Hardcuts is a dedicated hard-surface sculpting application focused on voxel workflows and Boolean-driven form building. Rather than leaning on a traditional polygon-modeling approach, it centers on cutters, primitives, deformers, repeated elements, and direct shape editing. For artists building mechanical forms, props, panels, casings, and other manufactured-looking objects, that may be a very good kind of rabbit hole.

Hardcuts is a fresh arrival in hard-surface sculpting, and the pitch is pleasantly blunt. It is a standalone tool built around voxel-based booleans, quick blockouts, cutters, arrays, and deformers, with as little interface noise as possible between the artist and the shape. In other words, less topology babysitting, more cutting holes into things.

According to the official feature page, Hardcuts includes five Boolean modes directly in the viewport, plus parametric primitives, 2D cutters, profile sweep, lathe, smart placement, region extrude, arrays, symmetry, bend, lattice, and OBJ/STL import with controllable voxelization. That gives it a clear identity: this is not trying to be everything, it is trying to be fast at one specific kind of work.

The company, which is based in Fellbach, Germany, describes Hardcuts as a voxel-based hard-surface sculpting application built in C++ for performance. It also says the goal is to build the fastest hard-surface sculpting tool in the world. That is the developer’s claim, not an independently verified benchmark, but the focus is at least unmistakable.

If you have a little breathing room over Easter, Hardcuts looks like a genuinely interesting one to test. Not because every new modeling tool changes the game, since most do not, but because this one seems to know exactly what it wants to be.

Access

Access is available now through the new Alpha release, for Windows and Linux 8 *.deb Package. The build can be downloaded and tried for free, while a $49 one-time purchase unlocks Load, Save, Import, and Export and includes updates through version 1.x. For anyone tired of discovering that their screwdriver now has a subscription model, that part lands rather well.

Hardcuts:
https://hardcuts.io/

Register / Alpha Access:
https://hardcuts.io/register

The post Hardcuts Launches Alpha Access for Fast Voxel-Based Hard-Surface Sculpting first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

A Quarter-Century of Digital Clay

The ZBrush Summit 2025 Virtual Edition runs from 7 to 9 November 2025, celebrating 25 years of ZBrush. Hosted by Maxon, the event streams globally via ZBrush Live, Twitch and YouTube. It marks a dual milestone: a decade of the live Sculpt-Off competition and a quarter-century of the digital sculpting software that reshaped 3D character creation across film, games and design.

The online format, introduced during the pandemic years, remains. No travel, no queues — only three days of streamed presentations, artist showcases and production-level tips.

Friday: Legends Return to the Arena

The Summit opens with the Past Competitors LIVE ZBrush Sculpt-Off. Over fifty artists from the competition’s first decade, including Maarten Verhoeven, Zhelong Xu, Ashley Adams and Christian Carranza, have been invited back for a three-hour speed-sculpt challenge.

That’s followed by the Public LIVE Sculpt-Off, an open competition judged on creativity and execution under time pressure. Both contests reinforce what has become the Summit’s defining spectacle: sculptors creating original work live, in front of a global audience.

Saturday: Practice, Process and Production

Day Two runs from 9:00 to 18:00 PST, starting with Robson Barros from Loot Studios discussing Creating 3D Printable Miniatures That Tell Stories. His live ZBrush demo focuses on scale readability, pose design and physical durability for tabletop models.

Ryan Kingslien, who helped define early ZBrush anatomy training, revisits Beyond Reference, a session on form interpretation and sculptural anatomy. Daniel Hahn (Daytoner) then offers a production-focused look at hard-surface workflows used in toy and concept model creation.

Marko Lazov follows with live creature design improvisation under Turning Chaos Into Creatures. Przemyslaw Malachowski demonstrates Designing Tattoos in 3D, showing how sculpting tools can map artwork precisely to body anatomy.

The evening concludes with WeFX detailing ZBrush use on Wednesday Season 2 for Netflix. Team members Brandon Golding, Carlos Jacinto, Cesar Dacol Jr, Mauro Matheus and Sam Javanrouh break down their creature and prop work before the traditional “Good-Byes” close the stream.

Sunday: Studios, Toys and Technical Futures

The final day begins with Jordi Cerdà Gaya presenting 15 Years Using ZBrush and Crafting 3D Models by Natural Intelligence, a reflection on freelance product modelling and digital craftsmanship.

