How to Download or Access SculptGL

SculptGL is available in four ways: as a standalone download that is identical to the web version, as a web app, as a Chrome Web Store extension, and as a redesigned fork called Sculptfab hosted by Sketchfab. The source code is also on GitHub if you want to build or modify it yourself. Which route you pick depends on whether you want an offline copy, the latest code, or a different interface.

Standalone download

The site states that if you want a standalone version, you can download it directly, and that it is identical to the web version. So there is no feature trade-off between running it locally and running it in the browser — the difference is only offline access and how you launch it.

Web app and Chrome Web Store

SculptGL runs as a digital sculpting web app, so you can use it without installing anything. It is also listed on the Chrome Web Store, which is the option to choose if you prefer launching it from the browser's app interface rather than a URL.

Sources on GitHub

The sources are available on GitHub. This is the route for you if you want to inspect the code, build your own copy, or adapt it — not if you just want to sculpt.

Sculptfab (Sketchfab fork)

Sketchfab made a fork of the old SculptGL version with a new design, called Sculptfab. Note the wording: it is based on the old SculptGL version, so it is a design alternative rather than a newer build of the current app.

Quick comparison

What you get once it is running

The main features listed for SculptGL include:

• Sculpting tools — standard tools such as Brush, Inflate, Smooth, Twist, and Drag
• PBR vertex painting — color, roughness, and metalness
• Alpha texture support for each tool
• Multiresolution sculpting — quad-tri subdivision (Catmull-Clark/Loop) and reversion, keeping UVs through both subdivision and reversion, with sculpting changes retained when navigating between low and high poly subdivision levels
• Voxel remeshing — uses the SurfaceNets meshing algorithm to produce a quad-only mesh, with uniform remeshing so quads share the same size
• Dynamic topology — triangles only, operating in real time, with local subdivision and local decimation
• Import/export — OBJ, PLY, and STL, and it reads vertex color

Two limitations worth knowing before you commit: voxel remeshing can create non-manifold vertices, and for a non-closed mesh a naive hole-filling algorithm runs first. Both dynamic topology and voxel remeshing delete UVs.

Tutorials

If you want guided instruction rather than documentation, the site points to a set of tutorials on YouTube channels. That is the place to start if the feature list above is unfamiliar.