Blender Alternatives and Similar Software

SketchUp

SketchUp (formerly Google Sketchup) is a 3D modeling computer program for a wide range of drawing applications such as architectural, interior design, civil and mechanical engineering, film, and video game design—and available in a freeware version, SketchUp Make, and a paid version with additional functionality, SketchUp Pro. SketchUp comes with a 3D Gallery that lets you search for models and share yours.

• Sketchup is mainly focused on CAD, however, Blender is generally focused on 3D animation/design. Guest • Apr 2019 • 7 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Simpler to use but just as powerful. gkaeppel • Feb 2019 • 2 agrees and 9 disagrees Disagree   Agree

Freemium $ $ $ Mac Windows Web

490 Like

FreeCAD

FreeCAD is a general purpose parametric 3D CAD modeler. The development is completely Open Source (LGPL License). FreeCAD is aimed directly at mechanical engineering and product design but also fits in a wider range of uses around engineering, such as architecture or other engineering specialties. FreeCAD features tools similar to Catia, SolidWorks or Solid Edge, and therefore also falls into the category of MCAD, PLM, CAx and CAE.

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux

225 Like

Autodesk Maya

Autodesk Maya software is a powerful, integrated 3D modeling, animation, visual effects, and rendering solution. Maya addresses the challenges faced by everyone from artists handling an entire project alone or with a small team to chief technology officers managing a complex production pipeline.

Commercial $ $ $ Mac Windows Linux

111 Like

Wings 3D

Wings 3D is a subdivision modeler inspired by Nendo and Mirai from Izware. It is possible to assign materials, vertex color, UV coordinates and textures, but there will be improvements in those features before Wings goes 1.0. There is no support in Wings for doing animations.

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux

86 Like

Autodesk 3ds Max

It is developed and produced by Autodesk Media and Entertainment. It has modeling capabilities and a flexible plugin architecture and can be used on the Microsoft Windows platform. It is frequently used by video game developers, many TV commercial studios and architectural visualization studios. It is also used for movie effects and movie pre-visualization.

Commercial $ $ $ Windows

102 Like

Natron

Natron is an open source, cross platform nodal compositing application. It is built around industry standard open source tech such as OpenFX, OpenEXR, OpenColorIO and OpenImageIO. The feature set includes realtime playback/RAM cache, multi-threaded rendering, 2d tracking, rotoscoping, grading, animation via f-curves and 3rd party OpenFX plugin support. All contained within a familiar, intuitive interface with an XML based project file format.

• it does not build 3d models, it has no game design, natron is mostly use for videos, and it doesnt allow 3d models in the program tvgoing1 • Jul 2015 • 2 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• It does compositing too. If this isn't an alternative, you might want to take Nuke off as well Guest • Aug 2015 • 1 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Does not make programmable games but has keyframing and animation as well as graphics rendering Guest • Jul 2015 • 0 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux

85 Like

Cinema 4D

CINEMA 4D is a commercial, cross-platform, high-end 3-D graphics application, produced by MAXON Computer GmbH of Friedrichsdorf, Germany. Noted for its flexible interface and ease of use, it is capable of procedural and polygonal/subd modelling, animating, lighting, texturing and rendering. CINEMA 4D is a 3-D application that is popular amongst matte painters in film production, largely due to the BodyPaint 3D functionality.

• Cinema 4D is a professional alternative to Blender the only other contender is Maya but I consider Cinema 4D to be the best non-free 3D editor suite out there. erisdiscord • Dec 2017 • 0 agrees and 6 disagrees Disagree   Agree

Commercial $ $ $ Mac Windows

61 Like

ZBrush

IDEAS BORN IN CLAY. ZBrush is a digital sculpting and painting program that has revolutionized the 3D industry with its powerful features and intuitive workflows. Built with in an elegant interface, ZBrush offers the world’s most advanced tools for today’s digital artists. With an arsenal of features that have been developed with usability in mind, ZBrush creates a user experience that feels incredibly natural while simultaneously inspiring the artist with in.

Commercial Mac Windows

55 Like

MODO

* With fast direct modeling, flexible procedural modeling, the award-winning MeshFusion Boolean toolset and built-in sculpting tools all working together, Modo’s modeling moxie is unmatched. * Free yourself from creativity-killing constraints, with Modo’s intuitive, artist-friendly toolset. From roughing out volumes to creating highly detailed forms, Modo lets you focus on creation, not construction.

Commercial Mac Windows Linux

31 Like

3D-Coat

3D-Coat is a commercial digital sculpting program from Pilgway designed to create free-form organic and hard surfaced 3D models from scratch, with tools which enable users to sculpt, add polygonal topology (automatically or manually), create UV maps (automatically or manually), texture the resulting models with natural painting tools, and render static images or animated "turntable" movies.

Commercial Mac Windows Linux

36 Like

FXhome HitFilm

HitFilm merges FXHome VisionLab Studio , FXHome Effectslab and FXHome CompositeLab into one software. HitFilm is a layer-based editing and compositing package. HitFilm Ultimate gives you blockbuster quality visual effects and compositing at an indie price. You have full control to create your own unique effects using cutting edge technology.

• Hitfilm is more for film, while Blender is used for modeling. Guest • Mar 2018 • 6 agrees and 3 disagrees Disagree   Agree

Commercial $ $ $ Mac Windows

52 Like

Art of Illusion

Art of Illusion is a free, open source 3D modelling and rendering studio. It is written entirely in Java, and should be usable on any Java Virtual Machine which is compatible with Java 5 or later. The current version is 3.0.3, released December 12, 2016. This version is both stable and powerful enough to be used for serious, high end animation work. Many of its capabilities rival those found in commercial programs.

