Blender vs. Nomad Sculpt Comparison

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Érika tries Blender for sculpting for the first time and compares her experience to working in Nomad Sculpt!
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[@SmallRobotStudio]

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[@Tabletsculptingtips]

If a person can afford an iPad Pro and is interested in 3d or 2d digital art then I strongly recommend getting one. I don’t think you’ll regret it. I started out using blender on a laptop with a non-display tablet. The experience was extremely frustrating. To get good at blender I think would take 1 whole year of solid use - I mean at least a few hours a day. Blender is HARD to use, hard to navigate, very non-intuitive. Nomad sculpt on the iPad is the exact opposite: I think that within a month of use, watching tutorials and practising, you can be making really nice things. It is very intuitive and user friendly. But perhaps most important, using Nomad on an iPad Pro is pleasurable, relaxing, even. Plus you can also use great 2d apps like Procreate. I also believe that in the months and years to come, with iPads being so powerful, we will get more 3d apps, apps that can do box modelling etc. So when you are thinking of upgrading your laptop, I would say stop, and consider getting an iPad Pro instead. (Plus the iPad is obviously super portable - I have used mine a lot for urban sketching/painting, I also used mine to do some sculpting “from life” of an exhibit in a museum. I don’t think any other device allows you to do that!) (To save some money, I would recommend getting a refurbished 2021 M1 iPad Pro 12.9inch. I think they will be powerful enough to handle any 3d apps for many years to come)

[@jbb8261]

All of this plus the fact you don’t have to be tied to a desktop or laptop that’ll freeze to sculpt. I’m a new mom and being able to use my tablet in my lap is so much more pleasant than having to load up my computer and be tied to it in another room.

[@kamlu0152]

I was going through the same you helped me :) , so basically i got ipad 2021 M1 with my savings 😢, i was regretting thinking that it couldn’t do 3d and there no such good software on ipad , my dad was regretting too by allowing me to buy it , i came across nomad sculpt , this app has soo good feature ui is not so complex as adobe makes + i have procreate these r going to be good combos thanks 🙏🏽 sadly its paid soo is forger a good option or should i go with nomad ?

[@jbb8261]

@@kamlu0152 nomad is so much nicer than Forger. I have both

[@gamingconnected4859]

I would say get a Surface Pro instead of an iPad Pro. That way you can get the best of both worlds by having a tablet but also able to use Blender. This is coming from a person who has both. I’m actually typing this comment on my iPad Pro M1 version. I truly hope that Apple will one day allow the iPad Pro models maybe the M3 or M4 versions to use MacOS apps. Until then, it’s an over powered iPhone in a tablet form factor.

[@jadonx]

I use a Samsung galaxy tablet S7 and get decent results with Android.

[@herothehedgefox]

I really love these videos! Not only are you a professional artist, but it seems your speaking and educational skills are pro as well. These videos have ZERO fluff and get straight to the point, and they're so easy to follow. Thank you for what you do!!!

[@tbogdala]

I definitely agree with your list of Blender shortcomings for sculpting, but it misses the one that impacts me the most: the difficulty in rotating the camera around the model to get to the spot I want to sculpt. It's just so clunky! I literally bought a 3d mouse to train myself up on that to overcome that problem.

[@jimmydryhands9288]

You know you can go to edit > preferences > navigation > orbit around object right?

[@kimmiesrhythms]

Thanks so much for posting this!

[@SmallRobotStudio]

Thanks a lot for watching❤️

[@cjpips]

I love nomad. I JUST WISH WE COULD RIG AND ANIMATE LIKE BLENDER.

[@SmallRobotStudio]

I think it is more likely to see another app introducing these stages instead of being added to Nomad given that it is a specialty software 🤔

[@TMC3000]

Is there a 3d app on Ipad that can animate though? They have one android called Prisma 3d

[@cjpips]

@Grim6te that would be sweet

[@corimyers4985]

There are animation programs. Naomi is one. But it cannot rig. And Adobe has removed the ability to rig in browser.

[@Chekzy-Official]

you an animate. just make the limbs of the model seperately.

[@Marias3ddruck]

I always try blender first with new sections like sculpting but each time I get super frustrated with the program! In the end I started using nomad and I love it. I can even use it on my iPhone. Very handy when introducing newbies to 3d modeling.

[@leifdux7277]

Recently switched to workflow all on iPAD (Procreate and Nomad Sculpt) and loving it! I can draw anywhere now :3

[@kray3d]

I just got myself an ipad and been playing with Nomad recently. I think what I love most is I can use it anywhere I go. Thanks for making this video!

[@pop2147]

Nomad Sculpt performance is amazing even in 9th gen ipad. Once get desired design, maybe can use blender for texturing and detailing. My R5 2600 can't handle well polygon above 5M. But in ZBrush or Sculptris seems no problem. To speed up workflow, just connect to bluetooth keyboard and bind shortcut key to desired tools.

