2 good enough, but can you already say which O2 functionality corresponds with Blender functionality? Let's take LODs for example: How can the O2 LODs be simulated in Blender?

My experimental P3D importer has put the LODs into different layers. But the LOD resolution value (or LOD type) is lost in that process...

Beside this, how to do 'named selections' in Blender? You can selected Vertices and Faces in O2 and give this selection a name.

And I guess that the new Blender alpha has changed the python API?

[Bavator 8]

Layers for LODs would have been my best guess, too. IIRC you can name the layer, so this could be used as a refernce in the importing/exporting process.

Beside this, how to do 'named selections' in Blender? You can selected Vertices and Faces in O2 and give this selection a name.

You can group vertices (EDIT mode) and then give them a name, sounds like its the same process in O2. If that doesn´t work, you could give seperate objects names and combine them before exporting.

[sanctuary 19]

There have been an update to Sculptris, bug fixing, speed increasing (the improvement is noticable at higher face count) and addition of several render material :

http://www.drpetter.se/project_sculpt.html

Additionally, i have been pointed to a free 3D application, that i use mostly for "posing" in preparation to sculpt (as it can export in various format like OBJ so the posed scene or model can be reworked/scultped in another application), DAZ Studio 3 (there is an "advanced" version on their website too, but this one is not free)

It is very easy to use and intuitive enough to be easy to learn and there are a bunch of free models available and ready to pose.

To get DAZ Studio 3,

Make a free account on their website :

https://www.daz3d.com/i/newaccount/0?_m=d

That is important as the free models hosted there can be downloaded only if you have an account.

Additionally, even if it is free, DAZ Studio 3 needs a serial, and the serial is obtained after you have created your free account on the website, by going there :

http://www.daz3d.com/i/software/daz_studio3/sreg?v=3&_m=d

Then once you have your account and your serial, you can then download the free DAZ 3D here :

http://www.daz3d.com/i/software/daz_studio3?_m=d

Install it, and once done, launch the software, and there enter the serial you were given.

There are some free content to download on DAZ 3D website :

http://www.daz3d.com/i/3d-models/free-3d-models?cat=382&_m=d

And lots of free models to obtain from their forum, like from this thread by example :

http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=57954

Some example of posing i have done rather quickly to show you how easy this free tool is to learn and use :

[sanctuary 19]

Sculptris 1.0 has been finally released and it is beyond awesome.

http://www.sculptris.com/

Trailer :

Site was extremely slow due to how the bandwidth being eaten by all the enthousiast grabbing this marvelous piece of software, but it should be better now.

A sample of my sculptris work to show how easy this tool can make sculpting for even beginners like me :

Extremely good to use along pro-level modelling tools like Blender (for retopology/boolean merging etc../baking etc...) with its OBJ import/export possibilities.