Mush3D User Guide | Documentation

Mush3D Documentation

User Guide

Learn the main viewport controls, panel layout, import and export flow, sculpt layers, brushes, deformers, timeline editing, and the shortcuts used while shaping animated 3D assets.

Basic Navigation

Use the viewport to inspect your model, move around the scene, and frame the object you are working on. These controls are the foundation for selecting, sculpting, painting, and reviewing animation.

Camera Controls

Alt + Left Drag: orbit around the current camera pivot.
Alt + Middle Drag: pan the camera.
Alt + Right Drag: zoom or dolly.
Mouse Wheel: zoom in and out.

Frame An Object

Select an object in the viewport or Outliner.
Press F in the viewport to frame the selected object.
If you are in Vertex mode with vertices selected, F frames those vertices.
If nothing is selected, F frames the scene.
Press A in the viewport to frame all visible meshes.

Viewport Basics

Click a mesh to select it.
Drag a rectangle to marquee select.
Use the Outliner when the object is hard to pick in the viewport.
After a sculpt stroke, the tumble pivot updates near the last sculpted area.

Tablet Navigation

If your pen has a barrel button configured for viewport navigation, use that button where this guide says middle mouse or navigation button.

Selection

Select objects in the viewport or Outliner. Switch to Vertex mode when you need component-level selection.

Selection Modes

Object mode selects objects and transforms.
Vertex mode selects vertices on the active mesh.
Selected vertices can only be moved when a Sculpt deformer has an active sculpt layer in record mode.
Click to select. Drag a rectangle to marquee select.
Shift toggles selection membership.
Ctrl removes items from selection.
Right press on a mesh, drag left or right, then release to choose Vertex or Object mode from the marking menu.

Import And Export

OBJ is useful for static mesh exchange. Alembic is the preferred format when you need animated geometry, hierarchy, transforms, cameras, or frame-range export.

Import OBJ

Choose File > Import OBJ... and select a .obj file. Mush3D creates a transform and mesh shape for the imported object, adds it to the Outliner, and makes it available in the viewport.

Use OBJ for still meshes, quick sculpt tests, or simple exports from other tools.
After import, select the mesh and add deformers from the Deformers menu.
OBJ import does not bring in animation.

Import Alembic

Choose File > Import Alembic... and select a .abc file. Mush3D imports the archive as a scene hierarchy with meshes, transforms, and cameras where available.

Use Alembic for animated shots, cached characters, and production exchange.
The timeline drives Alembic sampling, so scrub or play the timeline to inspect animation.
Mush3D keeps the imported Alembic archive as the source for later Alembic export.
Alembic import is shown as a Pro feature in the app.

Export Selected As OBJ

Select one or more mesh objects, then choose File > Export Selected as OBJ.... The exported OBJ contains the selected mesh geometry in world space.

Use this when you only need the current shape.
OBJ export is static; it does not export a frame range.

Export Alembic

Choose File > Export Alembic..., select the source Alembic archive, set the frame range, then export.

The exported Alembic is a 1-to-1 copy of the imported source archive.
Hierarchy, names, topology, UVs, transforms, cameras, and timing are preserved from the imported Alembic.
The data Mush3D changes on export is the mesh point positions updated by the Mush3D scene.
The export dialog can use the current timeline range.
The source archive chooser appears when the scene contains Alembic imports.
A progress dialog shows preparation, frame processing, writing, verification, and cancel status.
Alembic export is shown as a Pro feature in the app.

Sculpting

Sculpting is layer based. Add a Sculpt deformer to a mesh, create a sculpt layer, record on that layer, then paint in the viewport with sculpt brushes.

Select The Mesh

Select the mesh object in the viewport or Outliner.

Add Sculpt

Choose Deformers > Sculpt.

Create A Layer

In the Deformers panel, click the plus button in the Layers section.

Record And Paint

Enable the layer record button, choose a sculpt brush, and paint in the viewport.

Sculpt Layers

Use the eye icon to hide or show a layer or group.
Use the layer envelope slider to fade a layer from 0 to 100 percent.
Click the key button to key a layer or group envelope at the current frame.
Use groups to organize related sculpt layers and fade them together.
Double-click a layer or group name to rename it.
Drag layers to reorder them or move them into groups.

Layer Options

Detail Reinforcement helps preserve detail on the active layer.
Tangent Space stores the layer in a tangent-space style that is useful for deformation-friendly sculpting.
Auto Blending can blend sculpt results across poses using the settings below it.
Right-click a layer for rename, duplicate, flatten down, move, group, and delete actions.

Brushes

Sculpt brushes appear when a sculpt layer is actively recording. Weight painting appears when you click the paint button on a deformer. Most brush settings live in Tool Settings.

STD

Standard

General sculpting brush for pushing surface form along the viewed surface. Good for broad shape edits and corrections.

CLY

Clay

Builds material toward a flatter brush plane. Use it to add volume or fill uneven forms.

MOV

Move

Pulls nearby vertices with the stroke. Useful for silhouette changes and larger proportion edits.

CLN

Clone

Transfers shape from a reference mesh. Select a reference mesh and click Set Ref on the shelf before using the brush.

WRK

Wrinkle Brush

Adds crease-like wrinkle detail while sculpting. Tool Settings include iteration, spring, and scale controls.

INF

Inflate

Inflates or pushes form outward from the surface. Useful for swelling shapes and volume adjustments.

CRS

Crease

Creates sharper channels or folds. Start with a moderate intensity and build up gradually.

AVG

Average Deltas

Smooths or averages sculpted offsets without simply erasing the whole layer.

ERS

Erase

Removes sculpted changes from the active layer while keeping the base mesh intact.

