Comparison

Sketch 3D vs Charcoal Studio

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Charcoal Studio

Features
Read full description

Charcoal Studio brings the feel of a real charcoal sketchbook to iPhone and iPad. Pick up a stick, lay down rich, grainy tone, then blend it into smooth gradients or lift it back out, the way you would on paper. A FULL CHARCOAL KIT
 • Charcoal Pencil: fine lines and crisp detail
 • Vine Charcoal: soft, light marks for loose sketching
 • Compressed Charcoal: dense, velvety blacks
 • Charcoal Block: broad strokes for shading large areas
 • White Charcoal: highlights on toned and dark paper
 • Charcoal Powder: soft washes of tone
 • Lasso: select, move and resize your strokes BLEND AND LIFT LIKE THE REAL THING
 • Blending Stump: push charcoal into the paper’s grain, soften hard edges and build smooth tonal transitions. It moves only charcoal, never the paper, so your darks stay rich.
 • Kneaded Eraser: dab or drag to lift charcoal gently and add highlights. It follows the tooth of the paper, so lightened areas keep their natural texture.
 • Eraser: clean removal whenever you need it. MADE FOR APPLE PENCIL
 • Pressure and tilt shape every mark
 • Strokes are smoothed so blending and erasing follow your hand without jagged corners
 • Double-tap or squeeze Apple Pencil to switch tools or show tool settings
 • Draw with your finger too, or turn finger drawing off for Pencil-only work PAPER WITH TOOTH
 • Five papers: white, cream, toned gray, slate and black
 • A real paper grain shows through every stroke
 • Choose your canvas: portrait, landscape, square, or any custom size from 256 to 4096 pixels AN EXPERIENCE THAT FEELS ANALOG
 • Hear the scratch of charcoal when you hatch, while ordinary lines stay quiet
 • Pinch to zoom and pan around your page
 • Ruler for straight edges
 • Charcoal-tone palette, plus your own saved colours
 • Size, opacity and strength controls for every tool YOUR SKETCHBOOK
 • Every sketch saves automatically
• Unlimited sketches in your gallery
 • Undo and redo as many steps as you need
 • Export at full resolution and share anywhere Everything stays on your device: no account and no sign-up. Focus on your drawing. Leave the dust on the paper. Privacy policy: https://digitalhole.github.io/LilArtist.html Standard Apple Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Sketch 3D4 screens
Charcoal Studio4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Charcoal Studio at every 3 days against Sketch 3D's every 3 months. Sketch 3D's advantage is iOS requirement (14.0 vs 18.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Sketch 3D sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Charcoal Studio sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sketch 3D ships an update every 3 months, Charcoal Studio every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Sketch 3D versus Charcoal Studio: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSketch 3DCharcoal Studio
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.9 (443 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews47.9% of reviews—
Number of ratings443 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS14.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size187 MB14 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperVictor NgDigital Hole Pvt. Ltd.

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

Charcoal Studio

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Sketch 3D

One-time2
  • Unlimited Keyframe Editing$1.99
  • Unlimited Video Capturing$1.99
1 purchases

Charcoal Studio

One-time1
  • Unlock All Features$4.99

Questions

Is Sketch 3D free?
Sketch 3D is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Charcoal Studio free?
Charcoal Studio is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Sketch 3D or Charcoal Studio have ads?
Neither Sketch 3D nor Charcoal Studio shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sketch 3D or Charcoal Studio?
Sketch 3D ships an update every 3 months, and Charcoal Studio every 3 days. Most recently, Sketch 3D was updated on November 1, 2026 and Charcoal Studio on November 6, 2026.

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