Comparison of 3D computer graphics software

3D computer graphics software refers to packages used to create 3D computer-generated imagery.

General information

Current software

This table compares elements of notable software that is currently available, based on the raw software without the inclusion of additional plugins.

Application	Latest release date and version	Developed by	Platforms	Mainly Used For	License
3ds Max	2022-06-15 v 2023.1	Autodesk	Microsoft Windows	Modeling, Animation (Video Games and Movies only), FX Simulations, Lighting, Rendering	Proprietary
AC3D	2022-04-27 v 9.0	Inivis	Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows	Modeling	Proprietary
Alibre Design	2022-08-03 v 25	Alibre, LLC	Microsoft Windows	Computer Aided Design	Proprietary
AutoCAD	2022-03-28 v 2023	Autodesk	macOS, Microsoft Windows	2D Computer Aided Design, 3D Modeling, Basic Rendering, Rudimentary Animation (of Camera, not objects)	Proprietary
Blender	2024-08-20 v 4.2.1 [1] [2]	Blender Foundation	Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, BSD, Solaris, AmigaOS 4, MorphOS	2D/3D toon Animation, Lighting, Modeling, Node based Material Creation / Texturing / 3D Texture Painting/ UV Mapping, Rendering (Internal, External, 3D Anaglyph and VR), 3D Rigging and Animation, Sculpting, Visual 3D Effects, Basic Post-Production Video Editing, Motion Tracking, Python Scripting, Fluid Simulation, Particles, Physics, Compositing	GPL-2.0-or-later [3]
Carrara	2013-08-26 8.5.1.19	Daz 3D	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X	Animation, Modeling	Proprietary
Cheetah 3D	2021-02-20 v 7.5.1	Martin Wengenmayer	macOS	Animation, Modeling, Rendering	Proprietary
Cinema 4D	2022-04-20 S26	Maxon	macOS, Microsoft Windows, Amiga OS [4]	Animation, Lighting, Modeling, Visual 3D Effects, Rendering, Simulation	Proprietary
CityEngine	2018-09-18 v 2018.1	Esri	macOS, Microsoft Windows, Linux	Procedural Modeling of 3D Cities	Proprietary
Cobalt	2020-02-04 v11	Ashlar-Vellum	macOS, Microsoft Windows	Modeling, Computer Aided Design, Animation	Proprietary
DesignSpark Mechanical	2020-07-20 v5.0	SpaceClaim, RS Components	Microsoft Windows	Modeling, Computer Aided Design, Rapid Prototyping, 3D Printing	Proprietary
Electric Image Animation System	2013-06 v9.1.0	EIAS3D	Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows	Animation, Lighting, Rendering, Film, Television, Visual 3D Effects	Proprietary
FreeCAD	2024-01-08 v 0.21.2 [5]	Jürgen Riegel, Werner Mayer, Yorik van Havre	macOS, Microsoft Windows, unix, Linux	CAD, FEA with Calculix, Python Scripting, parametric design, Robot Simulation, CAM, BIM, Import and Export	LGPL-2.0-or-later
form-Z pro/jr/free	2020-02-? 9.0.2	Autodessys, Inc.	macOS, Microsoft Windows	Animation, Modeling, Lighting, Render, Fabrication, Set Design	Proprietary
Hexagon	2018-02-16 2.5.2.109	Daz 3D	Microsoft Windows, macOS	Subdivision Modeling, UV Mapping	Proprietary
HiCAD	2017-02-13 v HiCAD 2017	ISD Software und Systeme	Microsoft Windows	2D/3D Modeling, Computer Aided Design, Automatic drawing generation, BIM, Animation, HELiOS PDM integration, API scripting	Proprietary
Houdini	2022-07-20 v 19.5	Side Effects Software	Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux	Animation, Lighting, Modeling, Visual 3D Effects	Proprietary
iClone	2019-12-17 v 7.71.3626.1	Reallusion	Microsoft Windows	Animation, Film and Television Previz, Videogame Asset Creation, Lighting, Visual 3D Effects	Proprietary
Inventor	2021-01 v 2021.2.1	Autodesk	Microsoft Windows	Modeling, Computer Aided Design, Rapid Prototyping, 3D Printing	Proprietary
LightWave 3D	2020-08-07 v 2020.0.2	LightWave Digital	macOS, Microsoft Windows, Amiga OS [6]	Modeling, Animation, Lighting, Rendering, Film and Television Previz, Videogame Asset Creation	Proprietary
MASSIVE	? v 3.5	Massive Software	Microsoft Windows, Linux	Artificial Intelligence in Models	Proprietary
Maya	2024-08-13 v 2025.2	Autodesk	Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux	Modeling, NURBS Modeling Sculpting, Rigging, Skinning, Retargeting, Animation, Lighting, Rendering, Bifrost Fluids, Python Scripting, Bifrost Ocean Simulation System, UV Mapping, MASH procedural effects, Time and Graph Editor, Arnold renderer, Color management Polygon modeling, Visual 3D Effects	Proprietary
Metasequoia	2022-12-23 4.8.4b	tetraface Inc.	Microsoft Windows, macOS	Modeling	Proprietary
MODO	2022-06-21 16v2	The Foundry	macOS, Microsoft Windows, Linux	Modeling, Animation, Rendering	Proprietary
Mudbox	2022-04-18 2023	Autodesk	macOS, Microsoft Windows, Linux	Lighting, Sculpting (the deformation of the model)	Proprietary
OpenSCAD	2021-01-31 v 2021.01	Marius Kintel, Claire Wolf	macOS, Microsoft Windows, Unix, Linux	CAD, Scripting, parametric design, CSG	GPL-2.0-or-later
PTC Creo (formerly Pro/Engineer)	2020 v 7.0	Parametric Technology Corporation	Microsoft Windows, HP-UX, Unix	Modeling, Computer Aided Design	Proprietary
Remo 3D	2024-02-17 v 3.1	Remograph	Microsoft Windows, Linux	Modeling, Virtual Reality, Real-time modeling, Video Game Creation, Computer Aided Design	Proprietary
Rhinoceros 3D	2020-12-08 v 7	McNeel	Microsoft Windows, macOS	Modeling, Computer Aided Design, scripting with grasshopper, many Plug in for Simulation, CAM, BIM, Rendering, and more	Proprietary
Salome	2020-12-01 v 9.6	Open Cascade EDF CEA	Microsoft Windows, Unix, Linux	CAD, Scripting, parametric design, CSG, Meshing, Pre-Post for CAE	LGPL-2.1-or-later
Shade 3D	2022-11-08 v 23.1	FORUM 8  [ ja ]	macOS, Microsoft Windows	Modeling, Computer Aided Design, Rendering, Animation	Proprietary
Silo	2022-11-03 v 2023.0	Nevercenter	macOS, Microsoft Windows	Modeling	Proprietary
Tekla Structures	2024-09-13 v 2024 SR 4.1	Tekla	Microsoft Windows	3D Modeling, Reporting, 2D drawings, 3D drawings, CAD, CAM, BIM, Computer Aided Design	Proprietary
SketchUp Pro	2021-01-05 [7] v 21.0.1 (Win64) v 16.1.1450 (Win32) v 20.0 (Mac64)	Trimble Navigation	macOS, Microsoft Windows	Modeling, Computer Aided Design	Proprietary
Solid Edge	2020-06-? 2021 ST13	Siemens Digital Industries Software	Microsoft Windows	Computer Aided Design	Proprietary
SolidWorks	2022-07-11 v SolidWorks 2022 SP3.1	Dassault Systèmes	Microsoft Windows	Computer Aided Design	Proprietary
SpaceClaim	2020-08-08 v 2020.R2	Ansys	Microsoft Windows	Computer Aided Design	Proprietary
Verto Studio 3D	2021-02-12 v2.5.0	Michael L. Farrell	macOS, iOS	Mobile Modeling, Texture Mapping, Lighting	Proprietary
Wings 3D	2020-12-20 v 2.2.6	Dan Gudmundsson (maintainer)	macOS, Microsoft Windows, BSD, Linux	Modeling, Sculpting (the deformation of the model), UV mapping	BSD
ZBrush	2022-02-07 v 2022.0.5	Maxon	macOS, Microsoft Windows	Modeling, Texturing, Lighting, Sculpting (the deformation of the model), Rendering	Proprietary

