If you are interested in learning about 3D modeling, animation, or any other digital application, then you would likely have heard of Blender 3D, which allows you to perform many of these creative workflows all within a single software.
So when we consider just how versatile Blender can be, are there better options than the open source application? Or is Blender the best that you can get?
Blender is a Jack of all trades kind of software that can perform many different tasks and workflows, from 3D modeling to video editing. However, this comes at a cost where Blender is never the best at any single task, and there is often a better alternative.
If you plan to use Blender for a specific application, such as 3D animation or video editing, you may want to research to see if there are better options and if you are willing to pay for them.
Blender Is The Best Alternative Software
If you plan to use a specific application for your work, whether professional, commercial, or personal, you would often not consider Blender the first choice. Instead, Blender is better regarded as the number one alternative for any task.
There will be at least one application considered the industry standard in every industry and field. It will be the application that all the other software tries to match. For example, Adobe Premiere Pro is one of the industry standard software applications in video editing.
But often, the top choice for any given task is not the most accessible one. In the case of Premiere Pro, you may have to sign up for a monthly subscription with Adobe. If you want Premier Pro by itself, it will set you back $20 a month, but if you want to go with the entire creative suite of Adobe applications, you’ll be paying upwards of $50 a month.
In other fields, applications can be attained using different financial methods. For example, in 3D animation and game design, Autodesk Maya is one of the premier tools.
In all that you begin using my a, you have to download a license. Whether a one-year or a three-year license, this can set you back nearly $2000 a year.
The top choice will often be inaccessible to the average user normally because of financial limitations. And this is what makes Blender the best alternative because Blender is free software that is almost as good as the top choices.
The Best Choice In Each Field
Just to give you a guide, we’re going to list the top choices, in our opinion, for applications used in various workflows ranging from game design to animation to mechanical engineering.
In animation, the best software to use is Autodesk Maya, unless you are working with a major company that uses its own proprietary software. For example, Pixar will use Renderman as their rendering solution. It will also use Presto for its 3D modeling and animation tools. Both of these are in-house applications developed by Pixar.
In game design, where we create video game assets to send to game engines, Maya is again our top recommended choice, but there are other good alternatives here, such as 3DS Max. In game design and animation, Blender goes toe to toe with Maya and is the best free alternative for creating models and animations in these fields.
Blender is a side choice for video editing and a little further down the pecking order. Numerous applications will be a better choice than Blender for video editing. Examples include Adobe Premiere Pro, Davinci Resolve, and Final Cut Pro. Blender is still an excellent free alternative because it allows you to perform all of the essential functions you would expect from video editing software.
Because Blender uses several rendering engines to render images from the 3D viewport, it also has an image editor and a compositor for editing those images. The compositor uses a node-based system that follows a different workflow than some more traditional photo and image editors such as Adobe Photoshop.
Again, like video editing, Blender is not best suited to photo editing, and more specialized software like Photoshop and Krita are better choices for this task.
When it comes to 3D printing, your application needs to be able to follow a more precise, logical workflow. However, Blender uses more creative toolsets to create its 3D models.
There are add-ons such as the 3D print toolbox, which can help to improve the workflow within Blender for designing models to be 3D printed.
However, in the field of 3D printing and any field that requires you to design objects for physical applications such as manufacturing and architecture. There would be many other better alternatives to Blender that followed more appropriate workflows.
Many of these applications fall under the category of CAD software which is short for computer-aided design. They follow more precise workflows, allowing you to create your models to an inch-perfect standard accurately.
Examples of CAD software that would serve as better choices than Blender include Fusion 360 and SolidWorks.
Related to the field of construction and 3D printing is of mechanical engineering, designing machine parts and electrical systems. This is one field in which Blender has very little ability. A much better alternative here for designing technical drawings is to use AutoCAD.
As you can see, there will always be options that may be better suited to your task than Blender, but that does not mean you should disregard blender entirely. Especially if you are creating objects for digital purposes, such as 3D models for game design and animations, it should always be considered as an alternative if you are looking to try out a new skill set or if you have any financial restrictions that prevent you from getting your hands on that top choice.
Thanks For Reading The Article
We appreciate you taking the time to read through this article, and we hope you found the information you were looking for. If you are interested in learning more about Blender as an application used in the industry, then look at some of the other articles we have listed below.
