Everclay quickstart

Non-destructive sculpt layers for Blender 5.2+. This gets you from install to your first layer stack in a few minutes. Button names below match the N-panel.

Install

1. In Blender: Edit > Preferences > Get Extensions > Install from Disk, pick the Everclay .zip, and enable it.
2. In the 3D viewport, open the N-panel (press N) and select the Everclay tab.

1. Initialize

1. Select your object (a Multires object or a plain mesh; both work).
2. Click Initialize Everclay. The layer list appears.

2. Make your first layer

Manual: click Record, sculpt your pass, then click Commit to Layer. The pass becomes a new layer in the list. Use Cancel Recording to throw a pass away.

Automatic: turn on Auto REC and just sculpt. Every brush stroke becomes its own layer.

3. Control layers

• Intensity: drag a layer's slider to scale its effect (-200% to 200%).
• Visibility: toggle a layer on/off with its eye.
• Solo / Mute: isolate one layer, or silence others, from the layer row.
• Reorder: use Move Layer. Reordering is instant.

4. Organize

• New Group creates a folder; Assign Checked to Group moves checked layers in.
• Groups collapse and carry their own solo and mute, built for 20+ layer stacks.

5. Layer tools

• Duplicate Layer: copy a pass.
• Invert Layer: turn a push into a pull.
• Merge Selected Layers: combine checked layers into one.
• Flatten to Base: bake everything down into a clean base (the one destructive, opt-in operation).

6. Survive a re-subdivide

1. Sculpt and commit a few layers.
2. Add a native Multires level (Subdivide in the Everclay panel).
3. Your layers stay live. Keep tweaking intensity or sculpt more.

7. ZBrush / external round-trip

1. Send the mesh out (GoB, GoZ, or export OBJ) and edit it elsewhere.
2. Bring the changed mesh back over the same object (same topology and vertex order).
3. Click Capture as Layer: the external change returns as one non-destructive layer.

8. Shape key from a layer

Select a layer and click Create Shape Key from Layer. Animate the key's Value with Blender's standard shape-key workflow.

9. Bake a timelapse

Click Bake Timelapse. Everclay builds a copy that morphs from base to final sculpt, keyframed and render-ready. Scrub the timeline to preview, then render a progress video.

Troubleshooting

• Panel missing? Confirm the add-on is enabled and you're on the Everclay N-panel tab.
• Nothing records? Make sure you clicked Initialize Everclay and you're in Sculpt Mode.
• Cleaning up: Purge Orphan Layer Data removes stale data left by deleted objects.