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Gravity Sketch

The XR SchoolHumanitiesArt › Gravity Sketch
285mm
★ FREE (individual) SubD • NURBS • Mesh Adidas • Nike • Volkswagen • Ford Real-time collaboration • Desktop view
Gravity Sketch Ltd • CEO: Oluwaseyi Sosanya • 100,000+ users • Free for individuals since Jan 2021 • Forbes, TechCrunch

Gravity Sketch

A professional 3D design tool used by product designers at Adidas, Nike, Volkswagen, and Ford, now free for individual users. Create in SubD, NURBS, and mesh. Collaborate in real time with teammates on other VR headsets or desktop browsers. The most professionally credentialled design tool reviewed on The XR School.

Developer: Gravity Sketch Ltd
Price: Free (individual) • Paid team/enterprise plans
Platform: Meta Quest • SteamVR • iPad • Desktop browser
Users: 100,000+ • Forbes • TechCrunch
8.5
/10
XR School Score
Highly Recommended
Free for individuals • 100,000+ users • Adidas, Nike, Ford, Volkswagen • SubD/NURBS/Mesh • Real-time collaboration • Desktop review mode • Education / DT / Product Design standout
FREE (individual plan) Forbes • TechCrunch • 100,000+ users
Used by Adidas, Nike, Volkswagen, Ford
Overview

Gravity Sketch is the most professionally serious tool in The XR School's entire Art section. Developed by Gravity Sketch Ltd under the leadership of CEO Oluwaseyi Sosanya, the platform went free for individual users in January 2021 after previously being priced at $25. The rationale from Sosanya: "Providing a free product allows us to welcome a more diverse user group." The user base grew past 100,000 and has continued to expand, with the platform now reported in Forbes as in use by indie designers and major companies including Adidas, Reebok, Volkswagen, and Ford.

The application operates on multiple geometry systems — SubD (subdivision surface, the industry standard for organic forms like shoe uppers or car bodies), NURBS (non-uniform rational B-splines, the standard for precise manufactured surfaces), and mesh (polygonal modelling for games and 3D printing) — within the same VR environment, without the dropdown menus and hotkey complexity of desktop 3D software. Users sketch curves and surfaces directly in three dimensions, scale to 1:1 to check ergonomics, and walk around designs at human scale before committing to physical prototype costs.

Why VR Makes Design Better: The 1:1 Scale Argument The core design proposition of Gravity Sketch is not just that VR is a different interface — it is that VR's ability to work at 1:1 physical scale eliminates a whole category of design errors that are impossible to catch on a 2D screen. A car designer can sit inside their own CAD model before it goes to production. A footwear designer can hold the shoe at the correct size and walk around it. A furniture designer can check whether a chair's proportions feel right at human scale. TechCrunch described Gravity Sketch as "a platform that tapped into innovations in computer vision and augmented and virtual reality to let teams of people collaborate and work together in 3D from day one." For DT and Product Design teachers, this is the design-industry argument for why VR tools belong in the subject, not as a novelty but as a genuine step in a real professional workflow.
Pricing Plans
Free (Individual)
$0 • For individual users
150MB cloud storage • Up to 3 collaborators in a room • VR + desktop access • Full geometry tools (SubD, NURBS, mesh) • Export to OBJ, FBX, STL • Suitable for most school use
Plus
Paid • For heavier individual users
3GB cloud storage • Up to 5 collaborators • All Free features • More storage for class projects that accumulate files over time
Team
Paid per user • Team deployment
10GB per user • 10+ collaborators per room • Suitable for a DT department with multiple simultaneous design reviews
Enterprise
Custom • Large organisations
Decimation tool • Enforceable 2FA & SSO • Data backup • Data localisation • Security logs • Used by Adidas, Ford, Volkswagen

School deployment note: The Free plan supports up to 3 collaborators in a room and covers the full geometry toolset — sufficient for most school use. A DT department running class-wide collaborative design reviews may find the Team plan's 10+ per-room capacity useful. Pricing is subscription-based for paid tiers.

