Suggestion: Adding VR Sculpting and 3D Drawing Tools Like Shapelab and Quill to Blender
Hello, Blender team and community,
I’d like to suggest adding VR interaction features for sculpting, animation, and drawing in Blender. The software Shapelab offers tools very similar to Blender’s sculpting mode, and since Blender already supports VR scene visualization, adding the ability to sculpt directly in VR could be an amazing enhancement. In VR, we gain a true sense of the 3D space, which can significantly improve the sculpting experience.
Additionally, I recommend incorporating features inspired by the Freebird XR add-on, such as VR-based bone pose manipulation. However, the add-on currently has stability issues and frequently stops working. Having such functionality integrated directly into Blender would be a significant improvement and much more reliable for users.
Furthermore, tools like those in Quill by Smoothstep could inspire a new way to create in Blender. Being able to draw directly in a 3D space offers a unique and expressive visual style. Adapting Grease Pencil to enable this kind of spatial drawing would unlock tremendous creative potential.
Artists often use Shapelab and Quill for specific tasks and then export their work to Blender for refinement because these tools are typically limited. Unfortunately, such workflows aren’t always smooth due to compatibility issues. By integrating these features directly into Blender, you could make it a one-stop solution for VR-based creation and attract even more users.
I am attaching a small animation in GIF format made in Quill.
Thank you for considering this suggestion!
2 Comments
VR is incredibly niche. There are far more features that need attention before putting any focus on VR improvements.
I agree, but the features I mentioned are already present in Blender in some form. The idea is simply to make them usable with VR equipment. (Controller tracking and interactions are already implemented as well.) What’s missing is a straightforward interface, similar to what Freebird XR has done. Considering that “all the pieces” are already available in the current version of the software, I believe this wouldn’t require much development time to implement. It doesn’t need to be a priority, just something that could be worked on during downtime between other implementations.