FRZ

Freeze

Paints a freeze mask. Use it to protect areas from sculpt changes. Shift-painting smooths the freeze mask.

WGT

Weight

Paints a deformer weight mask. Choose Add, Sub, Repl, or Relax in Tool Settings, then paint the selected deformer influence.

JGL

Jiggle Drag Test

Available on Jiggle deformers. Drag the jiggle network in the viewport to test motion response.

Brush Controls

Control	Action	Notes
`Left Drag`	Paint or sculpt with the active brush.	Tablet pressure can multiply intensity when Pen is enabled in Tool Settings.
`Middle Drag`	Adjust brush radius horizontally in the viewport.	A brush circle appears at the press point. Drag right to increase, left to decrease.
`Shift` + `Middle Drag`	Adjust brush intensity horizontally in the viewport.	A red intensity bar appears while adjusting.
`Shift` while painting	Runs relax or smoothing behavior for compatible tools.	For Weight it smooths weights; for Freeze it smooths the freeze mask.
Radius	Brush size in viewport pixels.	Shared across brush tools.
Intensity	Brush strength for the active tool.	Stored per brush tool.
Sym + X/Y/Z	Mirrors brush or vertex selection across an axis.	Enable symmetry before painting or selecting mirrored areas.
A alpha selector	Choose a brush alpha map.	Use None for a regular round brush, or choose an alpha for patterned strokes.

Deformers

Deformers are added from the Deformers menu and edited from the Deformers panel. Each deformer has a master envelope, a paint weights button, keyframe support, and its own settings.

Sculpt

Layer-based sculpting for corrective shape work, surface detail, and animated blend control. Create layers, record on a layer, paint, then fade or key the layer envelope.

Wrinkle

Adds wrinkle-style deformation. Edit Spring Force, Iterations, and Wrinkle Scale in the deformer panel. Paint weights to control where it applies.

Jiggle

Adds secondary motion. Set build parameters, click Rebuild when build inputs change, adjust Mass, Stiffness, Damping, Iterations, and Substeps, then use Test Drag to preview response.

Transfer Shapes

Transfers shape targets onto the deformed mesh. Set a base mesh from selection, add selected targets, choose Component or UV mode, then tune each target intensity.

Pose Trainer

Uses a bind pose and selected shape examples to train pose-based corrections. Set Bind, add Shapes, click Train, then adjust Training and Evaluation controls.

Envelope And Weights

The envelope fades the whole deformer. The paint button switches to Weight brush mode so you can paint where the deformer affects the mesh.

When a deformer looks too strong: first lower the deformer envelope. If only part of the mesh should be affected, paint weights instead of deleting or rebuilding the deformer.

Timeline And Keyframes

The timeline drives Alembic playback and animated envelope values. You can key sculpt layers, layer groups, and deformer envelopes.

Playback

Use the transport buttons for start, previous frame, play/stop, next frame, and end.
Set FPS from the FPS menu.
Type or drag the current frame field to jump to a frame.
Use the bottom range bar to set project start/end and visible timeline range.

Envelope Keys

Select a layer envelope, group envelope, or deformer envelope to show its curve in the timeline.
Click the key button beside the envelope slider to set a key at the current frame.
Drag keyframes in the timeline to change timing and value.
Switch selected key tangents between Mirrored and Independent.
Press Delete in the timeline to remove the selected keyframe.

Display And View Quality

Display controls affect how you see the scene, not the exported geometry. Use them to make selection, sculpting, and review clearer.

Overlays

Enable Film Gate, Resolution Gate, Gate Mask, Safe Action, and Safe Title when reviewing camera composition.

Viewport

Adjust background color, grid visibility, grid color, cell size, grid extent, and infinite grid behavior.

Shading

Toggle wireframe, adjust wireframe intensity, and choose hard or soft normal display.

Preferences

The Settings window includes sculpt shading, camera zoom speed, and selection overlay preferences.

Grid Shortcut

Press G in the viewport to toggle the grid quickly.

Wireframe Shortcut

Press Shift + F in the viewport to toggle wireframe.

Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts are panel-aware. Global shortcuts work anywhere. Local shortcuts work when the relevant panel has focus.

Global

Shortcut	Command
`Q`	Select tool
`W`	Translate tool
`E`	Rotate tool
`R`	Scale tool
`Ctrl` + `N`	New scene
`Ctrl` + `O`	Open scene
`Ctrl` + `S`	Save scene
`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `S`	Save scene as
`Ctrl` + `Z`	Undo
`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `Z`	Redo
`P`	Parent selected objects to the last selected object
`Shift` + `P`	Unparent selected objects
`Ctrl` + `H`	Hide selected meshes
`Alt` + `H`	Hide unselected meshes
`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `H`	Show all meshes

Viewport

Shortcut	Command
`G`	Toggle grid
`Shift` + `F`	Toggle wireframe
`+` or `=`	Increase manipulator size
`-` or `_`	Decrease manipulator size
`Delete` or `Backspace`	Delete selected objects, or delete the active sculpt layer while sculpt recording is active
`Ctrl` + `D`	Duplicate selected objects

Panels

Panel	Shortcut	Command
Outliner	`F`	Scroll to selected item
Outliner	`Delete` or `Backspace`	Delete selected objects
Outliner	`Ctrl` + `D`	Duplicate selected objects
Deformers	`F2`	Rename active sculpt layer
Deformers	`Delete` or `Backspace`	Delete active sculpt layer
Deformers	`Ctrl` + `D`	Duplicate active sculpt layer
Node Editor	`F`	Frame selected nodes or fit all nodes
Node Editor	`Delete` or `Backspace`	Delete selected edge
Timeline	`Delete` or `Backspace`	Delete selected keyframe