Sculptris is three dimensional modeling software that’s specifically tailored to accommodate the needs of sculptors, visual artists and 3D designers. Unlike other software that use polygons, Sculptris allows users to digitally sculpt their 3D models with a rich sculpting toolset and a beginner-friendly user interface which ease new users quickly into more advanced levels. As a free software, it is a great way for less experienced creators to find a pathway into 3D printing.
To enable a sculpting experience Sculptris uses a surface of automatically built of countless triangles that may be manipulated very intuitively; no need to worry about geometry or polygons and/or about snapping shapes together or smoothing over unwanted artefacts.
With a variety of brushes, you can add detail to various sized parts of a model without affecting the integrity of the full piece. You may also easily stretch and add parts by simply clicking-and-dragging. Symmetry mode ensures that the model is symmetrical on both sides while sculpting brushes allow you to draw, grab, pinch, crease, flatten, smooth, etc. To make things additionally easier, Sculptris comes with a number of preloaded textures and patterns as well as materials.
As a free software Sculptris however lacks some of the fancier features of other applications: it offers less settings for customisation; its automatic polygon meshes are often unnecessarily complex, thus requiring external add-ons to optimise 3D printing. Depending on the computer hardware used, the software may lag when editing a larger file. For the same reason rendering may be slower than experienced with other apps.
Sculptris is a no longer in development – Pixologic is focusing its efforts on their other 3D software ZBrush – and therefore a little out of date, nonetheless it is still compatible with many computers (with Mac and Windows) and works well for creating 3D sculpts that can be later 3D printed or incorporated into a CGI project.
Link:
Sculptris
Provider:
Pixologic Inc. (USA)
Costs:
free
Tutorial (by third party):
here
