Here is a list of the most popular 3D modelling software that is used in game production and for producing game ready assets.
- Maya
- 3D studio Max
- Blender
- Cinema 4D
- Modo
- Houdini
- ZBrush
- 3D Coat
- Mudbox
- Substance Painter
Now if you are making games using popular game engines like Unity or Unreal you will probably want a way to create your own 3D assets, unless you are buying them or getting them made for you.
Autodesk Maya
Maya is and industry standard for all types of modelling whether its for games or film production and is pretty much considered the daddy for most 3D visual effects, it excels in the area of animation more so than most other 3d modelling software.
It has been used in many blockbuster films, including the Matrix, Spiderman and most Pixar films, including Monsters Inc, Frozen and Toy story, Its also used on TV series like the Walking Dead and Game of Thrones.
Maya is used for all of Blue sky production rigging and animation, Blue sky are responsible for hits like: RIO, ROBOTS and all of the Ice Age films.
Its versatility and simple interface make it great for creating 3D models for games too, being used in some shape or form in most triple A games you can think of.
Here is a quick list of some games Maya was used in:
- Uncharted Thief’s End
- Dragon age inquisition
- Dead by Daylight
- Halo Wars 2
- Mirror’s Edge catalyst
- Deus Ex mankind divided
- Watch Dogs 2
Maya is one of the oldest 3D creation tools and is fully cemented in the industry making it an institution for most people, most will swear nothing else comes close to its power versatility and performance.
Maya isn’t cheap and is $125 per month recurring, if you are and indie developer you may consider using its little brother Maya LT.
Maya LT is a light version of Maya targeted at indie game developers who want to tap into the powerful animation tools available in Maya for creating great looking game assets.
Maya Light is a lot cheaper at $265 a year or $35 per month, if you are interested it can be found here:
3D Studio Max
This is another Autodesk product and is also used everywhere, but more so in the game industry.
It surpasses Maya in the ability to create more complex models with a fairly simple workflow, you also have access to more powerful modifiers that allow you to manipulate your models with more precision.
3D Max is regularly used in the industry to create game ready assets and has a long tradition for both indie and triple A game developers.
For most people in the industry 3D Studio Max is the go-to for game asset creation, but for indies it may be a bit too expensive.
Monthly it will set you back a whopping $234 or slightly cheaper at $1.872 for a years subscription.
You can buy or trial 3D Studio Max here:
Blender
Blender is a fantastic free alternative to modelling programs like Maya and Studio Max, it has some powerful modelling tools and a real time renderer called Eevee.
Now Most free 3D software doesn’t really hit the beats that the premium software does, either through its interface, toolset or ability to render a high quality asset or scene.
Now even though Blender isn’t an industry standard like its premium counter parts it still has the power to create anything May or Studio Max can.
If you are an Indie developer then this is a great tool to have, don’t shy away from this just because it isn’t and industry standard.
You can download Blender for free here: https://www.blender.org/
Cinema 4D
Now Cinemas 4D isn’t primary designed for games and although it can be used to create and render 3D assets, its more orientated to be used for film and television.
Its power is in is simplicity, you can quickly create 3D models and scenes without too much effort, its weaknesses are in its texture painting and UV unwrapping.
There is no doubt that Cinema 4D can be used in every stage of game asset creation, its just that its not recognized as much in the industry for doing so.
Cinemas 4D may not be considered the best for game production but for a lot of people it provides an easy interface and a simple design flow for creating clean polished game assets.
The trial version of Cinema 4D is very generous and doesn’t provide a time limited period for usage.
You can find Cinema 4D here: https://www.maxon.net/en/cinema-4d
Modo
This is a streamlined modelling program it has a fantastic interface and is probably one of the easiest to use an easy to get to grips with.
Modo is a fairly cheap option for indies at around $51 a month for subscription and has a 31 day trial.
Modo has been used on games like Borderlands 2, uncharted, quantum break, Far Cry 3 and loads more AAA and indie games since its creation.
ID software use it a lot for environment work and other asset creation too and was used on their most recent Doom game Doom Eternal.
The tools available in Modo are very game orientated so making assets is very fast and because of its super fast workflow it leaves more time for creating and less time jumping between other tools and external programs.
Its also praised by most developers for having a fast rendering time and high quality baking, giving you the ability to test characters and scenes quickly.
Houdini
Now this is technically a procedural texture and visual effects program, but it deserves a mention as it can be used inside Unity for adding effects and procedural generation to you environments.
It allows for fast creation of textures and procedural textures using node networks which you can preview directly inside of the Unity game engine.
To see and over view of how you can integrate in with unity and some of the games that have done just that, check out these videos on the Unity YouTube channel
The Indie version of Modo is $270 a year which is pretty affordable and works out at around $22 a month.
when you plug Houdini in to unity you can export the Houdini digital assets to the game environment, Unity does this by cooking the assets node network using the Houdini library
Houdini can also be plugged into other 3D software and engines like Maya, Cinema 4D and the Unreal Engine.
Here is some footage of Houdini being used in conjunction with Maya, used in Guerrilla Games Zero Dawn
ZBrush
Pixel logics ZBrush is possibly the best painting and sculpting tool on the market, you can pull and push virtual clay around in a Realtime environment creating character and environment assets.
You can to create complex life like models with almost infinite detail using myriad of brushes and mask tools to get the job done.
The advantage of sculpturing like this is that it can be instantly tactile and you can build you clay design up slapping on more clay or by reducing it down.
You can get a license of ZBrush for $39 a month.
Pixel logic has also create a free sculpturing tools called Sculptris, this is very much a scaled back sculpting tool that can be a great stepping stone for sculpturing before upgrading to ZBrush
you can find the Sculptris tool here
https://www.sculpteo.com/en/glossary/sculptris-definition/
3D Coat
3D coat allows you a fast unique workflow for creating organic and hard surface models from start to finish.
This is an all round multi tool that allows you to sculpt in both voxels and polygons, you can then retopologies you sculpt add geometry and then finally unwrap and texture it all in the same program.
3D Coat is one of the most extensive sculpting and modelling tools around, it gives you everything you need to create a high quality asset without having to jump to other programs for rendering, texturing or re-topologizing.
Here is a nice set of overview videos by PolyToots that gives you and idea of the power behind 3D coat
You can get an amateur license for 3D coat for $99
MudBox
This is a great digital painting and sculpting tool that is much cheaper than something like ZBrush and is used every where in the game industry, its very powerful an is prefered by many developer as you can get professional results on a lower budget.
Mudbox was originally developed to produce high quality sculpting to create visual effect for the film King Kong (2005 ).
Because it has proven clout in the industry and has a powerful set of tools an modifiers it is used widely in both the film and game industry.
Although Mudbox hasn’t had as many updates recently as say something like ZBrush, many developers still prefer it due to the simple interface and extensive toolset.
This is great option for indie developer as its currently $85 a year or just $10 per month
Substance Painter
This is considered to be the best texture painting program around and allows you to add great detail to you model using various brushes and textures.
Texture can be applied in a variety of ways, you can simple paint straight on to your model using the brushes provided, you can set up layer masks to target specific part of your mesh or you can use stencils to create decals that you can print onto your model.
You can add imperfections, smudges, paint, oil and other grunge material to make it look more realistic or dirty.
There are other texture painting program but substance has quickly risen to the top because of it fairly easy learning curve and vast array of options, tools and brushes available to its user.
There is lots of different modelling software available out there, but the key is to find the ones that work best in your workflow, the speed and efficacy of your pipeline may be the difference between succeeding and failing.