[@rxdice]

I love blender for box modelling but so far i struggle with sculpting. Ive been spoiled by drawing on my ipad for so long i think lol. Definitely thinking of buying this app for sculpting/texturing and using blender for everything else (retopo, lighting, etc.)

[@enjoyenjoy5721]

Exactly the answer I needed! Great explained and very pleasant voice to learn from! Subscribed!

[@SmallRobotStudio]

Wooo, glad the video was helpful ☺️

[@kevinhouse7143]

Thanks for this comparison. I just started using Nomad and it's nice to see the differences. I wish Blender had a tube tool like Nomad. Btw in Blender in sculpt mode just hover over what you want to select and press "alt or option q" to select what's under your cursor. No need to go to the outliner. 🙂

[@MaxPuliero]

you have tube tool, use grease pencil.

[@SmallRobotStudio]

You can also use curves and add a profile to them like I illustrated the hair creation on the video. Not as intuitive to use as the tube tool but it is more powerful. @YanSculpts has a great video about it

[@kevinhouse7143]

@@SmallRobotStudio Yes on both of those suggestions but they both take you out of the workflow unlike just choosing a tube tool and dragging. Don't get me wrong I love working in Blender, it's just some of the steps for some kinds of sculpting work isn't as intuitive as a dedicated sculpt app.

[@rdtx2049]

Nomad is Nomad and Blander is Blender. Blender is an old program and way too powerful and full of several flexible features. However the dev of No ad is a really nice and hardworking guy. He gives regular updates. I hope he’ll bring new features to the Nomad that’ll make sculpting and even modeling more convenient with powerful features.

[@johndeggendorf7826]

👍Blender is really a whole set of applications under one hood…it’s a whole production environment. Nomad is a very focused toolset…✌️🍷🎩🎩🎩

[@SmallRobotStudio]

Yep, exactly my point. Swiss knife vs specialized tool. Pros and cons on both

[@inactiveaccount6106]

All depends on which 1 you start with. I will probably be frustrated with Nomad when I finally get an iPad. I started in Blender and was frustrated when trying to switch to ZBrush. It really just takes time & patience with everything you learn. The point is that you learn & can apply the techniques to any software once you learn the varying viewport nav quirks for each. Anyway, I think if you're on the go, Nomad is best. I'm at home most of the time, so Blender is fine.

[@vizeath]

Thank you for explaining this... I tried following Blender tutorials... But I always had problems, like something is supposed to happen when I click on something, but somehow mine doesn't work the same way as seen in the tutorial videos... And sometimes the interface on my computer looks different from what I saw on the videos... Maybe they used a different version of Blender which made it harder for a beginner like me to understand them if the menus and settings aren't even the same...

[@solanimals]

Hi Erica, love your videos. Any suggestions for making money from 3D sculpts? What works best? Creating courses, selling assets, etc. For background, I’m an artist and educator.

[@Meshow-dk9db]

You can easily switch between objects in sculpting mode bye hovering over the object and alt+Q , blender is way more advanced with many different options to take your sculpt from a to z without the need to use any other program, unlike nomad

[@garymcderp1146]

Forger on the IPad is also making some improvements. Nomad is still better I think even though Forger has modeling tools along with sculpting. One cool thing in Forger they added is the Z-Remesher that’s in ZBrush.

[@johndeggendorf7826]

❤ I love Nomad…Blender required so much head scratching and clicking to figure out how to do any (damn) thing, what a drag! Nomad requires a pencil…I know how to do that. I feel that Stephane took the power to 3d sculpt from the geeks & technicians (no offense) and handed it back to artists. Massive respect for Blender as a production machine, it’s essential. But, I’m an iPad guy…music, painting, sculpting….and with Astropad you can even work “in Blender” on your iPad. I think 5 years from now we’ll look back and see the genius of Stephane’s path. 🙏🙏🙏Thank you, guys.🕊🌏🍷🎩🎩🎩

[@jasmine-renee]

Yess 🙌

[@SmallRobotStudio]

Absolutely. Like I said on the video, even being a Blender user I waste so much time hunting for the tool I need. Nomad is super straight forward and sculpting feels great ❤️

[@maugrins]

i got an ipad mini and can use it with mac desktop but your right its not the best because i need more screen space and its expensive. I can do it though...

[@ShiroKemono]

Hello new subscriber here I love your nomad tutorial videos

[@SmallRobotStudio]

Hello there! Thanks for the kind words 💖 I'd love to see your creations if you share them in social media :)

[@jonnycole1764]

I feel a good work flow might be blocking out your model in nomad, then exporting to zbrush for more detail, and then rendering in blender. Maybe even sculpting in nomad to its limits and then exporting to blender for render. Curious to know what you think. I feel professionals don’t just use one be all software but multiple for there strengths. EX: nomad- intuitive, easy to add new meshs, merging meshes, easy interface/ zbrush- good for detail, high poly count/ blender-good for render and box modeling

[@SmallRobotStudio]

That's pretty much my workflow. Start in Nomad, continue on Zbrush, sometimes I create hard surface items in Blender or Maya and finally I render on Blender or Unreal. As a professional I have encountered both scenarios. Some studios have limited access to software so you do everything in one, but when freelancing it's whatever suits you best.

[@zedeon6299]

You actually can add primitives on mesh surface in blender, first by using 3d cursor, shift right click on your desired place then whenever you add new primitives it will placed right on 3d cursor, another way is by using add cube tool below measurements tool, hold on the icon it will show more primitives option, but yeah u still need to be in object mode in order to add primitives

[@zedeon6299]

For switching objects in sculpt mode just simply press alt+q

[@zedeon6299]

I think u can use shape keys as a sculpt layer, I've tried but it lags so much definitely not viable

[@Akira-nc6vi]

You can definitely use your iPad as a graphic tablet on your pc. I used to have a wacom tablet, but since I got an iPad I don't use it anymore, the iPad feels better to use, even on pc.

[@SmallRobotStudio]

What do you recommend to connect the iPad to a pc?

[@Akira-nc6vi]

@@SmallRobotStudio A simple USB-C cable and an app on the iPad called "Easy Canvas" that you need to pay but that's not that expensive. But I'm sure if you search there is a lot of free options!

[@sayanstat53]

I want to make models of mechanical objects , cars etc , I learnt alot from your videos , if you put few videos on These types it will be very helpful for me .

[@the_grass_trainer]

We just need a Pose Brush in Nomad. Just a way to ease the posing process, and we're golden!

[@Jhony4049]

Es posible en Nomad Sculpt importar un archivo .stl y modificarlo ? Por ejemplo dividir un modelo de un personaje para hacer encastres óptimos. Lo quisiera hacer para impresión 3D

[@crumblebee6728]

I plug my iPad into my Mac and use it as a second display and it works with Apple Pencil

[@SmallRobotStudio]

Sidecar works nicely! Third party apps not so much unfortunately

[@roofoofighter]

Actually Astropad Studio works really well with Blender and the latest iPad Pro with Pencil hover!

[@alexribeiro8805]

Hang on, to switch in sculpt mode in Blender you just hover with the cursor to mesh you want to work and press ALT+Q and it will light up the mesh and you can work on it you don't need to select with the outliner!!!

[@SmallRobotStudio]

I wish I knew this shortcut! Thank you. I might change the hot key because it is dangerously similar to Quit

[@hakaiyou4532]

I wish Nomad would work on the PC

[@SmallRobotStudio]

Make sure to let Steph (the developer) know. The more people voicing their interest the more likely this is to happen

[@user-hf3ul8rf7n]

I used Nomad Sculpt and Blender. I used blender for 4 years and Nomad Sculpt for 2 weeks. And of course, Nomad Sculpt beats the Blender program. There is a realistic face model on my channel that I made with the Nomad Sculpt application. If you want lessons, leave a comment under the video. Thanks

[@creativeearthian1702]

I always felt a strong affinity towards digital sculpting but just never touched it until Nomad got released. Yeah blender is free, but it's just way too much of a headache to learn and use...oh and it also requires a stupidly powerful desktop AND a tablet to be able to produce a high quality sculpt. Nomad + android tablet is just super convenient, satisfying and beyond comparison more intuitive to use, and that to me is irreplaceable.

[@SmallRobotStudio]

I am def considering an Android tablet when my iPads time comes. I feel the same as you, I liked sculpting hated the process on other software. Nomad finally got me into it cuz I enjoyed it

[@lulub517]

Agreed. I find blender not very friendly for people who have learning disabilities/memory problems as well. I picked up Nomad sculpt straight away and have made multiple little sculpts which I’ve never really been able to accomplish in blender what-so-ever, no matter how many tutorials I watched.

[@MaxPuliero]

blender is way more technical that means that is also more powerful in general, layers are a major lack tho. nomad on the other hand is very fast forward sculpting app. Also the video also is recorded by someone without any major knowledge of blender, intact most of the issue are not issue like seeing the video size from the tab menu or switching between objects doesn't actually require to go out sculpt mode. when I saw you put multires on top of the hi density voxelized mesh I got an heart attack. 😂

[@SmallRobotStudio]

I am fairly familiar with Blender box modelling but I was new to sculpting like I said on the video. Lots of it's features are annoyingly obscured, some I had the luck to find others not so much. For the record, I can add multiple resolution levels to my voxelized meshes in Nomad (ZBrush too). I use this in my workflow all the time, but yeah I eventually learned that in Blender that is asking for lag.

[@MaxPuliero]

@@SmallRobotStudio I do multires in top of dynamesh too 😂

[@annakowalik1426]

blender : alt+q in sculp mode will change the object to another :)

[@PROSTITUTA58]

hi , thank you for the video, is used the shortcut Alt+Q you can change between object that has the cursor pointed in sculpt mode in blender . PD: this shortcut works in any modes.

[@SmallRobotStudio]

Thanks for the tip!

[@redmizu]

i wish there was a blender sculpting app for the ipad

[@crumblebee6728]

I plug my iPad into my Mac and use it as a second display and it works with Apple Pencil

[@jstttr]

@@crumblebee6728 how do you deal with the delay though? It might not be super noticeable, but it personally annoys me very much when I’m using Blender/Photoshop with my iPad

[@crumblebee6728]

@@jstttr there’s no delay as far as I can tell - I use sidecar over usb c and it acts just like an external display and has zero lag

[@jstttr]

@@crumblebee6728 lucky you. I do the same thing and it can be annoyingly laggy. Might be my wifi connection though

[@SmallRobotStudio]

Sweet ! Are you using Sidecar? my understanding is that it works nicely. My MacBook was too old for it. I tried using Dual, Easy Canvas and Astropad but they all had lag. I eventually got a PC which was better suited for my 3D work

[@TheJoshuaJames]

Blender does not run on my iPad, which is a shame as it has an m2 processor, and my laptop only has an m1. It also has an abhorrent ui design and has since the begging due to sticking everything into hotkey combinations that are impossible to remember (venting, sorry)

[@jascermerced8635]

Hi Ericka! Wonderful video. Hope to get your thoughts on my case. Prior digital sculpting Im a traditional sculptor by trade. Over the pandemic I bought an iPad air and started with nomad, and I enjoyed it! Eventually I wanted to get more serious with sculpting and built a PC for zbrush/blender. I ended up still using nomad due to all the conveniences it involved when accessing the app. I feel bad for spending so much on a pc and not even using it at all. Now im a bit shocked to know that blender lags at only 200k whereas on my iPad air it runs 200k like nothing. Is it worth keeping the pc and exploring blender or should I just sell it?

[@SmallRobotStudio]

Hey Jascer! If your objective is to do it seriously I recommend to keep the pc. Especially for texturing I cannot stand Procreate compared to what I can do in Substance Painter. I often combine the use of both my iPad and PC, I use the tool that is fastest at a given process. In a professional setting it is all pcs.

[@Athalfuns]

You can use a samsung tablet, buy super display and use it as monitor graphics tablet.

[@SmallRobotStudio]

Do you recommend them as display tablets for a PC? I haven't had the chance to test them yet. I hear they are pretty good on their own.

[@Athalfuns]

@@SmallRobotStudio I dunno how much value my opinion on this brings to anyone, because I'm still a beginner and pretty trash at this, but I do think it's a better option for anyone that can't just buy a display tablet (with this I mean, if you can't cover that expense with what you're going to produce with that investment). Even if it can be more expensive to buy a Samsung Tablet, the difference is that it's valuable for other things, and you can use it as a portable digital notebook at least, since you have a ton of painting softwares and nomad sculpt for it as well. If I knew as much I know now though, I would save up for at least a S7. Mine is a S6 Lite.

[@indecisivesquirrel3dlabs78]

Wish blender had an app for the iPad

[@SmallRobotStudio]

I wish iPad apps ran on PC

[@cjpips]

Nomad is so easy I use my phone for nomad.

[@grantfoley5414]

Really there is no comparison. Blender is far more advanced but nomad is fun. I have a cintiq so my experiences with sculpting may be different. If you’re trying to sculpt with a mouse on blender I can see why nomad would be an attractive option.

[@sergeytoranaga6641]

Blender - Switch Sculpt Object Alt+Q

[@envynemo4170]

To bad blender not on IOS or android

[@heroacross]

I agree that Blender doesn't run well on PC

[@Chi1_ma]

Nomad is great but I wanna animate 3D models so bad

[@SmallRobotStudio]

I feel you! But we are getting more and more in the iPad. Maybe soon!

[@rvill1]

does pc makes you wear glasses?

[@SmallRobotStudio]

It's a family genetic trait. However the screentime probably contributes

[@SIMSgEv]

Hy erica?

[@SmallRobotStudio]

Hey -Érika

[@SIMSgEv]

Ohh sorry... Erika!

[@SmallRobotStudio]

@@SIMSgEv it's okay I was not correcting you. I was merely saying hey and signing with my name :)

[@SIMSgEv]

Okay,

[@tahnaiyarussell]

Why a PC? You can get Blender on a Mac.

[@SmallRobotStudio]

Why a Mac? You can get Blender on a PC.

[@tahnaiyarussell]

@@SmallRobotStudio I have a Mac so I'm asking.