Start Sculpting!
This tutorial assumes that you already have Blender, python, and Primstar installed.
It also assumes that you have learned how to move the camera in Blender, and the use basic editing hotkeys (Grab, Rotate, and Scale, along with the X, Y, and Z constraints).
If you haven’t done either of these, check out the previous tutorials:
Starter 1: InstallationStarter 2: Blender 3D Basics
Open up Blender, if you haven’t already, and lets get started.
Split Screen
Before we go too far, I’m going to have you split your view area.
Hover your cursor over the edge between your 3D View area and the top menu. When your cursor changes to the double-arrow resize cursor, right-click and select “Split Area.” (Click the image on the right to enlarge.) Then place the split line somewhere in the middle of your 3D View division. You’ll now have two identical 3D Views.
Of course, you can change the angle of each division separately now to see different sides of your mesh at once, however, you can also change the divisions to show something else entirely.
On the bottom left of each of your 3D views, you will see a tiny menu with an image that looks like a grid. If you click it, it will give you a list. You’ll see that your current division type is named ’3D VIEW’. Oh my gosh.
Most of the other types are irrelevant to sculpties, but I want you to change the right division from the 3D View, to the WindowsUV/Image Editor. Right now there isn’t anything in the UV/Image Editor, but this window will probably become one of your best friends in the long run. This division setup is actually very common for making sculpts. Eventually you may want to make it part of your default settings.
You may notice that EACH division has that same menu. The default division on the top is named User Preferences. The default division on the bottom is the Buttons Window.
Adding a Sculpt Mesh
Right now, everything in your 3D space is useless for making sculpts. Tap A once or twice to select it all, and tap the delete key to get rid of it.
Adding a sculpt mesh to our 3d space (or scene) is made ridiculously easy by the Primstar scripts. With your cursor in the 3D View, tap SPACEBAR, and then go to Add > Mesh > Sculpt Mesh.
You’re then presented with a dialog. Click on the Shape field to choose which shape you want to start with. For this tutorial, start with a Cylinder).
There are a lot of other options for your sculptie. For now, I want you to change Subsurf to Multires (marked in red). Check “default” and then click “Build”.
Edit Mode
Blender works in several different modes. Luckily you only need to know about two. You are currently in Object Mode. You can only select entire objects in your 3DView.
The other mode we need is Edit Mode, which will allow us to move individual vertices on our cylinder. Tapping the TAB key toggles between Object Mode and Edit Mode. Switch to Edit Mode now.
The lower division of your screen is the Buttons division. The menu of the button division lets you look at different button sets, depending on what you want to do. Tap F9 or select the Editing button in the Buttons menu if you aren’t already looking at the Edit buttons.
Lets also turn off that annoying axis thing by clicking this hand icon:
Selecting Vertices
You’ll notice that you can select individual vertices by right-clicking, and you can also shift-click to select additional vertices. But there are other selection tools that make selecting a lot of vertices very easy.
 Press B once to start Box Selection mode. Your cursor will become a cross hair, and you can click and drag to define an area to select. |
 If you press B twice, you’ll start Brush Selection mode, which will change your cursor into a circle that you can use to ‘paint’ your selection. You can make your brush larger or smaller by using your scroll wheel. |
 Finally, if you hold down ALT and right-click on one of the lines (or edges) of your mesh, you can select an edge loop. |
All of these methods of selecting vertices will be useful while you’re forming your sculptie.
Proportional Edit Falloff
The next thing you will want to know about is Proportional Edit Falloff, as it cuts down on a lot of work.
Select a few vertices using whatever method you’d like and press G, R, or S, to manipulate them. Notice how, by default, Blender only moves the vertices you have selected. We can change this default behavior by using Proportional Falloff.
Depending on your screen resolution, the Proportional Falloff icon 
may be hidden because of the split screen. Use the mouse wheel to click on the 3D View menu and drag it to the left until you see the icon.
Find the icon that looks like a donut (shown above) and select either On or Connected. (All of our vertices are connected, so either mode works the same.) You’re now presented with another menu, but we’ll play with that later. Make sure all of your vertices are deselected (tap A) and then choose one vertex on one edge of your mesh. Tap G to grab and watch what happens! Now try R and S.
You can change the area size that the falloff effects by tapping Page Up or Page Down.
Now fiddle with that other menu to the right of the falloff button.
Now select an entire row of vertices by using the Box Select tool, or Alt-Right-Click on a horizontal edge. Now scale (S) to see what happens. Try making a chess piece or a table leg.
After you’ve finished your mesh, we need to convert it to a sculpt map image. We’ll be doing this by using the Primstar scripts.
Baking
Before we get any further, you should rename your object to something meaningful. I’ve marked in yellow the Object name field on the image to the left. Click on the image to enlarge it.
Your object is probably named something like “Cylinder.” I’ve already renamed this mesh to “pawn.”
