Level Up
MudKit is a collection of tools that will take your Autodesk Mudbox experience to the next level.
Increase your creative flexibility using its DynaTools (DynaSkin, DynaBool and DynaCut), Mesh Extract and Object Align features. Learn More
MudKit is Free!
If you like MudKit, please consider buying me a coffee. Your support would be appreciated.
Current Version: 1.4.0
Compatible with Mudbox 2023-2024
DynaSkin
This tool quickly and dynamically regenerates a workable topology over the surface of your selected mesh. It is particularly useful in the early stages of a sculpt, when you are shaping and refining a low to mid-resolution base mesh.
As you push and pull the mesh, your polys can become stretched and distorted. DynaSkin quickly "re-skins" your mesh with a clean surface that allows you to continue sculpting without disrupting your creative flow.
When your base mesh is complete, you can then use Mudbox's existing retopology tools to create an appropriate topology for the next stages of your process.
As an example, DynaSkin would be useful in shaping a sphere into a full human character base mesh.
DynaBool
Using the DynaSkin feature, DynaBool provides a set of boolean operations that can increase your creative flexibility. Using relatively simple objects, you can quickly create complex geometry that would otherwise be difficult or time-consuming to sculpt. The boolean operations DynaBool offers are as follows:
-
Difference – Subtracts one mesh from the other, resulting in a single DynaSkin mesh.
-
Intersection – Creates a single DynaSkin mesh from the area common to two meshes.
-
Union – Combines two meshes into a single DynaSkin mesh.
DynaCut
Using features from both DynaSkin and DynaBool, this tool cuts out portions of your selected mesh, based on a Mudbox view curve. The tool supports mirroring cuts in the X, Y and XY dimensions. As well, when the Split Only option is selected, the cut portions of the mesh are retained as a separate mesh.
Your creativity is the limit with this tool. Just draw and shape a Mudbox view curve to your liking, then cut. It's that simple.
As with the DynaBool tool, you can use DynaCut to quickly create incredibly complex geometry that would otherwise be difficult or time-consuming to sculpt.
OpenVDB
DynaSkin, DynaBool and DynaCut rely heavily on OpenVDB to achieve their results. OpenVDB is an Academy Award-winning, open-source C++ library comprising a novel hierarchical data structure and a suite of tools for the efficient manipulation of sparse, time-varying, volumetric data discretized on three-dimensional grids. OpenVDB was originally developed at DreamWorks Animation, primarily by Ken Museth, Peter Cucka, Mihai Aldèn and David Hill. It is now maintained by the Academy Software Foundation. If you are interested in exploring more about OpenVDB, or would like to download the C++ library for your own use, please check out their website at http://openvdb.org , or their GitHub repository at https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/openvdb.
Mesh Extract
This tool creates a new mesh from the selected faces of one, or more, other meshes. It enables you to generate complex shapes that conform to the contours of other meshes. For example, you can use Mesh Extract to create clothing for your character.
Note:
Mesh Extract is not optimized for dense meshes. Performance on meshes that exceed 1-2 million polygons can be unexpectedly slow. If you use a dense mesh, it is recommended that you create a DynaSkin copy and use that as your source for Mesh Extract.
I hope to improve performance for dense meshes in a future release.
Curve Sweep
The Curve Sweep tool extrudes a procedurally generated tube (“sweep mesh”) along a Mudbox 3D mesh curve. The sweep mesh is constructed of all quad geometry, for better subdivision. As well, the curve used can be open or closed. When the curve is open, the sweep mesh will contain flat end caps with a specified number of divisions. When the curve is closed, the sweep mesh will be fully connected. The resulting sweep mesh is independent of the curve and its source mesh (i.e., it is its own mesh). The Curve Sweep parameters include the following:
-
Radius – The radius of the tube.
-
# of Sides – Even number of tube sides, with a minimum of 4 sides.
-
Cap Divisions – The number of flat end cap divisions.
-
Surface Offset – The distance of the tube from the curve's source mesh. Offset can be either inward or outward.
-
Rotation Offset – Additional rotation to position the tube as needed.
Object Align
The Object Align toolset enables you to quickly align multiple selected objects to either a target object or the origin in X, Y, Z and XYZ space.