Inactive software

There are many discontinued software applications.

Application	Latest release date and version	Developed by	Platforms	Mainly Used For	License
Bryce	2010-12-23 7.1.0.109	Daz 3D	Microsoft Windows (32-bit), Mac OS X (10.7 and above)	Animation, Landscape Modeling, Fractal Geometry	Proprietary
Clara.io	redesigned in 2015-03-31	Exocortex	Mozilla FireFox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer	Modeling, Animation, Rendering	Proprietary
E-on Vue	2021-12-09 v 2021.2	E-on Software (part of Bentley Systems)	macOS, Microsoft Windows	Animation, Landscape Modeling, Lighting	Proprietary
POV-Ray	2013-11-09 v3.7.0	The POV-Team	Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, Linux, AmigaOS	Lighting, Visual 3D effects	AGPL-3.0-or-later
SketchUp Make	2017-11-14 [7] v 18.0.16975 (Win64) v 18.0.16976 (Mac64)	Trimble Navigation	Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows	Modeling, Computer Aided Design	Proprietary
Softimage	2014-04-14 "2015" (Final Release)	Autodesk	Microsoft Windows, Linux	Modeling, Animation, Video Game Creation, Lighting, Rendering, Visual 3d Effects	Proprietary
solidThinking Evolve (predecessor of Altair Inspire Studio)	?-? v 9.0	Altair Engineering	Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows	Modeling	Proprietary
trueSpace	2009-05-25 v 7.61	Caligari Corporation	Microsoft Windows, AmigaOS	Animation, Modeling	Proprietary
VistaPro	2005 v 4.2	Hypercube Engineering, Monkey Byte Development	Microsoft Windows	Landscape Modeling	Proprietary

Operating system support

The operating systems on which the editors can run natively (without emulation or compatibility layers), meaning which operating systems have which editors specifically coded for them (not, for example, Wings 3D for Windows running on Linux with Wine).

