The project's README from github.com/islandmed/SculptForge. As one markdown file: README.md.
The free, open-source alternative to ZBrush.
Digital sculpting for VFX, animation and games on Linux, macOS and Windows, with free built-in AI:
an AI brush creator and image/text to 3D.
Website & demo videos · Download · User guide · Features · Build from source · Contribute · Discord · Membership
SculptForge is a free, open-source alternative to ZBrush: a focused sculpting app with the brushes, symmetry and navigation ZBrush artists already know. It costs nothing, has no subscription, runs natively on Linux as well as Windows and macOS, and comes with source code you can change. It starts instantly, works offline, and fits into game and animation pipelines: sculpt a character, generate its LODs, sculpt blend shapes, and send it straight into Unreal Engine. AI comes built in and free: describe a brush and the AI brush creator (Brush Lab) builds it, or turn a sketch, concept art or a description into a sculptable model. No account or key is needed. Prefer your own? Plug in Claude, fal.ai or Meshy, or run models entirely on your own machine.
| SculptForge | ZBrush | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, forever | Subscription |
| Source code | Open (GPL-3.0) | Closed |
| Linux | Native | Not available |
| Familiar brushes, symmetry, Alt/Shift modifiers | Yes | Yes |
| Send to Unreal, LOD chains, blend shapes → morph targets | Built in | Via plugins / export |
| Image or text → sculptable 3D model | Built in (free models) | No |
| Gaussian splats, OpenUSD / USDZ | Built in | No |
| AI agents (MCP), headless scripting | Built in | ZScript |
| Masking, face groups, visibility (Ctrl / Ctrl+Shift, lasso or rectangle), vertex paint, Lit Spheres | Yes | Yes |
| Vertex Paint layers with blend modes (Multiply, Overlay, Screen...) | Yes (new in 0.4) | Opacity only |
| Texture painting on UVs (1K-8K, same paint layers), automatic UV unwrap | Yes (new in 0.5) | Polypaint, converted to a texture |
| Automatic quad retopology (ZRemesher-style) and Project All detail transfer | Yes (new in 0.5) | Yes |
| Quads kept from import, shown and exported as quads | Yes (new in 0.4) | Yes |
| Parts (separate meshes: append, split, merge, solo, Alt+click to select) | Yes (new in 0.3) | Yes |
| Gizmo: move, scale, rotate and pose (masked parts, soft joints, All Parts) | Yes (new in 0.5) | Yes |
| Send to ZBrush (GoZ-compatible exchange) | Yes (new in 0.2; not yet tested against a live ZBrush) | Yes |
| Multiresolution (subdivision levels), dynamic topology, UV editing | Not yet (roadmap) | Yes |
SculptForge doesn't read ZBrush's proprietary .ZTL/.ZPR files directly. Bring models over with Send to ZBrush (.GoZ
files keep face groups, mask and vertex paint), as OBJ, FBX or GLB, or convert a ZTool library once with the
SculptForge ZTL Export plug-in for ZBrush, after which SculptForge opens the .ZTL files.
Status: early release (v0.8). The core sculpting, pipeline and AI features work and are tested on every commit. Version 0.8 adds dynamic topology (Sculptris Pro style: brushes add triangles where they need them), vector displacement brushes, Quad Remesh Guides and sculpt layers on every subdivision level; 0.7 added ZBrush-style keys and gestures and a Blender bridge add-on; 0.6 halved the memory and made the view twice as fast on huge meshes (see the changelog).
