Friday, May 6th, 2022 Posted by Jim Thacker

iPad app CozyBlanket puts the fun back into retopology


Sparseal – the firm co-founded by former Blender sculpting tools developer Pablo Dobarro – has released CozyBlanket, a new iPad app that lets users retopologise 3D models simply by drawing in the new topology.

The software was originally released last month, with this week’s 1.3 update adding new tools for drawing quad strips, moving islands of new topology across the model’s surface, and pinning vertices.

Turning routine retopology into an ‘enjoyable game-like process’
CozyBlanket is the first commercial tool developed by two open-source veterans: former Blender sculpting tools lead Pablo Dobarro, and Godot Engine developer Joan Fons.

The iPad app, originally released last month, lets users retopologise 3D models simply by drawing the new edge flows onto the surface of a high-res model to create clean, low-res, animation-friendly geometry.

Sparseal describes it as making retopology “an enjoyable, game-like process similar to solving a puzzle”.

Users can then edit the new topology by sliding vertices or edges around, splitting and merging faces – and since the 1.2 update, by drawing out new quads from its boundaries.

The 1.2 update also added the option to export retopologised models in STL format for 3D printing, as well as importing or exporting models in OBJ format.



New in CozyBlanket 1.3: new options to draw out quad strips, and to transform groups of vertices
To that, CozyBlanket 1.3, released this week, adds the option to draw out entire quad strips; and to transform sets of vertices, sliding islands of new topology across the surface of the high-res model.

It is also now possible to pin vertices to stop them from moving; and to merge pairs of vertices.

Pricing and system requirements
CozyBlanket 1.3 is available for iPads running iPadOS 14.0+. Sparseal recommends that you use it with an Apple Pencil stylus, but it isn’t an absolute requirement.

The base app can be downloaded for free, but to export or save a mesh, you need to make an in-app payment of $89.99 to buy a perpetual licence.

Read more about CozyBlanket on the App Store