A sculpting session in ByHand, Truong CG Artist’s new free digital sculpting software, recorded by 3D character artist Nguyen Tran (3D3DO Studio). Note: Vietnamese narrative.
CG artist Châu Võ Bá Trường – better known as Truong CG Artist – has released ByHand, a promising new free digital sculpting application.
The software, which is still in early development, is a fast, intuitive tool designed “for pure form studies and digital clay modeling” and is based on the open source game engine Godot.
A new tool from the popular Maya character rig creator
Regular readers of the CG Channel know Truong CG Artist from his popular Mayan creature and character rigs: our parent company, The Gnomon Workshop, uses them frequently in their tutorials.
However, he has recently started developing his own CG software, starting last year with the comparative animal anatomy reference app Anastomia.
A “clean, distraction-free” digital sculpting application
In contrast, ByHand is a much more ambitious project: a complete digital sculpting application.
Truong says he started developing “out of pure frustration” with existing sculpting software.
“I was tired of waiting for giant software companies to fix long-standing bugs or add basic quality of life features,” he says.
However, ByHand is not an attempt to replace established sculpting tools like ZBrush or 3DCoat in studio pipelines.
Truong describes it as a “quiet, clean, distraction-free space for artists who want to focus on the joy of sculpting without the technical noise.”
A modern replacement for the much-missed Sculptris?
According to the demo video embedded at the beginning of the story, ByHand could fill a similar gap in the market as Sculptris, Tomas Petersson’s much-missed clay sculpting app.
Originally a free standalone application, it offered a quick, intuitive way to create character and creature models, either as portfolio pieces or for use in games and VFX projects.
Sculptris was later acquired by Pixologic and integrated into ZBrush and is no longer developed as a standalone tool.
It was designed with simplicity and responsiveness in mind
Truong describes ByHand’s design goals as simplicity of interface design – “not everyone wants to learn a million complex technical settings just to create a shape” – and real-time responsiveness that allows artists to “sculpt directly… without computer lag.”
For artists who want to print their sculptures, the accuracy of 3D printing is a bonus.
“When I was making realistic 3D portraits, I noticed a big discrepancy,” says Truong. “The final physical 3D print often looked very different than it did on screen because virtual 3D cameras distort the perspective on flat screens. ByHand aims to fix this problem…from the ground up.”
ByHand places a strong emphasis on simplicity in UI design, with users working in a clean, uncluttered viewport.
What sculpting features does ByHand currently offer?
ByHand is still in a very early stage of development – at the time of writing the current version is version 0.1.1 – but already has a reasonable range of functions.
This includes a simple set of ZBrush-like sculpting brushes (move, tone, blow, smooth, etc.), as well as controls for brush size, thickness, and fall-off, as well as support for symmetry sculpting.
Users work in a large, clear viewport, with context-sensitive tips and keyboard shortcuts for the tool currently in use displayed in the corner of the screen.
The software supports Matcap materials and has a range of lighting features for previewing sculptures in context, including support for HDRI ambient lighting.
Other features listed in the release notes include a remesh tool for generating animation-friendly topology and automatic screenshots for recording time-lapses of a sculpture.
ByHand can import and export 3D models in OBJ and glTF formats – FBX is a work in progress – allowing sculptures to be exported to other digital sculpting apps for refinement, or used directly in DCC software such as Blender, Cinema 4D or Maya.
It’s free to use in commercial projects – but consider making a donation to support development
ByHand’s Gumroad page describes the software as “free, for everyone, forever, including commercial work. No license tiers, no per-seat fees, and no activation keys.”
However, the development is financed exclusively through donations. So while you can download the software for free, if you like the software, consider making a voluntary payment to support future work.
At the time of writing, the online documentation is primarily a changelog, but you can get support from other uses on the Discord server.
Price and system requirements
ByHand 0.1 is compatible with Windows 10+. Linux and macOS builds are planned. The software is free, but you can make a voluntary donation on Gumroad to support development.
Download Gumroad’s ByHand digital sculpting software
For a complete list of new features in ByHand, see the online changelog
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https://www.cgchannel.com/2026/07/check-out-byhand-truong-cg-artists-free-digital-sculpting-software/
