But only decimate at the end when you know you don’t need to sculpt on the forms any more
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Does the decimate tool degrade the quality of the model? Or just remove extra clutter that isn’t needed? Looking at my objects there, I’m now noticing that quite a few of them have counts over 1 million. That’s probably way overboard for those parts, and may be part of why it’s using resources the way it is. I guess as a graphic designer, I’m used to cranking up the resolution on my projects, and then just creating smaller duplicates for distribution, that way I always have a large enough source for future proofing. Though that’s only an issue with raster graphics, when I work with vector graphics I don’t have to worry about that. But with 3D, I’m probably just adding a bunch of extra resource use with no real benefit.
Thank you so much, btw, for all of the recommendations and advice! This has been extremely helpful! I think I’ve been going way overboard on the resolution for my parts and pieces in my models. 
Just out of curiosity:
Why do you need 20 million vertices for this model?
I guess normally this model with good topology does not need more than 10000 and that would be too much.
With 20 Mio Vertices you can create a hole Star Wars fighting scene with 100 Spaceships.
By the way, another important point is the UNDO / REDO history, it consumes a lot of RAM, but you can adjust that.
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I probably don’t need that high of a count, I’m just used to cranking up resolution on raster projects for graphic design, and I didn’t realize that that isn’t a good practice with 3D modeling. I now am realizing that I’ve probably been going way overboard on my resolution values for objects in my models. . Also, thanks for the tips on the Undo/Redo, that will be helpful. . It looks like I’ve been going way overboard on my vertice counts if my one little fighter model uses the same resources a whole Star Wars battle use! 
. Thanks for pointing that out, I really appreciate it. . And that’s after I turned it down! I think if I remember correctly, two little detail pieces had about 13 million apiece, which would have meant my model when it was unstable would have probably had around 40 million vertices!
You are not completely wrong to be using hi resolution like this.
If you want to create hard surface things like this and have crisp but smoothed edges (not razor sharp edges), then you do need to use hi poly count during the process.
For example take a primitive, then use the trim tool, or booleans to get the shape you want, but this will leave you with unrealistic razor sharp edges. So you then need to voxel remesh at a high level. Then you can use smooth tool on the edges to round them slightly without them becoming jagged or pixelated. THEN you can use decimate to bring the poly count way down.
Can you see any difference between these 2 shapes (the left one is 3.5million polys, the right is 28,000 - and could be made even less) The only difference is right one is decimated.
Here is wireframe turned on
Decimation is one way to do it, but the new quadremesher is probably even better. Just search “nomad sculpt quadremesher” on YouTube and a handful of vids will show up
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You make sculpting much more difficult and you use up resources - I don’t know how many 100MB your file uses in disc space - a spaceship like yours should need maybe 1MB.
A cube needs 8 vertices, why waste 1 million on it.
Here is an example: approx. 3500 Verices for the whole spaceship.
If you enjoy a new display or are happy about the new keyboard, then I understand buying a new iPad.
But I don’t think you’ll get better performance if you use millions of vertices for nothing. 
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Awesome! Thanks for creating that side-by-side! And thanks for the tips on the resolution, I really appreciate it! . There’s no visible difference between the two to me, and there’s obviously a huge difference in the vertice count. Btw, is the vertice count the same as polygon count, or are those two different things? And the guadremesher sounds interesting! I’ll have to see about looking into it and getting it.
I think my model was taking up about 3GB of space. So it will definitely also be good for saving storage space! . And that model you made is quite detailed and complex! . I’ll have to be more careful about not wasting a ton of resources on unnecessary vertices/polygons.
I think all my hundreds of sculptures together have 3GB of disk space .
The spaceship in my last post was 115 KB.
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Yeah, it will be nice to free up more storage space! My other models are probably similarly unnecessarily bloated!
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Strictly speaking polygon count and vertices count will be a bit different (polygon will always be a bit less) but in this situation they are basically just telling us the same thing - the overall size of the model. I think Nomad mostly tells us vertices count, I was using both terms in a casual way to kind of say the same thing.
My last bit of advice is that if you decimate, it should probably be the last thing you do to the sculpture - once all the sculpting/trimming/smoothing etc is done. Decimating creates triangles which aren’t so good to sculpt on. (You can covert it back to quads by remeshing if you have to, but you will degrade the details a bit)
I mentioned quadremesher, here is a picture of the type of mesh you can get from it to compare with the others I posted
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Thanks for the recommendations! . I think I’ll buy the quad remesher, it looks very useful. .
So I guess the takeaway is that the base spec will be more than enough as long as I don’t crank up polygon counts like a madman, lol!
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My son is a young artist and would like to begin 3-D sculpting on an iPad, which I want to give him for Christmas. Hardware budget is < $400. Some questions:
- What is the oldest (year) model you would recommend?
- You said you still use iPad Pros without an M processor. What older processors are OK for sculpting?
- What is the minimum RAM and Storage to use Nomad?
- Can any of the other iPad models be used effectively in sculpting?
I just came upon this May discussion, and thought your comments showed that there is still some virtue in frugality. Thank you for any practical wisdom you can share with me.
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Every Ipad works with Nomad Sculpt, even the older models.
The Pencil is also important for the Ipad.
6 GB Ram or more would be important.
And the larger the display, the more fun.
Otherwise you can’t make a mistake with the purchase.
You are bound by your budget, so the only options are a used Ipad Pro or a new normal Ipad…
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I never got around to finishing a personal video essay comparing my three iPad Pros, but this thread could probably do with a sprinkling of the mental notes I’ve kept.
