This page contains a list of software applications that are useful for 3D animation. The software listed here are broken up into two sections: commercial and free. Most of the free packages are either in beta or alpha stages, though some stable packages are listed in the commercial section. The list is in alphabetical order by package name.”
A list of popular software that is useful for people working in the Animation Industry. The list includes 3D modeling, rendering and animation software. Pertaining to all areas of graphic design and animation
Moho (Animion Software)
Operating system: Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
Description: Moho is a proprietary vector-based 2D animation software for animators. Moho has two different versions: Moho Debut and Moho Pro. The first one doesn’t have all the functions that the Pro version has, plus the Debut version is a bit more restricted in terms of possible length and image size. The features include drawing tools, smart bones, Photoshop files import, quad meshes, full 3D space and camera, lip-sync tools, and more. Moho is available in English, German, and Japanese language (and Spanish since version 9.2).
Adobe Animate.
Adobe Animate is a vector and 2d animation software that’s designed for web and mobile app development.
You can animate vector graphics, create interactive content, add effects, and more. This software also has built-in templates that you can customize to your liking.
Best for:
Adobe Animate is designed for people who want to either animate vector graphics, create interactive content, add effects, and more. This software also has built-in templates that can be customized to your liking. Adobe Animate is best for people who want to create animations or interactive web pages.
Advanced Features:
- Use Adobe Animate to animate vector graphics.
- Create interactive content with Adobe Animate’s features.
- Create content with simple drag-and-drop actions.
- Add effects to your animations with Adobe Animate’s built-in templates, such as the color and tone effects, the temporal effect for video, and more.
Pros:
- Extensive support for animation of vector graphics
- Built-in templates for simple customizations and interactive content
- Color and tone effects, temporal effect on video, and more.
Pricing:
Here is a simple breakdown of Adobe Animate’s pricing:
Adobe Animate costs $20.99 per month for the personal version.
If you want to get access to all of Adobe’s products you can pay $52.99 per month and get access to all of their tools.
Either way Adobe Animate offers a free trial that you can try 100% risk-free.
Adobe Character Animator
This animation software comes from one of the biggest development companies in the world and serves up to the hyped expectations. One of the recent additions to the Adobe family, this simple animation software uses facial recognition, gesture recognition, etc to animate cartoon characters. The Character Animator is a real-time animator that uses your facial expressions, hand movements, full-body motion capture, and various other inputs to animate characters. It is extremely smooth and fast and you can live stream your development process to share work with team members or your audience. Just plug in your microphone, web camera and start animating! You can also create a character from your artworks in a few mouse clicks using the built-in Adobe Sensei.
Adobe Character Animator is one of the best animation software and is used by many Hollywood film houses. The software offers a huge variety of options for animating. You can also use the built-in puppets to begin animating as soon as you open the software. Animation options include breathing, walking, blinking, behaviors, etc. It is a great animation software for beginners as well as experienced professionals.
The free trial lasts for 7 days after which you can buy the paid versions of this simple software for animation. You can buy all the Adobe applications (creative cloud) for around 52 USD per month, billed annually. Adobe has created different packages for individuals, businesses, schools, and professionals. You can check this link out for more information on pricing.
Operating system: Linux, Mac OS X, Windows
Description: Synfig Studio is an open-source, free timeline-based, and 2D vector graphics computer animation program. Synfig Studio is a real back-end and front-end application, that allows you to design your animation in front-end and render it in the backend at a later time even on another computer, without having to connect the graphical display.
Maya.
Initially established in 1998, Maya is an Academy Award-winning (2003) 3D computer graphics and animation software. Currently owned by Autodesk, it is especially useful for the creation of interactive 3D applications like motion pictures, video games, TV series, special effects, and more.
It is, without any doubt, one of the best software tools on the market providing 3D animation, and has been acclaimed for its use in notable films like ‘Lord of the Rings,’ ‘Spiderman,’ ‘Star Wars,’ and ‘Ice Age.’
The best part is that it is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Best for:
Maya is one of the best animation software tools for creating animation pictures, video games, and adding 3D effects in motion pictures. If you require high-quality visual effects, then Maya has you covered.
Advanced Features:
- Clip matching feature
- Bifrost liquid creation feature that creates simulations of photorealistic movies
- Excellent character animator
- Allows deep adaptive liquid simulations
- In-built accelerated modeling workflows
- Paint effect feature that allows you to make 3D shapes by freehand drawing tools and drawing software
- Enhanced viewport 2.0 and DX11Shader rendering engine (blur refFlections, shader effects, imparting translucency)
- Free-form approach to 3D modeling that allows you to add as many layers as you want
- Arnold integration – this RenderView feature can be used to view scene changes in real-time
- Create your own scripts and plugins for better customization (in Maya-embedded Language or python scripting)
- Voice-o-matic provides lip-syncing technology, motion capture, and walk cycles
Pros:
- Complex hand-made animation tasks made extremely easy
- Efficient color management (useful Boolean operations on polygon geometry)
- Create realistic effects including explosions and cloth simulations
- Excellent rendering technology even for the most advanced projects
- Comes with a 30-day free trial and 30-day money-back guarantee
Pricing:
Maya is easily the best 3D animation software on the market and comes in at a reasonable cost of $1,545/year (or pay $195/month). They also offer a 30-day free trial so you can test the software before making the purchase.
Maya is one of the best on the market and my #2 pick this year.
You can test out Maya for free with a 30-day free trial or purchase a yearly plan and save 33%.
Conclusion
This spreadsheet is a listing of software packages that the publisher has used to create 3D animation. I used this as a reference as I was creating my own demonstration video file.