The ability to create designs with 3D modeling software can be a huge advantage for any graphic designer. It enables you to create photorealistic illustrations and mockups that are compelling to clients, as well as expand your skill set to craft blueprints for product and environmental designs. There are many types of of 3D modeling software out there, but we’re going to take you through a list of some of the most popular ones. Sketchup Sketchup mockup: is a user-friendly application that’s free to download and great for 3D modeling beginners. More advanced versions cost money, but you can still create great renderings and animations with the free version. Blender Screenshot: Creating a realistic head in Blender (via ) is another free 3D modeling application. Features include sculpting, animation, photorealistic rendering and video editing.
AutoCAD software for 2D and 3D CAD is engineered for the future. Autodesk Maya LT – Cost-effective 3D Game Development.
For those ready to step it up a notch, the software also allows you to craft full 3D games, edit videos and realistic simulations (such as fluid, smoke and hair). AutoCAD Screenshot: Autodesk’s is one of the most versatile and widely-used 3d modeling applications out there. It’s used by engineers as well as environmental, industrial and graphic designers. As an added bonus, they offer to walk you through the software basics to get you started.
Rhino Screenshot: Training car design with Rhino (via ) is a curve-based 3D modeling software that creates mathematically-precise models of 3D surfaces. It’s used in architecture, industrial, product, multimedia and graphic design. Rhino offers and entire library of online, and more to help you kick things off. Revit Revit: Autodesk’s specializes in architectural design and structural engineering, specifically Building Information Modeling (BIM).
Features take you from free conceptual sketches to sustainable energy analysis, with plenty of collaboration and worksharing capabilities. 3Ds Max 3DS Max: by Autodesk is a 3D modeling, animation, simulation and rendering software used in industrial design, film, games and motion graphics. Designers can make their creations come to life with more believable textures, human-like motion, flowing hair and fur, particle simulations and more. Maya Autodesk Maya: Also by Autodesk, is a 3D modeling, animation, rendering and simulation software. Maya 3D very similar to, but less user-friendly for beginners. It’s used in video game development, animated films and visual effects and offers higher-end tools for characters and effects.
You can start learning some of the basics. Cinema 4D MAXON: Developed by MAXON, is a 3D modeling, animation and rendering application that is available in “4 Flavors” – motion graphics artists, architects, designers and 3D animators.
It’s widely used in the film industry and helped to create animations in movies like. You can check out more impressive work made in C4D. Conclusion Many of these applications overlap in terms of their capabilities and can be used in all areas of graphic, environmental and product design.
Designs created with 3D modeling software can have many different applications, which is why it’s crucial to ask your clients up front about the intended end-use of the design. Clients may need 3D designs for anything from presentation and design analysis purposes to production-ready files. During handovers, make sure to upload high resolution PNG and JPG files of the designs and ask them whether they’ll need the 3D source files or any other file formats such as a PSD. The idea of tackling the learning curve of 3D modeling software can be intimidating, but the potential benefits to any graphic designer’s business can be huge.
Similarly to learning the Adobe Suite, knowing the basics of 3D can go a long way. There’s a lot of out there, so why not start with one of those and work your way up to the more advanced programs? Do you use 3D modeling software that wasn’t included in this article?
Share it below and tell us why it rocks! Featured image: 3D renderings created with 3Ds Max.
From left: by Jomar Machado; by Sal; The White Shake House by Glorybound (via ). Being a web development company we are working with 3D modeling as this is the requirement for some of our clients. Client requires that they get the best 3d view of their products. We have to make them clear about how the 3D view of their product will look after being developed. We encourage our designer to use the best products available in the market for the 3d designs.
We have been using 3Ds Max for the past few years and we have been pretty much impressed with the features and the easiness it provides to us. We have tried different software but we are happy at with the 3Ds Max and all the new designer are also encouraged to use this software.
WARNING: FreeCAD has moved! FreeCAD code and release files are now hosted on github at Only older files and code are available here. FreeCAD is a general purpose feature-based, parametric 3D modeler for CAD, MCAD, CAx, CAE and PLM, aimed directly at mechanical engineering and product design but also fits a wider range of uses in engineering, such as architecture or other engineering specialties. It is 100% Open Source and extremely modular, allowing for very advanced extension and customization. FreeCAD is based on OpenCasCade, a powerful geometry kernel, features an Open Inventor-compliant 3D scene representation model provided by the Coin 3D library, and a broad Python API. The interface is built with Qt.
FreeCAD runs exactly the same way on Windows, Mac OSX and Linux platforms. VPython makes it easy even for novices to write Python programs that generate navigable real-time 3D animations. Starting with VPython 6, it is based on the cross-platform library wxPython, hence the project name VPython-wx. At vpython.org you will find extensive documentation, which is also included in the VPython installers. There you will also find links to the installers that are stored here at sourceforge.net.
To give an idea of how easy VPython is, the following two-line program generates a rotatable and zoomable 3D cube: from visual import. box A related project is GlowScript (glowscript.org), which provides similar ease of use for JavaScript or CoffeeScript programs, which run in a browser. The source code for VPython-wx is available at https://github.com/BruceSherwood/vpython-wx.
3D modeler, 3D game maker, 3D demo maker. A powerfull tool to modelise and create games. Scripting language allows you to code interactions in pseudo-C with the animation and synthetize your own rendering with own-made shaders. Cross-platform project WINDOWS 32/64 /MACOSX 10.6/ 10.8+ /LINUX/iOS/ANDROID/WINDOWS PHONE/GOOGLE VR/OPEN VR runs with player/editor. Android.NED Player (install APK and 'open with' options with file managers).APK generator for Android. Support for: Direct3D9 and ShaderModel3. Direct3D10 and ShaderModel4.
Direct3D11 and ShaderModel5. OpenGL and GLSL. GLES and GLES20.
METAL for OSX and iOS. Added partial compilation of scripts, Intel x86/64 and ARMv7/ARM64. Full port for Linux (Ubuntu/wxWidgets(Gtk3)). IOS.NED Player (with XCode) (GLES20/METAL) Windows Phone 8.1+ Windows VR (Steam and Oculus) Latest release: 3.