Name	Windows	macOS	Linux	Unix	BSD	iOS	Android	Other
3ds Max	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
AC3D	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
Art of Illusion	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Java virtual machine
AutoCAD	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Blender	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	[os 1]
Carrara	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Cheetah 3D	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Cinema 4D	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Amiga OS
Clara.io	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	ChromeOS
DesignSpark Mechanical	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
Electric Image Animation System	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
form-Z	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
HiCAD	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
Houdini	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
IClone	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
LightWave 3D	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	[os 2]
MakeHuman	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
Massive	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
Maya	Yes	Yes	Yes	dropped [os 3]	No	No	No
Metasequoia	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Modo	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
POV-Ray	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	[os 4]
Remo 3D	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
Shade	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Silo	Yes	Yes	dropped in 2.5	No	No	No	No
SketchUp	Yes	Yes	SketchUp for Web [8]	?	?	Yes	Viewer only
Tekla Structures	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
Softimage	Yes	No	XSI 2.0 and later	dropped	No	No	No
Solid Edge	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
solidWorks	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
solidThinking	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
SpaceClaim	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
trueSpace	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	Amiga OS}
Verto Studio 3D	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No
E-on Vue	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Wings 3D	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
ZBrush	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No

1. The old versions of Blender supported AmigaOS, Solaris, and MorphOS.
2. LightWave 3D 5.0 and before supported AmigaOS.
3. Maya 1.0 - 6.5 supported SGI Irix.
4. The old versions of POV-Ray supported Amiga OS, and Atari TOS.

Features

	Modeling	3D Painting	Animation	Rendering	3D Tracking	Compositing
3ds Max	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Some
AC3D	Yes	?	?	No	No	No
Blender	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Electric Image Animation System	dropped [9]	?	Yes	Yes	No	?
Cinema 4D	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	R16 or later	No
Clara.io	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	No	?
Cobalt	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	No	?
HiCAD	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Houdini	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
IClone	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	?	?
Lightwave 3D	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
MakeHuman	parameter-based	No	No	No	No	No
Maya	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	dropped (Maya Live)	dropped (Maya Composer, Maya Fusion, and Maya Composite)
Metasequoia	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No
Modo	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Remo 3D	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
Shade	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
Softimage	Yes	3.7 or later	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Solid Edge	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	No	?
SketchUp Make	Yes [10] [11]	?	Yes [10]	Yes [10]	No	No
SketchUp Pro	Yes [10] [11]	?	Yes [10]	Yes [10]	No	No
Wings3D	Yes	?	No	Yes	No	?

I/O

Image, video, and audio files

	Imports				Exports
	EXR	DDS	KTX	others	EXR	DDS	KTX	others
3ds Max	Yes	Yes	?	BMP, Cineon, TGA, JPG, PNG, Cineon, Radiance HDR, SGI, RLA, RPF, AVI, MPEG and QuickTime, GIF, TIFF, PSD, MOV, YUV	?	?	?	?
Art of Illusion	No	No	No	GIF, JPG, PNG, BMP, HDR, SVG [12]	?	?	?	JPG, PNG, BMP, TIFF, HDR, QuickTime
AC3D	?	Yes	?	GIF, JPG, PNG, BMP, PPM, Targa, TIFF	?	Yes	?	GIF, JPG, PNG, BMP, PPM, Targa, TIFF
Blender	Yes	Yes	?	TGA, JPG, PNG, DPX, Cineon, Radiance HDR, Iris, SGI Movie, IFF, AVI and QuickTime, GIF, TIFF, PSD, MOV	Yes	?	?	TGA, JPG, PNG, DPX, Cineon, Radiance HDR, Iris, SGI Movie, IFF, AVI and QuickTime, GIF, TIFF, PSD, MOV
Electric Image Animation System	?	?	?	TGA, JPG, PNG, BMP, Radiance HDR, AVI and QuickTime, TIFF, PSD, MOV	?	?	?	PNG, BMP, AVI and QuickTime GIF, TIFF, MOV
Cinema 4D	Yes	Yes	?	Radiance HDR, BodyPaint 3D, TIFF, PSD	Yes	Yes	?	Radiance HDR, BodyPaint 3D, TIFF, PSD
Clara.io	Yes [13]	Yes [13]	?	PNG, JPG	?	?	?	?
Cobalt	?	?	?	BMP, GIF, JPEG, PICT, PNG, PPM, XBM, XPM	?	?	?	BMP, GIF, JPEG, PICT, PNG, PPM, XBM, XPM
Houdini	Yes	?	?	?	Yes	?	?	?
IClone	?	?	?	JPG, BMP, GIF, TGA, PNG, AVI, WMV, MP3, WAV, popVideo	?	?	?	JPG, BMP, GIF, TGA, PNG, WMV, AVI, MP4, popVideo, FLV, iWidget
Lightwave 3D	Yes	?	?	TGA, JPG, PNG, AI, EPS, BMP, IFF, Radiance HDR, AVI and QuickTime, GIF, TIFF, PSD, MOV	Yes	?	?	TGA, JPG, PNG, BMP, Radiance HDR, IFF, AVI and QuickTime, GIF, TIFF, PSD, MOV
MakeHuman	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Maya	Yes	?	?	Ai, Aiff, Pix, AVI, Cineon, EPS, GIF, Jpeg, Swf, Maya IFF, Maya16 IFF, MacPaint, PSD, PNG, Quantel, Quickdraw, MOV, RLA, SVG, SGI, SGI16, SGI Movie, TGA, TIF, BMP, HDR	Yes	Yes	?	Maya IFF, AVI, QT, GIF, Softimage, RLA, BMP, TIF, SGI RGB, Alias PIX, Jpeg, EPS, Cineon, Quantel, TGA, Macpaint, PSD, PNG, Quickdraw
Metasequoia	EX version only	Yes	No	BMP, JPG, PNG, IFF, TGA, PPM, TIFF, PSD, Radiance HDR	?	?	?	?
Modo	Yes	?	?	TGA, BMP, FLX, GIF, HDR, HDR, JP2, JPG, JPEG, PNG, SGI, EPS, AI, PSD	Yes	?	?	TGA, BMP, FLX, GIF, HDR, JP2, JPG, JPEG, PNG, TIF, MOV, MWV, PSD
Remo 3D	?	Yes	?	BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG, PNM, SGI (RGB), TGA, TIF	?	?	?	JPG, PNG, SGI (RGB), TIF, XPM
Shade	Yes	(DDS Converter plugin)	?	?	Yes	(DDS Converter plugin)	?	QuickTime VR, Piranesi EPix
Softimage	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Solid Edge	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
SketchUp Make	?	?	?	JPG, PNG, TIF, TGA, BMP	?	?	?	JPG, PNG, TIF, BMP
SketchUp Pro	?	?	?	JPG, PNG, TIF, TGA, BMP	?	?	?	JPG, PNG, TIF, BMP, MOV(on Mac), AVI (on Windows) [14]
E-on Vue	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Wings3D	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?