A highlight session follows from ID Software (Denzil O’Neill, Jason Martin and Solomon Gaitan) showing how ZBrush contributed to asset creation for Doom The Dark Ages.

Matt Hilton from Hasbro takes the stage for Making Joe, revealing the sculpt-to-production process for the G.I. Joe Classified Series. Mitchel Wu then reframes digital sculpting from a photographer’s perspective in The Second Life of a Subtool, tracing the journey from ZBrush mesh to practical miniature sets.

Later segments include Patrick 4D’s short presentation, followed by the Maxon Development Team previewing upcoming features and a 2026 roadmap. Details of these “exciting features” were not yet disclosed at press time.

The Summit concludes with the LIVE Sculpt-Off Winners Announcement, crowning champions from both the public and invitational events before a final farewell.

Looking Back – and Ahead

First released in 1999, ZBrush has become a cornerstone of digital production pipelines and earned a 2014 Scientific and Engineering Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its multi-resolution sculpting system. The 25th anniversary Summit blends that heritage with a forward look. For production artists, the sessions promise practical insights across sculpting, concept art, collectibles, and VFX asset creation.

Maxon – ZBrush Summit 2025 Virtual Edition

The post Sculpt-Offs, Anniversaries & Anatomy: ZBrush Summit 2025 celebrates 25 years first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Halloween is around the corner, and while most people are stockpiling fake blood and rubber masks, VK Gamedev has decided to make gore fully procedural. The new 250+ Wounds & Scars Brush Pack for Blender puts a complete collection of cuts, stitches, cracks and gouges at the fingertips of digital sculptors.

The pack is delivered as a set of 4K alphas, organised for immediate use in Blender Sculpt Mode. With Asset Browser integration, artists can drag and drop wound details directly into a sculpt. No hidden menus, no guesswork—just instant damage.

What’s in the box: 250 brushes, neatly categorised

The collection isn’t a random heap of gore. VK Gamedev has arranged the 250+ brushes into functional subsets. The package contains:

• 26 Pores Brushes: Fine surface detail for skin realism. Useful when characters are seen in close-up and every pore counts.
• 75 Scars Brushes: Includes both fresh cuts and healed marks, with stitched options for Frankenstein’s monster or the classic “stitched mouth” trope.
• 42 Skin Damage Brushes: Scratches, cracks and surface degradation. Equally valid for human skin, decayed creatures or weathered props.
• 121 Wounds Brushes: Deep cuts, torn flesh and brutal slash marks. The majority of the set, and likely the most popular category in October.

Why October loves this pack

On a normal production schedule, a library like this saves time. Around Halloween, it saves reputations. Nobody has time to hand-sculpt a zombie horde from scratch when a deadline calls for 40 minutes of gore-ridden screen time. With wounds and scars packaged as brushes, artists can focus on overall design and composition rather than repeating the same torn skin geometry across multiple assets.

For horror characters, the pack covers the spectrum:

• Subtle healed scars for vampires, who may prefer elegance over rot.
• Stitches for the Frankenstein archetype.
• Torn flesh and gouges for zombies, demons and background corpses.

For props and sets, the brushes add instant age and distress. Tombstones, coffins, pumpkins and gravestones all benefit from cracks, scratches and surface damage.

Stylised horror vs. clinical gore

The brushes are suitable for both realistic and stylised workflows. This matters. Horror is not always splatter. A cracked porcelain doll, for instance, uses the same skin damage brushes as a rotting ghoul. Stylisation comes from the sculptor’s restraint, or lack of it. In a Halloween context, that flexibility is valuable. Production artists can match the tone of a project, whether it’s a blood-drenched short film or a PG-13 haunted house ride.

Technical notes: drag, drop, test

All brushes are provided as alphas at 4K resolution. This ensures sufficient detail for close camera work, but also makes them suitable for generating displacement or normal maps for real-time engines. Because the pack is fully integrated into the Blender Asset Browser, applying them is a drag-and-drop operation. For artists used to external file browsing or legacy brush loading, this removes a layer of friction.

As always, test brushes in context before locking them into production assets. Resolution mismatches, topology issues and shader setups can all affect how wounds appear under final lighting.