Curriculum Links
🔧
Design Technology (GCSE/A-Level)
Iterative 3D prototyping, materials and manufacturing (STL export for 3D printing), user-centred design. Gravity Sketch is closer to industry design workflow than any other tool reviewed here.
🌏
Product Design / Industrial Design
Footwear, automotive, furniture, character design. SubD and NURBS surfaces match industry standard tools. Students produce portfolio-quality 3D work at A-Level and foundation year.
🏠
Architecture / Built Environment
Spatial modelling at 1:1 scale, structural ideation, ergonomic assessment of spaces. Walking through your own architectural model is a fundamentally different experience from rendering it on a screen.
💻
Computing / Creative Digital Media
3D asset creation for game engines and AR/VR experiences. SubD and mesh exports connect directly to Unity, Unreal, and Blender pipelines used in Level 3 and undergraduate computing.
Curriculum Value
DT / Product Design curriculum
9.6
Industry professional credibility
9.6
Collaboration / teamwork tools
8.8
All-ages accessibility
6.2
KS3 beginners (steep learning curve)
4.4
Not a Beginner Art Tool: DT and Design Students, Not KS3 Art Gravity Sketch is a professional design tool that happens to be free for individuals. The difference in purpose from Vermillion, Painting VR, SculptrVR, or Color Space is significant: this is for designing objects that may be manufactured, not for expressive image-making. The SubD and NURBS geometry types require some understanding of how surface control works, and students without any prior 3D modelling experience will find the initial learning curve steeper than the tools listed above. The recommended school deployment is GCSE DT and above, A-Level Product Design, and undergraduate foundation courses — not as a general art room tool for KS3.
What Industry and Press Say
ForbesIndustry validation
"The free Gravity Sketch VR design tool just passed 100,000 users, which represents both indie designers and product design teams at big companies like Adidas, Reebok, Volkswagen and Ford."
TechCrunchPlatform description
"Gravity Sketch's solution is a platform that tapped into innovations in computer vision and augmented and virtual reality to let teams of people collaborate and work together in 3D from day one."
6DOF ReviewsQuest essential
"The Quest has got three of the best creative apps in Tilt Brush, Gravity Sketch and SculptrVR." Gravity Sketch consistently appears on any serious list of essential VR creative tools.
Oluwaseyi Sosanya (CEO, Gravity Sketch)On going free
"Providing a free product allows us to welcome a more diverse user group. Early Adopters have helped support the development and R&D." The free decision was explicitly intended to broaden access beyond large enterprise clients.
Strengths and Limitations
Strengths
  • Free for individual users — no cost barrier for school deployment
  • Used by Adidas, Nike, Reebok, Volkswagen, Ford — genuine industry tool
  • SubD, NURBS, and mesh in the same VR environment
  • Real-time collaboration — up to 3 in same room (free plan)
  • Desktop Screen mode — non-VR users can review designs
  • STL export connects directly to 3D printing pipeline
  • 100,000+ users • Forbes and TechCrunch recognised
  • iPad and desktop browser access in addition to VR
Considerations
  • Significant learning curve for students new to 3D modelling concepts
  • Not appropriate as a KS3 general art tool — GCSE DT and above
  • Free plan limited to 150MB cloud storage • 3 collaborators
  • More complex than SculptrVR or Painting VR for creative freeform use
  • Co-creation advanced features may require paid plan depending on class size
Free
Meta Quest • SteamVR • iPad • Desktop browser
Get on Meta Quest (free) → Official site & plans →
Quick Facts
Developer
Gravity Sketch Ltd
CEO
Oluwaseyi Sosanya
Price
Free (individual) • Paid team/enterprise
Platform
Meta Quest • SteamVR • iPad • Desktop
Geometry
SubD • NURBS • Mesh
Export
OBJ • FBX • STL (3D print)
Collaboration
Free: 3 in room • Team: 10+
Users
100,000+ (individuals + enterprise)
Used by
Adidas • Nike • Volkswagen • Ford
Verdict
The most professionally credentialled and curriculum-relevant tool in this Art section for secondary and post-secondary Design Technology, Product Design, Architecture, and Computing. Free for individual users, used by the world's leading product design companies, and capable of generating portfolio-quality 3D work that exports directly to 3D printing. The collaboration tools — shared VR rooms for up to 3 on the free plan, desktop review without a headset — make it particularly strong for design critique and peer feedback sessions. The honest constraint is that this is not a beginner art tool: students without any prior 3D modelling context will need significant teacher-led introduction before working independently. In the right context, it is the strongest single tool reviewed in this entire Art section for its curriculum-to-industry relevance.