Uniform is the second iPad app from Sparse, founded by former Blender sculpting tools lead Pablo Dobarro and Godot Engine developer Joan Fons. The first app, Cozy Blanket, is a retopology tool that allows users to retopologize 3D models by drawing new faces on the surface of high-resolution models.
After its announcement last year, Uniform sparked significant interest among CG artists. The official description of the software states it as a "multi-purpose, art-oriented data editor," but a more accurate description might be a "universal tool for creating game-ready assets." It aims to enable the creation of high-polygon sculptures, low-polygon models, PBR textures, and 2D images using a unified set of tools.

This means that the same brush used to paint directly on the surface of a high-polygon sculpt can also be used to paint a texture without UV unwrapping on a low-polygon mesh, even within a single stroke, as shown in the example above. The individual tools in Uniform will be more familiar to users of other 3D applications. You can create 3D models by making volumetric sketches or manipulating the surface of a simple base asset using a standard set of sculpting brushes.
Brushes can be customized using stamps, letters, and displacement vector maps. Geometry can be retopologized by directly shifting faces or using the "Pencil" tool from CozyBlanket to draw low-polygon topology on the surface of a high-polygon asset.
The painting tools apply surface color or displacement directly to the sculpt's surface, including low-polygon meshes, as displacement is baked in real-time. Uniform also includes a built-in layer stack compositor that supports mask layers for all types of objects: both 3D assets and 2D images.
All options shown in the example are simple 3D shapes, so it's uncertain how easy it is to create more detailed geometry using Uniform. However, the tools and layer stack are GPU-accelerated, and according to Sparse, you can work on a model "with several million polygons without any lag."

For asset preview in Uniform, there's real-time rendering support with PBR materials, non-photorealistic rendering, as well as point lighting and HDR-based lighting. The displayed lighting and shading information - the visual quality of the preview - can be adjusted using an innovative on-screen slider, as shown above. For the final quality output, Uniform uses the Cycles rendering engine from Blender. And for exchanging 3D models with other DCC applications and game engines, Uniform supports importing OBJ files and exporting OBJ and glTF files, both with textures.

Uniform 1.0 is compatible with iPadOS 17.4 and later versions, although the software is optimized for the latest iPad models, not for 2018 or earlier models. The software works with the Apple Pencil, so some features may only be accessible through touch gestures. Its cost is 60 euros.