General 3D files

	Imports			Exports
	FBX	Other formats	Web, mobile, and VR [io 1]	FBX	Other formats	glTF	Web, mobile, and VR [io 1]
3ds Max	Yes	3DS, PRJ, AI, COLLADA, HTR, OBJ, SHP, SKP, TRC	VRML	Yes	3DS, AI, ASE, COLLADA, HTR, OBJ	?	M3G, VRML97
AC3D [15] [16]	Yes	3DS, AC3D, COLLADA, Lightwave, Massive, Milkshape Ascii, OBJ, OFF, Pointfield, Points, Terragen, Triangle, Vector	VRML 1.0, glTF	?	3DS, 3D Studio ASE, AC3D, Dive, DVS, DXF, COLLADA, Lightwave, Massive, Milkshape Ascii, OBJ, Triangle	?	VRML 1.0, VRML 2.0, X3D
Blender [17]	Yes	COLLADA, 3DS, PLY, OBJ, SVG	X3D, glTF	Yes	COLLADA, PLY, OBJ, SVG, PC2	Yes	X3D
Electric Image Animation System	Yes	3DS, OBJ, LWO, MDD		?	3DS, OBJ, LWO	No
Cinema 4D	Yes	OBJ, 3DS, QD3D, LWO/LWS	VRML 1, VRML 2	Yes	OBJ, 3DS, QD3D, W3D	Yes	VRML 1, VRML 2
Clara.io	Yes	OBJ, Collada, 3DS, LWO, GEO, PLY, SHP, XGL, ZGL, AC, BLEND, CSM, LWS	VRML, Three.js	Yes	OBJ, Collada	Yes	Three.js, Babylon.js
Cobalt	?	3DS, AI, ASCII Text	VRML	?	AI, ASCII Text, RAW Triangle	?	Shockwave 3D, VRML
Houdini	Yes	?		Yes	?	Yes
IClone	Yes	OBJ, SKP (via 3DXChange)		Yes	OBJ (via 3DXChange)	?
Lightwave 3D	Yes	3DS, COLLADA, OBJ, LWO, VideoScape	VRML, VRML97	Yes	3DS, COLLADA, OBJ, LWO	?	VRML, VRML97
MakeHuman	No	N/A		Yes	COLLADA, MHX, OBJ, STL	?
Maya	Yes	Maya Ascii, Maya Binary, MEL, OBJ	VRML2	Yes	Maya Ascii, Maya Binary, Mel, OBJ, GE2, RTG	?	VRML2
Metasequoia [18] [19]	EX version only	3DS, COB, [io 2] LWO, OBJ, ROK (Rokkaku Daiō), SUF (DoGA CGA System)	glTF	EX version only	3DS, PMD, OBJ, COLLADA [io 3]	Yes	[io 4]
Modo	Yes	LXO, LWO2, LWOB, 3DS, GEO, OBJ, COLLADA		Yes	LXO, LWO, PLT, GEO, OBJ, COLLADA	Yes	X3D
Remo 3D	Yes	3DC, 3DS, AC, Collada, OpenFlight, LWO, LWS, OBJ, P3D, PLY, STA, SHP	OSG [io 5]	Yes	3DS, AC, Collada, DOT, OpenFlight, OBJ, P3D, STL	?	OSG [io 5]
Shade	Yes	OBJ, SketchUp, XML; (Pro) 3DS, COLLADA, LWO		Yes	COLLADA, DXF, OBJ, XML; (Pro) 3DS, LWO	glTF Converter for Shade3D plugin	VRML 2.0, Flash (SWF)
Softimage	Yes	?		Yes	?	No
Solid Edge	?			?		?	PDF
SketchUp Make	?	SKP, 3DS [14]		?	COLLADA, SKP	?
SketchUp Pro	?	SKP, 3DS [14]		Yes	COLLADA, SKP, EPS, EPX (removed v16+), 3DS, OBJ	?	PDF, VRML
E-on Vue	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Wings3D	?	3DS, AI, EPS, LWO, LXO, Nendo, OBJ, SVG, Wings3D		dropped in 1.3.1	3DS, COLLADA, LWO, LXO, Nendo, OBJ, SVG, Wings3D	?	VRML 2.0

