[frikes]

3D Freeware/Shareware: Renderers




STANDALONE RENDERERS:

3Delight - MacOS X, IRIX, Linux, Linux PPC or Windows – freeware
Homepage: http://www.3delight.com/
Description: A free rendering engine. This program is growing in popularity and functionality. Worth a look.

Aqsis – Windows or Mac – freeware
Homepage: http://www.aqsis.com
Description: High quality rendering engine. This is only a renderer, not a modeler

Blue Moon Rendering Tools - Linux (x86), Windows 2000/NT/98/95, and SGI (IRIX 6.x) – freeware
NOTICE: BMRT is no longer available from its maker.
Homepage: http://www.exluna.com/products/bmrt/index.html
Alt Download: http://www.mcneel.com/cgi-bin/download.cgi?bmrt (for Windows)
Description: A very powerful renderer. Also known as BMRT. Limited details on site.

Lightflow – Windows and Linux – freeware
Homepage: http://www.lightflowtech.com/
Description: A very high quality rendering system.

Mirage 3D - Linux - freeware
Homepage: http://www.mirage-3d.de/
Description: A Renderman compliant renderer. Still in its early stages, far from complete.

MegaPOV – Windows, possibly Linux, Mac – freeware
Windows Homepage: http://megapov.inetart.net or http://www.nathan.kopp.com/patched.htm (outdated)
Mac Homepage: http://users.skynet.be/smellenbergh
Description: An unofficial version of POV-Ray that is patched and has added features.

Pixie - Windows or Linux - freeware
Homepage: http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~okan/Pixie/pixie.shtml
Description: "Pixie is a RenderMan like photorealistic renderer. It is being developed in the hope that it will be useful for graphics research and for people who can not afford a commercial renderer."

Polyray – Windows or Linux – freeware
Homepage: http://pages.infinit.net/gollum/polyray/poly1.htm
Description: Like POV-Ray, this rendered uses a scripting language to create its scenes. If you prefer a modeler, it is compatible with Breeze Designer. Little documentation is available for the program.

POV-Ray – Windows, Mac, or Linux – freeware
Homepage: http://www.povray.org
Description: POV-Ray (which stands for Persistence of Vision Raytracer) is a 3D creation tool. Unlike most 3D programs, it is not a modeler, but instead has a scripting language that allows the user to define the scene. It is very well known, and can be very powerful. If you do not like the idea of scripting, 3rd party applications are available which serves as modelers for POV-Ray, creating the scripts for you and then rendering with POV-Ray. One such application is Moray.

Raycer - Windows – freeware
Homepage: http://raycer.sourceforge.net/
Description: Raytrace rendering and modeling package.

Rayshade – Unix, MS-DOS, Amiga, Mac or OS2 – freeware
Homepage: http://www-graphics.stanford.edu/~ce...hade/info.html
Description: Text based 3D creation system/raytracer.

Raytressi – Windows, Linux or Unix – freeware
Homepage: http://raytressi.free.fr/
Description: A raytracer.

Radiance – UNIX or Windows – freeware
Homepage: http://radsite.lbl.gov/radiance/HOME.html
Description: High quality renderer with modeling capabilities. Very impressive renderer.

Real Light 2.1 – Silicon Graphics Workstations – freeware?
Homepage (direct download): ftp://avalon.viewpoint.com/avalon/demos/rl_demo.z
Description: "A radiosity based rendering software for Silicon Graphics Workstations."

RenderBitch – Windows or Mac – freeware
Homepage: http://renderedrealities.net or http://www.renderbitch.com/
Description: High quality renderer.

RenderPark – Linux, IRIX – freeware
Homepage: http://www.cs.kuleuven.ac.be/cwis/re...cs/RENDERPARK/
Description: A test based rendering system.

Siren - MS-Dos, can be used on Windows - freeware
Homepage: http://home.earthlink.net/~jiverson782/Siren.html
Description: "A Simple Image Renderer." A scanline implementation of the Renderman standard. Decent results for simple scenes. Uses the command line, a number of shaders are included.

VirtuaLight – Windows – shareware
Homepage: http://www.3dvirtualight.com/
Description: Free rendering engine. Global Illumination renderer.

