Comparison: the Top 6 Most Popular 3D Modeling Software
This fall, we reviewed the six most popular 3D modeling software packages used by video game designers. We wanted to break it down: what tools are out there, and how do they compare? After checking out each software’s strengths, weaknesses, and features of note, we complied short lists of links to important resources for each. If you haven’t seen our reviews individually, check them out! We looked at Blender, ZBrush, Cinema 4D, Maya, 3ds Max, and Modo.
A note
At this point, if you have a good idea, every one of these programs is generally able to deliver quality results. Each software can pretty much do it all — in this day and age, adding features inspired by competing software is industry practice! What matters now is not if the software can make it, but how quickly, simply, and intuitively. As users find their groove and streamline their workflows, it becomes apparent what’s best suited their projects.
Best Modelling: 3ds Max
If you deal in meshes, 3ds Max is your best bet. In the 3D video game industry, 3ds Max is behind some of the biggest names, including Call of Duty and Halo. The spline system employed by 3ds Max is regularly lauded as the best of its kind. The extensive opportunities for customization (using maxscript, its native scripting language) make it an obvious choice for projects with a clear, creative vision.
Best Community: Blender
The biggest pro of Blender is the massive amount of tools, tutorials, and plugins users have created for it. The community is immense! There are over 500,000 downloads per month, actually. This kind of supportive community is key, actually — as we mentioned, features alone no longer make a software better or worse than its competitors. Inspired Blender users everywhere have created ways to mimic functionality of paid software across the board. And what’s more — there’s bound to be a whole host of tutorials online to help you get it working.
Best Sculpting: Zbrush
Zbrush is top-of-the-line when it comes to sculpting. It’s definitely the tool of choice. Zbrush is capable of manipulating models with a polycount of 20,000,000 — making it ideal for detailed, high-poly work. Powerful detail control comes with the system of customizable brushes allows in its arsenal. Noise sculpting, sculpting layers, and re-topographizing tools all play a factor.
Best Interface: Cinema 4D
Once you open up Cinema 4D, you might not find the steep 3D modeling learning curve you’ve likely heard so much about. It’s quite simple to get designs that look like something after beginning to learn this software. That’s half of the reason why Cinema 4D’s interface is so great. The other part is that it’s well organized to suit specific needs: it’s sold by variant, which are each streamlined for a specific function. Little things, like easy integration with Adobe After Effects, and it’s impressive stability make it a great choice for getting the job done in a professional setting.
Best Animation: Maya
The fact that Disney was instrumental in the development of Maya says a lot. Making animation and awe-inspiring visual effects is what it’s made for. Things like professional motion-capture handling make it the first choice for the film industry. The tools that Maya has for organic modeling and character rigging result in animation workflows that are super-intuitive and practically limitless. All of the UX/UI testing has really amounted to something — Maya even won an Academy Award for Outstanding Technical and Scientific achievement in 2003!
Best Programming: Modo
If you rank highly in computer literacy, customizability is something you’ll like about Modo. If you already know Perl, Python, or Lua scripting languages, you’ll be pleased to find that you can program Modo freely — and not just the user interface, but the tools themselves (via Tool Pipe). If you program, this software will put you in another dimension of tailor-made creative construction.
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