Subdivision levels
Divide, step up and down between levels, and sculpt big shapes low and pores high; changes carry to every level. Reconstruct Subdiv rebuilds the lower levels of a dense mesh you exported. Subdivision levels
Mudbox alternative
Mudbox is ending. Keep sculpting, for free.
Autodesk ends new Mudbox subscription sales on 7 November 2026, and Mudbox hasn't had a new feature since 2019. SculptForge is a free, open-source sculpting app that keeps the way Mudbox users work: subdivision levels, sculpt layers, painting on textures with layers, and baking maps for Maya and game engines. It runs natively on Windows, macOS and Linux, and it's updated every few days.
What you keep from Mudbox
The parts of Mudbox people actually use every day, and where to find them in SculptForge.
Sculpt layers
Sculpt into layers with a weight slider, preview them on and off, and keep them on any subdivision level. Layers export as blend shapes to FBX and USD. Sculpt layers
Paint layers on textures
Auto UV in one click, then paint a 1K to 8K texture with layers, blend modes, opacity and locks, like Mudbox and Photoshop. Import PNG, JPEG, TGA or PSD. Texture painting
Normal and displacement maps
Bake normal, displacement (PNG and 32-bit EXR), ambient occlusion and cavity maps from the high-res sculpt onto a low-poly mesh. Baking
Clean quads
QRemesh turns any sculpt into clean quads, with guides for where the edge loops go, and ProjectAll carries the detail back. Retopology
Maya-friendly files
OBJ, FBX and USD in and out, with quads, UVs and blend shapes kept. Choose Turntable rotation in Preferences to orbit the way Maya does. Exporting
Linux, including Rocky and RHEL
Native builds for Windows, macOS and every major Linux, plus VFX Reference Platform CY2026 and CY2027 builds for studio pipelines. For studios
Free, for good
No subscription and no account. SculptForge is GPL open source: nobody can take it away, and you own everything you make, commercial work included.
SculptForge and Mudbox side by side
| SculptForge | Mudbox | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Subscription, sales end 7 Nov 2026 |
| Still being developed | Yes, weekly releases | No new features since 2019 |
| Windows / macOS / Linux | All three | Windows, macOS, RHEL / Rocky |
| Subdivision levels | Yes | Yes |
| Sculpt layers | Yes | Yes |
| Paint layers with blend modes | Yes | Yes |
| Texture channels | One colour texture per object | Many (diffuse, specular, gloss...) |
| UDIMs / Ptex | Not yet | Yes |
| Quad retopology | QRemesh with guides | Retopology tools |
| Normal / displacement baking | Yes (EXR) | Yes |
| Send to Unreal | Built in | FBX export |
| Image or text to 3D, phone scanning | Built in, free | No |
| Open source | GPL-3.0 | No |
Bring your Mudbox work over
1. Export from Mudbox
Export the mesh as FBX or OBJ. For a model with levels, export the highest level, or every level as its own OBJ.
2. Open in SculptForge
File > Open, or drop the file on the window. Quads and UVs come through. Tool > Geometry > Reconstruct Subdiv rebuilds the lower levels.
3. Bring the textures
Export your paint layers from Mudbox as PNG or PSD and load them with Tool > Texture Map > Import Texture, then keep painting in layers.
4. Feel at home
Set Preferences > Interface > Rotation to Turntable for Maya-style orbiting. The User Guide is in the app under Help.
Honest answers
What can't SculptForge do yet that Mudbox can?
It can't open .mud files (export FBX or OBJ instead). Each object has one colour texture rather than separate specular, gloss or other channels. UVs outside the 0 to 1 square (UDIMs) aren't painted, and there's no Ptex or painting through image stencils yet. If one of these stops you, tell us at hello@sculptforge.app: it helps us decide what comes next.
Is it really free for commercial work?
Yes. SculptForge is free under the GPL-3.0 and you own everything you make with it. The licence covers the program, not your models.
Will my Mudbox keep working?
Autodesk stops selling new Mudbox subscriptions on 7 November 2026. What happens to a subscription you already have is Autodesk's decision, so check your Autodesk account. SculptForge doesn't depend on Mudbox, so you can try it alongside.
Is it like ZBrush instead?
The interface follows ZBrush's palettes and keys, because many sculptors know them. Mudbox users mostly need the Maya-style orbit (above), the brush picker (B) and the Layers sub-palette. The navigation guide covers the rest.
Try it before your Mudbox runs out
Free for Windows 10 and 11, macOS 11 and later, and Linux.