WinOSi – Windows – freeware
Homepage: http://www.winosi.onlinehome.de/
Description: WinOSi is a freeware rendering tool.

YafRay - Windows and Linux - freeware
Homepage: http://www.coala.uniovi.es/~jandro/noname/
Description: This is a powerful new GI raytracer. It is rapidly growing, and it already provides great results. There is a very good export script for Blender that allows good Blender and YafRay compatibility, so the workflow is rapidly becoming popular. I advise checking out this rendering software.

YASRT (Yet Another Simple RayTracer) – beOS, IRIX, Decunix, Linux, Solaris, freebsd, aix, hpux,
Mac, Windows, or pocketPC - freeware
Homepage: http://www.yasrt.org/
Description: A raytracer.


MODELERS WITH INTERNAL RENDERING:

Amapi 3D v.4.15 – Windows and Mac – freeware
Homepage: http://amapi.idevgames.com; http://bakhter.com/html/main/amapi4.html;
Description: An older version of a commercial 3D modeler. This is a fully functional, full feature 3D application. Little information and support available. The modeling features are pretty good, but the rendering is lacking.

Anim8or – Windows – freeware
Homepage: http://www.anim8or.com
Description: Anim8or is a 3D modeling and animation program. It also has its own simple renderer, but it's quality is not top of the line. It is still a bit basic or experimental, and it lacks some features, but it is rapidly growing and can be useful. A nice simple program for simple and easy animating or modeling that is great for learning the concepts of 3d.

Art of Illusion – Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris, any Java compatible system – freeware
Homepage: http://www.artofillusion.org; Alternate download site: http://sourceforge.net/projects/aoi
Description: "Art of Illusion is a free, open source 3D modeling and rendering studio. It is written entirely in Java, and should be usable on any Java Virtual Machine which is compatible with JDK 1.1 or later." Check the forums to find early beta releases of future versions. Latest version has features such as HDRI, and feature list is very rapidly growing. Reccomended.
Rating (out of five): *****

Behemot Editor – Windows or Linux – freeware
Homepage: http://sourceforge.net/projects/behemot/ or http://www.behemot.com/
Description: A simple 3D modeler and renderer.

Blender – Windows, Mac, and Linux – freeware
Homepage: http://www.blender.org
Description: Fully functional 3D creation suite. Allows modeling, rendering, animation, and game creation. Very powerful software. The interface is hard to use, but it is worth learning. Blender has many unique features and capabilities. A wide variety of plugins is available for Blender. Supports DXF, BLEND, and VRML file formats. Now open source. See http://www.elysiun.com for additional support.
Rating (out of 5): ****

ClayWorks 3D – Windows (other operating systems to follow) – freeware
Homepage: http://www.clayworks3d.com/
Description: Fairly powerful 3D modeler and render. Continually growing and well worth a look.
Rating (out of 5): *****

Elefont – Windows – freeware
Homepage: http://www.armanisoft.ch/webdesign/Elefont.htm
Description: Creates 3D text objects from TTF fonts. These are exported as DXF files and can then be used by most 3D applications. Gives improved flexibility over most text tools built into 3D apps.

EQUINOX-3D – Linux or Unix – freeware
Homepage: http://www.equinox3d.com
Description: EQUINOX-3D is currently in Alpha stage, but it aims to be a complete 3D package, including modeling, animation and rendering. It looks very powerful.

GenisisII Freeware – Windows? – freeware
Homepage: http://www.geomantics.com/
Description: 3D landscape generator/creator similar to Terragen, but with weaker rendering.

Houdini Apprentice Edition – Windows, Linux, Solaris, or IRIX – shareware Demo/trial
Restrictions on free version: Small watermark on renderings, Limited render size
Homepage: http://www.sidefx.com
Info: http://www.maxforums.org/forum/forum.asp?t=31403&r=31
Description: A learning version of a complete, commercial 3D suite. Looks very promising, especially for beginners

Kashmir3D – Windows – freeware
Homepage: http://www.kashmir3d.com/index-e.html
Description: Versatile 3D landscape creator and renderer. Cumbersome interface.

