We are thrilled to announce our 5th Sketchfast modelling competition!

Pixar is one of the most renowned 3D Animation companies in the world. Films like Toy Story, Finding Nemo and Brave have set the bar for animation for each new generation. Sketchfast #5 is about celebrating Pixar’s upcoming release - Monsters University.

For this weekend’s challenge, we would like you to imagine and create a new character that fits into the Monster’s world. This model could be made for games or CG quality production. We’re looking for characters that are visually appealing and could easily fit within their universe.

Selection will be made according to the quality of the realisation and the originality of the concept.

Contest rules:

• 1 entry per user
• Original artwork
• Only models made for the contest, over the 72 hours of its duration will be considered.
• upload your model on http://sketchfab.com (free registration).
• tag your model with sketchfast5 for consideration

Any question? Reach out to support@sketchfab.com

Can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with!

We are pleased to announce we now have an exporter for the popular modo 3D software! You can now publish your models directly from modo to Sketchfab in 1 click!

Here is a video demo:

And a step-by-step tutorial on how to use it:

1) Register for free on sketchfab.com and get your API key on your dashboard

2) Download the modo exporter here: sketchfab.com/exporters

3) Run Modo

4) In the Menu Bar, Click on “System" menu and then click on “open User Configs Folder".

5) Open the zip archive and copy the “SketchFab" folder, in this “User Configs" folder.

6) Quit modo and run it again.

7) Now, you can find a new “Sketchfab" button in the ToolBar above the viewport.

Here is the model example:

We are very happy to finally release our Zbrush to Sketchab exporter, letting you publish your models directly from Zbrush to Sketchfab in a couple of clicks!

Here is a quick video demo, and below the installation instructions.

1 - Open explorer on PC or finder on Mac, in ZBrush’s installation folder:

(By default on Windows : C:\Program Files (x86)\Pixologic\ZBrush 4R5\)

(By default on MacOSX : /Applications/ZBrush 4R5/)

2 - Enter the “ZStartup" folder, then the “ZPlugs" folder

3 - Download the zbrush2sketchfab exporter on sketchfab.com/exporters and unzip it.

4- Open the appropriate zip archive (mac or windows, according to your system) and copy the “Sketchfabdata" folder and “Sketchfab.zsc" file in the “ZPlugs" folder.

5 - Run ZBrush, you must have a new “SketchfabUploader" sub-palette in the “Zplugin" menu.

6 - Fill in title, caption, API key (you can find it on your Sketchfab dashboard)

Special thanks to Nick, Pietro, Thomas and Maxime who put a lot of work for it!

And here is the test model embedded below :)

This is a guest post by Heimdall

Hey there! My name is André Mucci Nolandi, I’ve been studying 3D for about one and a half year aiming to start working on the video game industry someday. Biggest dream for sure!

This is my first tutorial ever, and here I’ll show you guys a little bit of the workflow I used to create this Alien bust inspired on a mask by Jordu Schell. You can use this workflow on your own projects, as it suits you.

Let’s get started!

Step 1: Setup

I started using a bust basemesh I grabbed from ZBro, which you can find here on his blog.
Basically with the Move Tool, I start adjusting the proportions and sizes according to my reference.
To make things easier for me, I usually separate the mesh in different polygroups, so I can isolate them real quick.

Step 2: Modeling

Start subdividing it and establish the main volumes and primary forms first.
Remember to always use references! I used this ones.
After you’re satisfied with the silhouette and proportions, you can start taking care of secondary forms. Don’t worry about details at this stage, you should focus on a good base. If your base isn’t strong enough, details won’t add any value to your model.
Lastly, you can start bringing some asymmetry and fine details.
I use subdivisions a lot because I can have a better control on the main shapes; basically, raise subdivision to work on details, lower it adjust the silhouette, and so on.