Game and renderer files

	Imports			Exports
	OpenFlight (FLT)	other 3D game files	3D renderer files	OpenFlight (FLT)	OGRE	other 3D game files	3D renderer files
3ds Max	Yes			Yes	No
AC3D [15] [16]	No	Quake III BSP, Quake II (MD2), Quake III Mesh (MD3), Irrlicht irrmesh, Renderware, SMF		No	Yes	DirectX X, Second Life Sculpted Prim, Quake II (MD2), Quake Map, SMF, Unreal Tournament	POV-Ray POV, RenderMan RIB
Blender	dropped			dropped	(blender2ogre addon)		POV-Ray POV
Electric Image Animation System	?			?	?
Cinema 4D	?			?	?
Clara.io	?	DirectX X, Irrlicht irrmesh	POV-Ray POV	?	?	Quake II (MD2), Quake III Mesh (MD3), Doom 3 (MD5)
Cobalt	?			?	?
Houdini	?			?	?
IClone	?			?	?
Lightwave 3D	?	Quake II (MD2)		?	?	Quake II (MD2)
MakeHuman	No			?	Yes	Doom 3 (MD5)
Maya	Yes			Yes	No		Mental Ray MI, RenderMan RIB
Metasequoia	No	[io 6]		No	No	DirectX X [io 6]	RenderMan RIB [io 7]
Modo	?			?	?
Remo 3D	?	DirectX X, Quake II (MD2)		?
Shade	?			?	?	DirectX X, Second Life Sculpted Prim, Blue Mars	RenderMan RIB
Softimage	?			?	?
Solid Edge	?			?	?
SketchUp Make	?			?	?
SketchUp Pro	?			?	?	dotXSI
E-on Vue	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Wings3D	?			?	?	BZFlag, DirectX X, Renderware	Kerkythea, POV-Ray POV

Cache and animation files

	Imports									Exports
	Geometry Cache		Point Cache		Particle Cache				Animation
	Alembic (*.abc)	Maya Cache (*.mc) [io 8]	3ds Max PC2 [io 8]	LightWave MDD	Maya Particle Data (*.pda / *.pdb)	Houdini BGEO	RealFlow BIN	Krakatoa PRT	Biovision Hierarchy (*.bvh)	Alembic (*.abc)	others
3ds Max	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?	Yes
AC3D	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Blender	Yes	No	Mesh Cache Modifier [20]		?	?	?	?	Yes	Yes	BVH
Electric Image Animation System	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Cinema 4D	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	Yes
Clara.io	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	Yes	?	BVH
Cobalt	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Houdini	Yes	via FBX importer		?	?	Yes	?	?	?	Yes
IClone	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	Yes	?	BVH
Lightwave 3D	Yes	?	?	Yes	Partio Node [21]	No [21]	?	?	?	Yes
MakeHuman	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Maya	Yes	Yes	?	?	Yes	?	?	?	?	Yes
Metasequoia	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Modo	Yes	?	?	MDD Deformer	?	?	?	?	?	Yes
Remo 3D	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Shade	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	BVH
Softimage	(Exocortex Crate)	?	?	Point Oven	?	?	?	?	?	(Exocortex Crate)
Solid Edge	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
SketchUp Make	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
SketchUp Pro	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
E-on Vue	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Wings3D	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?

CAD files

	Imports				Exports
	STL	DXF	DWG	others	STL	DXF	DWG	others
3ds Max	Yes	Yes	Yes	IGE, IGS, IGES, IPT, WIRE, IAM, LS, VW, LP, SAT, Catia V4/V5, JT, ProE, RVT, PRT, SolidWorks, [io 9] STEP, WIRE	Yes	Yes	Yes	ATR, BLK, DF, IGS, LAY, LP, SAT, VW
AC3D	Yes	Yes	No	LDraw (Lego), SOF Airfoil	Yes	Yes	No	Inventor, LDraw (Lego)
Blender	Yes	Yes [io 10]	No		Yes	Yes [io 10]	No
Electric Image Animation System	?	Yes	?		?	Yes	?
Cinema 4D	Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes	?
Clara.io	Yes	Yes	?		Yes	?	?
Cobalt	?	Yes	Yes	ACIS SAT, CATIA v4, CCAD, CGM, CO (native), Drawing board, Facet, Grid Surface, IGS  (IGES), Parasolid XT, Pro/E, Rhino 3DM, Spline, STP  (STEP)	?	Yes	Yes	ACIS SAT, CATIA v4, CGM, CO (native), Drawing board, Facet, Grid Surface, IGS  (IGES), Parasolid XT, PDF, Pro/E, STP  (STEP)
Houdini	External [22]		No		External [22]		No
IClone	?	?	?		?	?	?
Lightwave 3D	Yes	Yes	No		Yes	Yes	No
Maya	Windows and Mac only [23]	Windows only [23]		IGES, StudioTools Wire	Windows and Mac only [24]	Windows only [24]		IGES, StudioTools Wire, Open Inventor2
Metasequoia	Yes	Yes	No		Yes	Yes	No
Modo	Yes	Yes	No	SolidWorks [io 9]	Yes	Yes	No
Remo 3D	Yes	Yes	No	DW (Designer Workshop)	Yes	No	No
Shade	Yes	Yes	No		Yes	Yes	No
Solid Edge	Yes	Yes	Yes	IGES, STEP, JT, ACIS (SAT), ProE, SolidWorks, [io 9] NX, SDRC, Microstation, Inventor, CATIA (V4/V5), Parasolid, XML, MDS	Yes	Yes	Yes	IGES, STEP, EMS, JT, XGL, XML, Parasolid, CATIA (V4/V5), ACIS (SAT), Microstation
SketchUp Make	?	?	?		?	?	?
SketchUp Pro	Yes	Yes [14]	Yes [14]		Yes	Yes [14]	Yes [14]
E-on Vue	?	?	?		?	?	?
Wings3D	Yes	?	?		Yes	?	?

