For those who don’t know the tool: Marvelous Designer turns 2D patterns into simulated garments, then exports assets and animation through formats like FBX, Alembic, glTF, and VRM.
Drawing first, pattern later
The loudest shift in 2026.0 is the push toward direct creation on the avatar, with 3D Pencil aimed at skipping some of the usual back and forth between sketching intent and building patterns.
3D Pencil works in the 3D window on an avatar. Activating it from the 3D toolbar opens a Sketch dialog and switches the viewpoint to the front view. The view then stays locked to either the front or back for sketching, with zoom allowed, to keep conversion reliable when the lines become editable 3D pen data.
Sketching is a click and drag action on the avatar. Cleanup happens inside the same tool using an eraser mode. The eraser has a size setting to control how much gets removed in one pass, and the viewpoint can be switched between front and back.
Converting moves the sketch into a 3D pen result and automatically switches to the edit tool for that pen. There is also a sewing behaviour note that matters for garment builders: when 3D pens get created by sketching both the front and the back, flattening both sides automatically sews the front and back together. This is not a promise that all garments suddenly become one-click wonders. It is a workflow: sketch in a fixed view, preview conversion, convert to editable pen lines, then continue editing as needed.
Laces that behave like patterns
The other flagship addition is the Lacing Tool, which formalises a common production detail into a dedicated workflow.
The tool creates lacing by clicking a sequence of designated holes. You pick the starting hole, then continue clicking holes in the desired order until the last or exit hole, and finish with a double-click on the final hole or by pressing Enter. When the path is finalized, an editable lace pattern generates in the 2D window for modification.
Undo controls are built into creation. Backspace undoes the last step, while Esc or Ctrl+Z undoes the entire creation step. That sounds minor, but in practice it signals that the tool expects iterative route tweaking, not a single perfect pass. Just a warning. If you are one of the people who is even nominally an adult, still struggles sometimes with shoelaces. Not judging, brother!
After the path finalises, direction and curvature can be adjusted. A reverse icon appears attached to the cursor immediately after finalising. Clicking a specific hole reverses direction at that point, changing whether the cord enters from the top or bottom of the eyelet. Routing updates in real time in the 3D window.
Curvature adjustment uses a slider to change the cord arc. Increasing curvature is intended to stabilise the simulation by preventing the cord from colliding with or clipping into nearby patterns. The resulting lace is still a standard pattern piece, so thickness, material, and physical properties remain editable in the property editor like any other garment component.
The tool works by eliminating manual intervention by automatically routing the cord and generating an editable pattern for further customisation.
Toon materials, with familiar knobs
2026.0 also adds a toon material workflow under a feature called Express Cartoon. It applies to fabrics, 3D objects, and avatar materials. The workflow is simple: select a fabric style or an avatar, then set Material type to Toon in the property editor, then adjust the exposed properties. The options list is long and reads like a practical toon shading panel rather than a single style preset. If your goal is the next KPop Deamon Hunter, well, go for it.
Base colour can be set as a colour or a map. Opacity has both a value and a map. Shadows get a shade colour and an optional shade colour map, plus hardness and a shift control that adjusts where shadows begin. Emission has both colour and a map. There is also a MatCap section with color and map, described as a fake reflection effect that blends with a MatCap image.
Rim light includes colour, fresnel power to control thickness and sharpness, and lift to adjust position offset. Outlines have a mode, an outline map for masking, a line colour, and a width value in millimetres.
It is worth remembering what this does and does not say. The feature allows a cartoon-style look using those material controls. It does not define a renderer, a lighting model, or a compliance target for any specific engine. That keeps expectations grounded: it is a shading feature inside the tool, with parameters designed to shape a toon result.
Export workflow: fewer surprises, more switches
The 2026.0 feature list calls out new and expanded format support, including glTF and VRM. In production terms, that points toward web compatibility and virtual character workflows, and it sits alongside existing interchange routes that many pipelines already rely on.
On the export control side, play region selection appears as a specific addition for FBX and glTF export in the feature list, enabling selective export of specific animation ranges. For joint animation export, baking keyframes is there to generate keys for empty frames to prevent unintended transformations.
Those items have matching controls visible in the updated FBX import and export documentation. FBX import supports Open or Add load types, scale, axis conversion, and several toggles such as joint animation and cache animation. It also lists trim import behaviour that cannot collide with clothing when simulation is on, plus a collide option toggle for trim in the property editor, and a glue icon workflow to attach trim to clothing.
FBX export includes single- and multiple-object exports, weld and un-weld options, and thin and thick options for exporting with or without rendering thickness. It includes combined UV coordinates and texture export controls, including texture size and seam fill. It also includes a 2026.0 specific note: Weld Turned Sewing Lines allows vertex merging for export even when the sewing line type is set to turned.
Licensing and cost facts that affect teams
A personal monthly subscription is listed at $39 per month and is cancelable anytime, with automatic billing. A one-year prepaid license is listed at $280 as a one-time payment, not automatically billed.
A student subscription is listed at $99 as a one-time payment, not automatically billed, with a note that it can be purchased up to two times over four years after student status verification.
Enterprise options list an enterprise network online monthly plan at $199 per seat, an enterprise network online annual plan at $2,000 per seat, and an enterprise Linux annual plan at $2,300 per seat. An indie studio option is listed as “Contact sales”. There is also an enterprise notice that, from December 2, 2025, the enterprise standalone license was discontinued and shifted to network online monthly and annual subscriptions.
The boring but important note
2026.0 stacks a lot of workflow surface area into one release: new creation tools, new material type controls, and a pile of import and export switches that can change how data lands in downstream tools. The right way to treat that is like any pipeline-facing update. Test the new tools on your ugliest garments (For bonus points: Remake the garment you are wearing right now as a training exercise. Hoodie, PJs, and Fluffy slippers and all), validate the round-trip exports, and confirm that your intended use stays stable before you put it on a deadline.
