Sculpting software

Sculpting software lets you push and pull dense meshes like clay. Environment artists use it for sculpting rocks and cliffs, sculpting damage and wear, tileable surfaces and organic high-polys that are later baked onto low-poly meshes.

#How to choose

For game environments you mostly need three things: a fast brush engine, a way to remesh or add resolution, and clean export for baking. Blender already does all three for free. ZBrush is the dedicated option; Maxon calls it "the industry standard for 3D sculpting" (maxon.net: ZBrush plan options). 3DCoat suits you if you want sculpting, retopology and painting in one perpetual licence. Tablet apps are good for practice away from your desk; check whether the free tier can export before you rely on it. Avoid starting in Mudbox, which is being retired. For the craft itself, see digital sculpting and primary, secondary and tertiary forms; for tool choice in general, see choosing tools: an overview.

#Desktop sculpting tools

#3DCoat licence types

3DCoat is one of the few full sculpting packages still sold as a perpetual licence. The individual node-locked licence includes 12 months of updates; after that, an upgrade costs €45 from month 13, or €90 from month 25 if you skipped the first one (3dcoat.com: Buy 3DCoat). Pilgway also offers rent-to-own plans that end in a permanent licence, monthly subscriptions and one-year rentals (pilgway.com: 3DCoat licence types). Its cheaper sibling, 3DCoatTextura, drops the sculpting tools and is covered on texturing and material software.

#ZBrush licensing history

ZBrush's licensing has changed since Maxon took over. Perpetual licences bought after 29 December 2021 receive only critical bug fixes, not new features (80 Level: ZBrush Perpetual Customers Will No Longer Get…). Since 2022, new ZBrush updates have required a Maxon subscription (Polycount: ZBRUSH - All new updates to require Maxon…). Maxon One and ZBrush subscriptions include both the desktop and iPad versions (maxon.net: ZBrush plan options).

#Tablet sculpting tools

The free ZBrush for iPad plan cannot export 3D models (Maxon Help: Free Plan vs Subscription Plan). Treat it as a learning tool unless you subscribe (CG Channel: Maxon releases ZBrush for iPad). When Maxon made Forger free in 2021, the free tier was limited to three active files (80 Level: Maxon's Forger Is Now Available for Free).

#Browser and legacy tools

SculptGL still works for a first try at sculpting in the browser, but nobody is adding features (GitHub: stephomi/sculptgl). Sculptris was famous as a free stepping stone to ZBrush (gamefromscratch.com: Cool thing of the Week: Week 6); Blender's Sculpt Mode now fills that role at no cost (blender.org: Blender FAQ).

#VR sculpting and sketching

VR tools suit blocking large organic forms at human scale, but most environment artists still finish detail on a desktop.

#ZBrush or Blender?

#Further reading