Mermaid Diorama — ZBrush for iPad Sculpt | Anna Schmelzer
The Mermaid Diorama is a signature piece created during Anna Schmelzer's formal engagement as a beta tester for Maxon's ZBrush for iPad. It was sculpted entirely on an iPad Pro to push the boundaries of the then-unreleased mobile version of the industry-standard sculpting software.
The goal was to build a comprehensive scene that tested high-density subtools, intricate hard-surface arrays, and organic forms simultaneously — all without relying on a desktop workstation. The diorama features a stylised chibi mermaid suspended gracefully above a lotus-filled base, clutching a luminescent firefly jar. Every element, from the individual overlapping scales on the tail to the delicate braid structures and the geometric housing of the lantern, was fully modelled, posed, and detailed within the mobile app.
Balancing the dense geometry of the environmental flourishes with the clean, smooth stylised forms of the character's face required a deep dive into the app's memory management and customised mobile UI workflows. Following the successful testing period, Maxon officially acquired the rights to the artwork and selected it to be prominently featured in the Apple App Store as a primary showcase of their new software's capabilities.
The final image was rendered with atmospheric depth of field and enhanced with AI post-processing workflows to achieve the ethereal, underwater lighting and finishing.
