{"id":646,"date":"2025-06-09T19:57:04","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T19:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/?page_id=646"},"modified":"2026-04-23T07:41:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T07:41:28","slug":"skelsketch-a-production-workflow-tool-for-blender-vr","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/case-studies\/case-studies-technical-art-tools\/skelsketch-a-production-workflow-tool-for-blender-vr\/","title":{"rendered":"SkelSketch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"SkelSketch - Presentazione - App VR + addon Blender\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ut-2oe4pQI8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Client:<\/strong> Personal project<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>My Role:<\/strong>&nbsp;Tool Developer, UI\/UX Designer<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Challenge: fast 3D blockout with automatic rigging<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I wanted to accelerate the creation of 3D blockouts, and the iteration between them, which is often a significant production bottleneck. <br>ZBrush&#8217;s ZSpheres are powerful, but very slow compared to VR sketching.<br>Existing modeling tools in VR lack a tool to create hierarchical structures.<br>Both of them need manual rigging after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">My Solution: SkelSketch<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I developed a custom ecosystem using Unreal Engine to create a immersive VR application, tested on Meta Quest 1 and 3, and HTC Vive. coupled with a Blender extension written in Python. The tool streamlines the creative process by allowing creation of hierarchical structures with the speed of VR modeling. And since the hierarchical nature of the models is preserved in the exported data, the Blender extension can create a corresponding rig with one button click, taking care of respecting mirror naming conventions in Blender. The addon panel became also the perfect place to provide other functions often needed in that pipeline stage, like remeshing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Project Gallery:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/superhive-5-1024x512.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-647\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/superhive-5-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/superhive-5-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/superhive-5-768x384.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/superhive-5.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Workflow steps for a fast concept piece<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"1080\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1080 \/ 1080;\" width=\"1080\" controls src=\"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/timelapse.mp4\"><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Timelapse of the workflow of the previous concept. Everything took less than 30 minutes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"645\" data-id=\"651\" src=\"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-36-59-1024x645.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-651\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-36-59-1024x645.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-36-59-300x189.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-36-59-768x484.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-36-59-1536x968.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-36-59.jpg 1799w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Imported in Blender<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"647\" data-id=\"652\" src=\"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-37-46-1024x647.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-652\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-37-46-1024x647.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-37-46-300x190.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-37-46-768x485.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-37-46-1536x971.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-37-46.jpg 1851w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Automatic rig<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"680\" data-id=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-38-44-1024x680.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-653\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-38-44-1024x680.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-38-44-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-38-44-768x510.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-38-44-1536x1020.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-38-44.jpg 2013w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sculpt and pose<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"668\" data-id=\"654\" src=\"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-39-07-1024x668.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-654\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-39-07-1024x668.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-39-07-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-39-07-768x501.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-39-07-1536x1002.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/19-05-2025-17-39-07-2048x1336.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Posed concept blockout<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-caption wp-element-caption\">Workflow for a creature concept. Thanks to SkelSketch automatic rig it&#8217;s possible to pose and animate the blockout, easily providing different views to the client without manual rigging.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"1080\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1080 \/ 1080;\" width=\"1080\" controls src=\"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/turnaround_sketch.mp4\"><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Turnaround of an imported SkelSketch model, posed in Blender thanks to automatic rigging<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"1080\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1080 \/ 1080;\" width=\"1080\" controls src=\"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/turnaround_concept.mp4\"><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Turnaround of the final concept, that is still driven by the automatic rig, and can be further posed, animated, and brought back to rest position for the next pipeline stage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/malisan.gumroad.com\/l\/skelsketch\">Get it on GumRoad<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/superhivemarket.com\/products\/skelsketch\">Get it on SuperHive (former Blender Market)<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Client: Personal project My Role:&nbsp;Tool Developer, UI\/UX Designer The Challenge: fast 3D blockout with automatic rigging I wanted to accelerate the creation of 3D blockouts,&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/case-studies\/case-studies-technical-art-tools\/skelsketch-a-production-workflow-tool-for-blender-vr\/\">Continua a leggere<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">SkelSketch<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":671,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-646","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":835,"href":"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/646\/revisions\/835"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malisan.it\/site_2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}