claygroundGuides / Clayground
Guides
Learn VR sculpting: short, practical guides from first shape to finished export.
Getting started
Play a game, sculpt in your browser, or sculpt by hand in VR.
Clayground vs Shapelab
Both let you sculpt with your hands on a Quest. Shapelab is a polished, paid professional tool. Clayground is free, made by one artist, and built for squishy characters. Here's how to pick.
A SculptGL alternative that works on phones
SculptGL showed that you could sculpt in a browser tab. Its author went on to make Nomad Sculpt, and SculptGL itself stopped getting updates. If you want something free in a tab that's still being worked on, this is it.
Make a 3D character online, free
You don't need to install Blender or learn a 3D program to make a character. Open a web page, start from a little clay guy, and squish him until he's yours.
3D sculpting for kids
Digital clay is a good first step into 3D: no mess, endless undo, and you can print the result. The browser studio needs no account and saves on the device you're using.
Clay sculpting on Chromebooks: a free lesson
School Chromebooks can't install sculpting apps, and accounts for a whole class are a chore. The browser studio needs neither. Here's a 45-minute lesson that ends with every student holding a character they made.
A free Nomad Sculpt alternative in your browser
Nomad Sculpt is a brilliant paid sculpting app for tablets and phones. If you just want to squish some clay in a browser tab, for free and with nothing to install, this is the lighter option.
Print your Phetta Fella
Your fella can live on your desk. Export a print-ready file in one click, then print it at home, at a library or makerspace, or with an online service.
Make a claymation in your browser
Real claymation means hundreds of photos and a very patient afternoon. This is the shortcut: sculpt a 3D clay character, press one button, and it moves like stop motion. Free, nothing to install, and no AI: you make the clay.
An Adobe Medium alternative for Meta Quest
Medium is how a lot of people learned to sculpt in VR. If you want something that runs on the headset by itself, this is where Clayground fits, and where it doesn’t yet.
VR sculpting: what it is and how to start
I sculpt every Phettaverse character in VR, and I made a VR sculpting app because of it. This is everything I’d tell a friend before their first session.
Sculpt 3D clay on your phone
A free 3D sculpting studio in your phone’s browser. No app to install and no account to make.
How to sculpt a character in VR
The order I work in, from a lump of clay to a character with an attitude. It works in any sculpting tool.
Export your VR sculpt to Blender
Off the headset and into Blender in a few minutes, plus what to fix before you render or print.
How to sculpt a cute animal in VR
Cute animals are the best first project: they are built from a few round shapes, and mistakes look charming.
Painting your VR sculpt
Paint is where a shape turns into someone. Sculpt first, keep the palette small, and save the tiny stuff for last.
Animate a sculpt frame by frame
Animation in Clayground is stop motion for clay: sculpt a pose, capture it, sculpt the next one and play it back.
The best VR sculpting apps for Meta Quest
Which VR sculpting app should you use on Quest? I make Clayground, so it’s on this list. I’ve tried to be fair about where the others are stronger.
How the browser studio sculpts clay
Clayground started as a VR app. The browser studio is a second, smaller clay engine I wrote so anyone can sculpt on a laptop or a phone. Here's how it works, without the hand-waving.