Choosing 3D Rendering Software?
| Software | Level | OS | Price | Notes | Details |
| Maya | Pro. | PC | $3,495.00 | Full Blown Production Film Quality | Alias's Maya 3D is extremely powerful. Its node-based architecture enables complex animation and rendering linkages to be created and it offers a nonlinear modeling history, plus Mental Ray rendering. |
| Strata 3D | Mid. | MAC/PC | $700.00 | Have experience building tradeshow Displays In this, Use it at work. Similar to Photoshop | Strata's Strata 3D has a long history and is available for Mac and PC. It's a sturdy if slightly archaic 3D program, but it has found favor with many digital illustrators. It has some good rendering features, including radiosity, which are rare at the price. www.strata3d.com |
| Bryce 3D | Mid. | MAC/PC | $99.95 | For Landscapes and Environment | Corel's Bryce 3D is an interesting 3D program. It's primarily a landscape rendering application, designed to produce skies, seas, and terrains in a very efficient way. It can be pressed into service as a more general purpose 3D tool, but lacks any serious modeling tools. |
| Pixels | Mid. | MAC | $49.00 | Great for animation and video games | Pixels is a Mac-only 3D program that offers advanced rendering and animation and robust modeling for a modest cost. It also features a renderer based on the REYES algorithm-the same one used in Pixar's RenderMan software. |
| Blender | Mid. | MAC/PC | FREE | Considered one of the best with full 3D production packages. | One of the best free 3D applications available is Blender. This program is a full featured 3D production package featuring the kinds of tools you'd expect to see in a mid to high end application. |
| Lightwave 3D | Pro. | MAC/PC | $895.00 | Great tools | Newtek's Lightwave 3D is a dual application featuring separate modeler/texturing and animation/lighting/rendering apps. Its quirky interface is deceptively powerful, and it offers one of the best quality renderers out there. |
| Cinema 4D | Pro. | MAC/PC | $2,771.00 | Full Blown Production Film Quality | The full suite of plug-ins for Cinema 4D takes it into the high end. With advanced radiosity rendering, sophisticated character tools, and a GUI based expression system, it's also one of the easiest high-end 3D apps to get to grips with. |
| Poser Pro | Beg. | MAC/PC | $499.99 | Character Development | It's a 3D character renderer and animator that lets you pose and animate ready-made, high quality 3D figures. It's very powerful, but it's not an all rounder- it does one thing only-but does it very well. |