Pro tip: Brushes

For most parts I use only these brushes. Move tool, ClayBuildup and Standard are the main focus in the beginning. Dam_Standard and Pinch will help later with details and refining some shapes.
Standard will be very useful on the final stage, with alphas, to add fine details. Drag and drop works just fine!
Try not to depend much on alphas. Use them carefully and moderately, otherwise it will be too repetitive and won’t look any natural.
For fine details, use a small size for Standard, or maybe Dam_Standard, and add “by hand" the details you wish, like in traditional sculpting techniques!

Step 3: Painting

When you’re satisfied with your model, it’s time for painting.
The painting technique I used is based on layer painting, sorta like in Photoshop. It’s also very similar to a technique used to paint models and masks for movies. Again, traditional technique!
To illustrate better this technique, here’s an awesome video tutorial by Scott Spencer, from 3D World Magazine. It’s a 9 part tutorial, worth every second!

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9.

I basically adjusted and changed the color tones to what I was looking for, something more alienish.

Step 4: Posing

Posing it is very simple. Transpose tool will do the work.
Just mask the bottom half, adjust the rotation axis, and rotate!
In cases like this I usually rotate the base of the bust, because this way his face will keep pointing to the front view.

Step 5: Low-res mesh

Ok! We modeled, detailed, painted and posed. But we have lots and lots of polygons.
Time to create a low resolution version!
For the retopology process, I used Topogun. Here’s some videos with tutorials and instructions.

Pro tip: for this part, focus on the silhouette. Add polygons to smoother parts, in order to maintain the volumes and shapes. Parts like eyes, nose, mouth and ears will require more polygons.
Also try to keep the polygons in similar size. In this case I tried to keep as much quads as possible, but don’t worry much about it. Since it’s not a production model or so, we can use some triangles.
We will convert to triangles later because a triangle is the true form of a polygon, and quads are only our human eyes comfort.

Step 6: UV mapping

Now we got our low-res model, it’s time to transfer all the work we did before on the hi-res version. That means it’s UV time!
I brought the low-res to 3DS Max and unwrapped his UVs. There are many, many other tools for this job, so you’re free to choose.
On ZBrush, I took the hi-res model, decimated it and exported as .obj file. It will be used to bake our maps.

Step 7: Baking

With both hi-res and low-res meshes, I baked the Diffuse and Ambient Occlusion maps in Topogun, and the Normal map in xNormal, which you can grab here.
Super simple and super awesome and fast results!
With those maps baked, I threw them in Photoshop for some minor adjustments and refinements. Since I was in Photoshop I took advantage and created a Specular map as well.

Step 8: Exporting

Now we got out maps created, time to assemble them and export to Sketchfab. The method I used: check the material boxes and change the faces to triangles.
Sketchfab exporters can also be used, you can check them here.

Step 9: Uploading

To upload the model, I compressed the .obj and .mtl file to a .zip, and voilà!

Now you just need to adjust the values for textures and materials until you get a result that suits you.

You can also use the latest Zbrush2Sketchfab exporter, to publish your model directly from inside Zbrush.

I really hope this tutorial was useful somehow for you, and that you enjoyed as much as I did creating it.
Looking forward to see awesome models here! Have fun with Sketchfab!

Here’s some of my other models: sketchfab.com/heimdall
And my other works: dropr.com/heimdall

If any doubts of questions feel free to contact me :D
Comments and critiques are always welcome!

Thank you all for participating in Sketchfast5, and creating amazing characters belonging to the Monsters University world!

The Entries are overall pretty awesome, so as usual it’s been tough to make our selection! We’ve asked the Polycount team to help us for that, and be part of our Jury. So here is our final selection:

#1 - wins $300 cash: Prof Prof. Dr. Armpit by DennisH2010 (ps: check this awesome time lapse video on the creation process):

#2 - wins $150 cash: Tiko by Zafio

#3 - wins $50 cash: Cartoon Gremlins by Danny-art

Cosmo Wenman has spent the last year 3d scanning artwork in museums and using the scans to print life-size reproductions. You can find some of the work on his website: cosmowenman.com

With the aid of Kickstarter, Cosmo is looking to raise $35,000 to fund his project to 3d scan a selection of important sculptures at the Skulpturehalle.

