Sketch 3D vs Art Set 4
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sketch 3D
Create and animate 3D models with intuitive touch controls. Import various file formats, apply video textures, and capture animations. Share your creations with a community of designers.
- Design 3D models with touch
- Apply video as model texture
- Create 3D model animations
- Import various 3D file formats
- Capture movie from 3D scenes
- Use True Depth Camera for face models
- Share designs with community
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Sketch 3D is a tool for designing 3D models from your fingertips. You could download models from others, and could also share your great designs with other users by saving models in Public space. New Feature: Integrated MaterialX library into the app. Mesh object can be applied with materialx documents. When Saving and Loading with material, the document relative path is stored as a diffuse map entry, similar to the way of handling movie textures. Other features like material adjustment and graph editing are not supported yet. User could download free material documents from public websites and import those zip files with this app, using ShareTo or AirDrop. Feature: Use True Depth Camera to capture face model. Feature: Support using video as model texture. You could use video clips from Photo Album, or from Internet URL (YouTube URL not supported), and then apply it onto a model as texture map. Feature: Capture movie from the 3D scene. Note! If your device could not capture movie, then, could try out a smaller output resolution (by tapping the control pane). However, arbitrary output size may stop capturing prematurely. Feature: Design 3D model animation with skeleton structure. You could design a skeleton structure by placing bones in hierarchical relation. Attach model to the skeleton, and then moving the bones to define different poses. Each pose represented as a keyframe in the timeline view. And animation sequence is produced by playing interpolation between the keyframes. Features: - Import 3D content directly from browser or email, either in .zip, .rar, .7z. - Support formats: Collada DAE, OBJ, 3DS, STL(for 3D printing), and others. - Import/export to iCloud drive, via iTune File Sharing, or to Public area via Apple CloudKit Service. - Supports AirDrop. - Support Quad faces. - Smooth surfaces using Subdivision. - Mirroring editing. - 2-fingers vertex movement, 3 or 4-fingers planar shape creation. - Versatile multi-touches drag-through-space gestures to support editing and changing viewing angle at the same time. - Flexible face strip drawing. - Stitching boundary faces. Stitch triangle soap into connected faces. Stitch over edge or vertex to form a larger face. - Stitching Triangles to Quads. - Loop Cut faces. - Bevel edges. - Extrude faces or edges. - Revolve (Spin). - Vertex Smoothing. - Vertex Slide along edges. - Crease Editing after mesh subdivision. - Split mesh from, or Join mesh to the editing one. - Support hierarchical mesh node structure. - Direct vertex color editing when texture map is not used. - Edit texture map UV coordinates, include atlas generation. - 3D Text generation. - Scene interaction with your created shape. - Design Animation with skeleton structure. - Capture movie from the 3D scene. - Support using video as model texture map.
Art Set 4
Experience hyper-realistic digital art creation with advanced tools for painting and drawing. Explore a vast array of brushes, fluid simulations, and 3D paint effects. This app offers a customizable workspace and professional features for artists of all levels.
- Hyper-realistic art tools
- Fluid watercolor simulation
- 3D paint effects
- Customizable workspace
- Time-lapse video recording
- PSD export
- Layer masks
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Art Set has been No.1 iPad app in over 30 countries around the world. Now completely re-written with some of the most advanced artistic digital painting and drawing tools ever created! An 'App of Day', this giant new version has tools with incredible levels of realism and many professional features. Exclusive artistically created brushes, from real world art mediums through to the purely digital for all styles of artwork. Watch fluid Watercolor flow and run as you paint. Express your strokes in 3D giving thick gloopy paint you can even etch back into. It's also a must for any Apple Pencil owner! Art Set brushes have many additional expressions that come into play, some deeply integrated, with new levels of sensitivity you may have never experienced before! It's now free to download for the first time ever! INCLUDED FOR FREE : HYPER-REAL TOOLS - Oil Paint, Watercolors, Oil Pastel, Pencil, Biro Pen, Marker, Wax Crayon, Blenders and more! - Fluid dynamic simulation for Watercolor - 3D Paint - Custom blending achieving rich deep color - Art Set keeps track of where the canvas is wet, dry when needed - Turn on Slow Draw for drawing to lag your stroke. Create smooth curves and lines; great for calligraphy! - Blur Filter with localised quick masking - Color Wheel - User Editable Palette - Metallic Colors - Time-lapse Video Recording; share how you made your artwork stroke by stroke. - PSD Export UI - Fully customizable workspace; have just a single brush or tools on every side of your screen. - Zoom, Pan and Rotate the canvas for fine detail - Light low contrast or Dark high contrast mode - Minimalist UI for less interference with your artwork WORKFLOW - Latest graphics technology written entirely