I have to admit, I often skip this step, but naming your objects has a lot of advantages. For one, if you name the object, the Primstar scripts will automatically name your sculpt map by the same name. It also helps with organization later, if you have a file with many different objects and you need to keep track of them.
The Bake Script
Anyway. Go to the top menu. Select Render > Bake Sculpt Meshes (marked in red). You’ll now be presented with the Primstar bake dialog. There are a lot of options, but the defaults should be fine, so just click the Bake button (marked in yellow).
You should now see a rainbow image in your UV/Image Editor division.
Now all you need to do is save the image. In the UV/Image Editor menu, go to Image > Save As. (Marked in green.)
Browse to your desired save folder and save the sculpt map.
Importing into Second Life (or other Grids)
Log into Second Life, or your grid of choice and go to File > upload image and select your sculpt. In the preview menu, select Preview as: sculpted prim, and it will show you a preview of your sculpt. If something looks wrong and you can’t figure out why, contact me.
These screenshots were actually taken in a grid called Avatar Hangout. Uploads there are free, which is convenient for tutorials. (And for experimenting! I recommend finding a grid with free uploads if you want to try things out without spending money.)
Anyway. build a default box on the ground somewhere. Make sure that you’re seeing the advanced tabs (click on More>>), then go to the Object tab (marked in green). Now change the Building Block Type to Sculpted (marked in yellow). Now you can replace the default sculpt mesh with the one you just uploaded.
This is my sculptie imported into the grid. Notice it looks pretty much exactly as it did in Blender up close, but as I zoom away from it, it loses a lot of detail. This is referred to as LOD. With Blender, we can actually have almost complete control over how these different detail levels look. So lets go on to the next tutorial: Multires.
Hey I was wondering, can you tell me maybe what version of python works with windows 7 ultimate?
Which exact version of blender too?
My english isn’t so great so having trouble getting the right download link. many of them listed on the pages.
Would help me get started. thanks =)
Well, probably the easiest option to go with would be the 32-bit Windows installer for version 2.49b, with Python 2.6. The site says both should work with Windows 7, so you should be good to go
Every time I try to create a “Sculpt Mesh” it gives me the “Python Script Error”. I have both installed. On the Blender website download it says next to the download link “Python 2.3″ so I assume I needed to download 2.3. I did and the same problem keeps happening.
I think the python version that you want is 2.6.5. That’s the python version that I have, and it works okay. Try installing that, and if you have any more trouble, lemme know.
im having the same problem. im using 2.6.5. every time i try to use it i get a python error
Okay. You guys will probably have better luck getting help at Domino’s site rather than mine. The people who frequent the forums are rather good at helping people.
Knowing exactly how to help requires knowing what the error is, for starters. Look at the console (Blender’s other window) to read any error information. That will give you (and anyone trying to help you) a better idea of what your problem is.
Hi
Your tutorials are brilliant.
Originally I struggled like hell to install Dominoes Scripts. Then I found this http://blog.machinimatrix.org/3d-creation/jass-2-1/
Its a version of blender with Python and Domino scripts already installed and ready to go from the start.
Hope I haven’t spoken out of turn.
well may be I came late, but discovering the tuto
let install python
using the windows start menu, find and launch the python(command line)
in the new window type :
import sys (return)
print sys.path
that will give you the directory to add in the windows variable.
you will have to du some change in the list
copy it in a textpad or write or what ever
put the result of the print in one line
replace \\ with \
replace , with ;
replace the ” at the begining with .
remove the braket
remove the remaining ‘
now create a new system variable call PYTHONPATH and use the corrected text as value
…
hope this help, and ecuse my english
I’ve been baffled by Blender for the past month — it’s just such a huge program. Your tutorials are the easiest-to-follow I’ve found. Thank you!
I’m having a hard time replicating the pawn. It’s like if I use the box to highlight verticies and use the donut to and scal, the part not highlighted seems to do more morphing.
Also, how do you close the top of the cylinder?
Did you play around with using Page Up and Page Down (or your scroll wheel) to change the falloff’s area of influence? And try using the different falloff options to see if you could get different results?
And the easiest way to close off the top like that is just to select the top edge loop and scale it to 0. (Tap S, then zero).
OK… So I got it all to work now… But when I go to bake sculpt mesh it doesnt apear on the second screen when I followed every step…
and I don’t know if it saved or not because I doesnt tell me the file name… just “tk#4″
What IS in the second screen? Screenshot might help. Post in the forums maybe.
Hi! I love your tuts! and everything is working great except when I upload to sl my sh*t looks totally distorted. I used JPEG for the Sculpty-map.
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_rWzXLs1LnOk/TB6VCIlPj8I/AAAAAAAAAXc/IYmwCenBSCg/s912/Snapshot_001.jpg
thank you!
Caroline
Because the shape of a sculpt is completely determined by the colors of each pixel on the map, its important that the image file goes through as little compression as possible. While you can get decent compression with a jpeg file, it’s also possible to get a lot of distortion with that format.