After taking lots of photos, months of post processing and 3d print-proofing, the aim is to publish the 3d printable files into the public domain copyright-free, so that anyone, anywhere can download and print themselves.

This is a fantastic opportunity to make art history come to life in 3d, and we’re happy to support Cosmo with a Sketchfab Pro account to document and experiment with his work.

You can read more about this ambitious project on the Kickstarter page here, and help fund this project until July 6th.

Here are two video tutorials on how to easily publish your models from 3ds Max to Sketchfab. The first tutorial covers how to use the 3ds Max exporter, the other focus’ around manual upload using a .zip file. They also cover multi/sub-object materials so you can upload multiple models with different textures.

3ds Max to Sketchfab using exporter:

3ds Max to Sketchfab using exporter. from Sketchfab on Vimeo.

3ds Max to Sketchfab using a .ZIP file:

3ds Max to Sketchfab without the exporter. from Sketchfab on Vimeo.

Here is the final model: 

If you have any problems, or would like to contribute for a tutorial, contact us: support@sketchfab.com

Sketchfab is very happy to announce that we our now integrated with our friends over at Quirky!

Beginning today, users will be able to browse some of their very best inventions (like the Pivot Power below) in real-time 3D. You can see the 3D previews on their own site, or head over to sketchfab.com and check out the beginning of the collection on Quirky’s brand page.

Quirky is all about making invention accessible, and we believe Sketchfab is a pretty sweet addition and a step further towards this vision. We are also both pioneers in our field: Quirky has revolutionized the invention to production process, and Sketchfab has democratised interactive 3D display online. We think we make a pretty great match :). 

We’ve met with the Quirky team on many occasions, including during some of their famous product evals, and share many of their core values and wishes for the future of invention.

This is just the beginning. We are now working on adding Sketchfab support to Quirky’s amazing invention process. Soon, inventors will be able to submit their ideas to Quirky in 3D, the way they are meant to be seen! There is a 3D design at the beginning of each product story, and now it’s available all along the creation process up to final use.

Until today, Sketchfab’s focus has been on the 3D designers and artists that make up the technical side of our community and our power users; those of you using 3D software to create awesome designs everyday. 

However, we all know the future of the web is in 3D, which means everyday users who don’t necessarily know how to use the software will want to be able to share their own creations in its full, interactive glory.

We’re thrilled to announce that with this in mind, we worked on adding Sketchfab support for Minecraft (download exporter)! Not just an awesome game, Minecraft is a fun way to explore and learn how to create 3D content, without needing to know how to use 3D software. There are so many incredible worlds being created using Minecraft, and what we’re seeing is a large group of people who through a game have found an alternative way to create in 3D.

Since Sketchfab is the tool that lets people display their 3D creations across the web, we knew that we needed to come up with an easy way for Minecrafters to upload and share their work. Today, that solution is ready! Here is a video demo of how to install and use the Minecraft to Sketchfab exporter:

Our hope is that many Minecrafters will use Sketchfab to share their creations with the world. We think that the Minecraft community will love the ability to embed their models anywhere: personal websites, portfolio’s, forums, and even Facebook.

We’re entering a bustling community here. The world of Minecraft is filled with enthusiast blogs, awesome forums, dedicated wikis, block-casts, and many other resources. There’s even a site where Minecrafters created Westeros, in-game – awesome! 

We’re excited to bring this new tool to the community, and hope its used widely. We welcome your feedback, and can’t wait to see your Minecraft creations up on Sketchfab, and across the web! 

You can download the minecraft exporter here. With this 10th exporter, Sketchfab is now covering a very wide range of the most popular tools to create 3D content, and there is more to come!

Microsoft just announced IE 11 will support WebGL. It was the last step to make it THE first web standard to display 3D graphics. It’s a great news for all internet users, and moreover for us, who spend a lot of energy to bring 3D to the web.

