In the world of 3D animation, creativity has no limitations and boundaries. 3D animation has become an essential part of modern entertainment because we can see most of the entertainment videos contain 3D animations content such as from blockbuster movies to video games. It’s a creative field that requires creative skills, patience, and practice, but most importantly, it requires the right tools and software. For many beginner animators, the cost of 3D animation software can be a significant barrier for the new animators. However, with the free and open-source software, it is now possible to make high-quality 3D animations without cost. In fact, many free 3D animation software options offer unique features and tools that are comparable to the paid and professional software. This blog explores the best free 3D animation software for the beginners which can be used by professionals to make high-quality engaging 3D animation content.
1. Blender
Blender is a free open source 3D animation software. It supports the 3D pipeline-modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking, video editing and 2D animation pipeline. The capabilities of Blender extend further into the physics-based simulations for particles, cloth, fluid, and much more. Additionally, it provides capabilities for VFX and compositing within the software for its users. There are a lot of advance feature that it offers, some of them are given below:
- Rendering
- Modeling
- Sculpting
- Animation and rigging
- Grease Pencil
- VFX
- Simulation
- Video Editing
- Scripting
2. Autodesk Maya
In this world of 3D modeling and animation, Maya has also come out as the most powerful 3D animation software in the motion graphic field. With the passage of time Maya became the software which was used all over the industry for motion graphics. It also allows the animator to write scripts that expand its functionality. It offers powerful tools for character animation and rigging that every animator needs to learn if they want to work in this field. It has a high-quality rendering engine that makes sure the visual looks realistic and the script provides the flexibility for customization and automation in the video.
Some of the key features of the software include:
- Dynamics and effects
- Bifrost for procedural effects
- Ready-to-use graphs
- Interactive hair grooming
- Deep adaptive liquid simulation
- Bifrost Ocean Simulation System
- Bifrost Fluids
- Bullet Physics
- Maya nCloth
- 3D animation
- Cached Playback
- Animation Bookmarks
- Native motion library pluginP
- Time Editor
- Geodesic voxel binding
- General animation tools
- Shape authoring workflow
- Parallel rig evaluation
- Performance capture
- Rigging
- Matrix drive workflows
- Pin to geometry
- Proximity Wrap deformer
3. Cinema 4D
Cinema 4D is a professional 3D modeling, animation, simulation, and rendering software that has been chosen by the most motion designers. It is known for its friendly to use interface, unique layout and compatibility with the After Effects. The software supports a strong animation system that allows the animator to use any complex motion design and character animation. It comes with an advanced rendering engine that makes high quality images and animation. The most innovative and effective thing is that it has an active community where the animator shares the plugins, tutorials and resources. It helps to make a supportive environment for improving skills and the learning process.
Some of the key features of the software include:
- 3D Modeling
- Animation
- MoGraph
- Simulation
- Rendering
- Volume builder
- Fields
- Node-based Shaders
- UV Unwrapping
- Improved CAD Importer
- Alembic baking
4. Source Filmmaker
Source filmmaker is one of the great 3D animation software which provides free 3D animation making features for the animators. It is mostly used for making 3D films, games, rendering 3D animated videos and as well as it can be used for making images, art and posters. It requires the operating system of 32-bit versions of Windows XP, 7, and 10. It uses a source game engine such as sound, models and backdrops to make animated films.
The key features of source Filmmaker includes:
- Simple-to-use clip editor and motion editors that record, edit, and arrange shots
- Better image recognition. Source filmmaker uses a sophisticated engine to arrange assets, adjust motions, and blend 3D animations.
- Graph editor that supports pose-for-pose animation.
- Has rendering power more than modern game engine.
- Easy to download and use
- Easy to operate.
5. Powtoon
Powtoon is one of the best online, 3D animation software which can run directly on any device and browser of the animator. It provides the animator a cloud-based platform which can be used to make professional and engaging animations for all sorts of uses. It offers a simple and easy to use interface for its users to run smoothly without any difficulty. It also offers various 3D animation tools and features for making, enhancing, and adjusting the animations. Moreover, it also provides the facility to share them directly on google drive. It offers a premium plan for the users which provides more premium features, tools and options.
6. Daz 3D
Daz 3D is a free 3D animation software which is designed and built for one purpose which is to help the animators to make visual narratives. The 3D animation tool uses aniMate2, a tool by Go Figure 3D, to make animating 3D cartoons, games, movies, films and video content. Daz 3D provides an easy and simple interface and is full of features for the beginners to make 3D animation videos. If you are a beginner and searching for the free and easy to use 3D animation software, Try Daz 3D for making high-quality and premium 3D animation videos.
7. MakeHuman
MakeHuman is a free and open source 3D animation software and available as a stand-alone software. It offers various features and tools to create 3D human characters. It allows animators to model and animate, then export in various formats. The software provides multiple tabs for the different categories of character data for example facial features and body. The software is very popular for use as a prototyping tool for photorealistic humanoids. The key features of MakeHuman includes:
- Simple to use tool to make human characters
- fast access to a large database of morphing targets
- Models created in MakeHuman can be imported into Blender for editing
- Uses fuzzy logic rules to process inputs