My notes on 3D apps.

Cheap stuffFree! Low-priced appsUp to US$250.00 Medium-priced stuffUS$250.00 -- $1000.00 High-end money pitsUS$1000.00 or more

When I decided to get into 3D CGI, I hunted around a lot for 3D programs for Windows. I wanted to get my thoughts and bookmarks into some kind of order. Then I thought, why not put them in HTML so other people can also use my notes?

The purpose of this page, if it's not clear, is to collect in one place links and brief notes about all 3D modeling/animation/rendering apps out there. Naturally enough, there are a few caveats about this page:

• Obviously, these are only my thoughts.  Take them with a grain of salt, and don't assume what I say is right -- figure it out for yourself!
• These are only 3D apps for Windows.  This means that I haven't included any of the following:
• Purely Mac or Linux programs weren't and aren't available to me, so I haven't included stuff like Pixels 3D.  Much as I hate Windows, it's all I've got to work with.
• 2D programs like Adobe Photoshop or JASC's Paint Shop Pro are right out!
• I also haven't included programs that are pseudo-3D or include 3D elements, like Adobe AfterEffects, Coolfun's Illusion, or Newtek's Aura.
• I haven't included programs which are primarily just tools, either, such as discreet's combustion or right hemisphere's deep exploration.
• I definitely haven't included DV or other editing programs like Adobe Premiere.
• Finally, I haven't included CAD programs such as Autodesk's AutoCAD or other things which are not aimed primarily at animation.
• Also, I'm not putting all of the open source projects here. There are simply too many of them to keep track of. Many are not being actively developed anyway, so linking to them would be pointless. However, if you'd like to find them, try the 3D section of Sourceforge.net, or the 3D section of Freshmeat. Dot C Software also has a nice page with links to lots of different RenderMan compliant modelers and renderers.
• Finally, I'm not going to update this page as often as you might like. I originally assembled all this while trying to decide what programs I wanted to use myself. I now own Lightwave 3D, and I have a copy of Inspire around here somewhere too. Keeping up-to-date on what programs are out there, what their features are, how much they cost, which websites are up or down, etc. just takes too much time. If you want to start your own page listing 3D apps, be my guest (although of course copying my page is illegal, so don't do that)! Or you could always just Google "3d program"...

Here's all what there is to see:

• Cheap programs (free, in other words)
• Low-priced programs (less than US$250.00)
• Medium-priced programs ($250.00-$1000.00)
• High-end stuff (more than $1000.00)

And if you'd like, you can always just go back to my main page.

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Cheapo Stuff (free)

