Valence 3D

Edit 26 May: I don’t want to say anything bad about this app because the person making it has done a great job. But the problem with orphaned verts is a real dealbreaker for me. Instead of fixes for core modelling features like this we’re getting interface updates. I really want to see this developer and his app succeed, but honestly it’s starting to look like one of those apps that will always be ‘improved’ but never fixed. Old review: I’ve had Valence for a few weeks now and held off writing a review because I expected the updates to come thick and fast. But the few updates have been focused on an iCloud problem, while some fundamental modelling problems remain untouched. For me, the stray verts should be a priority fix. As soon as you dissolve any edges, you’ll have stray verts left behind which ruins the quadding of your geometry. You can’t even delete/dissolve the verts manually because doing that deletes the edges! There will be a great 3D modelling app here, and I’m aware that it’s being developed by one person. But for a £30 iPad app I’d like to see faster iteration with core functionality being fixed.

I love this app!! I’ve really wanted to get into polygonal modelling for a while and have tried and failed Blender many times. For someone starting off Valence’s interface is very user friendly and not overwhelming. I have run into several glitches as others have noted and already see the need for a boolean and knife tool. That being said, as someone new to polygonal modelling I’m really excited to see how Valence grows and becomes a great app to use.

At the moment I wouldn't recommend buying this app at the price as it isn't a fully implemented 3D polygon modelling app yet. However, it is quite well designed and if it had a few extra things, and some bug fixes, I think it would become THE ios 3D design app! One of the main problems is things like making holes: while CSG would be excellent, you can delete faces but not create them, so just being able to select vertices and fill with a face would be excellent. Also, it needs the ability to inspect and change vertex/edge/face transforms/coordinates numerically. And with the features others describe, and importing of obj and stl meshes, I think it would then be well worth the money. And, of course, a simple scripting engine, for simple parametric modelling, would be amazing (although I think I'm getting too advanced for an ipad ipad with that)!

I love that this is available but I'm yearning for some key features Lots of Must Haves currently missing (or maybe hard to find?) Extrude along global rather than local (normal). There seems to be button for this but it doesn't seem to work as a toggle. Booleans desperately needed for this format. Gizmo prone to disappearing Bevels need to be more configurable in terms of segments. Where is the lighting control? Sorry if I've missed it. A great use case here would be for blocking, and export into procreate for paint over but without control over lighting (?) ...

I really want this app to work but it still seems very buggy often failing to save or export models with out constantly crashing. I hoped to use the app as a sub d / CAD based modelling app that offers something that nomad sculpt does not. I wish the developer the best of luck and hope to see another great 3D app for the iPad. ;-)

This app is a really good start. I purchased it to support the developer. It is functional and I can get the basics done. I’m hoping we have a full blown mesh editor app on the iPad very soon!

As a programmer I can understand the state of the app, building a 3DC app from scratch has got to be a very intense task open to many bugs. That being said, as a former 3D artist I can also say that to be honest this tool is simply not in a state that allows it to be treated as a professional tool: many bugs simply ruin meshes and create “unselectable” topology which haunts you forever after appearing (not bring undoable either).. etc. I’ll try the app again in a few months hoping for some substantial upgrades in stability and bug-less behavior: it would be a 5 star then. A smooth selection tool would also be appreciated. Good luck dev 👍🏼 please keep up the updates.

I like most of the features, but is there a way that I can make X and Y lie on the grid, and make Z perpendicular to the grid. This convention feels more normal for me.

The developer of Valence has taken on a truly daunting task but one that has been needed since the introduction of the iPad Pro. 3D sculpting for iPad has been great with apps like Nomad and soon Zbrush but when it comes to hard surface modeling, the options we did have were severely lacking. Valence 3D finally changes that! For the first time, I’ve been able to do hard surface 3D modeling with an intuitive interface and get actual work done that I can then transfer to my laptop for finishing. The updates have been frequent and the pay once model is a serious breath of fresh air in a world where every other app wants a subscription. That being said, Valence still has some ways to go. However, I still think it’s more than worthy of 5 stars as long development keeps going at this pace. Some of the things I would definitely like to see to make this a more robust 3D modeler are: 1. Boolean functions 2. Curve tools (would be very powerful and easy to use with an Apple Pencil) 3. More interface customization (ability to move buttons, lock rotation axis, etc) 4. More reliable screen picking (there are occasional times where the app has a tough time telling which vertex point I am trying to select and ends up selecting a different point) If this is where we are this early in the software life, I cannot wait to see where Valence goes over the coming year! This very well could end up being the “Blender” alternative for the iPad.

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