in METAL 2 - Supports the iOS Files app to manage or or transfer documents - iTunes File Sharing - Auto save - Split Screen Multitasking - use a reference image whilst you draw side by side - Export to your photo album, email, AirDrop or social networks etc. - In-depth User Guide in the app complete with video - Import photos and images at screen resolution PREMIUM PRO FEATURES - Single Upgrade Unlocks everything : 200 ADVANCED BRUSHES - Wide variety of extra hyper-real Paints, Pens, Pencils, Inks, Chalks, Pastels, Charcoal, Wet media, Stamps, Splatters, Form, Graphics, Patterns, Fabric, 3D Texture, Neon to basic Pixel and Flat Digital - You can try out all premium brushes on a test area before upgrading! DRAWING - Flood fill - Symmetry - Pixel Art - Shape primitives for Ellipse, Circle, Square, Rectangle and Line in any brush - Echo shapes for special FX - Erase mode - use any brush as an eraser - Adjust brush Size, Opacity, Flow, Grain, Loading and Dynamics LAYERS - Layer Masks - Transform, move, rotate and scale - Flip - Adjust Opacity - Layer maintains resolution whilst transformed - Blend Modes - Alpha lock - Cut, Copy and Paste, to and from other documents or other Apps - Drag and drop layers from other apps - Import from your photos CUSTOM HIGH-RESOLUTION CANVASES - Choose any resolution canvas size, the highest being dependent on your device capabilities - Set DPI and canvas dimensions in millimeters, inches or Points and Pixels - Great for pixel art or tens of millions of pixels - if device allows - Papers and Canvases from old cardboard, raw canvas, graph, squared and isometric paper COLOR - Display P3 WideColor on supported devices - Auto Color Sample, allows you to easily turn photos into paintings - Color picker - Toolbar placable HSB and RGB sliders ADJUSTMENTS - Localized adjustments, allow you to tweak all or just part of your image via quick masking - Change Hue, Saturation, Brightness, Recolor, Invert, Contrast and Blur WORKFLOW - Auto backup, saves snapshots - iOS Pasteboard or Drag and Drop to or from other apps - Import photos and images and high resolution Art Set is a wonderful creative addition to any iPad!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Art Set 4 at 4.6 against Sketch 3D's 2.9. Art Set 4 also leads on update cadence (every 6 days vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (29K vs 443). Sketch 3D's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Sketch 3D sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Art Set 4 sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Art Set 4 holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 2.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Art Set 4 has 29K ratings behind it against 443, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 48% of Sketch 3D's written reviews are positive against 63% of Art Set 4's.
Sketch 3D ships an update every 3 months, Art Set 4 every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Sketch 3D | Art Set 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.9 (443 ratings) | 4.6 (29K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 47.9% of reviews | 63.1% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 443 | 29K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 | 12.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 187 MB | 158 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Victor Ng | LOFOPI |
Customer experience
Sketch 3D
Art Set 4
User reviews
Sketch 3D
From 443 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💡 Powerful 3D modeling and animation capabilities
- 🚀 Impressive features for a free app
- 👍 Potential to be a leading 3D modeling tool on iPad
Room to improve
- 🤯 Extremely confusing and difficult to use interface
- 🤔 Lack of tutorials and instructions
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 👎 Steep learning curve for beginners
Art Set 4
From 29K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎨 Realistic paint and brush simulation
- 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
- 🎨 Excellent oil paint and watercolor tools
- 🎨 Wide variety of art tools and materials
- 👍 Responsive and smooth performance
Room to improve
- 💰 Many features locked behind paywall
- 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
- 🔒 Lack of layer management and export options
- 🔒 Limited brush size and customization options in free version
- 🔒 Confusing UI and hidden features
Bugs and requests
Sketch 3D
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes when trying to load or save projects
- Texture and color issues when importing models
- Unresponsive controls and buttons
Requested features
4 requests- In-app tutorials and video guides
- Improved user interface and controls
- Support for importing custom 3D models
- Ability to save and load projects reliably
Art Set 4
Reported bugs
4 issues- Crashes when opening color palette or blending
- Unexpected loss of work and canvas resets
- Inability to resize canvas or change aspect ratio
- Brush size and settings not preserved when switching tools
Requested features
6 requests- Add more free brushes and tools
- Improve layer management and export options
- Allow more brush size and customization options in free version
- Provide better documentation and tutorials
- Add undo/redo gesture support
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- Improve color management and palette tools
In-app purchases
Sketch 3D
- Unlimited Keyframe Editing$1.99
- Unlimited Video Capturing$1.99
Art Set 4
- Unlock All$12.99