Lightray3D – Windows - shareware
Resctrictions on free version: Unknown
Homepage: http://www.sxcreations.com/lightray3d.htm
Description: A 3D modeling, animation, and rendering application.

MagicLight - Windows, Linux, and Unix - freeware
Homepage: http://home.bip.net/mikael_aronsson/index_ml.html
Description: "MagicLight is a 3D modeler and raytracer for unix (Linux) and Windows, it will create high quality images and can also be used for animation."

Maya PLE – Windows or Mac – freeware
Homepage: http://www.aliaswavefront.com/en/pro...le/index.shtml
Description: Learning version of Maya. Watermarks on renders, and saving limitations. Some features not present.

MegaPOV – Windows, possibly Linux, Mac – freeware
Windows Homepage: http://megapov.inetart.net or http://www.nathan.kopp.com/patched.htm (outdated)
Mac Homepage: http://users.skynet.be/smellenbergh
Description: An unofficial version of POV-Ray that is patched and has added features.

Moonlight3D – Linux – freeware
Homepage: http://ml3d.sourceforge.net/ or http://www.moonlight3d.net (seems outdated)
Description: "Moonlight|3D is a free software modeler and renderer for 3D scenes with an intuitive GUI and powerful editing capabilities." Renders to Renderman compliant rendering systems.

Now3D – Windows – freeware
Homepage: http://digilander.libero.it/giulios/Eng/Index.htm
Description: Now3D is a complete 3D application that is still in development.

Nurbana – Windows, BeOS, Linux, IRIX, Sun, or FreeBSD - freeware
Homepage: http://www.nurbana.cx
Description: Powerful free NURBS modeler and raytracer.

OpenFX – Windows – freeware
Homepage: http://www.openfx.org (currently down); Alternate download site: http://openfx.planetmirror.com
Description: A very powerful 3D modeling application. It includes a full renderer and raytrace engine, NURBS support, kinematics-based animation, morphing, and an extensive plug-in API. Formerly known as SoftF/X, a commercial 3D application. OpenFX is highly reccomended.

Partica – Windows – freeware beta
Homepage: http://www.dexterity.com.hk/Products/Partica/home.htm
Description: Beta version of a freeware 3D modeling system. Includes renderer

Rhinoceros – Windows – shareware demo/trial
Restrictions on free version: Can only save 25 times
Homepage: http://download.mcneel.com/rhino/2.0/eval/default.asp
Description: Fully functional NURBS modeler. Same as the commercial version, except it only saves 25 times.

Shade – Windows or Mac – Shareware demo
Shareware restrictions: Cannot save to native format, render size limited, some features disabled.
Homepage: http://www.expressiontools.com
Description: High quality 3D suite. Very functional demo.

SoftImage|XSI EXP - Windows 2000 and XP - freeware
Homepage: http://www.softimage.com/products/exp/v3/
Description: A learning edition of SOFTIMAGE|XSI. Renders are watermarked.

Strata3Dbase – Mac or Windows – freeware
Homepage: http://www.strata3d.com
NOTE: Strata has discontinued the free edition of this software, but it can still be downloaded at http://downloads.sympatico.ca/tucows...ew/79399.shtml and registered at http://connect.strata.com/register1.php.
Description: Free, basic version of Strata3D software, a 3D modeling suite. It has no restrictions, but lacks some of the features of the paid versions, plus or pro. It has an excellent raytracing engine. Its usefulness is limited due to the lack of features, but it can be upgraded for a reasonable price.
Rating (out of 5): ***

Terragen – Windows – free for personal, non-commercial use
Restrictions on free version: Several features disabled, render size and terrain size limited
Homepage: http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen
Description: 3D landscape and scenery generator. Capable of producing photo-realistic images, and easy enough for anyone to use. It is constantly being updated and enhanced. The limitations on the free version are hardly noticeable. Wide variety of plugins and third party applications are available for use with Terragen. Highly recommended.
Rating (out of 5): *****

TrueSpace 3.2 – Windows – freeware
Homepage: http://forms.caligari.com/forms/ts3all_free.html
Description: An older version of a commercial 3D modeler. This is a full feature 3d application. It is a fairly powerful program, copleter with raytracing, animation, etc.