Point clouds and photogrammetry files

	Imports
	ASTM E57	LASer (LAS)	Leica Cyclone PTS/PTX/PTG	Autodesk ReCap RCS/RCP	VisualSFM NVM
3ds Max	?	?	?	Yes	?
Blender	?	(Blender LiDAR Importer addon / Blender-Photogrammetry-Importer addon)	?	?	(Blender-Photogrammetry-Importer addon)
Houdini	Lidar Import geometry node		?	?	?

GIS and DEM files

	Imports							Exports
	USGS DEM	USGS SDTS (DDF)	LandXML	GeoTIFF	Shapefile	OSM	others
3ds Max	Yes [25]	Yes [25]	Yes [25]	?	?	?
AC3D	?	?	?	?	?	?
Blender	?	?	?	(Blender GIS addon)		?
Bryce	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	?	VistaPro DEM	USDS DEM
Electric Image Animation System	?	?	?	?	?	?
Cinema 4D	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	VistaPro DEM
Clara.io	?	?	?	?	?	?
Cobalt	?	?	?	?	?	?
Houdini	?	?	?	?	?	Yes [io 11] [26]
IClone	?	?	?	?	?	?
Lightwave 3D	(Ground Control plugin)	?	?	?	?	?
MakeHuman	?	?	?	?	?	?
Maya	?	?	?	?	?	?
Metasequoia	?	?	?	?	?	?
Modo	?	?	?	?	?	?
Remo 3D	?	?	?	?	?	?
Shade	?	?	?	?	?	?
Solid Edge	?	?	?	?	?	?
SketchUp Make	Yes [14]	Yes [14]	?	?	?	?	SKP+KMZ	SKP+KMZ [14]
SketchUp Pro	Yes [14]	Yes [14]	?	?	?	?	SKP+KMZ	SKP+KMZ
E-on Vue	Yes [27]	Yes [27]	?	Yes [27]	?	?	DTED [27]
Wings3D	?	?	?	?	?	?

1. VRML, Java 3D, Adobe Flash, Shockwave 3D, Acrobat 3D, OpenSceneGraph, USDZ, WebGL-related formats, etc...
2. Caligari TrueSpace 3D Object format
3. Metasequoia 4.0.0 dropped its RDS (Ray Dream Studio), and SCE (SoftF/X Model) exporters and 4.7.0 dropped its COB (Caligari TrueSpace 3D Object), DoGA CGA System SUF, and AMF exporters.
4. Metasequoia 4.7.0 dropped the VRML 1.0 (WRL), and Three.js JMF exporters.
5. OSG, OSGB, OSGT, OSGX, IVE and OSGA
6. Metasequoia 4.0.0 dropped its PlayStation RSD importer and exporter.
7. Metasequoia 4.7.0 dropped its POV-Ray POV exporter.
8. Maya Cache and 3ds Max PC2 format are also used with FBX format.
9. SLDPRT and SLDASM
10. via AutoCAD DXF addon
11. via Game Development Toolset

Supported primitives

Application	Polygon				Spline/Bézier Surface			Voxel / Volume	Metaball	Point Clouds	Particles
	Triangles	Quads	N-gons	Torus / Donut	NURBS regular patch	NURBS trimmed surface	Bicubic Bézier patch
Blender	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	soc-2014-nurbs branch	No	2.83 and later	Yes	3.1 and later	Yes
Maya	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	3D Texture	Yes	No	Yes
3ds Max	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Patch Objects	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Cinema 4D	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	?	R20 and later	Yes	?	Yes
LightWave	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	(LWCAD plugin)		No	OpenVDB primitives [28]	Yes	No	Yes
Rhinoceros	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Grasshopper	Grasshopper	Grasshopper	Grasshopper
Shade 3D	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	CAD mode		Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes

Application	Curves										Bone	Text	Camera	Light	Speaker
	Linear	Quadratic Bézier	Cubic Bézier	B-spline	Cardinal spline	Hermite spline	TCB spline	Smooth-step	Akima spline	NURBS
Blender	Bézier curve without subdivision	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Maya	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
3ds Max	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Cinema 4D	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	?	No	No	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	dropped in R23 [29]
LightWave	?	?	?	Yes	?	only in Graph Editor	only in Graph Editor	?	No	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
Shade 3D	?	?	Yes	?	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Sound Object

