Mudbox Nexus

Release: To be announced

Nexus is Anima Lunae’s in-house variation of Mudbox, coming soon to the public.

Built on Mudbox 2022, it introduces extensive bug fixes, new features and quality-of-life improvements. Support for other Mudbox versions may follow.

Mudbox Nexus workspace with outliner and object properties on the left, sculpting viewport in the center, brush options on the right and custom brush icons below — Mudbox Nexus · Development interface. Click to view full size.

Main features

Dedicated scene outliner with custom groups and object ordering
Mesh visibility, selection and isolation controls
Dockable, reorganizable panels and pinnable Properties layouts
Visualize each object’s subdivision level at a glance and change levels across multiple objects at once.
Viewport hotkey reference and mesh-statistics overlays
Mesh-group FBX export and Maya normal-handling improvements

A dedicated scene outliner

Nexus adds a structured view of your scene, with custom groups, object ordering and visibility controls. Cameras, lights and meshes are easier to find without leaving the sculpting workspace.

Subdivision levels appear alongside the mesh rows. Dock and reposition the Outliner to keep scene management where you need it.

Object settings stay separate

The Properties panel shows settings for the selected object, while Tool Options stays focused on your active brush. You can adjust a light or camera without mixing those controls into your sculpting settings.

Properties is a dockable panel that can be moved and reorganized independently. Compact fields and grouped sections keep related controls together.

Pinnable layouts

Pin a Properties panel to keep an object’s settings available while you work elsewhere in the scene.

Pinned layouts are saved with your Mudbox scene.

Pinned Image Plane Properties window with reference preview and image and transform controls

Redesigned brush controls

Nexus reorganizes Mudbox’s brush settings into a more compact layout, with related controls grouped together and a setting filter for quick access.

Tool Options is now a dedicated, dockable panel, separate from object properties. Move and reorganize it alongside the other Nexus panels to suit your workflow.

Redesigned shelves and icons

Alongside a full redesign of the interface and icons, Nexus introduces spacers to help keep your shelves organized.

BUG FIXES & IMPROVEMENTS

Subdivision rebuilding and mesh workflows

Improved subdivision rebuilding

Recover lower subdivision levels from meshes that Mudbox’s native rebuilder could not rebuild further. Nexus addresses problems with quad and triangle bases, preserving valid quad topology instead of leaving a quad-looking base stored as triangle pairs.

Rebuild combined meshes

Rebuild meshes made from multiple disconnected pieces while keeping them combined. Nexus recovers the lowest valid subdivision level shared by the pieces.

Transfer sculpted detail

Transfer Details uses the sculpted surface at the chosen source level, preserving the detail you have already created.

Safer mesh transfers from Maya

Fixed an issue that could corrupt a Mudbox scene when transferring meshes from Maya.

Improved Maya interchange

Export mesh groups through FBX, with improved normal handling so Maya can generate unlocked normals.

RELEASE: TO BE ANNOUNCED

Built for Mudbox 2022 on Windows

Nexus is an Anima Lunae development project for artists working in Mudbox. Features are being refined through day-to-day use and testing.