Blender Gets Handy New Assistant Tool For Sculpting

Blender may not be a full replacement for ZBrush when it comes to sculpting, but it has made significant progress in recent versions. Being free to use certainly helps, and it's no surprise that many artists rely on it for sculpting. As with other aspects of Blender, there's a dedicated community around it, with users creating various tools to streamline the process.

Calappa Lab is working on CL Sculpt Assistant, which makes sculpting in Blender more convenient. It lets you quickly access common tools like masking, visibility toggles, and brushes using keyboard shortcuts or a pie menu. It also adds panels directly to the viewport. Beyond the UI improvements, the add-on also introduces extra features like Base Point Bend for bending joints and Depth Limit to prevent adding or removing too much geometry. Since most of the core features are complete, the early access version is already available for purchase.

The demo above shows a feature that lets you draw guides to generate wrinkles exactly where you want them. The developer explains that, unlike realistic cloth simulations in tools like Marvelous Designer, it's designed for practical tasks, like quickly adding clean wrinkles to specific areas of game models.

See more of CL Sculpt Assistant in action:

The early access version costs ¥800, but it's available for ¥500, which is around $3, until October 31. To use CL Sculpt Assistant, you'll need Blender 4.5 and above.

Blender 5.3 is currently in beta, and everyone is welcome to test it and help the developers identify and fix issues before the final release, set for November 10.