Software Name	Publisher	Price (in US$)	Main Purpose	Strengths	Weaknesses	Download available?	Have I actually used it?	My thoughts about it
Softy 3D	3Dam	Shareware	3D Modelling	Looks easy to use	No NURBS, splines or other things like that	Yes.	No.	Looks like a good simulation of clay sculpture.  But it looks pretty unsophisticated.
Anim8or	R. Steven Glanville	Freeware!	3D modelling, also animation and rendering	Cheap!  Also does splines.	Cheap! No NURBS, metaballs or anything similar.  The interface is good for freeware, but needs work nonetheless.	Yes.	Yes.	A handy little program -- and at $0.00, who can complain?
UV Mapper	Steve Cox	Free.	UV mapping	Does what it does.	Doesn't do what it doesn't.	Yes.	Not yet.	Not really a stand-alone program, but it's a very handy app to have around.
DOGA		Shareware.	Japanese-style robot and ship models	It has a lot of beautiful 'parts' to use	It isn't really a modelling program -- you can't change much, just put pre-made parts together	Yes.	Yes.	Very nice for what it does, and a great source of basic objects to use in other programs.
HamaPatch	Hamakazu	Shareware.	Modeling.	Nice features for the price.	A cool little program for the price.	Yes.	Yes.	Very nice for what it does, and a great source of basic objects to use in other programs.
Metasequoia	Mizno Lab	Shareware.	Modeler	Powerful features for a freebie -- subdivision surfaces & metaballs, for example. Also exports many formats.	Interface is still partially Japanese.	Yes.	No.	A pretty cool little modeler. Would be a great choice if all in English.
Terragen	Planetside	Free	Terrains	Excellent terrains, better in many ways than Bryce.	Doesn't do non-terrain stuff.	Yes.	No.	Looks very good -- haven't had time to download it yet.
POV-Ray		Free	All the basics.	Quite powerful for the price.	Requires that you 'write' the objects -- not really GUI based.  (Although Moray does allow this.)	Yes.	No.	One of the best free programs, but too hard to learn and use.
Blender	Not A Number	Free	All 3D stuff	Does most everything at a low price	Hard to learn -- the interface is a bit user-hostile. (But the manual bridges this gap.) Native rendering isn't very good, but again, Yafray makes up for this.	Yes.	A little.	Would be great if I could understand it -- an excellent program, considering it's free. Possibly the best free program.
sPatch		Free	Modelling -- spline patches (thus the name)	Pretty easy to use, good at what it does	Doesn't do very much.	Yes.	A little.	I think Anim8or does more, and better, than sPatch does, but that may be because I haven't used it much
3D Canvas	Amabilis	Free	Modelling	Looks very comprehensive (NURBS, IK, etc.)	Has some odd exclusions -- no Booleans, for example, in the free version	Yes.	Nope.	Has a lot of potential.
Strata3D	Strata	Free	All the basics.	Has Metaballs.	Excessively web-based, not as many tools as it should have (no booleans, appears to have neither NURBS nor subdivision patches?).	Yes.	Tried to.	Seems annoying -- it's free, but you get what you pay for it.
gmax	discreet	Free	Mostly modelling, for game use	Lots of different modelling features (spline patching, NURMS, polygons, etc.), UV texture mapping, simple bones, uses 3DSMax scripts,	Doesn't do rendering (?), really only for use with games	Yes.	No.	Very nice, but remember that this is mainly just a demo.
Maya Personal Learning Edition	Alias|Wavefront	Free	Everything	Holy crap!  This is Maya, for crissakes!	Watermarks on renders, uses weird (non-commercial) file format, doesn't use plug-ins.	Yes.	No.	Very good, but with all the crippled features, it's really just a demo.
Ayam	Randolf Schultz	Free	Modeling for Renderman	Seems to have lots of features -- NURBS, nice GUI	Rather unsupported (but you have to expect that since it's free), designed to work with a renderer that no longer exists (but can be used with other renderers).	Yes.	No.	Looks pretty cool, definitely great for a free modeler.
Aqsis		Free	RenderMan-format rendering	Quite pretty results considering it's free.	Somewhat user-hostile, poor support	Yes.	No.	Very good results for a free download.
Wings 3D		Free.	Modeling	Subdivision surfaces well-implemented	No NURBS, poorly supported (as with most open-source projects)	Yes.	No.	Yet another cool freeware package. Time will tell how well it stands up.

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(relatively) Low-priced Stuff (up to US$250.00)

