Blender School - CGCookies Core: Sculpting

 Digital Sculpting with Kent Trammell

The first Core course begins! 

C01L01_sculpt-mode-overview

How to enter sculpt mode. Note that it's context-sensitive, so the object you actively select must be sculptable, so it won't be available if you select a camera or a light.

In Sculpting, you need to have a lot of vertices for the magic to happen. Consider using a subdivision surface modifier to create a suitable starting object. 

Tip: Apply a selected modifier by hovering in the  N-panel and using Ctrl+A 

Brushes can be selected from the Tool menu (T) on the left or the N-Panel (N) on the right. Having them on both sides at once is redundant.

Using a pen and tablet is advantageous. You get a more intuitive feel for sculpting and better support for pen pressure.

C01L02_sculpt-mode-settings

A Rundown of the main Sculpting tools/brush controls.

In Drawing mode you use the sculpting brush:

Radius (F) sets the size of the brush

Strength (Shift+F) sets how strongly you apply the brush

Weight/rotate brush (Ctrl+F) reorientates the brush/changes its weight

The middle-mouse is to rotate the view. I need to know what the stylus equivalent is.

+/-  Apply the brush (+) / Invert the brush (-)

Brush Settings

Automasking Topology - for meshes that have islands, this ensures that only the select island's vertices are moved. Example: Suzanne has separate eyeballs. When this option is selected the eyes don't get distorted when you sculpt the head mesh.

Front Faces Only - Key setting because a brush will deform hidden vertices. It's not good behaviour by default. Select this to ensure that the brush only moves the vertices on the side of the object facing you.

Other brush settings will be covered later (apparently).

Stroke

Another important setting is the option to stabilize stroke. This can take the shakes and involuntary movements for your inputs -- also helping the UI become less responsive?

Falloff  Sets how the effect of a brush is reduced over distance.

Auto-symmetry is a useful tool for applying changes on multiple mesh sides.

In the symmetry menu is an option to Symmetrize. This lets you retrospectively apply changes across the three axes. Very useful. Somewhat hidden!

Dynotopo is an important tool for making areas of a mesh or less dense for applying different levels of detail. It will be covered in a later lesson.

First bash! Clay material from Sanctus