Modeling

Application	Hard surface Modeling		Sculpt Modeling						Non-destructive Modeling
	Polygon Modeling	Subdivision Modeling	Base-mesh Creation	Sketch Modeling	Sculpting	Cloth Sculpting	Hand Retopology	Automatic Retopology	Boolean	Bevel	Modifier	Procedural
Maya	Yes	Yes	(SOuP BMesh)	No	Yes	No	Yes	2020 and later	Yes	Yes	?	Yes
3ds Max	Yes	Yes	(Form)	No	Paint Deform	No	Yes	2021.3 and later	Yes	Yes	Yes	Max Creation Graph
Blender	Yes	Yes	Skin Modifier	Trim Brush with Union/Join mode	Yes	2.83 and later	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Geometry Nodes
ZBrush	ZModeler	ZModeler	ZSphere and ZSketch	MeshBalloon	Yes	2021 and later	Yes	ZRemesher	4R8 and later	?	No	No
Curvy 3D	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	?	?	?	?	No	No

Lookdev / Shader writing

Application	PBR viewport	Viewport effects	Interactive GI Rendering	Integrated Compositing	Text editor for shader writing	Material Nodes	Turntable Rendering
Maya	Yes	Some	Arnold	No	?	Hypershade, Node Editor, ShaderFX	Yes [30]
3ds Max	Yes	Some	Arnold	(State Set)	OSL Map [31]	Slate Material Editor, ShaderFX	Easy Turntable script
MODO	Yes	?	Yes	No	?	Nodal Shading	Render Turntable [32]
Blender	Eevee (2.80 and later)		Cycles	Yes	Text Editor	Yes	Turnaround Camera addon
Gaffer	No	No	external renderers	Yes	OSLCode Node	No	No
Marmoset Toolbag	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	Uber PBR shaders only	Yes [33]
Substance Designer	Yes	YEBIS	NVIDIA Iray	?	?	MDL graph	?

Lighting

Application	Alembic Importer	USD Importer	Rendering Engine	Volume Rendering for clouds	Interactive Rendering	Isolating light contribution	Light Lister	IES Light	Physical Sun & Sky	Sun Positioning by location and times	Light Portal	Shadow Catcher	IBL and Environment texture			Highlight Placement	Light Mixer
													Lat Long	sIBL	Light Extraction [34]
Maya	Yes	USD Extension for Maya	Maya Hardware 2.0	?	Yes	No [35]	Light Editor	?	?	?	?	?	Yes	?	?	(Place Highlight Tool for Maya)	No
			Maya Software	?	?	Light Linking		No	?	?	?	?	Env Sphere	?	?		No
			Arnold	Yes	Yes	Light Linking		Ai Photometric Light	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?		Light Mixer imager
3ds Max	Yes	(USD for Autodesk 3ds Max)	Quicksilver	?	Yes	No [36]	Light Lister	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	Place Highlight	No
			Scanline	?	?	Light Exclude/Include		?	?	?	?	Yes	?	sIBL-GUI software	?		No
			ART	?	?	?		Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?	?		No
			Arnold	Yes	Yes	Light Group [37]		Ai Photometric Light	Yes	Sun Positioner [38]	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?		Light Mixer imager
Blender	2.78 and later	3.0 and later	Workbench	Some	Yes	View Layers [39]	Property Chart Addon / Gaffer addon	No	?	Sun Position addon	No	?	Yes	?	?	Look At Gizmo (with Ctrl key)	No
			EEVEE	Some	Yes			No	Yes		No	Shader Node [40]	Yes	?	?		No
			Cycles	Yes	Yes	Light Groups (3.2 and later)		2.80 and later [41]	Yes		from 2.75	from 2.79	Yes	sIBL_GUI for Blender addon/ Add Environment nodes addon	?		No
MODO	Yes	14.1 and later	MODO Renderer / mPath	Yes	Yes	Light Linking [42]	?	Photometric Light	Directional Light [43]		Portal	Shadow Catcher	Yes	mm_sIBLToModoEnvironment script	?	?	No
LightWave	11.6 and later	No	LightWave Renderer	Yes	Yes	?	?	Photometric Light	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	original loader script, where most sIBL features were invented [44]	?	?	No
Houdini	Yes	Solaris	Mantra (PT) / Karma	Yes	Yes	Light categories	Light bank	Yes	?	?	?	Shadow Matte	Yes	?	?	Solaris	?
Cinema 4D	Yes	R23 and later	CineRender	Yes	Yes	Exclude/Include	?	Yes	?	?	?	from R18	Yes	?	?	Lighting Tool	?
			Redshift CPU	Yes	Yes	Light Group AOVs	?	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Matte Options	Yes	?	?		?