I’m sure as others do, when they stumble across a great product, they’ll buy & deploy as needed. Thus the iPads I’ve accumulated skip a few generations til I find reason to buy again. I’ll give a run-down of each from back to front:
2015 iPad Pro - 1st Generation
A9X processor
Apple Pencil (1st Gen)
Lightning Connector
2020 iPad Pro - 4th Generation
A12Z processor (prior to M1 Apple Silicon)
Apple Pencil 2
USB-C Connector
2024 iPad Pro - 7th Generation
M4 Apple Silicon
Apple Pencil Pro
USB-C Connector
I can state that even the inaugural 2015 iPad Pro is capable of sculpting within the parameters of a beginner-to-intermediate budding sculptor. At this stage, there are PLENTLY of fundamentals to go through & develop before a sculpting project starts to really push the machine.
The purpose of snapping the picture was to load one of my heavier sculpts on all three machines and create a torture test. The dragon’s body segments consisted of 188 repeated instances and the entire scene has almost all the render/post-effects turned on. (Moody shadows & reflected glints from the spotlights)
The torture part of this test is laying a finger on the snout and dragging it around at moderate speed. For Nomad, this is configured to rotate the object. When it has to calculate the relationship of all 188 segments AND render a visual effect, it should be understandable that a decade-old iPad Pro lags considerably in this unrealistic task. On the 2020 iPad Pro, there are many magnitudes of improvement, but when really scrutinizing, it’s still not quite locked into following the finger. On the latest M4 Apple Silicon of the 2024 iPad Pro, it’s locked flexing what a beast the processor is. Extrapolate as necessary when considering all the model years in-between.
Can meaningful sculpting work take place with a huge project file/scene on the 1st gen iPad Pro? Of course! Most sculptors keep the Rendering/Post-Effects deactivated until needed at the end.
With understanding that some very old iPads permit a considerable amount of sculpting freedom, there ARE other more practical reasons to avoid digging too far into past models…
As it relates to Nomad Sculpting, interacting with the stylus is an important one. With iPads, this means the 3 main generations of Apple Pencil. The very first Apple Pencil was used by 1st & 2nd gen iPad Pros. (2015-2017) The pencil was decent, but their method of charging this first design was simply asinine. An easily-lost cap reveals the lightning plug meaning it pokes straight onto the end of the iPad for it’s charge duration. 3rd through 6th gen of iPad Pros (2018-2023) used the Apple Pencil 2. This was a much needed revision bringing a more convenient magnetic charging as well as additional functions when tapping the barrel. In the current revision called the Apple Pencil Pro for the 7th gen (2024) iPad Pro, it accumulated all the previous features (pressure sensitivity, hover, angle, barrel tap) and topped it with barrel rotation, barrel squeeze and FindMy location tracking. These Pencil generations cannot be mixed with iPad Pros outside their range. Stay away from third-party styluses or Pencil clones. It’s likely they omit pressure-sensitivity; the fundamental trait most artists seek.
The year of a particular iPad determines its CPU. This in turn matters in two significant areas… the iPadOS cut-off. My 2015 iPad Pro is no longer eligible for the latest iPadOS update and is now at version 16.7.10. The 2020 and 2024 iPad Pros are on iPadOS version 18.2 (latest). More and more apps may adopt an OS cut off and refuse to install at a certain version. Stephane is amazing for bucking this in making Nomad eligible to quite an extended past. Don’t expect other current or future art apps to continue this exception. In another trend, some apps specify a minimum CPU… specifically, it demands an Apple Silicon iPad. Octane X, FinalCutPro & a slew of games either has an iPadOS or CPU requirement.
The final point to close out this tome is Battery Health. An iPad that’s been used for years is certain to have an aged battery that may not take a full charge or last anywhere as long as it once did. Even a “refurbished” iPad resold by any vendor is VERY UNLIKELY to have undergone the arduous process of prying out the glued-in battery cells. For the most current iPads & iPhones, it’s easy to find. Settings > Battery > Battery Health
Maximum Capacity is the parameter to look for. Apple considers anything below 80% to require replacing if it’s still within warranty.
For whatever reason I haven’t looked up, Battery Health isn’t detailed on my older iPad Pros. Googling “Battery health on older iPads” brings up the steps to pry it from deep analytics. For my 2020 iPad Pro, it’s still respectable at 95% (undisclosed footnote)
And on the 2015 iPad Pro, it claims 81% though I’m quite dubious as it’s nowhere near as useful when untethered from power.
The summary point is that it’d be great to see the battery health, but this doesn’t seem to be a routine step from the eBay vendors I’ve checked on. If they did, you’d have to suspect they’re grabbing & forwarding the images above to cheat their way to a sale.
As Holger hints at the end, a non-Pro iPad could still be a useable model for a young student. Particularly, a 2022 iPad Air (5th Gen) would probably be one to consider…
It’s the year that gets you into the M1 Apple Sillicon CPU. By comparison, the 2021 iPad Pro (5th Gen) started getting the M1 chip a year earlier, but the additional “Pro” features will always kick it up to a higher price compared to the “Air”. General point of reference, the 64GB storage of the base Air models is pretty dreary. Anything beyond 256GB starts to be acceptable given the various sculpt projects and reference images it’ll accumulate.
If you subscribe to the mindset that this may be a stepping-stone iPad during the first several years, then I don’t think having an M1 to repel obsolescence is crucial. The criteria then would be an even older iPad that still deploys the Apple Pencil 2. For the Pro variants, this means 2018 (3rd Gen) and later. I’m certain there are tons of users in this forum rocking a 2018 iPad Pro.
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Thanks TG Carter for that long helpful essay. I’ll look at 2018 iPadPro with pencil vs the 2022/M1 iPad Air, as you suggest. Happy holidays!
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