Sculptris

[theRoadstroker]

http://www.sculptris.com/download.html

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DNRg6pdNeE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r4bSGqNjW4&feature=player_embedded#!

 

Sculptris is a free 3d modelling sculpting software that lets you sculpt on Millions of polygons , order to create very detailed 3d meshes to create normal maps from with softwares like xNormal.

 

Sculptris was the brainchild of the bright swedish programmer Tomas Pettersson, before it was bought up by Pixologic the creators of Zbrush. Sculpris pretty much acts like all its other software cousins such as:

 

Zbrush

3D Coat

Mudbox

and more

 

But differs by using a dynamic tessellation to each stroke if needed , very similar to the voxel tech found in 3D coat.

 

Not only can you create very nice normal maps with the very detailed highpoly meshes , but you can also paint in 3D pretty much the same way you would paint a sculpt made in clay from real life and then create a 2D texture map to be used in any Game engine you want.

 

If you are new to next gen modding , this is how you make use of sculpting programs like this:

 

Method 1

 

Step1

- Create a lowpoly mesh in a modelling software such as blender or 3ds max or maya a.s.o, try to keep the polygons even and squared and the topology flowing, uvw map the mesh and export it as an .obj

 

Step 2

- Load it into a sculpting software and subdivide (increase the polycount) and go nuts and have fun, when done export the model into a folder as an .Obj

 

Step 3

- Fire up a program like xnormals and load in both the lowpoly and highpoly mesh and watch the magic happens.

 

Step4 (optional)

- Fix / improve / change the texture and export it to whatever you need for the game engine.

 

Step5

- clean up the mesh and remove polygons/ edges that are no longer needed to keep the model evenly. (if you making a character , the thigh area have for most cases many unnecessary edge loops that you can remove. )

 

Sum-up: optimize your mesh

 

Step 6

 

- Rigg or export the model as needed.

 

Method 2

 

Almost the same as Method 1 , but differ in which you create the highres model first - inside the sculpt software and then after done with the highres you create a lowpoly shell on top of the highres one and uvw map that, and then later proceed to xnormal and then go to step5 in method1.

 

 

Don't under any circumstances use the highres sculpted model inside any game, just don't ! .. this will break the game and if you re unlucky .. your gfx card aswell.

 

Grab it now , while its free. :)

[LHammonds]

Looks nice, I'll have to check that out and see how much better it is than Blender's sculpt mode.

 

EDIT:

 

It is pretty nice! I made this within 5 minutes of installing it. VERY intuitive controls.

 

 

 

LHammonds

[Ghogiel]

method 1 would produce incorrect results. < you are editing topology on the real time mesh AFTER you have baked a normal map to a different topology. The normal map will be fubared in the sense that you have changed the vertex normals, which when you bake = tangent basis, which determines the output pixel in the normal map. you will have incorrect shading. the solution is to swap step 3&5.

 

Basically most artists are doing something along method 2.

 

these sculpting work flow require 3 types of meshes. a base mesh that is fairly evenly distributed quads, basically whatever makes your scuplting prog happy. Triangles will not subd or sculpt well. So do not use them in the base mesh. then you sculpt that into a highpoly. Then you create a real time topology. you can use triangles and just trace over the high poly in some programs, or snap vertex to surface. Just as long as you split any faces that are over 60-90degree angles to other faces, into different smooth groups, and split their UV into their own islands the bake will transfer nicely.

A lot of people are doing regular SubD modelling for their high poly, then taking it into ZB to get those cool surface details that would either complicate the Subd model with all sorts of crazy topology, or would be done with floaters. Doing them in a sculpter is probably much smarter as its a: quicker/ easier b: better results c: floaters are don't bake well in all circumstances.

[LHammonds]

If you create the high-poly model 1st, you can create a low-res (game-ready) model in Blender by using ReTopo. Re-Topologize Tutorial

 

EDIT: It looks like this tool could benefit from having an installer. I can create an NSIS installer package quite easily for it and will work for all versions of Windows that this program will run on.

 

Here is an install script for NSIS.

 

To use it, create a text file in the same directory where "Sculptris.exe" is located when you extract it from the archive.

Copy and paste the script into the text file and rename it to Installer.nsi

If you have NSIS installed, you can right-click on Installer.nsi to see and click on the option called "Compile NSIS Script"

/* Name: NSIS Install Script */
/* Version: 0.5 */
/* Date Created: 9/13/2010 */
/* Date Modified:  */
/* Author: LHammonds */

/* Define installer file name. */
OutFile "Sculptris Alpha 5 Setup.exe"
Name "Sculptris"

/* Request admin-level permission for install...allows correct placement of shortcuts in Vista/Win7 */
RequestExecutionLevel admin

/* Set default installation directory. */
InstallDir $PROGRAMFILES\Sculptris

/* Replace the "Nullsoft Install System vX.XX" in the installer window. */
BrandingText "Pixologic"

LicenseText "License Agreement"
LicenseData "License Agreement.txt"

Page license
Page directory
Page instfiles
UninstPage uninstConfirm
UninstPage instfiles

/* Default section start. */
Section

/* Define output path. */
SetOutPath $INSTDIR

/* Specify file to go in output path. */
File /r data
File /r materials
File /r models
File /r textures
File documentation.txt
File icon.ico
File "License Agreement.txt"
File msvcr71.dll
File Sculptris.exe
File zlib1.dll

/* Define uninstaller name. */
WriteUninstaller "$INSTDIR\uninstall.exe"

