After sculpting, it may be necessary to retopologize the model to obtain a clean mesh for use in animation or real-time rendering. The topology of a model can be altered continually during the sculpting process as material is added and subtracted, which frees the sculptor from considering the layout of polygons on the model's surface. A limitation of mesh-based sculpting is the fixed topology of the mesh the specific arrangement of the polygons can limit the ways in which detail can be added or manipulated.Ī benefit of voxel-based sculpting is that voxels allow complete freedom over form.

In many mesh-based programs, the mesh can be edited at different levels of detail, and the changes at one level will propagate to higher and lower levels of model detail. Areas of the model that are finely detailed can have very small polygons while other areas can have larger polygons. Still other tools make use of more than one basic geometry representation.Ī benefit of mesh-based programs is that they support sculpting at multiple resolutions on a single model. Material can be added and removed, much like sculpting in clay.

Other digital sculpting tools use voxel-based geometry, in which the volume of the object is the basic element.

This is somewhat similar to the physical process of beating copper plates to sculpt a scene in relief. The majority of digital sculpting tools on the market use mesh-based geometry, in which an object is represented by an interconnected surface mesh of polygons that can be pushed and pulled around. The geometry used in digital sculpting programs to represent the model can vary each offers different benefits and limitations. Digital sculpting, also known as sculpt modeling or 3D sculpting, is the use of software that offers tools to push, pull, smooth, grab, pinch or otherwise manipulate a digital object as if it were made of a real-life substance such as clay.