Simon
It's a nice trick, a very inspiring game if you like.
One for sure.
Real sculpting means real geometry. The best way is to use tris for this.
After you have the basics, the rest can be just displacements. Not real sculpting though, is it doesn't change the topology, Only subdivides and displaces it.
But to use random patterns around, have a full control on where to place them after... a nice tool for visualizing things.

Thanks Oli. I believe, by all means, I have something here. So many fancy apps for just using displacing as a sculpting method. Fancy tools on such worlaround. Think about it. No real geometry. No real extrudes (push pull). Just displacing a hi subdivided mesh.
@Simon.
What production now? These are just 10 mins doodles.
We may be more clever than others involved into 3d VideoGaming industry. You never know LOL
we can understand maths, thus, we can understand what displacement, as a sculpting method, means. Though Zbrush is dedicated on this method.
Sorry to say this, but I mean it.

Chris
This app is good.
Much better than some tree generators around.
Why we don't have such effective apps on a pc or a mac, this is another story.

A friend from blenderartists made a tutorial on this method.
It's only the basics, plus a nice compositing tut in the end.
Many more to say on the UV editor but you can see the idea behind such technics.
It's the old displacement method, but indicates the need of clean topology as base and the use of a UV editor.
All the trick is to align the unwrapping to the geometry of the pattern. Horizontals and verticals on the pattern, only. Any curves are coming from curving the topology. Loops etc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY9vHdwUo98

It's not on a tablet pc, it's on iPad only.
Don't make questions that have obvious answers.
My wife owns an iPad (new) but I can't start involving with itunes now, I'm a little old for such nonsenses.
BTW, the code is open and free. Maybe someone could take a look.
It's the FBX also. It isn't collada (which happens to be almost the same file)
One for sure, such trees aren't friendly to SU.

Have a look
A tree generator for ipad
http://www.cgchannel.com/2011/08/get-treesketch-2-0-cool-free-tree-generation-ipad-app/

You can export it as fbx.
Import to maya, 3dmax, blender etc etc

Now, this is a wonderful app, isn't it?

Thanks
Oli, Majid.
Blender UV editor is among the best around.
All my recent "panels" for baking them into a depth map, are, now, made in SU. Maybe the best tool for this job. As, topology is irrelevant to this method. Then obj export and bake depth in blender. Fast, precise and effective.

LOL, Pilou
What about this one? I can't figure out what it is.

And one of MealeaYing's sculpts, rendered in cycles by me.

A funny space ship.

@unknownuser said:

I can't believe you actually watched it

I was sleeping, most of the time. LOL
But, I was lucky, saw Arnold's part.
wow, tell me more about this scifi scene.

@Oli
You came back, not me LOL
(just watched this movie with arnold saying that he's back, lol, what a crap)
@pbacot
Thanks, what I tried to demonstrate here is a way to sculpt via displacements. A nice UV editor is needed and seems that only few apps have such a tool. (LOL)
Let's say, an epidermal and a subdermal sculpting.
DO your basic box modeling, UV it, the rest is sculpt on epidermal subdivided surface. As Zb, Mb, or Mode (recently) do. Any sculpting on a base mesh is a displacement.
Exceptions come from SCulptris, 3dcoat, zbrush(dyntopo), blender (Dynamesh experimental builds) Such apps produce realtime, real topology to describe a sculpted mesh.

A more semi-organic attempt, closer to the alien HRGiger like thing.

Mealea is a girl who loves the sea. She lives on a boat.
Another one, hr giger like.

Because SpaceOdysseys must have a happy end

OK Rich
It was one of these days. Sorry for this.
I don't have your permission to leave. Understood.

BTW the new decimator (though irrelevant to this method) is "almost" great.
ZBrush still remains the best app on this. (decimator master), (rebuild subdivisions)

Thank you Oli.
I'm really introducing a design engine.
Model your panels anywhere, in SU it's fine. Reliefs full of elements horizontals and verticals as possible.
Bring it into blender or elsewhere, bake a depth map from this. As 32bit exr (this is important).
Start constructing very simple forms, like boxmodelling, evenly vertically subdivided cylinders, quite the basics.
Then use the UVunwrapping and the UV editor to start placing them. A similar workaround, like texturing in SU. Subdivide and displace in blender.
I posted a small tut on blenderartists forum.
You can export the mesh, have baked low poly version with one click, base topology is very clean, the whole construction is a true precise 3d model,with right scale.
I thought that people here could be interested.
Anyway.

Thanks for visiting this thread Pilou.
This is a forum, closer to architectural design I guess.
So, people didn't get my message right.
Well, I constructed a workaround, a design engine.
Here, testing the method, in 20 minutes. Using panels for spaceships. Now, I started building panels from Fletcher's book.

And a very blendish way to say good bye to all of you.
Meet me in blenderartists forum if you like to. I doubt but thats ok.

Inspired from some zbrush technics of my good Zfriend MelaleaYing.
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?103320-Now-Im-having-fun/page59
Most of all, inspired from the Prometheus movie and specifically from the work of http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?80531-Landscapes-L51&p=984516&viewfull=1#post984516.
He's the man behind the 3d rebuilding of the alien ship.
OK, common technics in zbrush but what about blender or other apps?

Here's some tests on the following technic. (made in blender)
All these doodles took ~10-20 mins each. Some more time spent on constructing and baking displacement patterns. (explained on tutorial)

The technic, mostly for blender users but can fit well on some other advanced apps.
A link on blenderartists.org; small tutorial.
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?273033-Sculpting-with-UVs-and-displacements

Beautiful !!!
Actually, it works under safari on a mac too. It also works under firefox on a mac.
I suppose you all updated java, right?

But, I missed the best smiling face of the 04-09 four seasons series. Among other characters.