Software Name	Publisher	Price (in US$)	Main Purpose	Strengths	Weaknesses	Download available?	Have I actually used it?	My thoughts about it
AC3D	inivis?	$49.95	Modeler	Lots of export file formats; does extrusions.	Low polys only; apparently doesn't do rendering.	Yes.	No.	Very nice for game models, but not for high-density meshes.
Milkshape	Chumbalum Soft	$25	Modeler	Lots of export file formats.	Low polys only; apparently doesn't do rendering.	Yes.	No.	Very nice for game models, but not for high-density meshes.
Bryce	Corel	199.00	Landscapes, general 3D	Landscapes are good, good textures, has metaballs, depth of focus, network rendering, tree generation is good; price is right.	Doesn't do: NURBS, Splines, decent soft lighting, IK, decent modelling (lathing, spline patching or anything else like that), etc. etc.  This is a landscape renderer with only simple modeling tools.	No.	Yes, a lot.	A very good beginners' program.
Poser	Curious Labs	219.00	Figures (human, horse, etc.)	Very good at what it does, and for the price -- certainly the best figure program in its price range.	Doesn't do much.	Earlier version sometimes available as giveaways in magazines	Yes, version 3.	Would be very handy to have, but not yet.
Amorphium	EI Technology	139.00	Modelling	Squooshy.	Doesn't do Metaballs, NURBS or other techy bits.		No.	Looks nifty, but not very useful.
Vue D'Esprit	e-on	199.00	Landscapes, mostly	Landscapes, nice rendering, good animation features	Doesn't do very good modelling of general stuff	Yes.	No.	Looks very good -- wish I had known about it when I bought Bryce
Nendo	IZware	99.00	Modelling	Pretty handy at modelling.	Strange interface, doesn't do NURBS, seems dumbed-down or something	Yes.	A tiny bit.	Not a bad modeller, but it might be better to get something either cheaper (and only a little bit less useful) or slightly more expensive (and a lot more useful)
Cinema 4D GO	Maxon	195.00 (discontinued)	All the basics.	Fast rendering, comes with a very nice CD of SF scenes and models, limited IK, okay procedural shaders	Limited render size, disabled in various annoying ways, NURBS modeling may not be well-implemented.	Yes.	No.	Surprisingly good for less than $200.00 -- not surprising it got discontinued. May still be available through distributors.
3D Toolkit	dvGarage/Electric Image	199.00	Everything (modeling, animation, rendering)	Fast rendering, based on Electric Image, NURBS, some subdivisions	No radiosity, poor workflow, some stability problems		No.	Quite a lot of bang for the buck.

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Medium-priced stuff (US$250.00 - 1000.00)

Note that many of these programs have academic or other discounts available, and you might find second-hand copies on eBay or elsewhere; the actual price you pay could be significantly less.