A ZBrush-style interface
,) of thumbnails, the
brush picker (B, type letters to pick), hold-Ctrl help on every button, a command palette (F3) and a script
console (`), and a fully customizable layout with Store Config. See docs/ui-design.md.Sculpting
.sfproj) that keep everything, with an unsaved-changes prompt, recent files and autosave.Free built-in AI: Brush Lab (describe a brush, AI builds it)
.sfbrush files or one-line brush codes (right-click > Copy brush code, Ctrl+V to paste one). Studios share
a folder through SCULPTFORGE_BRUSH_PATH, and the
community gallery installs brushes in one click
(Brush > Community brushes). See docs/brushes.md.Free built-in AI: Generate 3D from an image or text
ComfyUI, both ways
Game & animation pipelines
usdchecker.Blender bridge
addons/blender): select objects, Send to SculptForge,
sculpt, Send to Blender. The objects update in place, keeping transforms, materials and modifiers; quads, UVs,
colours, mask and face sets come across both ways. See the guide and
docs/blender.md.ZBrush interchange
.GoZ import/export with face groups, mask, vertex paint and UVs, and Send to ZBrush (Send / Receive) on Windows and
macOS. Every visible Part goes over as its own ZBrush SubTool. See docs/goz.md; the live bridge hasn't been tested against a running ZBrush yet.Gaussian splats
.splat, glTF KHR_gaussian_splatting and OpenUSD
ParticleField3DGaussianSplat.Automation
sculptforge-cli runs every operation headless, for build farms and pipelines.sculptforge-cli --mcp) lets Claude Code, Claude Desktop or any MCP client
sculpt, convert and export.--demo … --record). |
 |
| Brush Lab: "dry cracked mud", designed by a local model | One-click LODs, blend shapes and Send to Unreal |
Built for studios with their own pipelines: VFX Reference Platform CY2026/CY2027
builds (GCC 14, glibc 2.28/2.34, C++20, Python 3.13), a Python API (import sculptforge), a Rez
package, headless CLI and farm rendering, OpenUSD/FBX/glTF, native Linux, and no licence server. The GPL lets
you modify it in-house without publishing your changes. See docs/studios.md.
Download for Windows · Download for macOS · Download for Linux (AppImage, x86_64)
Every link gets the newest version. install/ has the full list (.deb, .rpm, ARM64, portable .zip, Arch) and what to do after downloading. Or install with one command:
# macOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/islandmed/SculptForge/main/install/install.sh | sh
# Windows (PowerShell)
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/islandmed/SculptForge/main/install/install.ps1 | iex
The builds aren't code-signed yet. On macOS, right-click the app and choose Open the first time. On Windows, if SmartScreen appears, choose More info → Run anyway. Studio builds (VFX Reference Platform, Rez), older versions and checksums are on the releases page.
Requirements: CMake 3.24+ and a C++20 compiler (GCC 11+, Clang 14+, Xcode 15+ or Visual Studio 2022). Dear ImGui, GLM and (if it isn't installed already) SDL3 are fetched automatically. AI features use libcurl on Linux and macOS, and the built-in WinHTTP on Windows.
# Linux only: install compilers and X11/Wayland/GL/curl headers (Debian/Ubuntu or Fedora/RHEL)
sudo ./packaging/linux/install-build-deps.sh
cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build --parallel
ctest --test-dir build --output-on-failure
./build/sculptforge # Windows: build\Release\sculptforge.exe · macOS: open build/SculptForge.app
cpack in the build folder makes the platform's packages (.deb/.rpm/.tar.gz, .dmg, or installer and
.zip).
# LOD chain for a game asset
sculptforge-cli -c 'open path=rock.obj; export_lods path=out/rock.glb levels=4 ratio=0.5'
# Concept art or a description -> sculptable 3D model (free, via Hugging Face)
sculptforge-cli -c 'image_to_3d path=hero.png; export_usd path=hero.usdz'
sculptforge-cli -c 'text_to_3d prompt="a stylised dragon head"; export_glb path=dragon.glb'
# Sculpt -> Unreal (static mesh with 4 LODs, 2 m tall)
sculptforge-cli -c 'open path=statue.obj; unreal_send destination=/Game/Props height_cm=200 lods=4'
# Phone capture -> watertight base mesh
sculptforge-cli -c 'open path=scan.ply; splat_transform rotate_x=180 fit=true; splat_clean; splat_to_mesh resolution=256; export_glb path=base.glb'
# Design a brush (free, no key) and save it for the team
sculptforge-cli -c 'brush_ai prompt="weathered stone edges"; brush_save path=stone.sfbrush'
# ...or with a private local model
sculptforge-cli -c 'brush_ai prompt="weathered stone edges" provider=openai-compatible model=qwen3:4b-instruct'
# Review-sheet turntable (8 frames)
sculptforge model.glb --render review/model.png --turntable 8 --size 1024x1024
Run sculptforge-cli --list for every command.
claude mcp add sculptforge -- /path/to/sculptforge-cli --mcp # Claude Code
For Claude Desktop or other MCP clients, add a stdio server whose command is sculptforge-cli with the
argument --mcp. The agent gets every command as a tool and works on one live scene per session.
The user guide has the full list (it's also in the app: F1 for Controls, Shift+F1 for the guide).
| Action | Input |
|---|---|
| Sculpt | Left-drag on the model |
| Subtract / invert | Hold Alt |
| Smooth | Hold Shift |
| Rotate | Left-drag background, or right-drag |
| Pan | Alt + left-drag background, or middle-drag |
| Zoom | Mouse wheel, Ctrl + middle-drag, or Ctrl + left-drag background when nothing is masked |
| Paint / erase mask | Hold Ctrl / Ctrl+Alt while stroking |
| Invert / clear mask | Ctrl + click / Ctrl + drag on the background |
| Isolate / hide face group | Ctrl+Shift + click / Ctrl+Shift+Alt + click |
| Select a Part | Alt + click it |
| Show all | Ctrl+Shift + click on the background |
| Hide outside / inside a rectangle | Ctrl+Shift + drag / Ctrl+Shift+Alt + drag |
| Pen pressure | Strength (and optionally size); curve and test area in Preferences > Tablet |
| Pen eraser end | Inverts the brush (Ctrl + eraser erases mask); or Smooth / Erase mask |
| Pen side buttons | Lower: right-click (drag to rotate), upper: Alt (invert), third: pan; remappable |
| Brush size | [ / ] |
| Select brush | 1–9, 0 |
| Paint brush / pick colour | P / C |
| Toggle X symmetry / wireframe | X / Shift+F |
| Gizmo: Move / Scale / Rotate / back to Draw | W / E / R / Q (Alt+drag: the gizmo only; Shift snaps) |
| Frame model | F |
| Subdivide | Ctrl+D |
| Undo / Redo | Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Shift+Z |
| Open / Save project / Save as | Ctrl+O / Ctrl+S / Ctrl+Shift+S |
| Export GLB | Ctrl+E |
| Send to Unreal | Ctrl+U |
Graphics tablets (Wacom, XP-Pen, Huion ...) work through the system's tablet driver on Windows (Windows Ink), macOS and Linux (Wayland / X11). Setup and mappings: docs/tablet.md.
src/core Mesh, BVH, brushes & recipes, layers, undo, subdivision, decimation,
voxel remesh, Gaussian splats, image-to-3D, command registry (no GPU/UI)
src/io File formats: OBJ, FBX, glTF/GLB (+ KHR_gaussian_splatting), PLY, .splat, USDA/USDZ
src/ai AI services (free built-in and bring-your-own): HTTPS client, brush assistant, image/text-to-3D services, Gradio client
src/link Live links to game engines (Unreal Python remote execution)
src/cli sculptforge-cli and its MCP server
src/render OpenGL 3.3 renderer, splat renderer, offscreen capture
src/app SDL3 + Dear ImGui application, scripted demo recorder
src/python Python module (import sculptforge)
packaging Linux desktop/AppStream files, Windows resources, Arch PKGBUILD, Rez package
website Project website (GitHub Pages)
tests Unit tests
SculptForge has no telemetry, no account and no servers of its own. AI features are optional and talk directly to the service you choose. See docs/ai-services.md for exactly what is sent where, and for the licences of the AI models.
Contributions are welcome: bug reports, brushes, docs and code. Read CONTRIBUTING.md and the Code of Conduct. For questions, tips and showing your work, join the SculptForge Discord; bugs and feature requests go to GitHub issues. Please report security issues privately (see SECURITY.md).
Copyright © 2026 The SculptForge contributors.
SculptForge is free software, licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later. You own everything you make with it; the GPL covers the program, not your models. Third-party components and their licences are listed in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.
SculptForge is an independent project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Maxon, Epic Games, Autodesk, Pixar, the Khronos Group, Hugging Face, Tencent, Microsoft, Stability AI, Anthropic, fal or Meshy. ZBrush, GoZ, MatCap and other ZBrush feature names are trademarks of Maxon Computer GmbH. Unreal and Unreal Engine are trademarks of Epic Games, Inc. FBX is a trademark of Autodesk, Inc. glTF is a trademark of the Khronos Group Inc. Other names are trademarks of their respective owners.
The free, open-source alternative to ZBrush. Sculpting for Linux, macOS and Windows with free built-in AI (image/text to 3D), Send to Unreal, game-ready LODs, Gaussian splats and OpenUSD.