For those who don’t know the tool: Mush3D is a GPU-accelerated finishing tool for animated caches. It imports Alembic data from other DCC applications, then adds sculpting, corrective deformation, transfer and simulation before downstream use.

Surgery after animation

Mush3D 3.0 runs the awkward stretch between approved animation and a finished deformation result. Artists can load an animated geometry cache, sculpt directly on the moving surface and add simulation or transfer operations without returning to the original character rig.

The application works with animated meshes rather than limiting its sculpting tools to static geometry. Its workflow covers final polish, facial corrections, deformation cleanup, secondary motion and other shot-level adjustments on cached animation.

A recurring shoulder collapse, an elbow that loses volume or a facial transfer that pinches at particular expressions can be addressed on the cache itself. The artist works on the delivered motion rather than rebuilding the setup that generated it. The software uses GPU acceleration for interactive deformation. It runs as an online application and as a standalone desktop application for Windows, Linux and macOS. Both access routes use the same account and licence system.

Sculpt the moving target

The sculpting system works directly on animated caches and supports multi-resolution editing. It can reconstruct subdivision levels from cached animation, allowing an artist to work at different mesh resolutions while keeping modifications on a shared layer across the mesh stack.

That gives the tool a job closer to shot finishing than conventional asset sculpting. The input already moves. The task is to repair, reshape or enrich that movement without treating every frame as an unrelated static model. Sculpting brushes can change the animated surface, while cloning tools transfer surface detail from other meshes. Earlier versions already allowed corrective shapes to be sculpted on individual frames and their intensity to be animated across the timeline. The cache workflow also avoids tying the finishing pass to a particular source DCC. Geometry usually enters through Alembic, while the free tier limits exchange to OBJ. Paid tiers add Alembic import and export. Core sculpting remains present in the free edition. More specialised deformers, desktop access, project history and Alembic exchange sit in the paid plans.

Pose Trainer learns the fixes

The new Pose Trainer deformer applies example-based correction to animation caches. Artists prepare a set of reference poses, either by sculpting them manually or by using captured 3D data, then train the deformer on those examples. The resulting corrections can run across the animation cache. This targets deformation errors that recur whenever a character reaches similar poses, without requiring the original rig to be rebuilt.

A pre-sculpted pose can define how the surface should look when the underlying motion reaches that condition. The trained system then applies the learned correction to matching portions of the animated cache.

Pose Trainer also works with facial animation. The tool can improve facial 4D transfer between different characters by learning target-specific corrections intended to retain expression volume, silhouette and sculpted form.

The same mechanism can clean up transferred expression libraries. Artists can use cloning tools on FACS and blend shape sets when the transferred shapes need manual correction. This places Pose Trainer between raw transfer and the final animated cache. It does not replace the source animation, but modifies the resulting deformation through trained corrective examples.

Tetrahedra enter the tissue

Version 3.0 adds a tetrahedron-based deformation system for secondary motion in muscles, fat and other soft tissue. Artists paint a mask over the surface region that should receive the effect. The solver creates a tetrahedral volume beneath that selected area and uses it to deform the animated surface.

The mask keeps the operation local. A character does not need a tetrahedral volume across its entire body when only a neck, abdomen or other soft region requires additional motion. That makes the new solver part of the tool’s established simulation workflow. Existing deformers include Jiggle, Wrinkle and Transfer Shapes, alongside the Sculpt Deformer and the new Pose Trainer.

The tetrahedral solver does not appear in the free plan. It is included in Indie, Pro and Enterprise subscriptions, together with skin wrinkle simulaiton and the other paid deformers.

Wrinkles without a dermatology degree

The skin-motion system lets artists mask areas of a character and generate dynamic wrinkles and surface movement from the animated performance. This follows the same regional approach as the tetrahedral solver. The artist chooses where the deformation should occur rather than applying a global simulation to the entire cache.

Jiggle deformation remains available for secondary motion, while Transfer Shapes moves deformation information between meshes. These tools share the central cache-based workflow: import animation, isolate the area that needs attention, apply a deformation layer and export the adjusted result.

Facial transfers get a repair pass

Facial transfer can expose differences between source and target characters. Proportions, expression shapes and surface volume may not survive a direct transfer unchanged. The facial workflow in version 3.0 uses Pose Trainer to learn corrections for the target character. Artists can prepare corrected examples and apply the trained result across the transferred animation cache.

No supported external training frameworks, runtime engines or model formats are named, and no API details appear on the page. Software API access is listed as an Enterprise feature. The supported API functions, programming language and integration targets are not specified.

Web app or desktop seat

The software can run through a browser-based web application or as a standalone desktop program. The web application uses account-based access. Paid plans include a web workspace and project history, while the free plan includes signed-in application access and an account dashboard. Paid subscriptions also include a desktop licence. The standalone build supports Windows, Linux and macOS.

Licences, billing and machine activations are managed through the account dashboard. Existing users of version 2.0 retain separate access to legacy accounts and downloads through the older service.

Four plans and one revenue line

The Free plan costs $0 per month (That’s why it is called free)). It includes account access, OBJ import and export and the core sculpting tools. It does not include Alembic exchange or the paid deformers.

https://mush3d.com/pricing

The Indie subscription targets artists and companies with annual revenue below $100,000. It costs $29 per month or $290 per year. Indie includes the web workspace, desktop licence, project history, Alembic import and export, Sculpt Deformer, Wrinkle Deformer, Jiggle Deformer, Transfer Shapes Deformer, Pose Trainer, tetrahedral simulation and skin wrinkle simulation.

The Pro subscription targets companies with annual revenue above $100,000 that use the software in production. It costs $98 per month or $980 per year. Pro contains the same listed creative tools as Indie and permits commercial use above the $100,000 annual revenue threshold.

The Enterprise plan costs $149 per month or $1,490 per year. It adds floating seats, team licence management, an offline activation manager, a licence-manager server and software API access. All three paid plans are subscriptions. No perpetual licence.

Alembic does the handoff

Paid editions use Alembic for animated geometry import and export. That keeps the application outside the source DCC while preserving access to moving mesh data. The free edition exchanges OBJ files instead. OBJ carries geometry but does not provide the full paid Alembic animation-cache workflow described for production use.

One layer, several resolutions

Multi-resolution cache sculpting addresses a specific problem. Animation caches may arrive at one resolution, while an artist needs access to broader forms and fine surface detail during correction. The software reconstructs subdivision levels from the animated cache. Artists can move between resolutions while keeping changes on a shared layer across the mesh stack. That shared layer lets broad edits and detailed surface work belong to the same modification structure.

Cloning tools can transfer surface detail from other meshes. The same cloning approach supports correction of FACS and blend shape transfers between different faces. These controls place manual sculpting beside the automated deformers. Pose Trainer handles repeated pose-based corrections, tetrahedral deformation adds larger soft-tissue motion and sculpting remains available for shot-specific work that needs direct artist input.

New tools and workflow changes should always be tested on representative assets before entering production. A troublesome shoulder from an actual show will reveal more than a beautifully behaved demo creature.

• Mush3D 3.0 release article
• Mush3D product page
• Mush3D pricing

The post Mush3D 3.0 Adds Soft Tissue Tools first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.