Software Name	Publisher	Price (in US$)	Main Purpose	Strengths	Weaknesses	Download available?	Have I actually used it?	My thoughts about it
Amapi	TGS	399.00	Modelling	Does all the main things: NURBS, splines, smoothing, etc.	No way to load images for reference, funky interface	Yes.	Yes, in demo form.	Pretty neat for the price -- definitely my choice for a modeller if I can't afford Rhino.
ZBrush	Pixologic	292.50 ("for a limited time")	Painting objects' textures, paint-modelling	Does organic modelling very well, beautiful image maps,looks very powerful for what it does	Doesn't do hard-edged modelling very well, doesn't do very much	Yes.	Nope.	Would be handy, but I don't need such detailed UV maps -- yet.
Carrara	eovia	399.00	All the basics	Nifty interface, good heritage (it comes from Infini-D and Ray Dream), nifty terrain & procedural texture generation, good sky (weather/stars) generation, radiosity	Doesn't do NURBS, no filleting or  bevelling?, relatively new company is doing it now, no displacement mapping	Not yet.	No.	Would probably be my second choice for a mid-range program, had I not gone for Inspire
Inspire 3D	Newtek	495.00	All the basics	Does almost everything Lightwave does without the price (good modelling, pretty rendering), lots of plugins available and upgrades are available to Lightwave, more stable than Lightwave?	Doesn't do NURBS, limited layers, no numeric input (without plugin), no spline patching (without plugin), no IK, no volumetrics, no particle system (without hard-to-find plugin), no radiosity (of course)	No.	Yes, a lot.	Looks very good!   (Note: This is the program I finally chose as my mid-range program)
Realsoft 3D	Realsoft	700.00	All the basics	Looks very comprehensive -- NURBS, open architecture, multi-threading, etc.	Everyone has said it's very buggy	Yes.	No.	It sounds like a very good program for the price, but bugginess is a major flaw in my book.
Imagine	Impulse	450.00	All the basics	Pretty comprehensive	Looks rather poorly put together	Yes.	No.	Looks not bad for the price, but there are better-established programs available for the same price.
Truespace	Caligari	795.00 (cheaper, earlier versions available)	All the basics	Nice modelling, has a strong pedigree	Poor rendering (always look 'brassy' to me, somehow), poor interface (very hard to get used to -- not very intuitive)	Yes.	Yes, a bit.	I thought about it a lot, in fact before I bought Bryce, but the interface still bugs me a lot.
Rhino	?  Rhino?	795.00	NURBS modelling, general modelling	Probably the best modeller around, it would seem. Very nice rendering via Flamingo.	Expensive and a bit clumsy, interface-wise -- not for the beginner; doesn't natively export to many other formats	Yes.	Yes.	A very good modeller -- I'd get it if I could.
Animation: Master (AKA Hashmaster)	Hash, Inc.	299.00	Character design and animation, general 3D	Very strong character design and animation (supposedly better than even Maya), patch-based modelling, nice procedural texture generator	Definitely has stability problems; Modelling tools may not be very good (spline-based rather than polygon-based -- a matter of taste), rendering as well?  Particle tools lacking?	? apparently not.	Nope.	Looks very good for character animation, but as that isn't my main focus, I haven't looked into it much.
Strata3D Pro	Strata	495.00	General 3D	Particle systems, lens flares, hair generators, good radiosity rendering	Poor modelling tools (no NURBS or subdivision patches, no bevelling or filleting), Company seems a little flaky -- some things about them don't make sense (the program was about $1400.00 only a short time ago -- if it wasn't worth that much in the first place, why did they charge so much?)	Yes.	Tried to	Seems like a good deal -- maybe too good.  Why is it so cheap?  Because it doesn't do much?  Because it's buggy?  Or because all the other programs are overpriced?
BodyPaint	Maxon	595.00	Direct painting of textures -- UV mapping in 3D	Very nice system, seems to do its job excellently	Not too many file formats, a bit expensive for what it does.	Yes.	No.	Another excellent program like ZBrush, but my texture-mapping needs are nowhere near this deep yet.
Merlin 3D	Digital Immersion	595.00	General 3D	Fast preview rendering, subdivision surfaces, simple radiosity, good lighting options, compatible with many CAD programs' output	No multilayer textures, overall poor render quality, poor modeling tools	Yes.	No.	Looks good, but seems poorly put-together, especially for the price
RenderDotC	Dot C Software	595.00 + 500.00/year for service	Rendering only	Very good rendering, RenderMan compliant,	No radiosity?	Yes.	No.	Like most RenderMan-type renderers, it produces great stuff but is rather expensive.
AIR	Sitex Graphics	450.00	Rendering	Very nice rendering,	No radiosity?	Yes.	No.	Looks like a great renderer.
Modo	Luxology	895.00	Primarily modeling	Very good modeling; includes texture painting; nice rendering engine; created by ex-Lightwave programmers; exports well to 3DStudio, Lightwave, Maya, etc.; definitely gives Rhino a run for its money.	Kind of expensive compared to other "pure modelers"; no NURBS	"Coming soon"	No.	Looks like a great modeler, and its Lightwave heritage is a definite plus for me.
Electric Image: Universe	Electric Image	695.00	Everything	Very strong modelling (subdivision patches), very fast rendering	Some internal inconsistencies?	No.	No.	Looks great -- an excellent alternative to Lightwave.

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High-end stuff (US$1000.00 or more)

Note that most of these programs have academic or other discounts available, and you might find second-hand copies on eBay or elsewhere; the actual price you pay could be significantly less.

