3D Animation Software Reviews - Commercial & Free Version

3D Animation Software Overview

3D animation software is very useful tool for making character animation in film, advertising spot, game movie trailer. Animation is very important task in the 3D design process to make character live. 3D models are rigged with virtual skeletons and use key frames to make motion.

Since the 3D animation process is very complex task, many companies have a lot of improvement on their animation software and make animation much easier. There are many 3D animation software packages available for user to use; you can find them in the following list:

List Of Commercial 3D Animation Software

EIAS Animator

EIAS Animator is professional 3D animation software. The software can handle million of polygons. Not just animation there are some more features such as shader, dynamic, render and texturing.

RealFlow

RealFlow is powerful 3D animation tool as simulation of fluids, rigid bodies, water surfaces, fibers, soft bodies, and meshes. RealFlow has been used in commercial television and film productions. The software has been used for the production in many major movies.

Autodesk MotionBuilder

MotionBuilder is a popular 3D animation software package for real-time character animation. With MotionBuilder can integrate with other 3D design software packages such as Maya and 3ds Max to transfer assets. The software is product of Autodesk Inc.

Houdini

Houdini is 3D animation and visual effects software that main feature is about particles and dynamics. The software is use for similar purpose to ReaFlow. The software also had been used in many popular films.

3D Arsenal

3D Arsenal is an integrated software solution designed specifically to meet the needs of the video editor for the creation of 3D animation. This software is the product from NewTek.

Massive Prime

Massive is a powerful 3D animation system. The software is used especially for generating crowd-related visual effects for film and television. With the software animator can deal with reactions for the crowd characters.

SyFlex

SyFlex is a solution for cloth simulation and very useful and necessary tool for 3D animation look realistic with cloth motion. After installation SyFlex is integrated within Maya, XSI or Houdini.

List Of Free 3D Animation Software

Blender

Blender is the free open source 3D animation program provided as free software. It is more than animation, the software has many other features for 3d design such as modeling, texturing, rigging, skinning, rendering, particle and other simulations, non-linear editing, compositing, and creating interactive 3D applications. Blender is available for many operating systems, including Windows, Mac, Linux, IRIX, Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, OpenBSD.

Anim8or

Anim8or is a 3D modeling and character animation program. The software is small animation software package which also provide for free of charge. Anim8or is available for Microsoft Windows platform.

Commercial Vs Free 3D Animation Software

Commercial 3D Animation Software

• Need to purchase license
• More features
• Many packages are available
• Use by many professionals

Free 3D Animation Software

• Provide for free of charge
• Fewer features than professional
• Only few packages are available

Other Solutions for 3D Animation Software Packages

The above software packages are mostly designed for 3D animation. There are more huge software packages as 3D design software which not only contains 3D animation solution but also have many other features for 3D design such as modeling, shading, texturing, dynamics, lighting, rendering, and more (based on the packages). You can find more information on 3D Design Software page.