Between apps like MakeVR and Tilt Brush, 3D creation is advancing rapidly in VR. One of the pioneers in the field is Kodon, a room-scale virtual sculpting app that lets anyone shape their own creation… no messy potter’s wheel or sculpting clay required. With their latest update now live, we talked with Gustav Tresselt, lead developer at TenkLabs about what’s new.

How long have you been working on Kodon? What initially inspired you?

We’ve been working on Kodon for about a year now! The initial inspiration was basically playing around in 3D as an indie dev – I needed 3D models. So I decided to make a program to make them myself – in VR!

Your latest major update is v0.50 – you’ve called it ‘50% complete’. What does that mean in terms of current features? What’s been added since your last major update?

v0.50 is the product of tight cooperation between me and my sculpting expert, Emil. This version tries to meet experienced sculptors with features like move, inflate, crease and similarly which really speeds up the workflow. We’ve also added some awesome environments that add new lighting and reflection details.

If v0.50 is 50% complete – what’s your final vision for the 1.0 version? Are there major features still to be implemented, in your mind?

At v1.0, experienced sculptors will prefer Kodon to the established tools, and casual users will get an intuitive understanding of 3D sculpting. And yes, the 50% complete refers to the feature set as well as bugfixing. Some examples: re-meshing feature, surface and voxel tool improvements, major optimizations, and last but not least: geometric sculpting will be back.

Who do you see as the primary user of Kodon? Professional 3D artists, hobbyists, or someone else?

Kodon has a semi-professional focus. We are trying to reach both long-time professional 3D artists as well as people who have no clue about 3D sculpting, such as myself.

Did you draw inspiration from any traditional 3D modeling programs?

I had no idea about 3D modeling programs when I started making Kodon. After Emil came into the picture, we’ve focused more on ZBrush.

Can you import existing 3D models, then export them again? Any restrictions?

Absolutely! Via the PLY and OBJ formats you can easily do this. There are some restrictions on size, and some special form of OBJ files (like ZBrush’s vertex color format) are not supported. The program also does not respect quads at this point.

Finally, Kodon has been out for a while – what’s the most impressive project you’ve seen created using it?

Emil (and other professional sculptors) have made some amazing stuff already, this is the first thing he made (pictured left).

Adham Faramawy earlier this year made an exciting abstract sculpture setup for Royal Academy of Arts “Virtually Real” exhibition. His object was 3D printed to a giant sculpture weighing literally tons! (Click here to see some video of Adham’s creation.)

Finally, this 3D printed flower pot from an early version of Kodon will always hold a special place in my heart (below).

Kodon is available now on Viveport.

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