Microsoft also announced Windows 8.1 will natively support 3D printing, which is another great news for the industry.

To celebrate this combination of WebGL and 3D printing, we asked Chaitanyak to model a Makerbot Replicator 2, here it is:

And for those who haven’t seen it, here is a 3D model of the Xbox One by Mestaty:

We’ve spent the past weeks working on v 1.15.0, and just released it!

Here is a quick overview of the new features:

• Support of bump textures.
• Support of vertex color in obj file format.
• Referrals: invite 5 of your friends, and get a sketchfab.me account for 1 year for free!
• Commission a 3d model: you can now order a model or apply to become an affiliated Sketchfab author.
• FOV: set the field of view of your models in the edit panel.
• Mobile version: viewer is now (more) mobile friendly :) (see below).
• Performance improvement for faster loading.
• Partners API: create / update / upgrade users remotely.
• Minecraft exporter: allow people to upload minecraft levels

We hope you’ll enjoy those improvements, and we are already working on the next release!

The Sketchfab dev team.

ps: any feature request or suggestion? > support@sketchfab.com

The new “mobile friendly" interface preview:

Dear Sketchfab friends,

We are pleased to announce we will attend our first Siggraph, next week in Anaheim!

We’ll be there from Tuesday 23rd to Thursday 25th, and we’ll have our own Sketchfab booth, number 138! We’ll be more than happy to welcome you all for demos and open discussions.

We’ve got some really exciting new features to show off, including our integration with Leap Motion, Space Navigator demo, and much more. And of course, we’ve got some Sketchfab goodies to give out :).

So if you are around, make sure to come and say hi, we’d love to chat with you! Most of the leadership team will be there, including CTO and chef of our WebGL secret sauce, Cedric Pinson, as well as CEO Alban Denoyel and partnerships lead Ron Golan.

If you’d like to schedule an appointment, feel free to reach out to ron@sketchfab.com

All the Best,

The Sketchfab team

A few days ago, Stéphane Genier released SculptGL, a very simple tool to sculpt a 3D model in a web browser.

As the project is under MIT license, the Sketchfab team decided to put together a quick hack to improve the user interface, an make a new workflow dedicated to publish the model on Sketchfab very easily. That’s how we came up with Sculptfab, a little experiment, enjoy!

Thanks Stéphane for the great SculptGL tool, and we look forward to seeing what sculptures you’ll end up posting.

Leap Motion just released the leap, an amazing 3D motion control device. After our initial hack with Facebook home, we worked on adding Leap Motion support to Sketchfab, and it’s finally ready!

Once you have installed the Leap Motion software, you can browse and interact with any Sketchfab model with your hands! Here are the controls:

• point one finger and turn left or right to rotate the model
• point two separate fingers and turn right or left to pan the model
• point your open hand and move up and down to zoom in or out.

Here is a video demo, with our CEO Alban making a demo at Siggraph:

And if you want to try the ultimate experience of browsing the leap with the leap, here is a 3D model of the device and its box!

This is a guest post by Chaitanya

How to 3D Sculpt in your Browser (no expensive or complicated software to be downloaded), and then optimise and texture the model using free/opensource software.

Welcome to Sculptfab. The sculpting software that runs in your browser!


Discovered this last night… Sketchfab has an experimental browser based sculpting tool! More info on how they got around to it can be seen here. In brief, it started as a project called SculptGL by Stéphane Genier. As the project is under MIT license, the Sketchfab team decided to put together a quick hack to improve the user interface.

For something that runs in your browser its pretty robust! and runs fairly smooth. I played with it a lot! Did a bunch of models right away.

Here is the first attempt:

The second one was much cleaner..


3rd one i took to blender and did some texturing

and then documented the creation of this model.. as a tutorial




view it here:



the process is simple:

STEP 1) do your sculpting online at https://labs.sketchfab.com/sculptfab/]Sculptfab.. use a webgl compatible browser.. (apparently wacom tablets are supported as well).
am sure a version will come out soon that can handle the texturing online.