/* Create a shortcut named "Sculptris" in the start menu programs directory. */
CreateDirectory "$SMPROGRAMS\Sculptris"
CreateShortCut "$SMPROGRAMS\Sculptris\Sculptris.lnk" "$INSTDIR\Sculptris.exe" "$INSTDIR\icon.ico"
CreateShortCut "$SMPROGRAMS\Sculptris\Documentation.lnk" "$INSTDIR\documentation.txt"
CreateShortCut "$SMPROGRAMS\Sculptris\License Agreement.lnk" "$INSTDIR\License Agreement.txt"
CreateShortCut "$SMPROGRAMS\Sculptris\Sculptris Uninstall.lnk" "$INSTDIR\uninstall.exe"

/* Add entry to "Add/Remove Programs" to uninstall this program. */
WriteRegStr HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Sculptris" "DisplayName" "Sculptris"
WriteRegStr HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Sculptris" "UninstallString" "$\"$INSTDIR\uninstall.exe$\""
WriteRegStr HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Sculptris" "QuietUninstallString" "$\"$INSTDIR\uninstall.exe$\" /S"
WriteRegStr HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Sculptris" "Publisher" "Pixologic"
WriteRegStr HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Sculptris" "DisplayVersion" "0.5"
WriteRegStr HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Sculptris" "VersionMajor" "0"
WriteRegStr HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Sculptris" "VersionMinor" "5"
WriteRegStr HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Sculptris" "EstimatedSize" "1024"
WriteRegStr HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Sculptris" "RegOwner" "Pixologic"
WriteRegStr HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Sculptris" "RegCompany" "Pixologic"
WriteRegStr HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Sculptris" "HelpLink" "http://www.zbrushcentral.com/forumdisplay.php?f=110"
WriteRegStr HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Sculptris" "HelpTelephone" ""
WriteRegStr HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Sculptris" "Comments" "Sculptris is a free 3D model-sculpting software that lets you sculpt on millions of polygons"
WriteRegStr HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Sculptris" "NoModify" "1"
WriteRegStr HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Sculptris" "NoRepair" "1"


/* Default section end. */
SectionEnd

/* Create a section to define what the uninstaller does. */
/* The section will always be named "Uninstall" */
Section "Uninstall"

/* Always delete uninstaller first */
Delete $INSTDIR\uninstaller.exe

/* Remove shortcuts and shortcut folder. */
Delete "$SMPROGRAMS\Sculptris\Sculptris.lnk"
Delete "$SMPROGRAMS\Sculptris\Documentation.lnk"
Delete "$SMPROGRAMS\Sculptris\License Agreement.lnk"
Delete "$SMPROGRAMS\Sculptris\Sculptris Uninstall.lnk"
RMDir "$SMPROGRAMS\Sculptris"

/* Delete installed files. */
Delete "$INSTDIR\documentation.txt"
Delete "$INSTDIR\icon.ico"
Delete "$INSTDIR\License Agreement.txt"
Delete "$INSTDIR\msvcr71.dll"
Delete "$INSTDIR\sculptris.exe"
Delete "$INSTDIR\zlib1.dll"

/* Delete installed folders. */
RMDir /r "$INSTDIR\data"
RMDir /r "$INSTDIR\materials"
RMDir /r "$INSTDIR\models"
RMDir /r "$INSTDIR\textures"

/* Delete Add/Remove registry items. */
DeleteRegKey HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Sculptris"

SectionEnd


/* Replace the values of the two defines below to your application's window class and window title, respectively. */
!define WNDCLASS "WindowClassOfYourApplication"
!define WNDTITLE "WindowTitleOfYourApplication"

Function un.onInit
 FindWindow $0 "${WNDCLASS}" "${WNDTITLE}"
 StrCmp $0 0 continueInstall
   MessageBox MB_ICONSTOP|MB_OK "The application you are trying to remove is running. Close it and try again."
   Abort
 continueInstall:
FunctionEnd

 

LHammonds

[theRoadstroker]

@ghogiel

 

Yes you are right if you going to use a projection based map baker like xnormal, but for other softwares like zbrush , you can use method 1 (but skip the xnormal part) perfectly since zbrush calculates the surface normals per say, and if you optimize the mesh before hand , you end up loosing alot of details that way.

 

Personally I use method 2 as my workflow, I find it the most accurate and easiest way to get a clean lowpoly model without loosing too much detail.

 

But it depends on the mesh per say.

 

@LHammonds

 

Nice to see that blender has some nice re-topological tools, creating a lowpoly shell without them could be quite an hassle.

[Ghogiel]

@ghogiel

 

Yes you are right if you going to use a projection based map baker like xnormal, but for other softwares like zbrush , you can use method 1 (but skip the xnormal part) perfectly since zbrush calculates the surface normals per say, and if you optimize the mesh before hand , you end up loosing alot of details that way.

well you did specifically mention using a baker app like xNormal in the workflow method...

 

Zbrush just doesn't want to produce maps that are usable in any engine. It's a tangent basis issue, So nasty seams will appear on any UV seam in just about any other render app, from Maya, Max, gamebryo, the only way to avoid them is Make UV seams straight up or across on the U or V. or hide the seams well, apparently. I stopped baking in ZB as the maps are basically unusable. You either have to bake in the baker designed for the engine, often this is maya or max. but xnormal is actually a good approximation of max normals, and can have custom tangent basis.

 

dunno if they fixed this crap in ZB4 though, it's pretty useless for normal maps though. everything else can get on with fine. people end up using mudbox because ZB is so annoying for normal maps.

[gormonk]

my attempts.. with no tuteroial

http://i898.photobucket.com/albums/ac185/noreva/sculptus1.png

[delta401]

I have utilized this programm! Is very interesting but difficult :sweat:

[hafiz22]

Thanks!!

[jaysus]

@ghogiel

if your maps from zbrush are unusable then your model geometry is bad or you mixed up some settings, there are no seams anywhere to be found, at least not in my experience once you get behind the sercrets ;)