ShapeShop v002 has been released - click here to download it. Unfortunately the current version only runs on hardware that supports SSE2, which basically means Intel P4 or newer (or, apparently, an AMD Opteron/Athlon64). So you might have to buy a new computer. But otherwise, ShapeShop v002 is completely free.
ShapeShop is a sketch-based 3D modeling tool for creating procedural hierarchical implicit volume models, also known as “BlobTrees”. At least, that’s the technical description. The short version is that ShapeShop is a fun tool for quickly sketching 3D models, which just happens to have some very powerful features that aren’t available in any of the state-of-the-art commercial 3D modeling systems. If you’re familiar with Metaballs, then you might have some sense of what ShapeShop’s BlobTrees can do. But BlobTrees go way beyond what is possible with Metaballs. If Metaballs are gin-and-tonic, BlobTrees are red bull spiked with crack. In fact, ShapeShop only scratches the surface of what is possible with BlobTrees - there is much more to come.
Unfortunately, that means you can’t load ShapeShop models into any other programs (yet). However, ShapeShop does export nice triangle meshes in .OBJ format (make sure you use the QuickRefine button first ! )
ShapeShop also has a novel decal texturing system. Of course, right now you can’t actually export the composited texture map (although you can export each decal OBJ individually, and you could technically load them all into some other program for rendering. It just might take a while). Texture export is coming soon, as are lots of other features (some high-priority things on the list include speeding up the interactive remeshing and making it possible to import existing meshes).
To get a feel for how fast and easy it is too use ShapeShop, check out the video below. Then go give it a try!