Path-tracing Rendering

Application	CPU rendering	GPU rendering
		OpenCL	NVIDIA CUDA / OptiX	AMD HIP	SYCL / Intel DPC++	Apple Metal	Texture Streaming (Out-of-Core)
V-Ray	Yes	V-Ray GPU (formerly V-Ray RT)		No	No	No	Yes [45]
RenderMan	Yes	No	24 and later [46]	No	No	No	?
Arnold	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
Redshift	No	No	Yes	Redshift for AMD (alpha version)	No	Yes	?
Modo mPath	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	?
Houdini Karma	Yes	No	19 and later	No	No	No	No
Blender Cycles	Yes	dropped in 3.0	Yes	3.0 and later	3.3 and later	3.1 and later	2.80 and later [47]

Application	MIPMAP generation	Adaptive Tessellation	Instancing	Camera Culling	Deep Pixel Rendering	Fisheye Stereo for Fulldome	Omnidirectional stereo for HMD	Deforming Motion Blur
V-Ray	img2tiledexr	?	Yes	?	Yes	Domemaster Stereo Shader	3.2 and later	Yes
RenderMan	txmake	?	Yes	?	Yes	?	Yes [48]	Yes
Arnold	maketx	Yes [49]	Yes	?	Yes	Domemaster Stereo Shader	5 and later	Yes
Houdini Karma	icp	?	Yes [50]	?	Yes [50]	?	15.5 and later	Yes
Blender Cycles	No	2.78 and later	Yes	Camera Cull	No	2.78 and later	2.78 and later	Yes

Level of Detail (LoD) Generation/Baking

Application	LoD Generation	Texture Baking
	Automatic	Normal Map	Ambient Occlusion (AO) Map	Light Map
		Tangent Space Normal Map		Non-directional (Traditional)	Directional
Maya (Turtle renderer)	"Generate LOD Meshes"	Yes	Yes	Yes	RNM (Radiosity Normal Map), and SH (Spherical harmonics) coefficients
Enlighten	No	No	?	Yes	Yes
Blender	AssetGen addon	Yes	Yes	Yes	No

See also

• Comparison of raster graphics editors
• Comparison of vector graphics editors
• Comparison of computer-aided design editors
• Comparison of CAD, CAM and CAE file viewers

References

1. Foundation, Blender. "4.2 LTS". blender.org. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
2. "Index of /blender/release/Blender4.2". ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
3. License - blender.org
4. Cinema 4D
5. "Release FreeCAD 0.21.2 · FreeCAD/FreeCAD". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
6. LightWave 3D
7. "Release Notes | SketchUp Knowledge Base". help.sketchup.com. Retrieved 2018-05-28.
8. Getting Started with SketchUp for Web. Trimble
9. EIAS3D releases EIAS 9 CG Channel November 6, 2012
10. "SketchUp Features". Archived from the original on 2017-09-21. Retrieved 2016-05-18.
11. SketchUp User Guide: Creating a 3D Model
12. 7. Textures
13. Clara.io: 65,000 Users, New Features and Premium Subscriptions. Exocortex. August 11, 2014
14. "Using SketchUp Data with Other Modeling Programs or Tools | SketchUp Knowledge Base". help.sketchup.com. Retrieved 2016-05-18.
15. AC3D Features Summary
16. AC3D 8.3
17. "Importing & Exporting Files". Blender. Blender Foundation. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
18. Compare editions. tetraface
19. バージョンアップ履歴 (in Japanese). tetraface
20. Mesh Cache Modifier. Blender Foundation
21. Partio Node. NewTek
22. Geometry file formats. Side Effects
23. Supported data import formats. Autodesk.
24. Supported data export formats. Autodesk.
25. Importing LandXML/DEM Models. Autodesk
26. Game Development Toolset. Side Effects
27. E-on ships Vue Infinite 2015 and Vue xStream 2015. CG Channel. July 2, 2015.
28. Primitive Type - OpenVDB. NewTek
29. R23 - Removed features (Virtual Walkthrough, ProRender, Sound System) MAXON
30. Create a turntable animation Autodesk
31. 3ds Max integrates OSL: GDC Day 1, fxguide, March 21, 2018
32. Render Commands, Foundry
33. Getting Started with Toolbag 2, Marmoset LLC, December 1, 2015
34. Auto HDRI Light Gen for Maya Creates Practical Lighting Setups from HDR Images, Lesterbanks, April 30, 2013
35. Viewport 2.0 limitations Autodesk
36. Kelly L. Murdock's Autodesk 3ds Max 2016 Complete Reference Guide, P.685, Kelly Murdock, 2015
37. Light Groups Solid Angle
38. Sun Positioner and Physical Sky Autodesk
39. The composition of the passes is required.
40. Blender 2.8 Eevee Tutorial Shadow Catcher. BlenderNation. June 3, 2019
41. Bf-blender-cvs - 48155c210a3 - master: Cycles: Add Support for IES files as textures for light strength, Blender Foundation, May 27, 2018
42. Shader The Foundry
43. Directional Light The Foundry
44. "Software". www.hdrlabs.com. Retrieved 2019-08-08.
45. Advancements in V-Ray RT GPU, p.15
46. Pixar RenderMan LookDev and XPU. fxguide. September 14, 2021.
47. Bf-blender-cvs - c621832d3d3 - master: Cycles: CUDA support for rendering scenes that don't fit on GPU., Blender Foundation, January 3, 2018
48. Features Archived 2016-12-24 at the Wayback Machine , Pixar
49. Subdivision Settings, Solid Angle
50. Karma Renderer FAQs