Free modeling and 3D animation software
3D animation is not a realm that the average Joe can pick up and run with. To produce anything that even resembles a few seconds of the latest animated blockbusters, be it Ice Age or Pixar's Cars, you can expect to spend weeks or even months designing, modelling, texturing, animating, and testing before you even get to the rendering process.
Anim8or is a freeware 3D design and animation app that tries to introduce anyone interested to the basic concepts of 3D.
Those dipping into the world of 3D graphics for the first time will be glad to hear that this program doesn't need to be installed, meaning that it is an easily portable and equally disposable option.
Open it up and you're faced with a violet screen and a couple of toolbars that contain basic icons. These are likely not to make much sense to anyone starting out and if you have a look towards where the help file should be, it comes somewhat as a disappointment that there is none.
Moving on from here, the user experience is all about trial and error, which doesn’t habitually result in stunning 3D creations.
Having experience with other software, namely Cinema 4D and 3D Studio Max, we can see a gaping discrepancy in both the limitations and usability of Anim8or.
There are several vital areas in which it doesn’t perform and as such cannot be considered as a viable alternative to any “professional” 3D app.
To begin, the navigation in the object window is clumsy and time consuming. It is imperative to have short-cuts that let you easily pan, zoom, or rotate, just as it is crucial to be able to have a split-screen view, letting you judge position of objects with far greater accuracy and efficiency.
However our greatest criticism comes from the fact that you cannot add light sources. Admittedly, light sources add immensely to the complicity of the software, with such a huge variety available adding elements like hard and soft shadows, visible light, and mixed light sources of multiple colours.
Nonetheless, a good grasp on lighting is key to creating impressive and realistic 3D graphics, and is therefore essential in all graphics apps.
At the end of the day, Anim8or is still a work in progress but will take an awfully long time to reach a stage at which it may be of use for something more than simple 3D logos.
If you do happen to spend enough time using this program to go beyond that however, you will find yourself needing to switch to a larger 3D suite and learn its interface from scratch.
We would recommend that you save yourself the trouble and start using the complete package from day one. On the other hand, if you don’t have high ambitions then this may prove to be a free solution for all your 3D needs.
Various bug fixes
Changes
Various bug fixes
User reviews about Anim8or
by Anonymous
Get started in 3D modeling and animation the easy way.
MoreAnim8or is a great introduction to the world of 3D modeling and animation. You can quickly build basic scenes and animate them.
You will need to be patient if you have a particular look in mind.
Pros:
Easy to make simple animations
Texturing
Fun to experiment
Good for cartoon character
Easy to make pictures from 3d
Good for creating a 2d cartoon strip
Cons:
Working with meshes and joining them is awkward
Its difficult to create realistic figures
by Anonymous
Anim8or is OK..
MoreI had been using anim8or since 2005. I love it. There are light sources and shadows but perhaps not as good as the professional packages.Still if you are good enough and patient enough you can produce beautiful scenes even as good as for TV (simple animation scene like POCOYO).
I like to produce 3D cartoons and to enhance the scene I always render in bitmap series and edited them in Adobe Flash and other video editor. Adobe After effect is a good editor.
I haven't upload mine in Yuotube yet...but I am planning to.
Pros:
It is tool, good result depends on your skill level and creativity.
Cons:
You must use other external editors to upgrade your production to broadcast quality.
No boolean.
Shadows and lighting sources is so-so.
by Anonymous
Very good for basic 3D modeling.
MoreI have been using anim8or for 6 years and I find it an excellent software to work on - nothing professional, but very good utility value. Basics of 3D are cleared up, and the software is not cluttered with multiple windows or textures popping up. For my work, I am a seafarer, I find I can make out machinery parts, modifications to equipment etc, very easily for others to see and understand, sending them screen shots at different angles.
Cons:
Creating a user controlled exe file
by Anonymous
Animation program, no... Modeling program, Yes.
MoreI have used anim8or for a few years now and realise this isnt a program for serious 3d artists or modelers. The UI is fairly clunky and the capabilities are limited... HOWEVER the fact that it is so small and is compatible with the 2 more important object formats .3ds and .obj makes this software very useful, the fact that you can model with the very few, but very useful tools and can model with individual verts means you can have a great deal of control, the raytrace lighting isnt too bad and the scripting side means is can become a fairly powerful tool unfortunately the animation side does let it down a little as there is no physics engine and no collision detection, meaning its nearly impossible to have realistic looking walking cycles or objects hitting each other. Also the weight painting is VERY time consuming and frustrating, when you have to follow each edge individually to find the stray vertex which sticks out when your models move.
Personally I like the overall layout although it could be better, it also could be a lot worse and after half an hour you will have mastered where all the buttons are (because theres only about 16)
Overall download it but be prepared to use it only when modeling (and even the only occasionaly), because although the animation and rendering is capable, you will need to spend weeks getting the sequences just right before you even start building scenes
Pros:
SMALL... i mean TINY
no installation
runs on any computer
good for starting out with
renderer is fairly fast
it has morph editing
Cons:
very limited
no physics engine
EXTREMELY time consuming
not many rendering effects
no partical generation
non customisable GUI