So a couple of things. First, try saving the file as a tga or png instead, then when you upload the map, make sure ‘Use lossless compression’ is checked.
So gone thru the tutorial everything looks like its going to work then I add the mesh and My square box turns into a Rainbow Apple looking sphere. Not quite the pawn piece It showed in my Pic Preview. I am troubleshooting with hopes to come back and reply with a resolve. Incase anyone else has this issue.
Uggh 7 hours later and I am so so close damn the arrival of 6:00 am
It kinda sounds like you applied the sculpt map to the surface of the mesh instead of the sculpt image (in the object tab). The default sculpt mesh is an apple, so if you put a sculpt map on the surface texture, it would look like a rainbow apple.
While making sculpties, will it have horrific consequences if I use sculpt mode first to get a basic shape, and then switch to edit mode to refine? Or Does the sculpt mode add more vertices as it sees fit; which might mess with the multires or LOD?
Sculpt Mode shouldn’t change anything about the geometry, so in that regard, it should be fine.
I tend to avoid it as I don’t have much practice with the tool, so I find it rather imprecise. Since there are a pretty limited number of edge loops in a sculpted prim, I like having total control over them, and I find I have better control in Edit Mode than Sculpt Mode.
Like Caroline sais, I get a distorted thingy. It is not smooth it has lumps where the thing in blender did not have lumpiness.
I have it uploaded in targa. I can try different things, but my question is really why does it not look the same. I have the cilinder stitching type. But to be sure I tried other ones too.
Is it everytime you make a sculpty you get this lumpiness? And you have to redo it everytime a couple of time to acidentally get it right? Or is there some thing I can control?
Ehm never mind me. I am sometimes les accurate in the execution of simple little details..liek lossless compression after all :/
Dude/Girl I LOVE you!
. You helped me make my first sculpty!! YAYYYYY! 
. ^_^. I usually prefer video tutorials over written ones, but this one is so easy and simple to follow. I like following steps to make something, instead of learning techniques n then I have to make my own sculpty.
Oh dear. mine turned out like it lost it’s sharp curves :-/ . As if I didn’t down size some of the rows enough. But it looks perfectly fine in Blender! Here are some screen shots:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y188/Unr3achable1tch/Weirdsculptyblendertosl.png
Should I try using a different prim shape to apply the sculpty map to? What did I do wrong
. I saved it as TGA, and uploaded it lossless too.
nope. tried different prim shapes. some were more distored and others just the same. :S
Btw, I’m using SL Viewer 2.1.0
That is really strange. I’ve never seen something like that before. Do you mind sending the file to my email, so I can take a look at it? (My email address is on the contact page.)
Thanks ^_^. I emailed the blend and TGA to ya.
oh and I failed to mention im using blender 2.49b , if thats of any relation.
Hello.
I am using Jass and I am experiencing this issue:
I have created some parts of a boot ( tacco suola calzare etc) and I d like to use those for future projects. As usual, in EDIT MODE , all vertex selected , I baked the single mesh and saved as tga.
When I try to open again one of this mesh the scaling is not respected ( especially in Y axes) and it seems that the object is a lot “smooted” .
I tried to check the KEEP SCALE option in Bake menu but it didnt work.
Any suggestion? TYVM in advance
Gaia
With reference to my previous post…ouch….sorry I have used some italian words into brackets ….the translation is ” heel shoe soles”
The import thing will always give the sculpty square proportions, because the scale isn’t saved in the sculpt map. If you want to use those parts over, I’d suggest looking at my “Multi-Sculpt” tutorial and append the objects to the new blend file.
WOW!! Ty so much!
I’m having.. an issue. I understand most of the tutorial, I got the meshes working and everything like that. But when I hit G, S, or R, when I have vertices selected, it will ONLY move/stretch/rotate the entire mesh, and I can’t figure out why. Also, if I have vertices selected, and I DON’T have PEF selected, I can move them with the mouse, but if I do have PEF selected, I can’t move them at all. Nothing I do seems to really make me able to move selections instead of the entire mesh.
(For example, the bit you said about selecting the top edge loop, then hitting S then Zero to close the cylinder? Yeah, it seemed to reduce my entire object to size zero. What the heck, Blender?)
Never mind… it appears to have fixed itself on reboot? Hah, I spoke too soon.
Great tutorials thanks:)
You always start form the sculpted mesh from primstar and modify it?
Or you can make a mesh and then transform the uv map into a sculpt?
You must always start out with a mesh that has the right format for a sculptie. This doesn’t necessarily mean using Primstar, but Primstar helps you start with a mesh that will work as a sculptie. You can’t, for example, take any ordinary 3D model and make it into a sculptie. It just doesn’t work.
What does “X is not an active sculptie” mean and how do I rectify it? I can’t bake half of the objects in my scene
(X being any given object that I’m trying to bake)
after a while of hard pondering: I had to set the name of the “UV_Tex” to “sculptie”.