Beyond Halloween: other production uses

While the seasonal use cases are obvious, the brushes are not confined to October. VK Gamedev lists several intended applications:

• Character design: Adding micro-detail and narrative marks to digital humans.
• Creature sculpting: Monsters, aliens and anything that benefits from unnatural skin surfaces.
• Concept art and cinematic assets: Quick iteration of designs without rebuilding damage detail every time.
• 3D printing: Creating physical props and prosthetics with real geometry rather than painted illusions.

That said, it’s hard to ignore the October timing. For production artists rushing to finish horror shorts, haunted experiences or Halloween marketing campaigns, the timing is ideal.

Verdict: a tidy library of pain

VK Gamedev’s brush pack is not groundbreaking. It is organised, functional, and given the season timely. Halloween productions that require digital damage can benefit immediately. Those who prefer untouched skin may safely wait until November.

The post 50 Digital Scars: Halloween Comes to Blender first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Maxon has officially announced that the ZBrush Summit 2025 Virtual Edition will stream online from November 7 to 9. The event marks the 25th anniversary of Pixologic’s ZBrush and promises a slate of live presentations, tutorials, artist features, and a high‑energy sculpt‑off

Join us November 7-9 for a historic ZBrush Summit 2025 as we celebrate 25 years of ZBrush!
Virtual & global — 3 days of live demos, artist spotlights, and insider workflows.
Whether pro or just starting out, you don’t want to miss this!
More info at https://t.co/DqY0XL3Xar pic.twitter.com/bP7XW2mtZd

— Maxon ZBrush (@maxonzbrush) July 9, 2025

What’s on the Sculpting Slate

Maxon positions the summit as “an immersive, interactive experience like never before.” The agenda includes live demos, beta‑feature previews, and spotlight sessions with working artists. A highlight will be the sculpt‑off—a live competition showing real‑time sculpting workflows . This format caters to artists at every skill level, promising educational insights and practical techniques.

Beta Features Unveiled

Attendees will gain early access to unreleased ZBrush beta features. Maxon’s Teaser only specifies “cutting‑edge tools,” without detailing the functions. This isn’t unusual, but professionals should reserve judgment until they can test them on real shots.

The post Maxon Invites Artists to Attend the ZBrush Summit 2025 Virtual Edition first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Nomad Sculpt, the touch-friendly sculpting app known from the iPad, is now available as a public beta for Windows, macOS and Linux. The desktop edition includes all current features of the iPad version and is free during the beta phase. How long that will last? Unknown. But it’s free now, so no complaints.

The desktop edition is available directly from the official Nomad Sculpt website, where the beta builds can be downloaded for all three major platforms.

Same Tools, New Platforms

If you’ve used Nomad on iPad, you’ll feel right at home. The desktop beta includes all current features of the iPad version, Nomad Sculpt offers a comprehensive suite of features tailored for digital sculpting and painting. Its extensive toolset includes brushes such as Clay, Crease, Trim, Smooth, and Mask, with customizable strokes featuring falloff, alpha, and other options. Rendering capabilities encompass both Matcap and Physically Based Rendering (PBR), while vertex painting tools provide control over roughness and metalness properties.

For topology management, Nomad Sculpt supports multiresolution sculpting, voxel uniform remeshing with subtractive boolean operations, dynamic topology for localized mesh refinement, and robust layers that accommodate topology changes. The interface is intuitively designed for mobile devices, supporting pressure sensitivity with Apple Pencil and Samsung S Pen. Additionally, the application facilitates import and export in OBJ, STL, and glTF formats. (nomadsculpt.com)

Licensing: Undecided

As of now, the desktop version of Nomad is free to use in its beta phase. Whether a permanent free version will exist or if a pricing model will follow is still undecided. The iPad version is currently priced at €18.99 on the App Store, but this doesn’t necessarily indicate future desktop pricing.

Still in Beta: Use With Caution

As a beta release, Nomad Sculpt for desktop should be considered not yet production-ready. Bugs, crashes or missing features may occur. Testing is encouraged, but integrating the tool into production pipelines should wait until stability and long-term support are clarified.

For now, Nomad offers a remarkably full-featured, responsive sculpting tool on desktop – assuming you don’t mind being a beta-tester with a Wacom.

The post Nomad: Sculpting on Desktop first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.