Free Autodesk Maya Alternatives
The best free alternative to Autodesk Maya is Blender, which is also Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to Autodesk Maya and many of them is free so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting free alternatives to Autodesk Maya are SketchUp, Wings 3D, Bforartists and Rocket 3F.
Autodesk Maya alternatives are mainly 3D Modelers but may also be VFX Software or 3D Painting Apps. Filter by these if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Autodesk Maya.
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
- PortableApps.com
- Haiku
- Steam
Blender is the free and open-source 3D creation suite. It supports the entirety of the 3D pipeline—modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing, video editing, and motion tracking.
Blender vs Autodesk Maya opinions
It is free, has a big community on Youtube, a pretty friendly user interface
smessBlender has advanced to become a powerful tool. Just look at the improvements that have been made in the UI, viewport quality, performance improvements, and new feature releases. Just one simple download of about ~200Mb will give you a valuable 3D editor for your graphics career.
tobinIn the 2.8 update it went from being terrible to awesome, a great alternative, plus it's free!
nyaleymomohopen source and versatile
It's free and Open Source. It has equal or way better 3D features than Autodesk Maya on it's frequent updates.
Mostly because it's free, but it is also a fully-functioning and constantly improving 3D package. Nearly everything you can do in Maya is possible in Blender.
Its free and open source and very powerful.
- Freemium • Proprietary
- Mac
- Windows
- Online
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...
SketchUp vs Autodesk Maya opinions
tobinSketchUp is geared towards architecture, whereas Maya is for 3D modelling and animation.
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
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.
Wings 3D vs Autodesk Maya opinions
Wings 3D only does modeling, it does not do animation.
- Free • Open Source
- Windows
- Linux
- Haiku
- AmigaOS
- MorphOS
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.
Rocket 3F is polygonal modeller created for Concept Artists and Designers.
TouchDesigner is a complete authoring tool for building interactive 3D art, visualizations, prototypes and UIs. Derivative makes and supports TouchDesigner and offers their services to do custom production using TouchDesigner.
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.
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.
Hexagon delivers all the tools a graphic artist needs to create complete, detailed, textured 3D models ready to be rendered.
Discontinued
The addon is no longer updated. Last version, 2.5, can be still downloaded from the official website. DAZ 3D offers it as free since December 2017.
Hexagon vs Autodesk Maya opinions
Hexagon is only for modeling, not animation.
Gmsh is a 3D finite element grid generator with a build-in CAD engine and post-processor. Its design goal is to provide a fast, light and user-friendly meshing tool with parametric input and advanced visualization capabilities.
Gmsh vs Autodesk Maya opinions
Gmsh is for modeling, not animation.
- Freemium • Proprietary
- Windows
Walk through your architectural projects in virtual reality with the Oculus Rift. Download the Enscape Revit plugin and Revit sample projects for free. Enscape is a Realtime Rendering Plugin for Revit. Live link from BIM to virtual walkthrough.