Software Name	Publisher	Price (in US$)	Main Purpose	Strengths	Weaknesses	Download available?	Have I actually used it?	My thoughts about it
Softimage|XSI	Avid Softimage	A lot -- c. US$9000.00	All the 3D stuff -- modelling, rendering, animation	Very powerful and big -- probably the second-best program around, next to Maya; good rendering, nice shader trees, very well-integrated package	Not much -- just price.  It's probably hard to learn, too.	Yes.	No	It's one of the big boys -- and you have to pay for it.
Lightwave	Newtek	1595.00 (although various promotions are available)	All the 3D stuff -- modelling, rendering, animation	Looks very well-balanced, good interface, weight mapping, hypervoxels, radiosity, very nice rendering, very friendly users and my favorite web artists use it	Doesn't do NURBS; Some stability problems; poor native beveling/fileting  tools.	No.	Yes, a lot.	An excellent program. Some find the interface (all words, no icons) annoying, but I love it. One of the best all-around programs at its price. (Note: this is currently my main program.)
FormZ	auto?es?ys	A lot!  (No price given on the site.)	Modelling	Looks very potent as a modeller, probably better than Rhino	Expensive!	Yes.	No.	Looks great but massively expensive.
3D Studio MAX	Discreet	Approx. 2500.00 (it's hard to find exact prices.)	All the 3D stuff -- modelling, rendering, animation	Very powerful in general -- does all the major stuff	Hard to learn, poor rendering quality, seems to have nastier users than Lightwave	See gmax.	No.	A standard, but it looks too clunky for me.
Maya	Alias|Wavefront	1999.00 ("Maya Complete") or 6999.00 ("Maya Unlimited")	All the 3D stuff -- modelling, rendering, animation	Again, it's very good, I'm sure	I wish I understood enough about 3D to say anything bad about it.	See MAYA PLE.	No.	Another of the big boys. "Unlimited" includes various important plugins that "Complete" doesn't have: cloth dynamics, fur generation (a big exclusion), fluid dynamics and match-moving.
Cinema 4D XL	Maxon	1695.00	All the 3D stuff -- modelling, rendering, animation	Very fast renderer, quite stable, non-linear animation?	Seems to have poor character animation, relatively few plugins, does not include networked rendering	Yes.	No.	Looks like a great program -- as usual, though, the fact that it isn't a major player already is unfortunately a strike against it.
Mirai	IZware	6495.00	All the basics	Non-linear animation, Subdivision modeling	Seems a bit expensive for its features, ownership seems unstable	Yes?	No.	Looks great, but other programs in its price range may be better
Houdini	SideFX	If you have to ask, we have to kill you (okay, you have to ask?  US$17,000.00! If that didn't kill you, I don't know what will...)	Everything	It better do everything, and I'm not just talking 3D stuff here!	Do you have to ask?  If you do, please give me some money...	Yes.	No.	I'm sure it would be great.  So would world peace and a chance to live my life over again...
ETShade	ExpressionTools	1399.00	Everything	Long heritage in Japan, good at low-memory modeling, radiosity, does MetaBalls and other MetaShapes	New in English (only recently translated), no true caustics, characters animation seems weak	Yes.	No.	There are some great Japanese artisits who use it -- has a promising future in English.
PhotoRealistic RenderMan	Pixar	5000.00+	Rendering	Heavy-duty rendering system -- very customizable, high-quality, fast rendering, all sorts of geometry (subdivision surfaces, polygons & NURBS -- apparently renders curved surfaces without needing to convert to polygons first), tons of features overall	Very heavy-duty (a bit user-hostile), expensive, no radiosity?	Yes.	No.	Again, all I can say is "Holy crap!" PRMan is one of the giants.

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If you'd like to make any comments about this page, please feel free to do so!  I especially welcome pointers to programs which I may have missed, or corrections of my no-doubt numerous mistakes.  Note, however, that I won't respond to anything reactionary, and as I said above, updates to this page may be a long time in coming.

This page (http://www.jiawen.net/ 3dbits.html) designed and ©2001-2006 by Rachel Kronick. Last updated May 27, 2006.