15 Best Maya Alternatives

1

Autodesk Maya

Any professional animator will agree that Maya – Autodesk Maya – is one of the best applications for animation and 3D modeling. Maya lets you create realistic characters and effects using modern animation tools.

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2

Blender

Blender is a 3D creation suite that’s about as popular as Maya. In terms of features, Blender is tantamount to Maya – some users even say it’s better. Notably, Blender supports the whole 3D people line system.

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3

Unity

Unity is a real-time development platform; a 3D, 2D VR, and AR engine. Side by Side, the platform has more features than Maya. In addition to the game engine, the platform supports automotive, transportation, and manufacturing of real-time 3D models.

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4

SketchUp

One of the advantages of using SketchUp is access to hundreds of expertly-developed extensions. These extensions are available in the SketchUp Warehouse and will save you the considerable time you would spend creating the products and models yourself.

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5

Cinema 4D

Cinema 4D features a presets system, a library of already created 3D objects, materials, and node capsules. In addition, there is the scene nodes system for faster workflow as it creates entire scenes in a hierarchy-based view.

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6

Lightwave 3D

You can try LightWave 3D free – risk-free with access to every feature – for 30 days. Afterward, you have to buy the software; it’s unlike Maya where you pay monthly subscriptions. The prices include:

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7

MODO

The next Maya alternative on this list is Modo. It shares similarities with Maya in terms of 3D modeling, 3D rendering, and animation. Tagged the “starting point for creative exploration,” most users pick Modo over Maya for its ease of use.

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8

Bforartists

As a fork, Bforartists works with all Blender files and add-ons. Hence, if you prefer Blender as a Maya alternative, you’ll also prefer Bforartists. In fact, Every Blender functionality should work in Bforartists.

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9

Adobe Dimension

Adobe Dimension offers 3D modeling and 3D rendering. The tool makes it simple to create brand visualizations, graphics, and other creative works.

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10

Rhino 3D

Here’s another paid and proprietary software. Like Maya, you can use Rhinoceros 3D for 3D modeling but the tool does far more than that. It also works for Nurb surfacing, Parametric modeling, Procedural modeling, CAD, and CAM.

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11

Wings 3D

Here’s another free and open source alternative to Maya. Wings 3D is described as an “advanced subdivision modeler.” The downside of this tool is that it doesn’t work for animations; it’s exclusively for 3D modeling.

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12

Lumion

Some of the unique features on Lumion include volumetric spotlights, surface decals, animated phasing, orthographic views, rain streaks, open street maps, and a full content library among others.

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13

Keyshot

KeyShot is more or less a suite as it supports various exclusive products including KeyShot Animation, KeyShot Viewer, KeyShotXR, and KeyVR.

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14

Houdini

3D Modeling and Rendering with Houdini isn’t very different from what you get on Maya. However, Houdini follows a node-based workflow. Every action in Houdini is a node and these nodes are linked together to form networks.

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15

3D-Coat

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16

Rocket 3F

Rocket 3F is a free polygonal modeler for Windows. Unlike Maya, you don’t pay to use Rocket 3F although it’s not open-source.

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