ZBrushCentral

Any plans on updating Sculptris (Free Version)?

Since Sculptris Pro got released with Zbrush 2018 is there any plan on updating the free version? Or will it be stuck forever in Alpha build?

I wish you luck with getting any kind of answer on that one…lol.

I don’t think it needs to be free.

If we got a proper update to the existing Sculptris, I’d be willing to pay a reasonable price for it. Bearing in mind that it would still have to retain the easy to use features/layout that made it so popular to begin with. I’d say $50 at least for it.

In the 8 years or so since Pixologic bought Sculptris, the only thing we’ve gotten is a downgrade. I’d be happy if they at least brought back the original higher resolution texture size that the previous version is capable of.

Just about everything has been proposed (gui redesign, tools, etc.) over the years, including a price tag if they would just update it. Other than a few posts from the original creator back when he still worked for Pixo, there hasn’t been a single response from them on anything.

This is pretty much the abandoned area of their website. You may notice that there are still a good number of threads in the Sculptris section that should have been moved over to the ZBrush area. Every once in a while they might move one, but it shows how often they come in here to even see what’s going on, much less to take notes on what those of us who use the program may or may not want.

As unfortunate as it may be, and I could be completely wrong, but this is likely the extent of where this program is going to go. While others have picked up and expanded on certain areas of Sculptris, none have ever fully recreated the feel and smoothness that it possesses. Pixo could have multiple areas of the market covered, but this acquisition seems to have just been to ensure that ZBrush had one less competitor while only recently completely incorporating the part of Sculptris that they bought it for.

Thanks for the response. I’ve been playing around with Blender’s sculpting feature. It’s pretty good for what I use it for. I’ve also looked into 3d Coat as it’s similar to Sculptris but costs money though. It’s a reasonable price for what features that are included in it.

I believe Sculptris was acquired for its technology, which is implemented now in ZBrush. Why to develop free software while there is so much work with ZBrush to stay on top and still be freelly updated?

Same or similar thing was with ZRemesher, when Pixo introduced it, if I remember correctly.

Using so outdated Sculptris isn’t very wise while there is free and so powerfull Blender and 3D Coat/ZBrush Core out there, priced very nicely.

I’m a bit unclear as to what you are stating nebular. Yes, Pixo acquired Sculptris for the tech. No one has ever tried to claim otherwise. It only took them 8 years to finally implement it (just recently).

As a response to your statement:

“Why to develop free software while there is so much work with ZBrush to stay on top and still be freelly updated?”

I would refer you just to what Pixo stated when they first acquired Sculptris, renamed it back to alpha, and started distributing it under their banner.

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?90617-A-Gift-From-Pixologic

That doesn’t appear as though it was just a one off and there would never be another update. Especially when you rename it as an “Alpha”, that usually indicates that the software is unfinished and a full, possibly upgraded version, will be released in the future. Maybe you will read it entirely different than I do.

Now, I won’t go into every possible reasoning as to why Pixo would want to work on a free bit of software, but I will focus on just one for now. One that you also make my point by mentioning afterwards. ZBrush Core. Why would Pixologic put out a slimmed down version of their main program? Of course there are quite a good number of viable reasons, but the one I will focus on right now is also the same reason why they should want to update Sculptris. It’s about the hook. That need for a company to get their product in front of as many possible consumers as they can in order to reel in as large a number as they can possibly get to buy their product. A slimmed down, or free program, will do that. Why? Because once something new is out there, that creates quite a bit of free advertising from just about every corner of the internet. From the hobbyists, to those that are on a budget, to those that are just looking around and stumble across it. I’m one of those people that will eventually be buying ZBrush.

And to respond to your other statement:

“Using so outdated Sculptris isn’t very wise while there is free and so powerfull Blender and 3D Coat/ZBrush Core out there, priced very nicely.”

I’m going to have to disagree here. What part of Sculptris is outdated? As I’ve stated before, it took almost 8 years for Pixologic to implement this tech completely into their program. For a free program to be almost a decade ahead in terms of its tech, I’d say it’s far from outdated yet. From that perspective, I’d say it was, and still is, exceptionally wise to use Sculptris. And while it’s more of a preference, I use Blender for rendering but I still can’t get behind it’s sculpting yet. It just can’t compete with Sculptris on numerous levels that matter to me.

Now, whether or not they will update it is an entirely different matter…lol.

So for calling sculptris outdated, but it is in fact outdated featurewise.

I know it’s still powerful and cool for 3d sketching and that people using it - there’s even goZ for Sculptris to make it easy. There was a reason ZBrush couldn’t handle it’s technology for sure. It’s why we got dynamesh back then and limited Dynamic Tessellation now.

It would be cool if they still develop it. It’s still listed at Pixo site so there’s still hope :wink: