SculptForge Files

Added

• Benchmark takes (sculptforge --benchmark-script take.sfui [project]): a UI test script's strokes, orbits, keys and waits played in real time (wall-clock pacing, 240 Hz stroke samples) in the interactive loop, with the benchmark HUD, the benchmark video path and a per-frame CSV (frame ms, stroke lag) beside it. Steps a take can't play in real time (shots, expectations) are skipped; steps that run commands or read other files are refused. docs/benchmark.md.
• Insert sets (Parts > Append > Insert on the model): a model file with several objects (.obj, .glb) or a folder of .obj / .ply / .glb files becomes a set to insert from, one item at a time, with a thumbnail picker; [ and ] step to the previous / next item while inserting. Symmetry, undo and the up axis work as with one mesh. Commands insert_mesh set=<path> index=<n> and insert_set_items set=<path>. Asked by a viewer on askNK's video.
• Sculpt the Part under the cursor (Alt+Q in every input style, the same key as Blender's; Preferences > Hotkeys changes it; in the command palette): the visible Part under the pointer becomes the active one, without moving the camera; each Part keeps its mask. The status bar says "Sculpting: <part>", or that no Part is under the cursor. Asked for by @ziel9627 on Discord.
• Units (Edit > Preferences > Interface, [#148], thanks @Swar55): sizes show in mm, cm, m or inches: the brush size, the active Part's width x height x depth under its name in Tool, and the size exports write in File > Import / Export. OBJ/PLY in reads the numbers in OBJ and PLY files (which have no units) as mm, cm, m (the default) or inches; open, open_obj and part_append take unit= for scripts, and STL files may be read as inches too.

Changed

• OBJ and PLY exported from an STL are now the right size: 1000x bigger than in 0.11.9. 0.11.9 read the STL in millimetres but wrote OBJ and PLY in metres, so a 50 mm part came out as 0.05 (#148, thanks @Swar55). A scene opened from an STL, OBJ or PLY now writes OBJ and PLY in that file's own unit, an STL opened in another unit is written back in it, and decimal sizes come back exactly (12.7 mm stays 12.7, not 12.700001). Projects remember the unit. If you scaled these exports by 1000 in another app, you no longer need to.
• USD stages in centimetres now open at their true size: 100x smaller than in 0.11.9. 0.11.9 ignored metersPerUnit, so a stage from Maya or Houdini (metersPerUnit = 0.01) opened 100x too large: a 180 cm figure was 180 m. It is now 1.8 m (#148, thanks @NicTanghe). Stages in metres, and USD files SculptForge wrote, open as before.
• Frames overlap the CPU and the GPU: the processor builds the next frame while the graphics card draws the last, at most one frame ahead, so the input lag doesn't grow. Reading each frame's GPU time used to wait for the whole frame on some drivers (Mesa on Apple silicon), which made CPU and GPU take turns. Floor tier, a 28M-triangle scan: orbit 56 to 90 fps; a 200M-triangle scene: orbit 84 to 186 fps, big-brush strokes 51 to 191 fps.

Fixed

• Translations: about 430 labels showed in English in Spanish, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, most visibly the whole Generate 3D panel in zh-CN; they now go through the translator in every language. The i18n test now fails on any label that skips it (only product names may), so this can't come back unnoticed.
• Micro levels: fewer spiky shards from Clay (and the other plane brushes: Clay Block, Flatten, Trim) where a stroke's dabs pile up over rough, folded surface such as strands meeting skin, also on the symmetric side. A big brush's dab that would fold the base mesh over now sculpts the detail instead, and the detail's own plane brushes no longer push points they can't bring to the plane. Clay over rough, leaning strands can still leave small steps; a fuller fix is coming.
• Vertex paint ignored the brush alpha: Drag Stamp, Slide Stamp, Dots and Spray painted a soft round blob with any alpha (texture painting already followed it). The paint dab now samples the alpha on the view plane, turned as sculpt dabs turn it, and reaches into the stamp's corners (#152, thanks @fxrtst).
• Adding a paint layer on a dense top subdivision level (4M+ triangles) could leave the model drawn at its coarse preview level at rest, looking like level 1, through level changes and project reloads until a restart (#151, thanks @fxrtst). The GPU time used to decide whether full detail fits a still frame no longer counts the CPU work of the frame that added the layer, and one slow frame can no longer tip it.
• The bottom shelf's Add a brush button draws its + exactly in the middle of the circle at every UI scale and on Retina screens; it was a font glyph that sat off centre (#150, thanks @tristratos).
• SpaceMouse beside a pen (Discord, @fenixpoints, the first report from a real SpaceMouse): while the cap is pushed, the pointer motion and wheel a SpaceMouse driver sends for programs it doesn't know (3DxWare's defaults) no longer move the cursor off the pen or zoom toward it; with Hold during strokes off, a Move, Snake Hook or KelvinGrab drag no longer pulls the grabbed part across the view when the view turns under a still pen; gizmo, selection and stamp drags hold the view whatever the setting. Guide: Navigation > SpaceMouse troubleshooting.

Downloads

New here? install/ explains which file to pick, or install with one command: curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/islandmed/SculptForge/main/install/install.sh | sh (macOS / Linux), irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/islandmed/SculptForge/main/install/install.ps1 | iex (Windows PowerShell). Each file is also attached without its version number (e.g. SculptForge-macos.dmg) so links to releases/latest/download/... always get the newest build.

The builds are not code-signed yet. macOS: right-click the app → Open the first time. Windows: if SmartScreen appears, choose More info → Run anyway. Checksums are in SHA256SUMS.txt.