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux

26 Like

Bforartists

Bforartists is a complete 3D suite to create 3D content. It offers you the full 3D art pipeline to create game graphics, prerendered movies and stills. Bforartists is a fork of the popluar open source 3d software Blender. It can be used for modeling, UV mapping, texturing, rigging, skinning, animating, rendering, simulations, non-linear editing, compositing, physics etc. . And comes with Python for embedded scripting.

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Haiku AmigaOS ... MorphOS

13 Like

Flowblade

Flowblade is a multitrack non-linear video editor for Linux released under GPL 3 license. Flowblade is designed to provide a fast, precise and robust editing experience. Flowblade employs a film-style insert editing model as workflow. In insert editing clips are generally placed tightly after other clips when they are inserted on the timeline. Edits are fine tuned by trimming in and out points of clips or by cutting and deleting parts of clips.

• Flowblade is movie editor, but its not software for 3D modeling. Guest • Mar 2017 • 4 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree

Free Open Source Linux

13 Like

Rocket 3F

Rocket 3F is polygonal modeller created for Concept Artists and Designers. Modeling with Rocket 3F is like drawing - very Simple and Inspiring! The Most important feature of Rocket 3F is Workflow! It is Fast Fun and Friendly!

Free Personal Windows

11 Like

Armory

Armory is an open-source 3D game engine with full Blender integration, turning it into a complete game development tool. The result is a unified workflow from start to finish, making you work faster. No more jumping between different applications to constantly export data from one to another. Behind the scenes, Armory is powered by open-source technology. Utilizing Kha - multimedia framework and Haxe - cross platform toolkit, to provide top class performance and portability.

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Blender

9 Like

DAZ 3D

Unlike most 3D software, where 3D objects are usually created from scratch, DAZ Studio is designed to allow users to manipulate "ready to use" models and figures. It is aimed at users who are interested in posing human figures for illustrations and animation, but who may be daunted by more technical 3D and CAD software. It was created by DAZ Productions, the company that creates the built-in content for Poser 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 as a direct alternative to Poser.

Freemium Mac Windows

25 Like

SculptGL

SculptGL is a small sculpting application powered by JavaScript and webGL.

Free Web

14 Like

Apple Motion

Motion is a compositing application used to create and edit motion graphics, titling for video and film production, and 2D and 3D compositing for visual effects. Motion is now included in the Final Cut Pro X video post-production suite. Designed for video editors, Motion 5 lets you customize Final Cut Pro titles, transitions, and effects. Or create your own dazzling animations in 2D or 3D space, with real-time feedback as you work.

• Motion is designed primarily for 2D and relatively simple 3D animation, whereas you can model and rig 3D characters in Blender. Guest • Jul 2019 Disagree   Agree

Commercial Mac

17 Like

K-3D

K-3D is free-as-in-freedom 3D modeling and animation software. It features a plugin-oriented procedural engine for all of its content, making K-3D a very versatile and powerful package. K-3D excels at polygonal modeling, and includes basic tools for NURBS, patches, curves and animation.

• Discontinued According to the official website k-3d.org : The latest "source code" release is from November 2015. And the latest binary executable release is even older. According to its Sourceforge page ( https://sourceforge.net/projects/k3d/files/K-3D Win32 Binaries/ ), latest release is from june 2010.

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux PortableApps.com

30 Like

Shapr3D

Shapr3D is a revolutionary 3D modeling software created exclusively for your iPad Pro and your Apple Pencil. Shapr3D is the only truly mobile CAD app - a quick but precise way to create 3D models for engineering, design, 3D prints, and more. COMPATIBILITY Shapr3D is compatible with ALL major CAD software. You can export your works into a STL, STEP, or an IGES file.

Freemium iPad

10 Like

3D Model Maker

3D Model Maker lets you create virtual 3D models in your computer. You can create anything your imagination can think of. (Not limited to simple cubes or blocks like some apps!) It uses meshes of polygons just like they used in Toy Story. It uses the 3DS file format which is compatible with lots of professional software like Autodesk 3D Studio, Maya, AutoCAD and Blender.

• Discontinued It has not been updated for iPad in a long time, and it doesn't work on iOS 11

Commercial Windows Android Android Tablet Windows Phone iPad

5 Like

VRoid Studio

pixiv has released "VRoid Studio", a character maker that allows users to create, in easy steps, 3D model characters which can be used in various VR\AR platforms as well as the production 3DCG animation and games.

Free Mac Windows Android iPhone Android Tablet ... iPad

4 Like

iClone

Real-time animation evolves with 3D Video FX, motion paths, HDR and rapid drag & drop creation inside iClone. iClone combines video production with 3D real-time animation. The result is a powerful production tool for motion graphics, 3D animation and video compositing.

Commercial Windows

11 Like

GLC_Player

GLC_Player is a software used to view 3D models (COLLADA 3DXML OBJ 3DS STL OFF and COFF format are supported) and to navigate easily in these models. With the album management, capture and multi-capture capabilities, HTML export and navigation possibilities, GLC_Player is the most accurate tool to review a lot of 3D models in. GLC_Player is a cross-platform application (Mac, Linux and Windows). GLC_Player is a Qt4 application and uses GLC_Lib.

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux

11 Like