Workflows
Shapelab can be incorporated in many workflows accross different industries from game design to filmmaking, from visual arts to healthcare, as virtual reality is beneficial for both professionals and beginners learning 3D design. Here are some examples of real Shapelab users and their experience.
Character creation for concept art
Peter Gregor is a 3D artist working in the Shapelab team. He usually starts sculpting in Shapelab from scratch, and he quickly creates blockouts with the move and the standard tool while easily navigating in 3D space. He sculpts with various brushes for intricate details and uses alphas to create patterns fast. He also paints his models inside Shapelab and exports it to Blender with texture, so he can add the final touches and create renders.
Why Shapelab?
Using VR in his daily work has given him a great advantage in bettering his 3D design skills and making his process much faster. Shapelab’s highly optimized engine and feature set supports traditional professional design workflows unlike other VR creative tools. Peter uses Shapelab in his daily work to create optimized 3D assets for applications and highly detailed renders.
3D printing
Simon Clark, aka ‘Topgunsi’, is an artist creating realistic 3D models, from insects – native to his homeland of New Zealand – to animals and, most importantly, dinosaurs. He creates amazing life-size 3D prints of his models. The most impressive is a life-size t-rex. What started as a hobby project turned into a massive 3D printing job, followed by many people online, who are excited and cheering for every new piece that comes out of the printers.
Why Shapelab?
An advantage of Shapelab he mentions is the simplicity of the UI, and the easy-to-use tools, which are especially helpful for users like Simon, who don’t have a background in 3D sculpting. He loves the regularize brush sets that give him the freedom of control over topology, allowing him to create models that can also be used for world-building and avatar-building in VRChat.
Visual Arts
Multidisciplinary artist Tom Aust, is a traditional sculptor first, but he came to appreciate creating in VR which provided him with a new medium and the ability to work without physical constraints. He sculpts the models in Shapelab and works out the finest details in VR, then uses Blender to create the sculpture-like renders.
Why Shapelab?
VR is a great medium to translate skills from a traditional handicraft background to the digital world, as it can be more accommodating and natural than working on a 2D screen with a mouse and keyboard. Tom also appreciates the topology manipulation options, such as dynamic tesselation. He uses Shapelab to sculpt beautiful art pieces with very fine details. His models often constitute millions of polygons, so the stability and performance of the application is also a must.
Scan processing and editing
Editing 3D scan data is cumbersome work, especially for people who have less routine with traditional desktop 3D software. Cleaning the heavy scan data requires a thorough inspection and takes a long time for users who are not used to navigating in 3D on a flat screen with a keyboard and a mouse. Modifying the mesh to create the final product also requires artistic abilities, precision, and a good grasp of perspective.
Why Shapelab?
With VR controllers, creators can manipulate complex 3D scan files in a more natural and intuitive way, and can view the scanned object from any angle. Additionally, VR tools can help remove any unwanted noise or artifacts from the scan data, and allow creators to apply textures and other modifications to the model. Thanks to the high-performing and robust engine, Shapelab can handle even complex and heavy 3D scan data.