STEP 2) upload it directly to Sketchfab from there.

optional:
STEP 3) Download the ".obj" file. Import it into meshlab to optimise it.. You may directly take it to blender and see how your computer handles it.. that worked for one of my models .. but generally it probably will be better to optimise it.

STEP 4) After getting it to Blender, texture paint it and then upload the new modle and texture to Sketchfab.

optional:

STEP 5) open the texture in Gimp and convert it to a normal map.. add that to the sketchfab model.

Links:

Sculptfab - https://labs.sketchfab.com/sculptfab/
Meshlab - http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/
Blender - http://www.blender.org/

Original blog post here.

We receive a lot of questions about how to optimise transparency on Sketchfab, so here is a blog post to give you some tips!

A little story about order, and why it matters

Rendering transparent objects is done by blending colors. Objects are drawn one by one on top of each other and depending on the order they are rendered, the blending result differs.

• Left: Green square is in front of the red one.
• Right: Red square is in front of the green one.

Offline renderers like raytracers and modeling tools favour quality over performance. They can afford to sort each triangle before rendering a frame, so blending is not an issue.

When achieving realtime performance level there is a limitation due to raster algorithms; polygons are drawn by batches, and per batch the order in which polygons are drawn can’t be predicted.

That’s why Sketchfab makes a compromise between transparency quality and speed by sorting transparent objects and not transparent polygons.

How to improve transparency on models

For better results you want to avoid merging your transparent objects in only one geometry. You should also avoid objects that overlap much over themselves, and split theses objects into smaller objects as needed.

For instance, bellow is a full sphere which does not give great transparency because the front and back faces are drawn in the same batch. 

But the more the sphere is split into smaller objects, the nicer the results are.

Alpha textures

Alpha textures are subject to the same difficulties so you have to avoid overlapping meshes and split into smaller parts if necessary.
You can place alpha textures on a material by either placing a transparent png (RGB+alpha) on the diffuse channel or placing a grayscale image on the opacity channel.

In any case, always feel free to reach out to the team at support@sketchfab.com if you struggle with that!

We are happy to share that Sketchfab has recently surpassed 50,000 members. This important milestone reflects the fantastic community that we have built together, in just over a year.

We have been watching every single upload, and are amazed on a daily basis by how talented our users are. The traffic we get, our staff picks or the fabulous entries for the recent Polycount VGremix speak for themselves.

With your continued support, we will develop Sketchfab into the best service to publish, share and embed 3D models. Your ideas and feedback inspire us to continue to push ourselves to implement new features, and interact with the community.

What we are building is at the intersection of technology and creation. Our goal is to make the technology so good that you forget about it and can focus on the creation.

We’re now over 50k strong, and that’s thanks to you. 

-The Sketchfab Team

We’re happy to announce that Sketchfab has just been integrated on Indiegogo. Go and try it, you can now very easily embed your 3D models into your Indiegogo campaigns! Our friends at FABtotum are currently using this brand new feature to showcase their all-in-one 3D printer & scanner. You can have a glimpse here.

This means that you can now promote your project with a new media format! Both cutting-edge and innovative, embedding real-time 3D display is a great way to create a wow effect and make your campaign stand out from others. This will also help you get maximum exposure for your project - Not only on Indiegogo, but also on Sketchfab and wherever you embed the viewer. 

Just following our news on our Indiegogo integration, we’re happy to announce that Sketchfab has just been integrated on Linkedin. You may have a 3D portfolio on your personal website and on Sketchfab, and now you can also have it right inside your Linkedin profile! That’s probably the most professional way to showcase your actual 3D skills to a possible employer or client.

Embedding on Linkedin is super easy and you’ll be able to showcase once again your projects to all your connections in full interactive 3D glory. Here is how a 3D gallery on your Linkedin profile can look like: