3d resources

Curated, CC0 reference hub for 3D, VFX, and game dev. 3,400+ tools, assets, and tutorials across 12 sections. Searchable, filterable, free.

From devanshutak25·Updated June 18, 2026·View on GitHub·

> A curated collection of **free and paid 3D resources**: software, assets, textures, HDRIs, tutorials, plugins, and learning material for Blender, Houdini, Cinema 4D, Maya, ZBrush, Unreal Engine, and more. Covers 3D modeling, animation, VFX, rendering, game development, motion graphics, and digital art. The project is written primarily in JavaScript, distributed under the Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal license, first published in 2025. Key topics include: 3d, 3d-resources, animation, awesome, awesome-list.

Latest release: v1.0.0

June 17, 2026View Changelog →

3D Resources: Software, Assets, Tutorials & Tools for 3D Artists

A curated collection of free and paid 3D resources: software, assets, textures, HDRIs, tutorials, plugins, and learning material for Blender, Houdini, Cinema 4D, Maya, ZBrush, Unreal Engine, and more. Covers 3D modeling, animation, VFX, rendering, game development, motion graphics, and digital art.

🔍 Looking for something specific? Use the interactive site at 3d.devanshutak.xyz. Search and filter by License · Platform · Workflow · Output.

Curated by Devanshu Tak · built with Claude Code · Suggest a resource · Contribute

⚠️ Heads up: links rot, licenses drift, prices age. Flag anything off via GitHub.

<details> <summary><a href="#assets--libraries">Assets & Libraries</a> Poly Haven · Quixel Megascans · Sketchfab</summary>

Model Libraries: Free & General (33 items) General-purpose 3D model libraries with free downloads.
Model Libraries: Specialized (22 items) Specialty model sources: characters, scans, anatomy, museums.
Model Libraries: Architecture & Furniture (10 items) Arch-viz, furniture, and BIM asset libraries.
Asset Marketplaces (9 items) General asset marketplaces across multiple engines and tools.
Free Asset Giveaways (1 item) Recurring free asset drops. Bookmark these.
Software-Specific Asset Libraries (10 items) Official asset libraries tied to specific DCCs.
HDRIs (11 items) HDR environment maps for lighting and reflections.
Textures & Materials: Free PBR Libraries (28 items) Free PBR texture libraries for materials authoring.
Textures: Specialized (9 items) Specialty texture sources: displacement, patterns, sprites, terrain.
Textures: Premium (3 items) Professional paid texture libraries.
Stock Images & References (28 items) Free and public-domain stock images, and 2D references.
Stock Footage (4 items) Free and archival video footage sources.
Audio: SFX & Music Libraries (13 items) Free and paid SFX and music libraries for games, reels, and film.
Fonts (18 items) Font libraries, pairing tools, and type references.
Icons (27 items) Icon libraries and animation sets.
Game Assets (43 items) Free and paid game-ready asset sources. Cross-listed from §7.

</details> <details> <summary><a href="#modeling-sculpting--texturing">Modeling, Sculpting & Texturing</a> Blender · Houdini · Cinema 4D</summary>

Blender: Plugins & Addons (143 items) Notable addons extending Blender.
Blender: Tutorials (10 items) Blender learning resources, beginner to advanced.
Houdini: Getting Started (7 items) Beginner-friendly Houdini intros.
Houdini: Essential Learning Resources (20 items) Long-form Houdini learning hubs.
Houdini: VEX & Coding (13 items) VEX, Python, OpenCL, and scripting in Houdini.
Houdini: FX & Simulations (2 items) Vellum, FLIP, Pyro, and other simulation workflows.
Houdini: Rigging & Animation (KineFX) (2 items) KineFX rigging, animation, and crowds.
Houdini: Grooming Hair and fur grooming workflows.
Houdini: Miscellaneous Tutorials (16 items) Additional Houdini tutorials across topics.
Houdini: Plugins & Tools (24 items) Toolkits, pipeline tools, and HDAs.
Houdini: Courses & Free Content (1 item) Structured courses for Houdini.
Houdini: Communities (10 items) Forums, Discords, and tip archives.
Cinema 4D: Learning (2 items) C4D tutorials and learning hubs.
Cinema 4D: Plugins (2 items) C4D addons and bridges.
Cinema 4D: Tips & Workflows (2 items) Productivity blogs and shader workflow tricks.
3ds Max: Plugins (1 item) 3ds Max plugins.
Fusion 360: Learning Fusion 360 courses.
Material Creation Tools (22 items) Texture authoring, procedural materials, and baking tools.

</details> <details> <summary><a href="#animation--rigging">Animation & Rigging</a> Mixamo · Rokoko · Cascadeur</summary>

Animation: YouTube Channels (8 items) Channels covering 2D/motion animation technique.
Animation: Courses Structured animation courses.
AI Motion Capture & Animation (12 items) AI-powered mocap and character animation tools.

</details> <details> <summary><a href="#lighting-rendering--shaders">Lighting, Rendering & Shaders</a> Redshift · Arnold · V-Ray</summary>

3D Lighting: Fundamentals (5 items) Core lighting tutorials for beginners and generalists.
3D Lighting: Redshift-Specific (5 items) Redshift lighting tutorials, primarily in C4D.
3D Lighting: Production (3 items) Production-focused lighting talks.
Rendering & Shader Theory (222 items) Foundational rendering and shader theory references.
Renderer-Specific Learning (4 items) Deep-dives for specific render engines.

</details> <details> <summary><a href="#vfx-compositing--virtual-production">VFX, Compositing & Virtual Production</a> Houdini · Nuke · EmberGen</summary>

Virtual Production (7 items) Real-time engines and hardware stacks for virtual production.
Tech Art (10 items) Tech art breakdowns, procedural art, and tutorials.
Compositing Learning, Books & Industry (14 items) Nuke creators, comp theory books, VFX breakdown sites, and industry magazines.

</details> <details> <summary><a href="#motion-graphics--video">Motion Graphics & Video</a> After Effects · Cavalry · DaVinci Resolve</summary>

Motion Graphics: YouTube Channels (1 item) Motion design learning channels.
Motion Graphics: Courses Structured motion graphics courses.
After Effects: Learning & Templates (2 items) AE expressions, templates, and workflow resources.
Fusion (DaVinci Resolve): Learning (3 items) Fusion references and EXR workflow.
Motion Graphics: Inspiration (29 items) Showcases, style frames, title sequences, ad references.
Motion Graphics: Tools & Utilities (19 items) MG-specific tools and utilities.
Video Editing: Courses Editing-specific courses.

</details> <details> <summary><a href="#game-development">Game Development</a> Unity · Unreal Engine · Godot</summary>

Godot: Official Resources (4 items) Official documentation and asset libraries.
Godot: Key Plugins & Addons (9 items) Essential Godot addons.
Godot: Learning (8 items) Godot-focused learning channels and courses.
Godot: Communities (3 items) Godot forums and chat.
Unity Engine: Resources (446 items) Unity community add-ons, tools, and learning resources.
XR, AR & VR: Resources (25 items) AR/VR/XR SDKs, frameworks, tools, and references across ARKit, ARCore, WebXR, and VR platforms.
Unreal Engine: Resources (184 items) Unreal Engine resources and marketplace picks.
Game Dev Tools: Level Design (13 items) Level editors and blockout tools.
Game Dev Tools: Dialogue & Narrative (6 items) Dialogue, narrative scripting, and IF tools.
Game Dev Tools: Audio Middleware (4 items) Adaptive audio and spatial audio middleware.
Game Dev Tools: Networking & Multiplayer (15 items) Multiplayer frameworks and game servers.
Game Dev Tools: Sprite & VFX (35 items) Sprite animation, 2D VFX, texture packers.
Game Dev Tools: AI & Procedural Generation (6 items) WFC, noise, procedural pipelines, economy design.
Game Dev Tools: Physics Engines (7 items) Open-source physics engines.
Game Dev Tools: Version Control (3 items) Version control for binary-heavy game projects.
Game Dev Tools: Analytics & Playtesting (1 item) Analytics and playtesting services.
Game Design & Theory (23 items) Design fundamentals, patterns, and references.
Game Dev: YouTube Channels (18 items) Channels covering game dev technique, design, and industry.
Game Dev: Courses (2 items) Structured game dev courses.
Game Dev: Communities (13 items) Reddit, Discord, forums, indie job boards.
Game Jams (5 items) Recurring game jams.

</details> <details> <summary><a href="#art-design--visual-storytelling">Art, Design & Visual Storytelling</a> Photoshop · Procreate · Krita</summary>

Concept Art & Illustration: Channels (5 items) Channels on concept art, figure drawing, painting.
Concept Art & Illustration: Courses Structured concept art and design courses.
Drawing & Painting for 3D Artists (16 items) Gesture, figure, digital painting fundamentals for 3D artists.
Photography: Reference & Fundamentals (10 items) Photography knowledge directly applicable to 3D lighting and composition.
Cinematography & Camera Work (9 items) Shot composition, camera techniques, lighting for film/CG.
Composition & Visual Storytelling (5 items) Composition theory, color theory, visual hierarchy.
Animation Principles (7 items) The 12 principles of animation and related fundamentals.
Design Principles & Typography (7 items) Typography, visual hierarchy, design fundamentals.
Color Theory & Tools (13 items) Color palettes, generators, matching, and theory tools.
Design Tools (26 items) Vector editors, creative effect tools, and design utilities.
General Inspiration (21 items) Blogs, feeds, and curated inspiration sources.
2D Art References & Inspiration (5 items) 2D animation sheets, cloth, anime model sheets.
Pre-Production, Storyboarding & Script Tools (28 items) Storyboard apps, previs tools, script breakdown, reference managers, moodboarding, and direction-theory channels.

</details> <details> <summary><a href="#ai--machine-learning-for-cg">AI & Machine Learning for CG</a> ComfyUI · Stable Diffusion · Runway</summary>

Machine Learning for CG (8 items) ML fundamentals and courses for CG artists.
Image Generation (23 items) text-to-image models and platforms.
Video Generation (29 items) AI video generation platforms and models.
3D Generation (21 items) AI tools for generating 3D models from text or images.
Texture & Material Generation (6 items) AI-generated PBR textures and materials.
ComfyUI Ecosystem (6 items) Node-based AI generation. ComfyUI and its ecosystem.
AI-Assisted CG Tools (28 items) AI tools that augment traditional CG workflows.
AI Audio & Music (10 items) AI music generation, voice, TTS, and SFX.
Open-Source Models (HuggingFace) (4 items) Notable open-source generative models.
Research Papers (168 items) Research papers on ML for CG, generative 3D, neural rendering, and related topics. Each entry: title (the plain-English summary), year, and venue/links in the description.

</details> <details> <summary><a href="#tools-pipeline--utilities">Tools, Pipeline & Utilities</a> USD · RealityCapture · RizomUV</summary>

USD (Universal Scene Description) (15 items) OpenUSD resources, specifications, and guides.
Scene & Pipeline Tools (39 items) Production pipelines, render management, look dev.
Gaussian Splatting & NeRF (17 items) Neural and splatting reconstruction.
Photogrammetry & 3D Scanning (72 items) Photogrammetry, LiDAR, and Gaussian splat capture.
Retopology & Mesh Tools (13 items) Retopology and mesh processing.
UV Tools (7 items) UV unwrapping, packing, and UDIM tools.
Rigging & Animation Tools (9 items) Auto-rig, retargeting, and animation middleware.
Matchmoving & Camera Tracking (10 items) Camera tracking, object tracking, and camera matching tools.
Miscellaneous 3D Tools & Utilities (49 items) Assorted CG utilities and specialty tools.
Plugin & Addon Marketplaces (51 items) Per-software plugin marketplaces.
Conversion Tools (34 items) Format conversion across image, video, audio, and 3D.
Pipeline Standards (13 items) Interchange formats and standards.
Pipeline Overview (2 items) Industry-to-software quick reference.

</details> <details> <summary><a href="#learning-community--industry">Learning, Community & Industry</a> ArtStation · 80 Level · fxguide</summary>

YouTube Channels: Motion Graphics & Cinema 4D (28 items) Motion design / C4D focused creators.
YouTube Channels: Blender (42 items) Blender-focused creators.
YouTube Channels: Houdini (26 items) Houdini-focused channels.
YouTube Channels: Sculpting & Characters (11 items) Character and sculpting focused creators.
Paid Tutorial Platforms (89 items) Subscription and course-based learning platforms.
Patreon Creators (18 items) Creators on Patreon offering tutorials, files, and tips.
3D Communities & Forums (154 items) Cross-DCC CG communities.
3D Inspiration & Showcase (41 items) Showcases, portfolios, and visual reference hubs.
Salary & Career Data (3 items) Salary data and studio review spreadsheets.
Industry Trends 2025-2026 (6 items) Current technology and market trends in CG.

</details> <details> <summary><a href="#software-reference">Software Reference</a></summary>

3D Software: Free (18 items) Free and open-source 3D software.
3D Software: Free Tier (8 items) Freemium 3D software with free tier available.
3D Software: Paid (31 items) Professional paid 3D software.
CAD Software (18 items) Computer-aided design tools.
2D & Animation Software (58 items) Digital painting, illustration, 2D animation.
VFX & Compositing Software (29 items) VFX, compositing, and real-time simulation tools.
Render Engines (40 items) Production render engines across CPU, GPU, biased, and unbiased path tracers.
Video Editing Software (27 items) NLEs and post-production software.
Audio Software (35 items) Audio editing, mixing, sound design, and SFX generation.
Design Software (33 items) UI/UX, vector, raster design apps.
Viewers & File Utilities (14 items) Image, video, and 3D file viewers.
Game Engines: Free & Open Source (62 items) Free and open-source game engines.
Game Engines: Commercial Free Tiers (12 items) Commercial engines with generous free tiers.
Material & Texture Creation Software (15 items) Material authoring, texture baking, and PBR painting tools.
Photogrammetry & Scanning Software (15 items) Photogrammetry, structure-from-motion, and 3D scanning apps.
Matchmoving & Camera Tracking Software (4 items) 3D camera tracking, matchmove, and lens-distortion tools.
Retopology & UV Software (12 items) Standalone retopology, remeshing, and UV unwrapping/packing tools.
Virtual Production Software (26 items) Virtual production, broadcast graphics, and real-time stage tooling.
Level Design & Map Editing Software (9 items) Standalone level editors and tile/grid map authoring tools.
Pipeline & Production Management Software (60 items) Production tracking, render farm management, asset pipeline orchestration.
Misc 3D Utilities Software (25 items) Reference, scattering, simulation, and specialty 3D utilities.
Scientific & Medical Visualization Software (46 items) Molecular, volumetric, medical, astronomy, CFD, GIS, and data viz tools, plus DCC bridges and educators.
Software Reference: Legacy & Defunct (4 items) Historically significant 3D, VFX, rendering, and post software that is discontinued, sunset, or archival.
AI Image & Texture Generation Software (27 items) AI image generation and AI texture/material generation tools.
AI Video Generation Software (23 items) AI text-to-video and image-to-video generation tools.
AI 3D Generation Software (15 items) AI text-to-3D, image-to-3D, and 3D-asset generation tools.
AI Audio & Music Generation Software (8 items) AI music, voice, and SFX generation tools.
AI Motion Capture Software (8 items) Markerless and AI-driven motion capture and pose estimation tools.
AI-Assisted CG Software (9 items) AI upscaling, cleanup, generative assist, and AI-powered DCC features.
AI Creative Canvas Software (6 items) Node-based and all-in-one AI canvases that chain image, video, and 3D gen.
AI Design Viz Software (8 items) Sketch-to-render and AI design visualization for product and architecture.
AI Product Photography Software (6 items) AI virtual product photography and 3D digital twins for ecommerce.

</details>

Assets & Libraries

Models, textures, HDRIs, audio, stock. Everything downloadable. Asset-first lookup lives here.

Model Libraries: Free & General

General-purpose 3D model libraries with free downloads.

3DExport Freemium. 3D model marketplace.
3Dshaker. Free models.
3Dzip. Free 3D models and interior scenes.
Blend Swap. Open-source .blend file library.
Blender 3D models. 3D models, particle systems, and effects.
CadNav. Architecture, furniture, vehicle models.
Casual Effects Data. Graphics research datasets and test scenes.
CGHEVEN. Free CC0 3D and VFX assets.
CGTrader Freemium. Community model marketplace.
Chocofur Free. Free section of Chocofur premium 3D model store.
Free3D. Large free collection.
Free3D.io. Free 3D model downloads.
Free3DBase. Free 3D models.
Funes. 3D cultural heritage.
Keenan Crane's Model Repository. Clean test meshes for shader and subdivision work.
Mantissa/resources. Free Blender files and resources.
MyMiniFactory Scan the World. Scan the World collection of scanned heritage objects.
Open3DModel. Free model archive.
OpenTopography/datasets. High-resolution Earth-science topography datasets and related tools. Registration required.
Oyonale Paid. Sells 3D models for various industries.
PBRPX. Free PBR materials and some 3D models.
Poly Haven. CC0 models, textures up to 8K+, HDRIs up to 16K.
Poly Pizza. Low-poly models (Google Poly archive).
Polycam Explore. User-uploaded photogrammetry scans.
Quaternius's Ultimate Low-Poly Models. Ultimate low-poly model packs (CC0).
RigModels Freemium. Rigged models.
rileyb3d Library. Free packed .blend files ready to use.
Sketchfab Freemium. Massive downloadable library.
Stanford 3D Scanning Repository. Classic academic 3D scans (bunny, dragon, etc.).
The Base Mesh. Base meshes for sculpting and rigging.
Three D Scans. Free 3D scan archive.
TurboSquid Freemium. Professional models with free section.
XYZed3D (Gumroad). CC0 (non-AI) asset packs: models, props, misc. By artyusufpatel.

Model Libraries: Specialized

Specialty model sources: characters, scans, anatomy, museums.

3D MDB. Model search database across many sites.
Anatomy 360 Paid. Artist reference models.
Anatomy For Sculptors Paid. Anatomical references.
Anything World Gallery Freemium. Animated, game-ready models.
Artec 3D. Free high-resolution 3D scans. (CC-BY)
British Museum (Sketchfab). Scanned artifacts.
Characterz Freemium. 9,000+ customizable diverse 3D character illustrations with Blender source files.
Cleveland Museum of Art (Sketchfab). Museum 3D scans.
Emojiz Paid. 77+ animated 3D emoji illustrations with Blender source files.
Handz. Free library of 320+ diverse 3D hand illustrations with Blender source files.
Insect 3D Models. Insect models.
Mixamo. Rigged characters, auto-rigger, and free animation library (Adobe). See also: <a href="#ai-motion-capture--animation">Animation & Rigging → AI Motion Capture & Animation</a>
Models Resource. Video game model rips.
Models Resource (3D). 3D model rips from games. Sister site to Spriters Resource.
NASA 3D Resources Mixed. Spacecraft, planets, terrain models (mixed CC0 / CC-BY. Check per-asset license; mirror at nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov).
Quaternius. Free low-poly game assets.
Robotz. Free modular 3D cartoon robot with customizable heads, bodies, and hands.
Sample and Hold. Free 3D scanned models and assets.
Scanned Female Head Model by EISKO. Free high-resolution scanned female head model (Louise).
Smithsonian 3D. Historical artifacts. See also: <a href="#photogrammetry--3d-scanning">Tools, Pipeline & Utilities → Photogrammetry & 3D Scanning</a>
Smithsonian Open Access. Millions of 2D/3D museum assets, CC0.
Wire Wheels Club. Vehicle models.

Model Libraries: Architecture & Furniture

Arch-viz, furniture, and BIM asset libraries.

3asky. 3DS Max and general library.
3D Warehouse. SketchUp library.
3ddd. Design and architecture models.
3DSky. Architecture models.
BIMobject. BIM objects.
Design Connected. Furniture.
Dimensiva. Furniture models.
Evermotion. Scenes and models.
Syncronia. CAD and BIM objects.
Viz-People. Archviz scenes, 3D people, vegetation, HDRIs.

Asset Marketplaces

General asset marketplaces across multiple engines and tools.

ArtStation Marketplace Paid. Professional assets.
Blender Market Paid. Blender-specific assets and addons.
Cubebrush Paid. Art and game assets.
Fab (Epic) Freemium. Unified marketplace (UE, Sketchfab, ArtStation).
Julio Sillet (Gumroad) Freemium. Free and paid PBR texture sets and material packs.
Quixel Bridge. Desktop app linking Megascans to Blender and other DCC tools.
RenderHub Free Freemium. Daz Content, 3D models, textures and materials.
Unity Asset Store Freemium. Game-ready assets.
Unreal Marketplace Freemium. UE-optimized assets.

Free Asset Giveaways

Recurring free asset drops. Bookmark these.

Sonniss GDC Bundle. Free SFX bundles (~30GB+) released annually around GDC and Christmas.

Software-Specific Asset Libraries

Official asset libraries tied to specific DCCs.

3DCoat Smart Materials Paid. Official materials library.
Blender Demo Files. Official demo scenes.
Blender Extensions. Official addons and themes repository.
Maxon Asset Browser Paid. Cinema 4D built-in asset library.
Maya Content Browser Paid. Official example scenes and assets.
Nomad Sculpt Resources. Community brushes and matcaps.
SideFX Content Library. Official Houdini assets.
Substance 3D Assets Paid. Adobe materials library.
Substance 3D Community Assets. User-shared materials.
ZBrush Download Center. Alphas and brushes.

HDRIs

HDR environment maps for lighting and reflections.

Adobe Stock HDRI Paid. Studio HDRIs.
HDR Maps. Free HDRI packs.
HDRI Hub Freemium. High-quality HDRIs with backplates.
HDRI Skies. Free sky HDRIs.
Maxime Roz HDRI Pack. Free studio and outdoor HDRIs for product viz.
No Emotion HDRs. Free high-resolution HDRIs sorted by time of day.
Open HDRI. 50 free CC0 HDRIs.
OpenFootage. Free HDRIs, VFX plates, and backplates.
Poly Haven HDRIs. CC0 HDRIs up to 16K.
RenderMan HDRIs. Pixar's HDRI collection.
The Mari Channel. Free HDR environment maps for lighting and reflection.

Textures & Materials: Free PBR Libraries

Free PBR texture libraries for materials authoring.

3D Textures. Free PBR library.
3DAssets.one. Search engine across the largest free texture sites at once.
3DXO. Free 3D models, textures, backgrounds, photos, and graphics.
ambientCG. 2000+ CC0 PBR materials.
Arroway Textures Freemium. Digital textures for 3D rendering and real-time use.
C4DCenter Material Library. Free Cinema 4D materials with high-quality texture maps. Personal and commercial use.
Celestia Motherlode. Repository of Celestia addons: textures, models, and celestial objects.
CG Bookcase. Free PBR textures.
Free PBR. Hundreds of free materials.
Kaimoisch. 3D scanned textures.
LotPixel. Photogrammetry and PBR textures, 3D models, decals. 1500+ free textures.
Matcaps. Large matcap texture library in PNG and ZMT, organized by color.
MaterialX Library. AMD's free MaterialX-based material library. Download materials or upload your own.
Physically Based. Reference database of real-world PBR values for materials, lights, and cameras.
PlainTextures. Free high-resolution textures, brushes, and photos.
Share Textures. CC0 textures.
Substance Source/freebies Freemium. Hundreds of high-quality PBR materials. Free tier with a paid library.
Texture Fabrik. Free textures and tileable patterns.
Texture Fun. Free PBR sets of architectural materials, including tile textures.
Texture Labs. Free texture resources.
Texture Supply (Gumroad). Free textures.
Texture.Ninja. Public domain photographic textures, reference images, and cutouts. (CC0)
TextureCan. Free PBR textures, high scan quality.
TextureKing. Free material stock textures.
Textures.com Freemium. Massive professional texture library.
Texturify. Free texture collection.
The Blendersauce Vault Materials. Free material vault covering bricks, concrete, fabric, metal, nature, plaster, stone, tiles, and wood.
The Pixel Lab Freebies. Free 3D models and textures.

Textures: Specialized

Specialty texture sources: displacement, patterns, sprites, terrain.

CGI Moon Kit. NASA Scientific Visualization Studio moon kit: high-resolution moon textures and elevation data for rendering.
NASA 3D Resources Mixed. 3D models, textures, and images from NASA. Mixed CC0 / CC-BY, check per-asset license.
Shaded Relief. Natural Earth data and terrain reference.
Solar Textures. These textures represent real planetary maps in equirectangular projection. Textures in this pack are based on NASA elevation and imagery data. (CC-BY)
Spriters Resource. Game sprite textures.
Subtle Patterns. Tileable web patterns.
Terrain Height Maps. Free heightmap images for terrain displacement.
Texturing.xyz Paid. MicroSkin displacement maps.
The Pattern Library. Free seamless background patterns.

Textures: Premium

Professional paid texture libraries.

Poliigon Paid. PBR textures.
Quixel Megascans + Bridge Freemium. Scanned materials and import plugin. Free with Unreal Engine.
Texture Box Paid. Mixed library.

Stock Images & References

Free and public-domain stock images, and 2D references.

Absurd Design. Free surrealist illustration set.
All Free Download. Free design downloads.
Biodiversity Heritage Library. 300,000+ botanical and animal illustrations free to download (CC0).
Black Illustrations Freemium. Illustrations of black people for projects.
Blush Freemium. Mix and customize illustrations made by artists.
Control Illustrations Paid. Combo set of 108 customizable illustrations.
David Rumsey Maps. Historical maps archive.
Flowbite Illustrations. Open-source SVG illustrations in 3D style, dark and light mode.
Get Illustrations Bundle Paid. Bundle of 34+ vector illustration packs, 2800+ items.
Humaaans. Mix-and-match illustrations of people with a design library.
illlustrations. 100 open-source illustrations including COVID and WFH themes.
Illustration Gallery. Royalty-free illustration collection.
Illustrationz Freemium. 100+ 3D character illustration packs with 167M+ combinations.
LACartoons. Animation cel and model sheet archive.
Mockupz. Free 3D mockup scenes for showcasing design work.
Neurascapes. Free surreal/AI-generated reference imagery.
Pexels. Free stock photos and video.
Pixabay. Free stock media.
PNG Images. Transparent PNG images.
Public Domain Review. Public-domain image collections.
Settei Dreams. Anime model sheets and settei archive.
Smash Illustrations Freemium. Library of 250+ illustrations.
Story Set. Customizable illustrations to edit and animate, free.
Storytale Freemium. Hundreds of illustrations for web and app projects.
Stubborn Generator. Character illustration generator.
The Blueprints. Vehicle, aircraft, ship blueprints.
unDraw Illustrations. MIT-licensed collection of SVG illustrations.
Unsplash. Free photography.

Stock Footage

Free and archival video footage sources.

ActionVFX Practice. Free practice VFX footage.
Internet Archive / Prelinger. Public-domain archival footage.
Open Visual FX. Free VFX footage.
videvo Freemium. Free stock video, motion graphics, and music tracks.

Audio: SFX & Music Libraries

Free and paid SFX and music libraries for games, reels, and film.

Artlist Paid. Subscription music and SFX.
BBC Sound Effects. BBC's archive of free SFX.
ccMixter. Creative Commons remix community.
Ende. Curated free audio library.
Free Music Archive. Free music, varied licenses.
Freesound. Collaborative database of CC-licensed sounds.
Freesound Add-on. Blender VSE addon to browse, preview, and insert sounds from freesound.org.
Knell. Free procedural sound effect synthesizer for games, UI, and prototypes.
Moby Gratis. Free Moby music for indie creators.
Motion Array SFX. Free SFX collection.
Sonniss Paid. SFX library. Releases free SFX bundles annually.
Uppbeat Freemium. Music for creators.
ZapSplat. Large free SFX library.

Fonts

Font libraries, pairing tools, and type references.

Adobe Fonts Paid. Premium font library bundled with Creative Cloud subscription.
Creative Market Fonts Paid. 300k+ premium fonts with worry-free perpetual commercial licenses.
Font Bundles Freemium. Premium font marketplace with regular freebies; clear commercial license.
Font Library. Open-source and free fonts.
FontPair. Font pairing inspiration.
Fontshare. Free quality fonts from Indian Type Foundry; Satoshi, General Sans, Clash Display.
Fontz Freemium. Free and premium 3D fonts with Blender source files.
Free Faces. Curated directory of free fonts from independent foundries and designers.
Future Fonts Paid. Buy in-progress fonts directly from indie designers at lower early-access prices.
Google Fonts. Largest free open-source font library; SIL OFL / Apache licensed.
Indestructible Type. Open-source foundry by Owen Earl; variable font families like Jost, Besley, Bodoni.
Lilex. Programming font with ligatures.
MyFonts Paid. Long-running premium font marketplace; perpetual desktop, web, app licenses.
Pangram Pangram Foundry Freemium. Indie foundry with high-end typefaces; free personal-use trials available.
The League of Moveable Type. Open-source foundry; well-curated bold typefaces, free for commercial use.
UNCUT.wtf. 160+ contemporary open-source typefaces, all free for commercial use.
Usable Google Fonts (Figma). Curated Figma set of usable Google Fonts.
Velvetyne Type Foundry. Paris-based non-profit foundry releasing open-source experimental typefaces.

Icons

Icon libraries and animation sets.

Bootstrap Icons. 2000+ official open-source SVG icons from the Bootstrap team.
Flaticon Freemium. Massive icon library.
Font Awesome Freemium. Classic icon font library.
Game Icons. 4000+ SVG game icons.
Handy Arrows. Hand-drawn arrow sets.
Heroicons. Hand-crafted SVG icons by Tailwind CSS team; outline and solid.
Hugeicons Freemium. 36k+ icons in multiple styles; free tier plus premium plans.
Iconify. Unified framework aggregating 200k+ open-source icons from 150+ icon sets.
Iconoir. 1600+ open-source SVG icons; React, React Native, Flutter, Vue, Figma support.
Icons8 Glyph Freemium. Glyph-style icon set.
Iconz Freemium. 460+ 3D icons in multiple angles and materials.
Lineicons Freemium. 30k icons (4k free); SVG, JSX, TSX, Figma, PNG; React/Vue/Svelte support.
Lucide. Open-source icon library.
Lucide Animated. Animated version of Lucide icons.
Material design icons. Official Material Design icon set from Google.
MDI Icons. Material Design Icons, huge set.
Noun Project Freemium. 5M+ curated icons and photos; subscription unlocks royalty-free use.
Ouch! Illustrations Freemium. Illustration and icon library for UX from Icons8.
Phosphor Icons. 9000+ flexible icons in thin, light, regular, bold, fill, duotone styles.
Remix Icon. 2800+ neutral-style open-source icons on 24x24 grid; line and fill.
Shape.so Paid. 4300+ icons and illustrations exportable to SVG, React, and Lottie.
Streamline Paid. Massive premium icon and illustration library; consistent design systems.
SVG Repo Mixed. 500k+ free SVG vectors and icons across many styles and packs.
SVGL. Brand logos in SVG.
Tabler Icons. Open-source SVG icons.
typicons.font. 336 pixel-perfect all-purpose vector icons in a web-font kit.
Use Animations Freemium. Animated icons for web UI.

Game Assets

Free and paid game-ready asset sources. Cross-listed from §7.

2D Pixel Art Character Template Asset Pack Paid. 2D character art for sidescrollers, platformers, and metroidvania.
2D Pixel Dungeon Asset Pack. 16x16 pixel character and tileset.
420 Pixel Art Icons for RPGs. Set of 420 RPG icons, free for commercial use.
8000+ Raven Fantasy Icons - RPG Icons, Pixel Art Icons, Textures and Sprites. 8000+ colorful pixel art icons for fantasy and RPG games.
Ansimuz Legacy Collection. Free 16-bit pixel-art assets.
Asset Creation Toolset. Blender addon bundling tools for game asset creation.
Brackeys' Platformer Bundle. Pixel-art characters, tiles, sounds, and music for a first game.
Craftpix Freemium. 2D game assets, free and paid.
Cup Nooble. Creator of the Sprout Lands pixel art packs, cozy farming style.
Cute Fantasy RPG - 16x16 top down pixel art asset pack. 16x16 assets for your top-down game.
Free - Pixel Art Asset Pack - Topdown Tileset - 16x16 Sprites. 500 sprites, 3 heroes, 8 enemies, 50 weapons.
Free Game Assets. Curated free 2D/3D/audio assets.
Fx Effects Pixel Art #91 - 64x64 | 32x32 Paid. RPG pixel-art FX effects pack. 64x64 and 32x32.
GameArt2D. Free 2D game art pack collection.
GameDev Market Freemium. Game dev asset marketplace.
Humble Bundle Game Dev Paid. Periodic game dev bundles.
itch.io Assets Freemium. Indie game asset marketplace.
Kay Lousberg. CC0 low-poly game assets.
KayKit - Character Pack : Adventurers. 3D low-poly rigged and animated character game assets.
KayKit - Forest Nature Pack. 3D stylized low-poly trees, rocks, and grass.
Kenney. CC0 game assets ("Asset Jesus").
Kenney Game Assets All-in-1 Paid. 60,000+ game assets including 2D sprites and 3D models.
Liberated Pixel Cup assets. Free graphic assets from the Liberated Pixel Cup (LPC) on the OpenGameArt forums.
Modern Farm - RPG Tileset Paid. Props, animals, and a character generator for a farm RPG.
Mystic Woods - 16x16 Pixel Art Asset Pack. Playful 16x16 pixel-art asset pack.
Ninja Adventure - Asset Pack. Assets for a top-down game with a ninja theme.
Open Game Art. Community hub for free game art.
Oryx Design Lab Paid. Cheap royalty-free sprite packs.
Pixel Adventure. Assets for a platform adventure game.
Pixel Art Top Down - Basic. 32x32 sprites and tilesets for top-down games.
Pixel Frog Freemium. Pixel art assets.
Pixel Planet Generator. Procedural pixel planet generator with Godot shader source.
Reiner's Tilesets. Free 2D and 3D graphics, classic game assets blog.
Sprout Lands - Asset Pack. Cute pixel pastel farming asset pack.
Sprout Lands - UI Pack. Cute pixel pastel UI pack.
Stylized Nature MegaKit. 110+ stylized 3D nature models for Ghibli-inspired scenes. Projects for UE, Godot, and Unity.
Synty Studios Paid. Stylized low-poly asset packs.
Tech Dungeon: Roguelite - Asset Pack. Animated top-down assets for a futuristic project.
Tilemancer. Procedural tile creator for pixel-art games.
Tiny Farm RPG - Asset Pack. Pixel-art farming RPG asset pack.
Tiny RPG Character Asset Pack v1.03. 20 animated pixel-art characters for your game.
Universal Animation Library. 120+ animations ready to retarget in any engine.
UnluckyStudio. Free game art for 2D games.

Modeling, Sculpting & Texturing

Per-DCC learning plus texturing and material-authoring toolchain. Per-renderer learning lives in §4.

Blender: Plugins & Addons

Notable addons extending Blender.

AMD Radeon ProRender. AMD's physically based GPU/CPU render engine for Blender.
AnimAide. Free animation helper tools for Blender.
Array Tools. Create translation, scale and rotation arrays with offset or global parameters in any direction.
Arsenal. Blender-integrated game engine written in Rust.
Auto Terrainer Paid. Turns any low-poly mesh into customizable terrain like mountains, valleys and islands in Blender.
AutoMask. Machine-learning automatic rotoscoping addon for Blender.
Bangingcuts. Cuts audio and video clips on audio peaks, removing silences. On recent Blender, install the install.py file instead of the zip.
Blender Addons. Helper addons by Antonio Vazquez.
Blender Colab. Python script to render Blender scenes on Google Colab. Cycles only.
Blender Data Visualisation. Loads data into Blender and builds visualisations.
Blender Debugger For Vscode. Addon for remote-debugging Blender from VS Code or Visual Studio.
Blender For Unreal Engine. Exports Blender content to Unreal Engine.
Blender Kitti. Renders large point clouds and voxel grids in Blender.
Blender Metaverse Addon. Toolset for creating content for metaverse platforms like High Fidelity.
Blender NLA Midi Copier. Creates MIDI-driven animations from Blender's Nonlinear Animation view.
Blender Pyblish. Pyblish publishing-pipeline integration for Blender.
Blender Sculpt Tools. Base-mesh sculpting tools for Blender, ZSphere-style.
Blender to Unity FBX. Unity export addon.
Blender Vscode. VS Code extension for Blender addon development.
Blender XR. VR and mixed-reality interface for editing Blender scenes with a headset and controllers.
Blender2Godot. Exports a Blender scene to a Godot Engine project.
BlenderCAM. Open source CAM toolpath generation for CNC inside Blender.
BlenderSynth. Blender scripting for generating synthetic datasets at scale.
BlendyPose. Webcam motion capture inside Blender.
Blign. Align and distribute objects in Blender with many options.
Bone Widget. Helps make custom bone shapes for Blender rigs.
Bonsai. OpenBIM/IFC architectural authoring add-on for Blender. Formerly BlenderBIM.
BookGen. Generates rows of books on shelves in Blender.
Building Tools. Building-generation addon for Blender.
Bystedts Blender Baker Paid. Streamlines texture baking in Blender.
CAD Sketcher. CAD-style precision sketching with constraints for Blender.
Camera Shakify. Adds realistic camera shake to Blender cameras.
Capsule. Export manager for sharing assets between Blender and Unreal/Unity.
CharMorph. Open source character creation tool for Blender, a rewrite of the now-unmaintained MB-Lab.
COA Tools. 2D cutout animation suite for Blender, similar to Spine or Spriter.
Crowdrender Freemium. Distributed rendering across machines.
Curtis Holt Store Paid. Curtis Holt's storefront for Blender addons and learning products.
Data FX. Loads and visualizes CSV data within Blender.
Daz to Blender Bridge. Transfers Genesis 8 and 3 characters from Daz Studio into Blender.
DreamUV. Manipulate UVs directly in the 3D viewport.
Drop It. Drops objects quickly onto the ground or a surface in Blender.
Easy HDRI. HDRI management addon.
Easy Proxy. Creates VSE proxy files easily via FFmpeg.
EasyBake. One-click texture baking UI in the Blender 3D viewport.
EdgeFlow. Adds two edge-loop operators for cleaner topology in Blender.
Embark Blender Tools. Game-dev workflow tools for Blender, with standardized import/export and new object types.
Engraver Paid. Carves decals into 3D models in Blender.
Export Paper Model from Blender. Add-on for unfolding meshes into printable paper models.
EZ Baker. Simpler alternative to Blender's default texture-bake system.
F Spy Blender. Official fSpy Blender importer.
FaceBuilder Paid. Builds photorealistic 3D face and head models from a few neutral-expression photos in Blender.
FLIP Fluids Paid. High-quality liquid simulation plugin for Blender.
FontSelector. Font management inside Blender.
Gaffer (Blender addon). Light-management panels for fast lighting setup and tweaking in Blender.
Geometry Nodes Pipes Paid. Geometry Nodes addon for generating complex pipe layouts in Blender.
Geometry Script. Python scripting API for Blender Geometry Nodes, making node trees easier to build and share.
Glsl Texture. Create textures from GLSL fragment shaders in Blender.
GoB. GoZ-style bridge for ZBrush-Blender mesh interchange.
Graswald Paid. Grass and plants library.
GreaseWriter. Auto-animates grease pencil strokes to emulate hand-drawn text.
HDRI Sun Aligner. Automatically rotates a sun to match the brightest point in an HDRI environment texture.
Hi Phy Engine Paid. High-fidelity physics engine addon with a unified solver for rigid body, cloth, hair, soft body and MPM snow/sand, with intersection-free continuous collision detection.
INOX. Rust game engine integrated in Blender.
IOR Reference. Blender addon listing IOR values for materials.
JARCH Vis. Generates common architectural-visualization objects in Blender.
Jet Fluids. Jet fluid-engine simulator integration for Blender.
JewelCraft. Jewelry design toolkit add-on for Blender.
Kaleidoscope. Adds Spectrum and Intensity nodes to speed up material creation in Blender.
KeKit. Production modeling toolset for Blender.
Laser Slicer. Slices a Blender object and exports SVG sections for laser cutting.
LeoMoon LightStudio Paid. Studio lighting system for Blender.
Lib SM64 Blender. Integrates libsm64 into Blender, with Fast64 integrations.
Lodify. Level-of-detail and proxy system for Blender.
Loom. Simplifies rendering image sequences and frame ranges, with batch rendering utilities.
Lumiere. Interactive lighting addon for Blender.
Magic UV. UV manipulation toolset that fills gaps in Blender's UV tools.
Maps Models Importer. Imports 3D models from Google Maps into Blender.
MB Lab. Character creation (archived, succeeded by CharMorph).
MDSANIMA RenderTime. Estimates total animation render time from a single frame's render time.
Mesh Align Plus. Precisely align, move, and measure objects and mesh parts.
Mesh Heal. Extra Blender operators for healing and repairing surface meshes.
Mesh Maze. Generates a maze on any mesh in Blender.
MeshSync. Live-link plugin syncing Blender and other DCCs into Unity.
MifthTools. Mesh-exchange tools for 3DCoat, Houdini and Modo.
Mixamo Converter. Blender Plugin that Converts Mixamo animations to work in Unreal Engine 4 with root motion.
Mixer by Ubisoft. Real-time collaboration addon for Blender from Ubisoft Animation Studio.
Modeling Cloth. Real-time cloth-like behavior on meshes in Blender.
Modifier List. Enhanced modifier UI for Blender, with a sidebar tab and popup.
MPFB. Open source human generator for Blender, a full rewrite of MakeHuman as an addon.
Mr Mannequins Tools. Exports animations and weighted meshes compatible with the Unreal third-person mannequin without retargeting.
Multi User. Real-time collaborative editing inside Blender.
Needle Engine Freemium. Builds interactive web apps from Blender scenes.
OctaneRender Prime for Blender Freemium. Octane GPU render engine for Blender, free tier.
Parallel Render. Renders Sequencer output multithreaded from the Render sidebar.
PBR Texture Mapper. One-click PBR node setup in Blender.
Phobos. Creates URDF, SDF and SMURF robot models in Blender.
Point Cloud Visualizer. Display, edit, filter, render and export colored point-cloud PLY files.
Poliigon Blender Addon. Browse, download and import Poliigon textures, models and HDRs from inside Blender, with material generation from texture sets.
Power Sequencer. Faster editing tools for Blender's Video Sequence Editor.
PresetterProfessional. View, visibility, 3D cursor and snap presets for Blender.
Principled Baker. Bake PBR textures from the Principled BSDF in a few clicks.
Projectors. Create and modify projector lights in Blender.
ProSidebar. Adds extra properties and operators to the 3D View Sidebar.
PSOFT Pencil+ 4 Paid. NPR line rendering.
QBlocker. Interactive blockout and object creation tool for Blender.
QuickSwitch. Quickly switch workspaces and view the render menu in the viewport.
RandoMesh. Adds randomized geometry to any mesh in Blender.
reflow. Blender addon to change scene fps.
Render Useful. Command-line tools for Blender renders.
Rig on the Fly. Dynamic rigging tool that speeds up Blender animation workflow.
Rigid Body Bones. Adds rigid-body and spring physics to bones in Blender.
Scene Strip Tools. Preview VSE scene strips directly in the 3D View.
Screencast Keys. On-screen keystroke display for Blender screen recordings.
Screenwriter. Write screenplays in the Blender Text Editor using Fountain markup, with correct formatting on export.
Sculpt Alphas Manager. Quickly switch alpha textures for sculpt brushes in Blender.
Search Online References. Search selected text across Blender API/Python docs, Stack Exchange, source code and GitHub.
Shot Manager by Ubisoft. Adds a true shot entity to Blender scenes for previs and layout.
Sketchfab Blender Addon. Import and export models between Blender and Sketchfab.
SliceMesh. Automates mesh slicing in Blender.
Spaceship Generator. Procedurally generates 3D spaceships.
Spring Bones. Adds springy dynamic motion to bones in Blender.
Subsimport. Create and edit subtitles for movies or music in Blender.
SuperPoke. Iterative poking tool for Blender meshes.
Sverchok. Node-based parametric modeling for Blender, aimed at architects.
TextCounter. Text-animation addon for counters and GUI simulations in Blender.
TexTools. Free UV and texturing toolset for Blender.
The Grove 3D Paid. Grows natural 3D trees for visualisation and film, with seasonal simulation.
Theme Switcher. Switch the active Blender theme without leaving the 3D View.
Tilecam. Renders tileable images in Blender.
Tissue. Computational and parametric design addon for Blender.
Transform Tools. Transform, crop and fade video strips in Blender's VSE.
Tree Gen. Procedural tree-model generation in Blender.
Typewriter. Typewriter text animation for font objects in Blender.
UcuPaint. Manage texture layers for EEVEE and Cycles in Blender.
USDZ. Blender addon to export USDZ files.
UV Packer. Free automatic UV-packing addon for Blender.
V HACD. Decomposes a 3D surface into near-convex parts for accurate collision meshes.
Verge3D Paid. Toolkit for building interactive 3D web experiences from Blender.
VSEQF. Overhauls Blender's VSE for quick keyboard-and-mouse editing with real-time feedback.
Welder. Generates weld seams between meshes in Blender.
Wiggle Bones. Jiggle-bone physics for Blender rigs.
WoT Tank Viewer. Blender plugins to view 3D models from World of Tanks.
WritingAnimation. Generates writing animation for selected Bezier curves in Blender.

Blender: Tutorials

Blender learning resources, beginner to advanced.

📖 User Manual. Official Blender user manual.
Animation & Rigging Manual. Animation & Rigging Manual.
Blender 3D Architect by Allan Brito Paid. Blender books and tutorials for architectural visualization by Allan Brito.
Blender Python API Documentation. Official Blender Python API Documentation.
blenderscripting. Blog of Blender Python snippets to get started with scripting.
Compositing Nodes List. Compositing Nodes List.
Motion Tracking Manual. Motion Tracking Manual.
Programming Add-ons for Blender 2.8. Free ebook on setting up a Python IDE to write Blender add-ons, worked through a sample plugin.
Realistic Hair in Blender Paid. Hair creation course.
Texture Paint Manual. Official Blender manual for the texture paint mode.

Houdini: Getting Started

Beginner-friendly Houdini intros.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Houdini Apprentice	Free learning version of Houdini.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#3d-software-free-tier">Software Reference → 3D Software: Free Tier</a></small>	Free NC	Free NC · Learning Version	Learning Houdini for free

Related:

Houdini Crash Course (ikrima). Fast Houdini fundamentals primer.
Houdini Donut in Any Shape. Procedural donut by Lewis Orton.
Houdini in Five Minutes. Quick intro by Entagma.
SideFX Getting Started. Official Houdini getting-started learning path.
SideFX Learn. Official curated learning hub.
SideFX Learning Library. Searchable content browser for all official Houdini tutorials.

Houdini: Essential Learning Resources

Long-form Houdini learning hubs.

Applied Houdini Paid. Stephen Knipping's FX-focused course series (ILM).
Assorted Houdini Demos (jakericedesigns). Assorted Houdini demo scenes and setups.
CGWiki (tokeru.com). Matt Estela's CGWiki, the deepest Houdini reference (Joy of VEX, LOPS, particles).
educational-hips (pedohorse). Educational Houdini .hip files explaining techniques.
Entagma (site) Freemium. Advanced design and mograph tutorials. Also Unreal and Blender.
example_hips (dchow1992). Collection of example Houdini .hip files.
Farmfield (Vimeo). Setups and hip files from Johnny Farmfield.
hip-files (lightReachers). Shared collection of Houdini .hip files.
Houdini Blueprints. Browsable library of Houdini node setups and techniques.
Houdini Escapades (3Dmattias). Example .hip files from the 3Dmattias tutorial series.
Houdini Gubbins. Blog of Houdini tips and workflow notes.
Houdini Hive. SideFX presentation recordings from artists and studios.
Houdini Kitchen. Tutorials and articles, including L-systems and procedural setups.
houdini-sandbox (K240). Sandbox collection of Houdini scene files.
HoudiniHowtos (jhorikawa). Example .hip files and how-to setups.
John Kunz (site). Weekly streams. FX, coding, Redshift (Twitch | YouTube).
OdForce Tutorial .hip Library. Community thread collecting tutorial .hip files.
SideFX Tutorials. Official tutorials.
sipiLib example-hips (SiposAttila1995). Example .hip files from the sipiLib toolset.
SOP Quick Reference. Quick-reference index of Houdini SOP nodes.

Houdini: VEX & Coding

VEX, Python, OpenCL, and scripting in Houdini.

1 Minute VEX. Bite-sized VEX lessons.
Houdini OpenCL (MysteryPancake). Guide to writing OpenCL kernels in Houdini.
Houdini Tech Blog (discretization). Technical blog on Houdini math and geometry processing.
HouPy Wiki. Houdini Python wiki. Packages, shelf scripts, menu customization, node graph hooks. See also: <a href="#3d-communities--forums">Learning, Community & Industry → 3D Communities & Forums</a>
Learning VEX via Bees and Bombs. OdForce thread recreating Bees and Bombs animations in VEX.
Mantra LPE Cookbook (alexwheezy). Light Path Expression recipes for Mantra rendering.
OpenCL in Houdini. OpenCL notes for Houdini.
Python Snippets for Houdini. Python snippets wiki.
Python Startup Scripts. Python startup scripts guide.
VEX Manager Paid. VEX snippet/code manager HDA by Shir Manor. See also: <a href="#houdini-plugins--tools">Modeling, Sculpting & Texturing → Houdini: Plugins & Tools</a>
VEX Wrangle Cheat Sheet. Quick VEX reference by Mr Kunz.
vex_tutorial (jtomori). Practical introduction to VEX in Houdini with examples.
VFXBrain VEX. VEX tutorials blog.

Houdini: FX & Simulations

Vellum, FLIP, Pyro, and other simulation workflows.

Custom Smoke Solver. Custom smoke solver walkthrough.
Smart Crown Splash FLIP. FLIP splash technique.

Houdini: Rigging & Animation (KineFX)

KineFX rigging, animation, and crowds.

Secondary Motion in H19. Paul Esteves. Secondary motion workflows.
Space Girl Rigging. Legacy rigging series.

Houdini: Grooming

Hair and fur grooming workflows.

Houdini: Miscellaneous Tutorials

Additional Houdini tutorials across topics.

AI For Artists. AI techniques applied to Houdini.
Art Directing Paint Splashes. Art-directed paint splashes.
Building Growth Animation. Building growth animation technique.
Cloner Object. MoGraph Cloner tutorial.
Extracting Transform Matrices. How to extract transform matrices.
For Loops Tutorial. For loops and animated subdivisions.
Houdini for Astronomy. Astronomy and scientific viz in Houdini.
Houdini Quick Tips. Short Houdini tips and quick technique walkthroughs.
Muscles Masterclass. Advanced muscles masterclass.
MysteryPancake Houdini Fun. Fun experimental Houdini repo.
Node Studies. Node study slide deck.
Point Cloud to Mesh (Microsoft). Point cloud to mesh guide.
Procedural Modeling with VEX Paid. Tighe Rzankowski procedural modeling course.
Procegen by Konstantin Magnus. Konstantin Magnus tutorials on procedural modeling, texturing, and tool building in Houdini.
USD Basics with Solaris. Official tutorial on USD basics in Solaris.
Writing Your Own Polywire. Jake Rice on custom polywire.

Houdini: Plugins & Tools

Toolkits, pipeline tools, and HDAs.

.hips. Various Houdini tools.
AElib. Free tools by Nick Taylor (ManVsMachine).
Axiom Paid. Sparse fluid solver by Matthew Puchala.
CamRig Pro Paid. Camera rigging tool HDA by Shir Manor.
cb-houdini-tools (conlen-b). Collection of Houdini utility tools and HDAs.
EarthMesh Houdini. Real-world meshes via Google API.
Ffmpeg. Flipbook to MP4 conversion tool (setup guide).
Houdini Attributes Cheatsheet. Quick reference of common Houdini geometry attributes.
Houdini Engine for Unreal (AdrianPan optimized fork). Rebuilt Houdini Engine for UE, 2x-15x faster.
Houdini Tech Art Challenge Winners 2021. Winning tech-art tools: HPaint, Polyline Creator, Poly Slice Tool.
Houdini-scripts (JoseZalez). Python scripts and utilities for Houdini.
JDB Houdini Toolkit. JDB Houdini Toolkit.
Microbot VDB Painter Paid. Interactive painting and manipulation of OpenVDB SDF volumes in Houdini.
MOPS. Motion graphics toolkit by Toadstorm. See also: <a href="#3d-communities--forums">Learning, Community & Industry → 3D Communities & Forums</a>
ODTools Paid. Pipeline tools by Oliver Hotz.
qLib. Open-source HDA library.
Rich Lord's Tools. Tools from ex-Valve animator.
SideFX Labs. Extended official toolset.
Tighe Rzankowski's Tools Paid. Feather grooming.
TrembleFX Paid. Procedural noise generator HDA by Shir Manor.
VEX Manager Paid. VEX snippet/code manager HDA by Shir Manor. See also: <a href="#houdini-vex--coding">Modeling, Sculpting & Texturing → Houdini: VEX & Coding</a>
VFX Fractal Toolkit. Set of tools for generating fractal and generative art.
Wormhole Content Browser Paid. Custom Houdini UI for browsing, previewing, and importing content.
ZENO. Node-based 3D system for cinematic physics effects. Standalone open-source Houdini alternative.

Houdini: Courses & Free Content

Structured courses for Houdini.

Rebelway Freemium. FX, procedural modeling, VEX, pyro, destruction, fluid, fur, muscle, lighting, ML courses. Many free tutorials.

Houdini: Communities

Forums, Discords, and tip archives.

Awesome Houdini (wyhinton). Curated list of Houdini resources, tools, and learning.
Daily Hip. Houdini tips archive by Eetu Martola.
Houdini Nerd Discord. Christopher Rutledge's Houdini community.
Houdini Tricks. Quick tips archive.
John Kunz Discord. Community Discord for Houdini FX and coding.
OdForce. Most active Houdini forum.
r/Houdini. Houdini subreddit.
SideFX Houdini on Bilibili. Chinese Houdini tutorials.
Think Procedural Discord. Procedural-focused Houdini Discord.
VFX Arabia Houdini Tools. Houdini tools blog.

Cinema 4D: Learning

C4D tutorials and learning hubs.

Cineversity. Official Maxon tutorials.
School of Motion (site) Paid. C4D, motion graphics, animation, After Effects, design courses.

Cinema 4D: Plugins

C4D addons and bridges.

AEC4D Paid. After Effects ↔ Cinema 4D bridge.
Video Copilot Freemium. VFX tutorials, Element 3D, Optical Flares.

Cinema 4D: Tips & Workflows

Productivity blogs and shader workflow tricks.

Rolando Barry (Gumroad) Freemium. C4D assets and presets.
Rolando Barry Blog. C4D tips, shader switch workflows, productivity tricks.

3ds Max: Plugins

3ds Max plugins.

TyFlow Freemium. Advanced particle/dynamics system. Destruction, cloth, fluids.

Fusion 360: Learning

Fusion 360 courses.

Material Creation Tools

Texture authoring, procedural materials, and baking tools.

Software	Description	Pricing	License	Tags	Best For
Agama Materials	Software for creating PBR materials and painting 3d models. You can create materials and use them for painting models, or you can use pre-made textures.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#material--texture-creation-software">Software Reference → Material & Texture Creation Software</a></small>		Paid
ArmorPaint	Open-source texture painting.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#material--texture-creation-software">Software Reference → Material & Texture Creation Software</a></small>		Open Source	Open Source · Painter-alt	OSS texture painting
AwesomeBump	Generate normal, height, specular or ambient occlusion textures from a single image.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#material--texture-creation-software">Software Reference → Material & Texture Creation Software</a></small>		Open Source
Filter Forge	Node-based filter editor with library of thousands of textures and photo effects; standalone or Photoshop/Affinity plugin.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#material--texture-creation-software">Software Reference → Material & Texture Creation Software</a></small>		Paid	Procedural · PS Plugin	Procedural textures and photo filters
Game Texture Viewer	Fast, reliable, and simple tool for viewing PBR texture sets.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#material--texture-creation-software">Software Reference → Material & Texture Creation Software</a></small>		Free
Live Normal	An Android and iOS app for generating materials on the go. You take a photo, and Live Normal creates a tile-able texture and generates texture maps ready for a PBR engine of your choice.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#material--texture-creation-software">Software Reference → Material & Texture Creation Software</a></small>		Freemium
Mari	Foundry's high-resolution 3D texture painting app, film-VFX standard for hero assets.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#material--texture-creation-software">Software Reference → Material & Texture Creation Software</a></small>	Indie perpetual $149; Individual $299/yr; Studio $1,289/yr	Paid	Industry Standard · Hero Texturing	Film-VFX texture painting at hero resolution
Material Maker	Open-source procedural texture generator (Substance Designer alternative).<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#material--texture-creation-software">Software Reference → Material & Texture Creation Software</a></small>		Open Source	Open Source · SD Alternative	Procedural PBR materials, free
Materialize	Free texture map generation from a single image.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#material--texture-creation-software">Software Reference → Material & Texture Creation Software</a></small>		Free	Free · Map Generation	Generating normal/height/AO maps
Quixel Mixer	Create photorealistic, tileable, materials in seconds with mixing and painting.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#material--texture-creation-software">Software Reference → Material & Texture Creation Software</a></small>		Free
Substance Designer	Node-based procedural texturing.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#material--texture-creation-software">Software Reference → Material & Texture Creation Software</a></small>		Paid	Procedural · Industry Standard	Procedural PBR materials
Substance Painter	Industry-standard 3D texture painting with smart materials.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#material--texture-creation-software">Software Reference → Material & Texture Creation Software</a></small>		Paid	Industry Standard · PBR Painter	3D texture painting
Texelpaint3D	Paint directly on 3D model faces without UV unwrapping. 1-pixel-per-triangle workflow.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#material--texture-creation-software">Software Reference → Material & Texture Creation Software</a></small>		Free	No-UV · Early Access	UV-free 3D painting
TextureLab	Tool designed to make procedural texture generation.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#material--texture-creation-software">Software Reference → Material & Texture Creation Software</a></small>		Free
xNormal	Free high-poly to low-poly baking (normals, AO, cavity).<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#material--texture-creation-software">Software Reference → Material & Texture Creation Software</a></small>		Free	Baking · Free	Texture baking

Related:

Agisoft De-Lighter. Standalone tool to remove baked shadows from model textures.
Architextures - Create Freemium. Web app for creating textures, bump maps, and CAD hatches.
Imogen. GPU Texture generator using dear imgui for UI.
NVIDIA Texture Tools Exporter. Creates compressed texture files from image sources via CUDA-accelerated compression.
ShaderExpo. Browser shader editor with inline error logs, autocompletion, and model/texture loading.
SmartNormal 2.0. Normal map generation from images.
TexGraph. Procedural texture creation by connecting nodes in a graph.

<h3 id="mirror-cad-software" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">CAD Software</h3> Also in <a href="#cad-software">Software Reference → CAD Software</a>

Software	Description	Pricing	License	Tags	Best For
AutoCAD	Industry-standard 2D/3D CAD.	$210/mo	Paid	Industry Standard · 2D/3D Drafting	Architecture, engineering, drafting
Bitbybit	Browser parametric CAD via visual nodes (Rete, Blockly) or Monaco code editor. OCCT, JSCAD, Manifold backends.		Freemium	Browser · Parametric	Parametric web CAD, generative geometry, 3D printing
BricsCAD	AutoCAD-compatible DWG CAD; offers both perpetual and subscription licensing.	Lite from €314; Pro $1,752 perpetual; Ultimate from €1,176/yr	Paid	DWG-Compatible · Cross-Platform	DWG-compatible CAD on Mac/Linux
CATIA	Dassault Systèmes CAD for aerospace and automotive.		Paid	Aerospace · Automotive	Aerospace, automotive
FreeCAD	Free open-source parametric CAD.		Open Source	Parametric · Open Source	Parametric CAD, engineering
Fusion 360 Personal	Autodesk's CAD/CAM free for personal hobbyist use.		Free NC	CAD/CAM · Personal Free	Hobbyist CAD, 3D printing
LibreCAD	Free open-source 2D CAD.		Open Source	2D CAD · Drafting	2D drafting
Onshape Free	Cloud-based CAD with free hobbyist tier (public projects).		Freemium	Cloud CAD · Collaborative	Collaborative CAD, hobbyists
OpenSCAD	Code-based CAD for parametric design.		Open Source	Script-Based · Parametric	Script-based CAD
PackCAD	Browser 3D CAD for packaging. Models folded/origami structures with folding simulation.		Freemium	Browser · Packaging	Packaging and dieline design
PTC Creo	Parametric mechanical CAD with simulation, generative design, and additive workflows.	Quote-based; perpetual ~$2,200–$16,000; subs $200–$1,500/mo	Paid	Parametric CAD · Industry Standard	High-end mechanical engineering
Rhino	NURBS-focused 3D modeling for architecture and product design.	$995 perpetual	Paid	NURBS · Grasshopper	NURBS modeling, architecture
Shapr3D	Touch-first parametric/direct CAD on iPad, Vision Pro, Mac, and Windows.	Pro $299/yr	Paid	Touch-first · Cross-Platform	Tablet-first concept and product CAD
Siemens NX	High-end product engineering CAD/CAM/CAE; NX X is the cloud SaaS variant.	Quote-based (perpetual, subscription, or token)	Paid	PLM · Industry Standard	Enterprise PLM and engineering
SolidWorks	Mechanical CAD for engineers.	$2,820/yr	Paid	Mechanical CAD · Simulation	Mechanical engineering
Solvespace	Parametric 3D CAD modeling tool.		Open Source	Parametric · Lightweight	Lightweight parametric CAD

<h3 id="mirror-material-creation-software" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">Material & Texture Creation Software</h3> Also in <a href="#material--texture-creation-software">Software Reference → Material & Texture Creation Software</a>

Software	Description	Pricing	License	Tags	Best For
Agama Materials	Software for creating PBR materials and painting 3d models. You can create materials and use them for painting models, or you can use pre-made textures.		Paid
ArmorPaint	Open-source texture painting.		Open Source	Open Source · Painter-alt	OSS texture painting
AwesomeBump	Generate normal, height, specular or ambient occlusion textures from a single image.		Open Source
Filter Forge	Node-based filter editor with library of thousands of textures and photo effects; standalone or Photoshop/Affinity plugin.		Paid	Procedural · PS Plugin	Procedural textures and photo filters
Game Texture Viewer	Fast, reliable, and simple tool for viewing PBR texture sets.		Free
Live Normal	An Android and iOS app for generating materials on the go. You take a photo, and Live Normal creates a tile-able texture and generates texture maps ready for a PBR engine of your choice.		Freemium
Mari	Foundry's high-resolution 3D texture painting app, film-VFX standard for hero assets.	Indie perpetual $149; Individual $299/yr; Studio $1,289/yr	Paid	Industry Standard · Hero Texturing	Film-VFX texture painting at hero resolution
Material Maker	Open-source procedural texture generator (Substance Designer alternative).		Open Source	Open Source · SD Alternative	Procedural PBR materials, free
Materialize	Free texture map generation from a single image.		Free	Free · Map Generation	Generating normal/height/AO maps
Quixel Mixer	Create photorealistic, tileable, materials in seconds with mixing and painting.		Free
Substance Designer	Node-based procedural texturing.		Paid	Procedural · Industry Standard	Procedural PBR materials
Substance Painter	Industry-standard 3D texture painting with smart materials.		Paid	Industry Standard · PBR Painter	3D texture painting
Texelpaint3D	Paint directly on 3D model faces without UV unwrapping. 1-pixel-per-triangle workflow.		Free	No-UV · Early Access	UV-free 3D painting
TextureLab	Tool designed to make procedural texture generation.		Free
xNormal	Free high-poly to low-poly baking (normals, AO, cavity).		Free	Baking · Free	Texture baking

<h3 id="mirror-photogrammetry-software" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">Photogrammetry & Scanning Software</h3> Also in <a href="#photogrammetry--scanning-software">Software Reference → Photogrammetry & Scanning Software</a>

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
3DF Zephyr	Free lite version (up to 50 photos).	Freemium	Free Lite · 50 Photos	Lite photogrammetry
3DF Zephyr Free	Free version of 3DF Zephyr photogrammetry software for personal use. It comes with some limitations.	Free	Free · Personal Use	Free photogrammetry
Agisoft Metashape	Professional photogrammetry with GIS features.	Paid	GIS Features · Pro	Pro photogrammetry + GIS
CloudCompare	A 3D point cloud (and triangular mesh) processing software. Open-source and designed for visualizing and editing LiDAR and photogrammetry data. Good for alignment, meshing, cleanup, segmentation, a	Open Source	Open Source · Point Cloud	Point cloud and mesh processing
COLMAP	A general-purpose Structure-from-Motion (SfM) and Multi-View Stereo (MVS) pipeline with a graphical and command-line interface.	Open Source	Photogrammetry · Open Source	Photogrammetry SfM/MVS reconstruction
KIRI Engine	Cross-platform mobile photogrammetry.	Freemium	Cross-platform · Mobile	Cross-platform mobile photogrammetry
Meshroom (AliceVision)	Free, open-source photogrammetry. Node-based, GPU-accelerated.	Open Source	Open Source · Node-based	Open-source photogrammetry
MicMac	Free open-source photogrammetric suite that can be used in a variety of 3D reconstruction scenarios.	Open Source
Open Scan Tools	A collection of open-source tools for photogrammetry, depth-sensing, and 3D reconstruction workflows. Nice rendering options for xray style.	Open Source	Open Source · Toolkit	Open-source scan toolkit
PCL (Point Cloud Library)	Large-scale open project for 2D/3D image and point cloud processing.	Open Source	Point Clouds · Open Source	Point cloud processing
Polycam	Mobile photogrammetry (iOS LiDAR + photo, Android photo). Cloud processing.	Freemium	Mobile · LiDAR	Mobile photogrammetry
Postshot	Desktop Gaussian Splatting tool. Train, clean, edit, export.	Freemium	Desktop · Splat Editor	Desktop Gaussian splat
Quixel Megascans	World’s largest photogrammetry 2D and 3D asset library. Now it is free for the Epic Games accounts (only UE projects).	Free	Asset Library · Epic Games	Photogrammetry asset library
RealityCapture	Fast, high-quality photogrammetry (now Epic Games). PPI pricing.	Freemium	Epic Games · High-Quality	Production photogrammetry
Scaniverse (Niantic)	Free mobile scanning, Gaussian splat support.	Free	Free Mobile · Gaussian Splat	Mobile scan, Gaussian splat

<h3 id="mirror-retopo-uv-software" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">Retopology & UV Software</h3> Also in <a href="#retopology--uv-software">Software Reference → Retopology & UV Software</a>

Software	Description	Pricing	License	Tags	Best For
3D Coat	Sculpt, retopo, UV, and PBR paint suite from Pilgway. Voxel and surface sculpt, AUTOPO auto-retopo, manual quad retopo, UV unwrap, bake.	~$379 perpetual (Educational $99)	Paid	Sculpt + Retopo · PBR Paint	Sculpt + retopo + UV + PBR paint in one app
AutoRemesher	Open-source auto-retopology tool intended to convert source meshes into clean, animation-friendly all-quad geometry.		Open Source	Free · Auto Retopo	Auto-retopology
Cozy Blanket	iPad sculpt-to-retopo app. Clay sculpt plus auto-quad retopology for game/film topology, from Naam.	~$80 perpetual	Paid	iPad Sculpt · Auto Retopo	iPad sculpt + auto-retopo
Headus UVLayout	Standalone UV editor, flatten-based.		Paid	Flatten-based · Classic	Flatten-based UV editor
Instant Meshes	Free, open-source auto-retopology.		Open Source	Free · Auto Retopo	Auto-retopology
RizomUV	Fast UV unwrapping, auto-seam, auto-pack. Standalone or bridge.		Paid	Industry Standard · Standalone	Fast pro UV unwrapping
Topogun	Standalone retopology and baking.		Paid	Retopo + Bake · Classic	Retopo + baking
UVPackmaster	Advanced UV packing, UDIM support. Blender addon + standalone.		Paid	UDIM · Packing	UV packing + UDIM
Valence 3D	iPad UV unwrap and texture paint app from Naam. Pairs with Cozy Blanket for full iPad asset workflow.	~$30 perpetual	Paid	iPad UV · iPad Paint	iPad UV + texture paint

Animation & Rigging

Technical animation, rigging, motion capture. Animation principles/theory live in §8.

Animation: YouTube Channels

Channels covering 2D/motion animation technique.

Alan Becker Tutorials. Animation tutorials by stick-figure animator.
Alex Grigg. Animation for Anyone series.
Alex Kunchevsky. Motion design.
Josh Toonen. Unreal Engine cinematics: animated decals, cinematic environments, faster filmmaking.
Olof Storm. Animation and motion.
School of Motion (YouTube). Motion design education.
The Principles of Animation: Interactive Edition. Interactive web explainer of the 12 principles of animation.
Toniko Pantoja. Animation industry and technique.

Animation: Courses

Structured animation courses.

AI Motion Capture & Animation

AI-powered mocap and character animation tools.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
DeepMotion	Game-ready character animation from video. BVH/FBX export.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-motion-capture-software">Software Reference → AI Motion Capture Software</a></small>	Freemium	Game-Ready · BVH/FBX	Game-ready AI mocap
Free Mo Cap	Free open-source motion capture system (traditional, not AI).<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-motion-capture-software">Software Reference → AI Motion Capture Software</a></small>	Open Source	Open Source · Mocap	Open-source mocap
Live Link Face (Apple)	Free facial mocap via iPhone into Unreal/Maya/Blender.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-motion-capture-software">Software Reference → AI Motion Capture Software</a></small>	Free	Free · iPhone Face Capture	iPhone facial mocap
Move AI	Highest-accuracy AI mocap with multi-camera triangulation.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-motion-capture-software">Software Reference → AI Motion Capture Software</a></small>	Paid	High Accuracy · Multi-Camera	Multi-camera AI mocap
Plask	Browser-based mocap with hand tracking and standard format export.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-motion-capture-software">Software Reference → AI Motion Capture Software</a></small>	Freemium	Browser · Hand Tracking	Browser-based AI mocap
Rokoko Vision	Free AI mocap from webcam or video.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-motion-capture-software">Software Reference → AI Motion Capture Software</a></small>	Freemium	Free Tier · Webcam/Video	Free AI mocap
Viggle AI	Character animation from video or image input.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-motion-capture-software">Software Reference → AI Motion Capture Software</a></small>	Freemium	Video→Animation · AI	AI character animation from input media

Related:

ActorCore Freemium. Motion-capture library from Reallusion.
AnimateDiff + ControlNet. Open-source controlled video animation from poses.
Bandai Namco Research Motiondataset. Free motion-capture dataset from Bandai Namco R&D for research and personal use.
Carnegie-Mellon University Graphics Lab Motion Capture Database BVH conversions. 2500 free human motion-capture clips in BVH format.
Mixamo. Rigged characters, auto-rigger, and free animation library (Adobe). See also: <a href="#model-libraries-specialized">Assets & Libraries → Model Libraries: Specialized</a>

<h3 id="mirror-ai-motion-capture-software" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">AI Motion Capture Software</h3> Also in <a href="#ai-motion-capture-software">Software Reference → AI Motion Capture Software</a>

Software	Description	Pricing	License	Tags	Best For
Cascadeur	AI-assisted physics-based keyframe character animation; free for non-commercial use.	Indie $19/mo or $96/yr (rent-to-own perpetual)	Free NC	AI Anim · Free NC	Action/fight character animation
DeepMotion	Game-ready character animation from video. BVH/FBX export.		Freemium	Game-Ready · BVH/FBX	Game-ready AI mocap
Free Mo Cap	Free open-source motion capture system (traditional, not AI).		Open Source	Open Source · Mocap	Open-source mocap
Live Link Face (Apple)	Free facial mocap via iPhone into Unreal/Maya/Blender.		Free	Free · iPhone Face Capture	iPhone facial mocap
Move AI	Highest-accuracy AI mocap with multi-camera triangulation.		Paid	High Accuracy · Multi-Camera	Multi-camera AI mocap
Plask	Browser-based mocap with hand tracking and standard format export.		Freemium	Browser · Hand Tracking	Browser-based AI mocap
Rokoko Vision	Free AI mocap from webcam or video.		Freemium	Free Tier · Webcam/Video	Free AI mocap
Viggle AI	Character animation from video or image input.		Freemium	Video→Animation · AI	AI character animation from input media

Lighting, Rendering & Shaders

3D lighting, rendering theory, shader theory, and renderer-specific learning. Render engine software lives in §12.

3D Lighting: Fundamentals

Core lighting tutorials for beginners and generalists.

10 Tips for Better Lighting. Helloluxx lighting tips.
Creative Shrimp. Blender CG art and lighting tutorials by Gleb Alexandrov and Aidy Burrows.
Get Better Lighting in C4D. Improve C4D lighting.
School of Motion Lighting Blog. Shadows, volumetrics, HDRI, and area light techniques.
The Digital Revolution. Beginner C4D lighting.

3D Lighting: Redshift-Specific

Redshift lighting tutorials, primarily in C4D.

Creative Product Lighting with Redshift & C4D. Jarred van de Voort, NAB 2023.
How to Art Direct Lights in a Cloner. Art-directing lights across cloners.
Redshift Interior Materials & Lighting. Interior materials and lighting.
Redshift Lighting Techniques (Essential MoGraph). Redshift lighting techniques.
You And Me Academy. Light groups workflow.

3D Lighting: Production

Production-focused lighting talks.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Foundry Katana	Look-development and lighting orchestration tool for film/episodic VFX, scaling to massive scenes via deferred evaluation.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Paid	Industry Standard · Lookdev/Lighting	Film lookdev and lighting at scale

Related:

CNDL Freemium. Web tool to create custom IES light profiles.
UE5 Product Viz. IPhone Lighting Breakdown. UE5 product viz iPhone lighting breakdown.

Rendering & Shader Theory

Foundational rendering and shader theory references.

Software	Description	Pricing	License	Tags	Best For
Houdini	Procedural node-based DCC for VFX, simulation, and FX.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#3d-software-paid">Software Reference → 3D Software: Paid</a></small>	Indie $269/yr, Core $1995, FX $4495	Paid	Industry Standard · Procedural FX	Procedural FX, simulation, VFX
Polygonjs	Node-based WebGL design tool, used for procedural geometry, particles, materials<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#misc-3d-utilities-software">Software Reference → Misc 3D Utilities Software</a></small>		Freemium

Related:

(2014) Ray tracing with OpenGL Compute Shaders. Detailed ray tracing tutorial series using OpenGL (LWJGL) by Kai Burjack.
3D Game Shaders (source). Open-source project with resources on learning 3D game shaders.
3D Game Shaders for Beginners. Clear breakdowns of SSAO, bloom, SSR.
3D Math Primer for Graphics and Game Development. Book covering the 3D math foundations for graphics and game programming.
3D Programming Weekly Articles. Collection of shader and math related resources.
A Gentle Introduction to Shaders in Unity3D. Series of posts introducing shader coding, oriented to developers with little to no knowledge of shaders.
A Pixel is not a Little Square!. Classic paper debunking "a pixel is a little square." Also an intro to sampling.
A Rapid Hierarchical Rendering Technique for Translucent Materials. Jensen & Buhler. SIGGRAPH 2002.
A Survey on Participating Media Rendering Techniques. Cerezo et al. Visual Computer 2005.
A Trip Through The Graphics Pipeline. A-trip-through-the-graphics-pipeline.
Advanced Cel Shader (Pitchfork Academy). Advanced cel shader material breakdown.
Advanced Creative Coding with WebGL & Shaders Paid. Workshop by Matt DesLauriers going deeper into graphics programming, math, and shaders.
Advanced Materials in Blender - Shader Editor Tutorial. Blender shader editor material tutorials.
Alan Zucconi's Blog. Shaders and maths. Well explained and very interesting.
An introduction to Shader Art Coding. Video tutorial on the basics of creating art with shaders.
Anatole Drupat (XT95). Shader artist (ShaderToy XT95).
Anime/Toon/Cel Shading Model (Envieous, UE5). Custom UE5 anime/toon/cel shading model. Works with launcher engine versions.
apitrace. Tools for tracing OpenGL, Direct3D, and other graphics APIs.
Appleseed. Physically-based global illumination rendering engine.
Bart Wronski's blog. Real-time rendering, post-processing effects, and advanced graphics techniques.
bgfx. Cross-platform, graphics API agnostic, "Bring Your Own Engine/Framework" style rendering library.
Blender & ACES. Setup Blender to work with ACES using OpenColorIO.
Blender Addon PBR. Blender addon adding a material panel that builds Metallic/Roughness or Specular/Gloss node setups on the Principled BSDF.
Blender Interplanety Storage (BIS) Freemium. Online material/shader storage add-on for Blender. Save node groups to a personal library and search/upload from inside Blender.
BNPR Shaders. Collection of NPR shaders for Blender (EEVEE Comics Shader, Erisdraw3D, EEVEEToon).
Bonzomatic. Live-coding editor for OpenGL pixel shaders, where the results appear on background as you edit the code.
Brandon Fogerty's blog. Blog on real-time rendering, shader programming, and game engine development.
Canvas Debugger. Tutorial on using Firefox developer tools to debug WebGL shaders.
Car Paint Shader Paid. Simple shader setup that lets you easily create a variety of different car paint finishes.
Casual effects by Morgan McGuire. Morgan McGuire's site with real-time rendering articles, research papers, and graphics data.
Catlike Coding. C# and shader tutorials for Unity.
Cel-Shader Playlist (Your Sandbox). Cel-shading playlist (17 videos), UE with Lumen.
CelShader. Cel shader project for Unreal Engine 4.
Cesium. Open-source library for 3D globes and maps.
CineShader. Real-time 3D shader visualiser. Uses the Shadertoy API to bring thousands of existing shader artworks into a cinematic 3D environment.
Circular Color Picker Unity. Shader and script for a circular color picker.
CodeXL. AMD tool suite with a debugger, profiler, and frame/shader analysis.
Compact YCoCg Frame Buffer. Paper on compact YCoCg frame buffer for small IBL buffers.
ComputeToys. WebGPU compute shader editor for experimenting with GPU graphics in the browser.
CppCon 2018: Valentin Galea “Rapid Prototyping of Graphics Shaders in Modern C++”. CppCon 2018 talk on rapid prototyping of graphics shaders in modern C++.
Cracked Ice Shader. Cracked Ice material tutorial.
Creative Coding with Canvas & WebGL Paid. Workshop by Matt DesLauriers on generative art, interactive animations, 3D graphics, and shaders.
Custom shaders with Three.JS. Introduction to custom shaders, uniforms, textures, and lighting in three.js.
Cyanilux. Unity shader tutorials (URP focus). Intro to Shader Graph, HLSL, depth, vertex displacement, dissolve, portals, water, fire. Beginner to advanced.
Cyos. Online shader editor.
Efficient Gradient-Domain Compositing Using Quadtrees. ACM Trans. Graph. 2007.
Embree. High-performance ray tracing kernels that help engineers improve photorealistic rendering performance.
Everything (or most things) wrong with learnopengl.com/PBR/Theory. Detailed corrections to the PBR theory page on learnopengl.com.
Experimental analysis of BRDF models. Ngan et al. Eurographics Symposium on Rendering 2005.
Extra Lights. Blender addon adding physically based, photometric lighting presets to the Add menu.
Fabian 'ryg' Giesen's Blog. Blog on rendering, optimization, and low-level graphics programming with a focus on practical techniques.
Fast Filter-Width Estimates with Texture Maps. GPU Gems 1, Chapter 25.
Fast Terrain Rendering Using Geometrical MipMapping. Fast Terrain Rendering Using Geometrical MipMapping.
Fast Volume Rendering Using a Shear-Warp Factorization of the Viewing Transformation. Lacroute & Levoy. SIGGRAPH 1994.
Fft Ocean. Fast Fourier Transform ocean rendering for Three.js.
Filament. PBR engine, available on all platforms (desktop, mobile).
Flow Map Shader. Flow Map Shader for Unity3D. Used with sprites.
FogSprites. Modification of Unity's sprite shaders supporting Fog.
Fragment Foundry. Interactive fragment shader tutorial.
Fragmentarium. Program to edit and visualize GLSL shaders, mainly focused on fractals and generative systems.
Framer Motion. Animation library for React, usable with react-three-fiber via the framer-motion-3d package.
fSync. Unofficial fSpy/Maya bridge which also creates projection shaders.
Glass for EEVEE. Shader that lets you make realistic glass with EEVEE.
Global illumination using photon maps. Jensen, H. W. Rendering Techniques 1996.
Glow. Unity Shader Graph glow effect test.
GLSL Optimizer. GLSL optimizer based on Mesa's GLSL compiler. Used in Unity for mobile shader optimization.
GLSL Sandbox. Online live editor for fragment shaders.
GlslEditor. Simple WebGL fragment shader editor.
glslViewer (GitHub). Console-based GLSL sandbox for 2D/3D shaders, for a creative pipeline agnostic to the target platform.
glslViewer (write-up). Write-up on glslViewer, a live-coding console tool that renders GLSL shaders.
GPU Zen Blog. Blog on GPU programming and advanced rendering techniques, often featuring excerpts from the GPU Zen book series.
Graphics for Games. Introduction to 3D graphics programming covering shaders, math, and post-processing, from Newcastle University.
Graphics Programming Resources. Papers, talks, implementations aggregated by community.
GrassBending. Replacement for Unity's terrain grass shader with alpha-blended rendering and touch bending.
gsap Freemium. Animation library for CSS and JavaScript, framework agnostic and usable with three.js, backed by plugins like ScrollTrigger and Flip.
Houdini Gaussian Splatting Viewport Renderer. HDK/GLSL implementation of Gaussian Splatting in Houdini.
How does a GPU Shader work?. Academy slides on how a GPU shader works.
How to Create a Fake 3D Image Effect with WebGL. Tutorial on faking a 3D depth effect in WebGL with displacement maps.
How to read shader assembly. Guide to reading compiled shader assembly.
ibreakdownshaders. Explore the math behind shaders.
Íñigo Quílez. Hardcore math applied to computer graphics by one of the best-known shader authors.
Instanced Line Rendering Part II: Alpha blending. Covers alpha-blending with triangulated instanced lines.
Intel Open Image Denoise. Open-source library of high-performance, high-quality denoising filters for ray-traced images.
Interactive Computer Graphics: A Top-Down Approach with Shader-Based OpenGL, 6/E Paid. Textbook on interactive computer graphics with shader-based OpenGL (6th ed.).
Intro Three.js. Introduction to pixel shaders in three.js.
Introduction to shaders. Part 1 of an introduction to shaders using three.js.
IOR List. Index of Refraction values list for use with 3D applications.
ISF. GLSL shaders for use in interactive applications.
Jendrik Illner's blog. Ubisoft 3D programmer posts a weekly summary of articles on 3D graphics. Shader tutorials, real-time rendering papers, etc.
Khronos: Streamlining Render Passes. Introduces the VK_KHR_dynamic_rendering Vulkan extension.
Kick.js Shader Editor. Shader editor for the Kick.js WebGL engine.
Learn OpenGL. Deep rendering concepts from scratch (lighting, shadows, PBR, SSAO).
Learn OpenGL: Skeletal Animation. Learn OpenGL guest article on skeletal animation.
Learn OpenGL: Text Rendering. Learn OpenGL chapter on text rendering.
Let's remove Quaternions from every 3D Engine. Introduces Rotors in Geometric Algebra.
Light field rendering. Levoy & Hanrahan. SIGGRAPH 1996.
Light House 3D. GLSL core tutorial series by Lighthouse3D.
Lightning Boy Studio. Toon and NPR shading for Blender.
Lily Surface Scrapper. Blender addon that imports materials and shaders from a single URL.
Lygia. Multi-language shader library of reusable functions.
Lygia (GitHub). Granular, multi-language shader library built for performance and flexibility.
Magnum (GitHub). 2D/3D graphics engine for modern OpenGL.
Makin' Stuff Look Good. YouTube channel with shader case studies.
Manga/Outline Shader Playlist (Hepner Kamil). Manga/outline shader playlist (18 videos): outlines and toon shaders.
Marmoset Resources. Baking guides, PBR theory, technical articles.
Matcap - Spherical Environment Mapping Shader. Matcap - creating a spherical reflection/environment mapping shader.
Memory Management section on Pbrt. Memory management chapter from the PBR Book (pbrt).
Microfacet Models for Refraction through Rough Surfaces. Walter et al. Eurographics Symposium on Rendering 2007.
Mitsuba. A research-oriented retargetable rendering system, written in portable C++17 on top of the Enoki library.
Moebius-style 3D Rendering (Useless Game Dev). Moebius-style rendering: Sobel filter on depth map, crosshatch, fades.
Multitexturing using a Blendmap. How to use a blendmap to multitexture a terrain.
NEORT. Digital art platform for creative coders (fragment shaders, JavaScript Canvas).
NeRF-Tex: Neural Reflectance Field Textures. Baatz et al. EGSR 2021.
Node To Python. Blender addon that converts Geometry, Shader, and Compositing node trees into legible Python scripts and add-ons.
NodeToy. Web node-based shader editor with react-three-fiber export.
OpenGL 3D Game Tutorials. Beginner tutorial series on creating 3D games with OpenGL.
OpenGL 4 Shaders. Short introduction to OpenGL shaders by Anton Gerdelan.
OpenGL/GLSL Shader Programming. Slide deck on OpenGL/GLSL shader programming.
Optimally Combining Sampling Techniques for Monte Carlo Rendering. Veach & Guibas. SIGGRAPH 1995.
Path tracing fractals. Path tracing 3D fractals in a fragment shader, by Mikael Hvidtfeldt Christensen.
Patricio Gonzales Vivo. Shader artist and educator, main contributor to The Book of Shaders.
PBRT v3. Source code for pbrt, the renderer from the third edition of "Physically Based Rendering: From Theory To Implementation".
PBRT v4. Ray tracer from "Physically Based Rendering: From Theory to Implementation" book.
Physically Based Rendering (3rd ed online). Third edition of the PBR book online, with the ray tracer implementation.
Physically Based Rendering (PBR Book). Full book free online. Definitive PBR reference.
Physics-Based Animation. Learning resources and papers on physics-based animation.
PicoGL.js. Minimal WebGL 2-only rendering library.
Pixel Shaders. Interactive introduction to graphics programming.
PixelSpirit Elements Deck. Tarot-style deck for learning GLSL shaders, each card pairing a visual element with its shader code, ordered simplest to most complex.
PixelSpirit GitHub. Code library for the PixelSpirit Elements deck of GLSL shader cards.
Practical Rendering of Multiple Scattering Effects in Participating Media. Premoze et al. Rendering Techniques 2004: 15th Eurographics Workshop on Rendering.
Procedural Stochastic Texturing. Modified Unity Standard shader implementing procedural stochastic texturing.
Ptex. Texture mapping system developed by Walt Disney Animation Studios for production-quality rendering.
Pyro Shader (Redshift, Arnold, RenderMan) Paid. Pyro and fire shader presets for Redshift, Arnold, and RenderMan.
Ray Tracey's blog. Sam Lapere's blog, leads the scientific team at EPFL Blue Brain Project. Lots of post about real time rendering
Ray Tracing Gems. Book of standalone chapters on various ray tracing topics.
Ray Tracing Gems II. Second volume of standalone chapters on ray tracing topics.
Ray Tracing in One Weekend. Peter Shirley's free book to get you implementing a basic ray tracer in C++ in about 40 pages.
Ray Tracing in One Weekend series. Three short books explaining path tracing concepts and building a software renderer from scratch.
Ray Tracing: The Next Week. By Peter Shirley, builds on the first book by adding effects like textures and motion blur.
Ray Tracing: The Rest of Your Life. Peter Shirley's last book in the series, covering more mathematical themes for complete renderers.
Raymarching On Unity 5. Raymarcher in Unity 5.
Real-Time Rendering. Companion site to the book, massive curated link collection.
Real-Time Rendering Blog. Blog tied to the Real-Time Rendering book series, with rendering techniques, industry news, and research.
Real-Time Rendering recommended books. List of recommended books on the Real-Time Rendering site.
Realistic water shader. Realistic ocean and water shader for Three.js with notes on the approach.
Reddit Two Triangles. General discussion and showcase for shaders.
RenderDoc. Free open-source graphics debugger that captures and analyzes frames from DirectX, Vulkan, and OpenGL applications.
Rendering Resources - Benedikt Bitterli. Test scenes in Tungsten, Mitsuba, and pbrt-v3 formats.
Resources for Writing Shaders in Unity. Companion resources for the UNITE Boston 2015 talk Writing Shaders: YOU can do it!
Scene.js. Extensible WebGL-based engine for high-detail 3D visualisation.
Scratchapixel. Ray tracing, rasterization, math foundations from first principles.
SDFs by Inigo Quilez. All you need to know about SDFs and other shader magic.
Semi-Automatic Generation of Transfer Functions for Direct Volume Rendering. Kindlmann & Durkin. IEEE Symposium on Volume Visualization 1998.
Shader Derivative Functions. Shader derivative functions (ddx/ddy), useful for normals.
Shader Designer. TyphoonLabs OpenGL shader designer.
Shader Displacement for EEVEE Paid. Using a few modifiers and a nodegroup, realtime shader displacement in EEVEE is now possible.
Shader Editor. Tutorial on live-editing WebGL shaders with Firefox developer tools.
Shader Effects. Unity shader effects.
Shader Graph Tutorials. Project files for the Brackeys Shader Graph tutorials in Unity.
Shader Lab Lab. System using T4 Templates to generate Unity ShaderLab code in the editor.
Shader Park. JavaScript library for interactive procedural 2D/3D shaders, with a built-in raymarcher, SDFs, and boolean operations.
SHADERed. Lightweight tool for creating and testing HLSL and GLSL shaders.
ShaderForge. Node-based Unity shader editor, no coding required. Open source and unmaintained.
ShaderFrog. Online shader editor and asset manager that exports shaders for Three.js, Unity, and other engines, with visual shader editing.
ShaderGif. Open source home for art made with code (WebGL1/2, JavaScript Canvas, P5.js).
Shaderific for OpenGL. Documentation on GLSL.
Shaderific GLSL. OpenGL ES shading language reference.
ShaderProject. Container for a range of handy Unity shaders.
Shaders Laboratory. YouTube channel about shaders.
ShaderShop editor. Visual editor for building shaders by composing shaping functions.
ShaderShop videos. Videos about ShaderShop.
ShaderTool Paid. Modern shader IDE for programmers and FX artists.
ShadowDrawer. Shadow matte shader for Unity.
Shadowing by Non-Gaussian Random Surfaces. Garry S. Brown. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation 1980.
Shaping functions. Set of shaping functions for shaders.
SHDR Editor. Live GLSL shader editor, viewer, and validator.
Stack.gl. Modular WebGL shader and graphics tools.
Stanford Bunny Fur With Unity. Geometry shader generating fur on the GPU.
Static Object Intersections - Real Time Rendering Resource Page. Collection of intersection algorithms.
Stylized Comic Book Shader (Chris Folea Makes Things). Stylized comic book shading in UE without post-processing.
Substance Academy. Free official Substance Painter/Designer tutorials.
Synthclipse. GLSL shader prototyping tool.
Temporal light field reconstruction for rendering distribution effects. Lehtinen et al. SIGGRAPH 2011.
Terrain Rendering Using GPU-Based Geometry Clipmaps. GPU Gems 2 - Chapter 02.
The Art of Code (channel). Tutorials on shaders using ShaderToy, mostly videos on procedural generation.
The Book of Shaders. Interactive intro to GLSL fragment shaders.
The Book of Shaders Glossary. Shader glossary by theme.
The Interactive Shader Format (ISF) Editor. Online tool for creating and editing GLSL shaders in the ISF format, used in VJ software, live performance, and interactive installations.
The Shader Permutation Problem - Part 1: How Did We Get Here?. Article on why shader permutations explode in real-time engines.
The Shader Permutation Problem - Part 2: How Do We Fix It?. Article on strategies for managing shader permutation explosion.
Three Blender. Blender tool that converts Blender files directly to Three.js.
Tungsten. High performance physically based renderer in C++11.
Twigl. Free online shader editor.
Unity Compute Shader Ray Tracing Practice. Ray tracing compute shader tutorial for Unity.
Unity Fluid Simulation 2D. Extended camera renders particles, then metaball processing via shader.
Unity Outline Shader. Source code for an Outline Shader tutorial. Detects edges using the depth and normals buffers.
Unity Raymarching Collision. Raymarching and rigidbody interaction example.
Unity Shader Cheatsheet. Collection of Unity shader snippets and gotchas.
Unity Shader Sketches. Sketches made with ShaderLab in Unity.
Unity Shader Tutorials. Full project and code for a set of Unity shader tutorials.
Unity Shaders. Unity project researching shaders and particle systems.
Unity3D Shaders Learning. Unity3D shader learning examples.
UnityGPUNoise. Shaders for various noise functions on the GPU.
USD Arnold. USD Schemas and tools for exchanging Arnold shader information between multiple 3rd party packages.
Vertex Shader Art. Platform for creating and sharing vertex shaders, with a focus on artistic and experimental uses.
Vertexshaderart. YouTube playlist about vertex shaders.
VerticalDissolve. Procedural vertical dissolve shader. Tweak edge color, noisiness, waviness, rim light, emission scrolling.
VFX good night reading. Curated collection of good reading about VFX and CG.
VilarVRC. Vilar's shaders for VRChat.
Virtual ray lights for rendering scenes with participating media. Novák et al. SIGGRAPH 2012.
Virtual Terrain Project. Tools for constructing real-world terrain in interactive 3D form.
WebGL 2 Basics. Blog post on getting started with WebGL 2.
WebGL 2 New Features. Blog post on what is new in WebGL 2.
WebGL Fundamentals. In-depth WebGL resource covering 3D rendering, lighting, and 2D transforms from first principles.
WebGl Playground. Editor for working on JavaScript code and GLSL vertex/fragment shaders side by side, with organized formatting and highlighting.
Whitestorm.js (site). Framework for developing 3D web apps with physics.
Wind Waker Shader. Cel shading of two thresholds with a blur/gradient between them for Unity.
Writing an efficient Vulkan renderer. Deep dive on writing an efficient Vulkan renderer.
xeokit. Web graphics SDK for AEC/BIM applications with 3D tiles, real-world coordinates, and double precision.

Renderer-Specific Learning

Deep-dives for specific render engines.

Ariev Visuals Resources. Octane tutorials and assets.
Polymesh to Volume (Arnold). Arnold polymesh to volume conversion.
Takua Renderer. Karl Li's hobbyist physically-based renderer project page with technical write-ups.
Veach Thesis (Stanford). Light transport theory. Foundational PBR thesis.

<h3 id="mirror-render-engines" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">Render Engines</h3> Also in <a href="#render-engines">Software Reference → Render Engines</a>

Software	Description	Pricing	License	Tags	Best For
aerialod	A free interactive path tracing renderer for height maps.		Free
AMD Blender USD Hydra	With Pixar's USD system emerging as a tool for 3D graphics pipelines and interchange, this addon is meant to add first class support for USD and the USD Hydra rendering system to Blender.		Free	USD · Blender	USD Hydra in Blender
Arnold (Autodesk)	CPU/GPU hybrid production renderer, bundled with Maya/3ds Max.	With Maya/3ds Max sub	Paid	Film-grade · CPU/GPU Hybrid	Film VFX, lighting
Corona (Chaos)	CPU renderer for arch-viz and interiors.	~$30/mo	Paid	CPU-only · Interiors	Arch-viz, interiors
Cycles	CPU/GPU path tracer. Bundled free with Blender.		Open Source	Open Source · Path-tracing	General purpose
D5 Render	Real-time GPU renderer for arch-viz.	Free version available	Freemium	Real-time · Arch-Viz	Arch-viz
DreamWork's MoonRay	Physically based path-tracing renderer with a USD Hydra delegate and Arras distributed/cloud rendering.
Enscape	Chaos real-time rendering plugin for Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, Archicad, Vectorworks. Subscription only since mid-2025.	Solo $574.80/yr; Premium $634.80/yr	Paid	Real-time · Archviz Plugin	Real-time archviz inside CAD/BIM
Guerrilla Render	Production renderer used on feature films.		Free	Production · Free	Film production
Indigo Renderer	Glare Technologies unbiased GPU/CPU renderer with multi-GPU, denoising, and SSS.	~$650 perpetual full license	Paid	Unbiased · GPU/CPU	Photoreal stills, archviz
Karma (SideFX)	CPU/GPU USD-native renderer, bundled with Houdini.	With Houdini license	Paid	USD-native · Houdini	Film VFX, USD pipeline
KeyShot (Luxion)	CPU real-time ray tracing for product visualization.	$995+ perpetual	Paid	Product Viz · Real-time	Product viz, industrial design
Krakatoa	AWS Thinkbox volumetric particle renderer for 3ds Max and Maya; free + open source (Apache 2.0) since 2022.		Open Source	Free OSS · Particles	Volumetric particle rendering
Light Tracer Render	Provides you with everything you need to create photorealistic renderings interactively, in both desktop Web browsers and Windows application.		Freemium
Lumion	Real-time architectural visualization renderer with cloud rendering bundled.	View $229–$299/yr; Pro $1,149/yr; Studio $1,499/yr	Paid	Real-time · Archviz	Real-time archviz
LuxCore	Free open-source CPU/GPU unbiased renderer.		Open Source	Open Source · Physically Accurate	Physically accurate rendering
Malt	Non-photorealistic rendering (NPR) framework. Real-time, customizable rendering for animation and illustration. Works as a Blender render engine.		Open Source
Marmoset Toolbag	Real-time PBR viewer, baker, and renderer. Common in game/jewelry portfolios.		Paid	PBR Viewer · Baking	PBR portfolio rendering + baking
Maxwell Render	Next Limit unbiased physically-correct renderer; plugins for Studio, Rhino, SketchUp, C4D, Maya, 3ds Max, ArchiCAD, form·Z.	Paid perpetual + maintenance	Paid	Unbiased · Photoreal	Photoreal archviz and product viz
MoonRay	DreamWorks' open-source MCRT production renderer used on feature films.		Open Source	DreamWorks · Open Source	Open-source film production renderer
Octane (OTOY)	GPU unbiased renderer with free tier.	Free tier available	Freemium	GPU Unbiased · Photoreal	Photoreal, arch-viz
Radeon ProRender	Physically-based engine, product by AMD.		Free	Renderer · Free	AMD-backed PBR renderer
Radeon ProRender (AMD)	AMD's GPU path tracer, free and cross-vendor.		Free	GPU-agnostic · Free	Cross-platform, GPU-agnostic
Redshift (Maxon)	GPU-biased production renderer.	Included with Maxon One	Paid	GPU-biased · Production	Production rendering, motion graphics
RenderMan (Pixar)	Pixar's CPU/GPU hybrid production renderer. Free for non-commercial.		Free NC	Free NC · Pixar Pipeline	Film production
Twinmotion (Epic)	Real-time GPU renderer from Epic for arch-viz.	Free version available	Freemium	Real-time · Epic Games	Arch-viz
V-Ray (Chaos)	CPU/GPU hybrid renderer for arch-viz and product viz.	~$60/mo	Paid	Arch-Viz · Industry Standard	Arch-viz, product viz

VFX, Compositing & Virtual Production

VFX tools learning, compositing, virtual production stacks, and tech art channels. Software tables live in §12.

Virtual Production

Real-time engines and hardware stacks for virtual production.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
disguise	LED-wall and xR virtual production platform with RenderStream.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#virtual-production-software">Software Reference → Virtual Production Software</a></small>	Paid	LED Walls · Workflow	LED wall virtual production
Notch	Real-time graphics for live events and virtual production.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#virtual-production-software">Software Reference → Virtual Production Software</a></small>	Paid	Live Events · Real-time	Live events, real-time graphics
Pixotope	Real-time AR and virtual studio platform built on Unreal Engine.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#virtual-production-software">Software Reference → Virtual Production Software</a></small>	Paid	VP Software · Real-time	Virtual production
Vizrt	Real-time broadcast graphics and virtual studio platform.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#virtual-production-software">Software Reference → Virtual Production Software</a></small>	Paid	Broadcast · Graphics	Broadcast graphics
Zero Density	Real-time VFX engine for broadcast and virtual production.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#virtual-production-software">Software Reference → Virtual Production Software</a></small>	Paid	Real-time VFX · Broadcast	Broadcast VP

Related:

CasparCG. Layer-based real-time compositor that plays out professional graphics, audio, and video to multiple broadcast outputs.
NVIDIA Omniverse Blueprints. Omniverse blueprints and reference pipelines.

Tech Art

Tech art breakdowns, procedural art, and tutorials.

AFX. Everyday compositing plugins for Nuke.
Jam2go. Procedural art and creative coding.
max rose. Tech art breakdowns on YouTube.
Nuke Tools (VS Code). VS Code extension for Nuke Python/BlinkScript development.
Nuke Tools ST. Sublime Text package to send Python/BlinkScript code into Nuke.
NXT. Layered, code-driven graph editor for building reusable rigging and pipeline logic.
OpenWalter. USD plugins for Arnold, Houdini, Katana, and Maya.
Simon Schreibt. Game Art Tricks and Workflow Tricks. Technical breakdowns of how games achieve effects (mirrors, fog, rendering tricks).
Visual Tech Art. Tech art tutorials.
xComp. Viewer for comparing rendered image versions side by side.

Compositing Learning, Books & Industry

Nuke creators, comp theory books, VFX breakdown sites, and industry magazines.

8-bit to Half Float CopyCat (Moving Image Arts). Free Nuke CopyCat ML model plus tutorial. Recovers clamped highlights and reduces 8-bit color banding. Downloadable .cat file.
Befores & Afters. Ian Failes. Shot breakdowns and artist Q&As across VFX features. See also: <a href="#3d-inspiration--showcase">Learning, Community & Industry → 3D Inspiration & Showcase</a>
Book: Compositing Visual Effects (Lee Lanier) Paid. Lee Lanier. Applied, project-based comp instruction.
Book: Digital Compositing for Film and Video (Steve Wright, 4th ed.) Paid. Standard text on digital compositing. Math + practical workflow.
Book: The Art and Science of Digital Compositing (Brinkmann, 2nd ed.) Paid. Ron Brinkmann's theoretical canon for digital compositing.
Cinefex (archive). Legacy VFX-making journal archives.
Compositing Academy Paid. Paid Nuke compositing courses and career training from working VFX compositors.
CompositingMentor Paid. Tobias Wiesner's paid mentorship-style Nuke courses. Deep compositing focus.
Foundry Learn (Nuke). Official Foundry training. Free tutorials plus certification tracks.
Hugo's Desk (Hugo Guerra) Mixed. Pro Nuke compositing tutorials and breakdowns from CG Supe Hugo Guerra.
NukePedia. Canonical Nuke community library. Gizmos, scripts, tutorials, plugins. See also: <a href="#vfx--compositing-software">Software Reference → VFX & Compositing Software</a>
Steve Wright Training Paid. Steve Wright (author of the standard Nuke text) structured comp course series.
The Art of VFX. VFX supervisor interviews per film.
VFX Apprentice (Allan McKay) Paid. Paid VFX career courses. Nuke + Houdini overlap.

<h3 id="mirror-vfx-compositing-software" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">VFX & Compositing Software</h3> Also in <a href="#vfx--compositing-software">Software Reference → VFX & Compositing Software</a>

Software	Description	Pricing	License	Tags	Best For
After Effects	Motion graphics and compositing.		Paid	Motion Graphics · Adobe Suite	Motion design, light VFX
Boris FX Optics	Photo and film stylization plugin and standalone. Filters, grain, lens FX, color.	$9.99/mo or $149/yr; perpetual $199	Paid	Stylize · Lens FX	Film/photo stylization
Boris FX Particle Illusion	Standalone particle generator. Free version; Pro features available inside Continuum.		Freemium	Free · Particle Library	Quick particle FX library
ButtleOFX	Simple open-source node-based compositing software.		Open Source
Continuum	Boris FX broadcast/post effects collection. Titles, particles, image restoration, color.	$32–$112/mo; perpetual $365–$2,195 by host	Paid	Plugin Suite · Broadcast	Broadcast finishing and titling
DaVinci Resolve Fusion	Node-based compositing, free with Resolve.		Freemium	Node-based · Free with Resolve	Compositing, VFX
Effekseer	Real-time VFX editor and runtime.		Open Source	Real-time VFX · Games	Game VFX particles
EmberGen	Real-time volumetric fluid sim (fire, smoke, explosions).		Paid	Real-time Sim · Fire/Smoke	Game VFX, real-time effects
Fusion	Free node-based compositing software from Blackmagic Design.		Free
GeoGen (JangaFX)	Real-time terrain generation.		Paid	Terrain Gen · Real-time	Game environments
IlluGen	Real-time procedural node-based generator for tiling noise, normal maps, flowmaps, 3D FX meshes, caustics, masks, distortions.		Paid	Real-time · Procedural Materials	Real-time VFX and tech-art asset/material generation
KeenTools	Face and geometry tracking plus FaceBuilder for Blender, Nuke, AE, Houdini.	$18/mo or $179/yr per plugin (Studio $499/yr floating)	Paid	Face Tracking · VFX	Face/geo tracking for VFX
LiquiGen	Real-time liquid simulation.		Paid	Real-time Sim · Liquids	Game fluid effects
MadMapper	Projection mapping software.		Paid	Projection Mapping · Live	Projection mapping
Magic Animator	Web-based animation creator.		Freemium	Web · Quick Anim	Quick animated graphics
Mocha Pro	Boris FX planar tracker for VFX. Roto, object removal, screen replacement, lens distortion.	$48/mo or $325/yr; perpetual from $765	Paid	Industry Standard · Planar Tracking	Planar tracking, roto, screen replacement
Natron (community fork)	Free open-source node compositor, Nuke-like.		Open Source	Node-based · Nuke-like	Indie VFX compositing
Nuke	Industry-standard node-based compositing software by The Foundry. Free non-commercial version available.		Freemium
Nuke (Foundry)	Industry-standard compositing. Non-Commercial free version available.		Paid	Industry Standard · Node-based	Film VFX compositing
Red Giant Complete	Maxon-owned VFX/motion suite. Trapcode, Magic Bullet, VFX Suite, Universe.	$85/mo or $639/yr	Paid	Plugin Suite · Motion Graphics	Motion graphics and VFX in AE/Premiere/Resolve
Resolume	Live visuals and VJ software.		Paid	VJ · Live Visuals	VJ, live visuals
Sapphire	Boris FX 270+ VFX/transition plugins for AE, Premiere, Resolve, Nuke, Flame, Avid, OFX hosts.	$80/mo or $545/yr; perpetual $1,865+	Paid	Plugin Suite · VFX	VFX and transition plugins across hosts
Silhouette	Boris FX node-based roto/paint compositor with AI-driven matte tools.	$165/mo or $875/yr; perpetual standalone $2,195	Paid	Industry Standard · Roto/Paint	Feature-film roto and paint
TOOLL3	Graph-based procedural real-time motion graphics for live performance or rendering.		Open Source	Real-Time · Procedural
TouchDesigner	Node-based real-time visual programming for interactive media, installations, and live visuals.		Freemium	Real-time · Node-based	Interactive installations, live visuals, projection mapping

<h3 id="mirror-matchmoving-software" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">Matchmoving & Camera Tracking Software</h3> Also in <a href="#matchmoving--camera-tracking-software">Software Reference → Matchmoving & Camera Tracking Software</a>

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
3DEqualizer	High-end matchmoving (major VFX studios).	Paid	High-End · Studio Standard	High-end matchmove
fSpy	Free, open-source single-image camera matching → Blender.	Open Source	Free · Blender Bridge	Free single-image cam match
PFTrack	Professional matchmoving, object tracking, mesh generation.	Paid	Matchmove · Pro	Pro matchmove
SynthEyes	Camera tracking with lens distortion solving.	Paid	Lens Distortion · Pro	Camera tracking + distortion

<h3 id="mirror-virtual-production-software" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">Virtual Production Software</h3> Also in <a href="#virtual-production-software">Software Reference → Virtual Production Software</a>

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
ARwall	LED virtual production stages and ARFX Pro plugin.	Paid	Indie VP · LED Stages	Indie LED VP
Aximmetry	Virtual production and broadcast compositor with Unreal integration. Free Community tier.	Freemium	Free Tier · Unreal	Indie/community VP compositor
Brainstorm InfinitySet	Virtual set and AR for broadcast.	Paid	Virtual Sets · AR	Broadcast virtual sets
disguise	LED-wall and xR virtual production platform with RenderStream.	Paid	LED Walls · Workflow	LED wall virtual production
grandMA3	Industry-standard lighting control console and software for live shows, theatre, and broadcast.	Paid	Lighting Console · Show Control	Stage lighting control, show programming
Notch	Real-time graphics for live events and virtual production.	Paid	Live Events · Real-time	Live events, real-time graphics
Pixotope	Real-time AR and virtual studio platform built on Unreal Engine.	Paid	VP Software · Real-time	Virtual production
Smode	Real-time 2D/3D creation, compositing, and video-mapping engine.	Paid	Real-time · Video Mapping
Vizrt	Real-time broadcast graphics and virtual studio platform.	Paid	Broadcast · Graphics	Broadcast graphics
Zero Density	Real-time VFX engine for broadcast and virtual production.	Paid	Real-time VFX · Broadcast	Broadcast VP

Motion Graphics & Video

Motion graphics tools, inspiration, AE / Fusion learning, and video editing. Stock footage lives in §1 Assets.

Motion Graphics: YouTube Channels

Motion design learning channels.

Ben Marriott. After Effects and motion design.

Motion Graphics: Courses

Structured motion graphics courses.

After Effects: Learning & Templates

AE expressions, templates, and workflow resources.

Jitter Templates. Free motion graphics templates.
Top 5 Expressions (graymachine). Essential AE expressions.

Fusion (DaVinci Resolve): Learning

Fusion references and EXR workflow.

Multichannel EXR (Fusion forum). Multichannel EXR workflow in Fusion.
Split EXR in Fusion. Split EXR in Fusion guide.
VFXPedia. Reference wiki for Fusion.

Motion Graphics: Inspiration

Showcases, style frames, title sequences, ad references.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Friction	Free open-source motion graphics and 2D vector animation. After Effects-style workflow.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#2d--animation-software">Software Reference → 2D & Animation Software</a></small>	Open Source	Open Source · AE-alt	Open-source motion graphics
Natron (community fork)	Free open-source node compositor, Nuke-like.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#vfx--compositing-software">Software Reference → VFX & Compositing Software</a></small>	Open Source	Node-based · Nuke-like	Indie VFX compositing
TOOLL3	Graph-based procedural real-time motion graphics for live performance or rendering.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#vfx--compositing-software">Software Reference → VFX & Compositing Software</a></small>	Open Source	Real-Time · Procedural

Related:

Ads of the World. Advertising reference.
AEJuice Freemium. Free and premium motion presets, transitions, and effects packs installable directly via a panel inside After Effects.
After Effects Facebook Group. Join the After Effects community on Facebook.
Animation Nodes (GitHub). A node-based visual scripting system designed for motion graphics in Blender.
Animation Nodes (site). A node-based visual scripting system designed for motion graphics in Blender.
Art of Style Frame. Style frame showcase.
Art of the Title. Title sequence deep dives.
Behance Motion. Motion design gallery.
Commotion. Blender add-on for motion graphics.
Eyecannndy. Visual effects and motion inspiration.
FilmGrab. Curated film stills archive. Free. See also: <a href="#pre-production-storyboarding--script-tools">Art, Design & Visual Storytelling → Pre-Production, Storyboarding & Script Tools</a>
Flim AI Freemium. Film frame search engine.
Houdini 2 AE. Tool for exporting camera and locators from Houdini to After Effects.
John Berube. Motion design portfolio and resources.
Mobox Graphics. In-depth After Effects tutorials focused on motion design.
Motionographer. Motion design showcase.
nexrender. Data-driven render automation for After Effects.
Opening Titles (Vimeo). Title sequence collection.
PlayPhrase.me Freemium. Phrase-based film clip search.
RailCut Paid. Multi-track clip editing directly in After Effects with NLE-style tools like ripple edit, rolling edit, slip, and slide.
React UMG. A React renderer for Unreal Motion Graphics with Unreal.js.
Reddit - r/AfterEffects. The After Effects subreddit for community discussions and sharing.
Rubberhose 2 Paid. Shape-layer-based IK limb rigging system for fast character animation with one-click rig creation.
ShotDeck Paid. Searchable film still library for storyboards and references. See also: <a href="#pre-production-storyboarding--script-tools">Art, Design & Visual Storytelling → Pre-Production, Storyboarding & Script Tools</a>
Stash Magazine Freemium. Motion design and animation showcase.
Trapcode Suite Paid. A set of 3D motion graphics and visual effects plugins for After Effects.

Motion Graphics: Tools & Utilities

MG-specific tools and utilities.

Software	Description	Pricing	License	Tags	Best For
Effekseer	Real-time VFX editor and runtime.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#vfx--compositing-software">Software Reference → VFX & Compositing Software</a></small>		Open Source	Real-time VFX · Games	Game VFX particles
MadMapper	Projection mapping software.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#vfx--compositing-software">Software Reference → VFX & Compositing Software</a></small>		Paid	Projection Mapping · Live	Projection mapping
Magic Animator	Web-based animation creator.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#vfx--compositing-software">Software Reference → VFX & Compositing Software</a></small>		Freemium	Web · Quick Anim	Quick animated graphics
Mocha Pro	Boris FX planar tracker for VFX. Roto, object removal, screen replacement, lens distortion.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#vfx--compositing-software">Software Reference → VFX & Compositing Software</a>, <a href="#matchmoving--camera-tracking">Tools, Pipeline & Utilities → Matchmoving & Camera Tracking</a></small>	$48/mo or $325/yr; perpetual from $765	Paid	Industry Standard · Planar Tracking	Planar tracking, roto, screen replacement
Red Giant Complete	Maxon-owned VFX/motion suite. Trapcode, Magic Bullet, VFX Suite, Universe.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#vfx--compositing-software">Software Reference → VFX & Compositing Software</a></small>	$85/mo or $639/yr	Paid	Plugin Suite · Motion Graphics	Motion graphics and VFX in AE/Premiere/Resolve
Resolume	Live visuals and VJ software.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#vfx--compositing-software">Software Reference → VFX & Compositing Software</a></small>		Paid	VJ · Live Visuals	VJ, live visuals
TouchDesigner	Node-based real-time visual programming for interactive media, installations, and live visuals.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#vfx--compositing-software">Software Reference → VFX & Compositing Software</a></small>		Freemium	Real-time · Node-based	Interactive installations, live visuals, projection mapping

Related:

Caddis Paid. Motion design app with layer timeline and node compositing.
Dume. After Effects extension for managing duplicate footage and assets.
Easing Functions. Visual reference of common easing curves with code snippets.
Element 3D Paid. A 3D plugin for After Effects that allows you to import and animate 3D models.
Jitter Freemium. Browser-based collaborative motion design tool.
Lottielab Freemium. Editor for Lottie animations targeting apps and websites.
Nukepedia Lens Engine. Lens simulation gizmo for Nuke.
Nw Wrld. Experimental motion tool.
Periodic Table of Motion. Reference chart of motion design principles and techniques.
PixelCrash Paid. Creative motion and visual tools.
Plate Paid. WebGPU motion design tool running in the browser, with macOS and Windows builds.
React Spring. Library for physically accurate animations, works with react-three-fiber.

Video Editing: Courses

Editing-specific courses.

<h3 id="mirror-2d-animation-software" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">2D & Animation Software</h3> Also in <a href="#2d--animation-software">Software Reference → 2D & Animation Software</a>

Software	Description	Pricing	License	Tags	Best For
Aseprite	Pixel art editor with animation tools (source on GitHub).		Open Source	Pixel Art · Sprite Animation	Pixel art, sprite animation, game assets
Autograph	USD-based motion graphics, compositing, and VFX (After Effects alternative). Free for individuals incl. commercial use. Originally Left Angle, now Maxon.		Free	USD · Free Commercial	2D/3D motion design and compositing
Cavalry	Procedural 2D motion design (After Effects alternative). Free tier available.		Freemium	Procedural · Data-Driven	Data-driven motion graphics
Clip Studio Paint	Industry-standard illustration and comics with animation timeline.		Paid	Manga · Frame-by-Frame	Manga, illustration, frame-by-frame animation
DragonBones	Open source 2D skeletal animation. Flash-origin workflow, runtimes for multiple engines.		Open Source	Open Source · 2D Skeletal	2D skeletal animation (OSS)
Friction	Free open-source motion graphics and 2D vector animation. After Effects-style workflow.		Open Source	Open Source · AE-alt	Open-source motion graphics
GraphicsGale	Pixel art and sprite animation tool (free).		Free	Pixel Art · Free	Pixel art/sprite animation
Krita	Free open-source digital painting app from KDE; v5.3 and v6.0 shipped March 2026.		Open Source	Free OSS · Painting	Digital painting, concept art
LibreSprite	LibreSprite is an open source fork of Aseprite.		Open Source
Lightcube	Pixel art editor for Windows w/ PSD, JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF support.		Paid	Windows · PSD Support	Windows pixel art w/ PSD
Moho (Smith Micro)	2D vector and bone-rigged animation.		Paid	Bone Rigging · Vector Animation	Character animation, motion graphics
OpenToonz	Studio Ghibli's animation engine, open-sourced.		Open Source	Ghibli Pipeline · Traditional 2D	Traditional 2D animation
Pencil2D	Free lightweight 2D animation.		Open Source	Lightweight · Hand-drawn	Simple hand-drawn animation
Pickle	Pixel art editor.		Paid	Pixel Art · Editor	Pixel art editing
Pixa.Pics	Browser pixel-art tool w/ vectorization.		Freemium	Browser · Vectorization	Browser pixel art
Pixel Composer (itch.io)	Node-based 2D VFX and compositing for pixel art.		Paid	Node-based · Pixel VFX	Pixel art effects, game VFX
Pixelator	Turn any image into pixel art.		Paid	Image→Pixel · Conversion	Image→pixel art
Pixelorama	Free pixel art editor (made in Godot).		Open Source	Pixel Art · Godot-built	Pixel art for games
PixelOver	Convert artwork to pixel art with animation, bone rigging, and pixel-perfect transforms.	~$20 (free demo)	Paid	Artwork→Pixel · Rigging	Artwork → pixel art conversion
Pixen (GitHub)	Pixel Art Editor for OSX		Open Source
Pixen (site)	Paid, works on macOS and iOS. Superb OS integration, create pixel art on a tablet using pressure-sensitive drawing.		Paid
Pro Motion	Paid with trial, works on Windows. Advanced features tailored to creating pixel art for games.		Paid
Procreate	IPad painting app. Procreate Dreams for animation.		Paid	iPad-native · Storyboarding	Mobile illustration, storyboards
PyxelEdit	Pixel art editor for tilesets, levels, animations.		Paid	Tilesets · Pixel Art	Pixel art tilesets/levels
Rebelle 8 Pro	Natural-media painting app simulating real watercolor, oil, acrylic, ink with fluid dynamics.		Paid	Natural Media · Watercolor Sim	Realistic traditional-media digital painting
REXPaint	Free ASCII art editor with layers, animation, and palette tools. Built for roguelike and terminal art.		Free	ASCII Art · Roguelike	ASCII art, roguelike mockups
Rive	Interactive animation for apps and web.		Freemium	Interactive · UI Animation	UI animation, interactive graphics
Spine (Esoteric Software)	2D skeletal animation w/ mesh deformation, IK, skins/attachments. Runtimes for Unity/Unreal/Godot/web. Used on Cult of the Lamb, Return to Monkey Island, Tinykin.		Paid	Skeletal · Game Runtimes	Skeletal 2D animation for games
SpriteMancer	2D VFX and sprite animation.		Paid	2D VFX · Sprites	2D game VFX
Spriter Pro	Modern tool for sprite animation (2D bone rigging).		Paid	Sprite Animation · Paid	2D sprite animation
Synfig Studio	Free open-source 2D vector animation.		Open Source	Vector · Cutout	Cutout/bone animation
Tahoma2D	2D and stop-motion animation (OpenToonz fork w/ modernized UI and features).		Open Source	OpenToonz Fork · Stop Motion	2D / stop motion
TexturePacker	Sprite sheet packing, multi-engine export.		Paid	Sprite Sheets · Multi-Engine	Sprite sheet packing
Toon Boom Harmony	Professional 2D animation (studio standard).		Paid	Studio Standard · TV Animation	TV animation, feature film
Toon Boom Storyboard Pro	Industry-standard storyboarding software.		Paid	Storyboarding · Animatics	Pre-production, animatics

<h3 id="mirror-video-editing-software" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">Video Editing Software</h3> Also in <a href="#video-editing-software">Software Reference → Video Editing Software</a>

Software	Description	Pricing	License	Tags	Best For
Apple Compressor	Encoding and delivery companion app for Final Cut Pro.	$49.99 perpetual	Paid	FCP Encode · Mac	FCP encode/deliver
Apple Motion	Motion graphics app and FCP template authoring tool from Apple.	$49.99 perpetual	Paid	FCP Companion · Mac	FCP motion graphics + titles
Avid Media Composer	Long-standing film/TV finishing NLE. Standard for collaborative editorial in features and broadcast post.	From $23.99/mo (Ultimate $79.99/mo)	Paid	Industry Standard · Film/TV	Film and TV editorial
Avidemux	Simple OSS cut/filter/encode tool. Not a full NLE.		Open Source	Open Source · Utility	Quick cuts + reencodes
CapCut Desktop	ByteDance's free desktop/mobile editor, dominant in social workflows.		Freemium	Free · Social-first	Social/short-form editing
Clipchamp	Microsoft's browser editor bundled with Windows 11.		Freemium	Bundled w/ Windows · Browser	Quick Windows editing
DaVinci Resolve	Free professional editing, color grading, Fusion, Fairlight audio.		Freemium	Free Pro · Full Post Pipeline	Color grading, editing, full post pipeline
DaVinci Resolve Studio	Paid Resolve with neural engine, advanced noise reduction, HDR grading, and multi-user collaboration.	$295 perpetual	Paid	Pro Tier · One-time Buy	Full pro post pipeline w/ collaboration
Descript	Transcript-driven video and podcast editor. Edits by editing the text.	Free / $15/mo Creator / $30/mo Pro	Freemium	Transcript Edit · Podcast	Podcast and talking-head editing
Filmora	Wondershare beginner-friendly editor; watermarked free tier.	~$80/yr	Freemium	Beginner · Templates	Beginner editing
Final Cut Pro	Apple-native NLE with magnetic timeline.		Paid	Mac-only · Magnetic Timeline	Mac-based editing
GoZen	Free open-source video editor built with Godot (alpha).		Open Source	Godot-built · Alpha	Lightweight editing, Godot integration
HitFilm	Artlist-owned editor + VFX combo. Free tier plus Pro paid version.	Free / $7.99/mo Pro	Freemium	Editor + VFX · Free Tier	Editor + VFX in one app
iMovie	Apple's free consumer editor for macOS and iOS/iPadOS.		Free	Free · Apple	Consumer Mac/iOS editing
Kdenlive	Free open-source NLE.		Open Source	Open Source · Cross-Platform	Linux/cross-platform editing
Lightworks	Pro NLE with free tier (1080p export) and paid Pro/Create tiers. Used on feature films historically.	Free / $9.99/mo Create / $23.99/mo Pro	Freemium	Free Tier · Pro NLE	Pro NLE on a budget
OBS	Software designed for capturing, compositing, encoding, recording, and streaming video content efficiently.		Open Source	Capture · Open Source	Screen capture and streaming
OpenShot	Award-winning free and open-source video editor for Linux, Mac, and Windows.		Open Source	Open Source · Beginner-Friendly	Cross-platform beginner editing
Premiere Elements	One-time-purchase consumer Premiere variant.	~$99 perpetual	Paid	One-time Buy · Consumer	Consumer Adobe editing without subscription
Premiere Pro	Industry-standard NLE from Adobe.		Paid	Industry Standard · Adobe Suite	Broadcast, film editing
Shotcut	Free open-source video editor.		Open Source	Lightweight · Beginner-Friendly	Quick edits, beginners
VEED	Browser editor with auto-subtitles, AI tools, and screen recording.	Free / $12/mo Lite / $24/mo Pro	Freemium	Browser · Auto-Subs	Browser-based quick edits + subtitles
Vegas Movie Studio	Consumer/prosumer Vegas variant for hobbyist editing.	~$79 perpetual	Paid	Consumer · Windows	Hobbyist Windows editing
Vegas Pro	Magix Windows NLE with track-based timeline, HDR, and AI-assisted tools.	From $19.99/mo (perpetual $599)	Paid	Windows Pro NLE · Track-based	Windows-only pro editing
VSDC Free Video Editor	Windows non-linear editor, free + Pro tier.		Freemium	Free · Windows	Free Windows editing

<h3 id="mirror-audio-software" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">Audio Software</h3> Also in <a href="#audio-software">Software Reference → Audio Software</a>

Software	Description	Pricing	License	Tags	Best For
Ableton Live	Session and arrangement DAW. Standard for electronic music and live performance.	Intro $99 / Standard $439 / Suite $749	Paid	Electronic Std · Live	Electronic music + live
Adobe Audition	Professional audio workstation.		Paid	Audio Restoration · Adobe Suite	Podcast, sound design, restoration
Ardour	OSS multitrack DAW.		Open Source	Open Source · GPL	Free multitrack DAW
Audacity	Free open-source audio editor and recorder.		Open Source	Open Source · Recording	Voice recording, SFX editing, podcast
Bfxr	Retro and chiptune SFX generator (browser and desktop).		Open Source	Retro/8-bit · Generator	8-bit game sound effects
Bitwig Studio	DAW with deep modular Grid synthesis engine.		Paid	Modular Grid · Cross-Platform	Modular DAW
Cakewalk by BandLab	Full Sonar successor, free on Windows.		Free	Free · Windows	Free Windows DAW
Cubase	Steinberg DAW with strong MIDI and scoring.		Paid	Steinberg · MIDI/Scoring	MIDI/scoring DAW
Dolby Atmos Renderer	Reference Dolby Atmos production renderer.		Paid	Atmos · Reference	Reference Atmos production
FabFilter Pro Suite	Pro EQ, compressor, reverb, and limiter plugins (Pro-Q, Pro-L).		Paid	Pro Plugins · Mixing	Pro mixing/mastering plugins
Fairlight	Professional audio built into DaVinci Resolve.		Freemium	Film Post · Free with Resolve	Film audio post, Foley
FL Studio	Pattern-based DAW with lifetime free updates.	From $99	Paid	Lifetime Updates · Pattern DAW	Pattern-based production
Flux Spat Revolution	IRCAM-derived object-based spatializer for immersive mixing.		Paid	IRCAM · Spatial	Object-based spatial mixing
FMOD	Industry-standard adaptive audio. Free for indie <$200k.		Freemium	Industry Standard · Indie-Free	Adaptive game audio
FotoSketcher	Windows freeware that converts photos to sketch, painting, and pastel renders. Batchable.		Free	Freeware · Photo Stylize	Quick stylize batches
GameSynth (Tsugi)	Node-based procedural SFX generator for games.		Paid	Procedural SFX · Games	Procedural game SFX
iZotope RX	Industry-standard audio restoration suite.	From $399	Paid	Audio Repair · Industry Std	Audio repair/restoration
Krotos	Performance-driven foley and monster vox plugins (Reformer, Dehumaniser).		Paid	Foley · Creature Vox	Foley + creature sound
LMMS	Free FL-style DAW, cross-platform.		Open Source	Open Source · FL-style	Free FL-style production
Logic Pro	Apple pro DAW for macOS and iPad.	$199.99 perpetual (Mac) / $4.99/mo (iPad)	Paid	Apple · macOS	macOS pro DAW
Max/MSP (Cycling '74)	Visual patcher for audio, MIDI, and video (Jitter).		Paid	Visual Patcher · Cycling 74	Pro visual DSP/multimedia
Pro Tools	Industry standard for post-production audio mixing and finishing.	From $9.99/mo (Studio $34.99/mo, Ultimate $99/mo)	Paid	Industry Standard · Post Mixing	Audio post mixing/finishing
Pure Data (Pd)	Open-source visual programming environment for audio, MIDI, and multimedia.		Open Source	Visual DSP · BSD	Visual DSP patching
Reaper	Full DAW with $60 personal license.	$60 personal license	Paid	Full DAW · Affordable	Music production, sound design
Sonic Pi	Code-based music livecoding environment, education-friendly.		Open Source	Livecoding · Education	Livecoding music education
Sound Particles	CGI-style 3D sound design with thousands of simultaneous sources. Big in immersive/film audio.		Paid	3D Sound · Immersive	3D sound design
Soundly	Desktop SFX platform with curated library and local library management.	Free tier (3000+ sounds), Pro $14.99/mo	Freemium	SFX Library · Desktop	SFX browsing, sound library management
Steam Audio	Physics-based spatial audio by Valve. Free.		Free	Spatial Audio · Valve Free	Spatial game audio
Strudel	Browser TidalCycles port (JS).		Open Source	Browser · Tidal Port	Browser pattern livecoding
Studio One	PreSonus drag-flow DAW.		Paid	PreSonus · Drag Workflow	Modern drag-flow DAW
SuperCollider	Server-based audio synthesis and livecoding language.		Open Source	Livecoding · GPL	Algorithmic synthesis + livecoding
TidalCycles	Haskell-based pattern livecoding for algoraves.		Open Source	Algoraves · Pattern	Pattern-based livecoding
VCV Rack	Open-source Eurorack modular synthesizer emulator. Free core; paid Pro and premium modules.	Free core / $149 Pro	Open Source	Modular Synth · Eurorack	Software modular synthesis
Wavewright	Modular music sandbox inspired by analog synthesizers (Early Access).		Free	Modular Synth · Early Access	Sound design, music experimentation
Wwise	AAA audio middleware with free tier.		Freemium	AAA · Free Tier	AAA game audio

Game Development

Engines, per-engine resources, game dev tools, game assets (dual-listed from §1), design theory, learning, communities, and jams. Engine software tables live in §12.

Godot: Official Resources

Official documentation and asset libraries.

Godot Asset Store. Official addon, plugin, and asset marketplace (beta). Replaces the legacy Asset Library.
Godot Documentation. Official docs. GDScript, C#, 2D/3D, shaders, physics, networking.
Godot Proposals. Feature request tracker and roadmap.
Godot Shaders. Community shader library with visual previews.

Godot: Key Plugins & Addons

Essential Godot addons.

Dialogic 2. Full-featured dialogue and timeline system.
GdSpy. Unofficial fSpy importer for Godot.
Godot 4 glTF runtime import. Godot 4 glTF runtime import.
Godot Package Manager. Package manager for Godot using npm.
GodotSteam. Steamworks SDK integration.
Gut. Unit testing framework for GDScript.
Limbo AI. Behavior trees and state machines.
Phantom Camera. Dynamic camera system (Cinemachine-inspired).
SmartShape2D. Intelligent 2D terrain/shape tool.

Godot: Learning

Godot-focused learning channels and courses.

Brackeys (Godot). Returned in 2024 with Godot content.
DevDuck. Dev logs and tutorials.
GDQuest Freemium. Premium courses plus free YouTube tutorials.
GDScript.com. Interactive GDScript learning.
Introduction into the new Godot OpenVR Asset. Bastiaan Olij YouTube. Godot OpenVR and XR tutorials.
KidsCanCode Godot Recipes. Clear beginner-friendly guides.
Miziziziz. Tutorials and game dev challenges.
The Shaggy Dev. Godot-focused tutorials.

Godot: Communities

Godot forums and chat.

Godot Discord. Official Discord.
Godot Forums. Official forum.
r/godot. 350k+ members, very active.

Unity Engine: Resources

Unity community add-ons, tools, and learning resources.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Visual Studio (Windows)	Official supported IDE for Unity in Windows platform. Mac version here.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Freemium	unity-plugin

Related:

2D Rope System Paid. Scripts for creating 2D ropes in the editor or at runtime.
2D Tech Demos. Official Unity tech demos for 2D features.
3DBuzz. Video tutorials on Unity, including its UI system.
50 Unity Tips. Fifty Unity tips spanning editor tools, serialization, and UI shortcuts, with a mobile focus.
A Crack In The Slab. Recreation of a Dishonored 2 effect in Unity.
A Star Pathfinding for Unity. Multithreaded 3-axis A* pathfinder for Unity.
A* Pathfinding Project Pro Paid. Fast pathfinding system for Unity with grid, navmesh, and point graphs.
Actors Unity3d Framework. Decouples data from behavior in Unity.
Adic. Lightweight dependency injection container for Unity.
AdMob Unity Plugin. Unity extension for placing AdMob banners in Android games.
AI Companion. Unity 5 AI learning project with behavior trees and A* pathfinding.
AirPeer. WebRTC-based networking plugin for Unity.
Akka.Unity.Sample. Sample running Akka.NET in Unity.
AngryBots2. Example Unity project from Unity Technologies demonstrating several features.
Animation Texture Baker. Bakes legacy animations into textures, targeting ECS.
Animator Timeline. Timeline editor for Unity.
AR Foundation Docs. Manual for Unity's cross-platform AR framework (ARKit, ARCore).
Artimech. Open-source visual scripting and state machine system for Unity.
Asset Auditing Tools. Official Unity editor tools to audit project assets and fix errors.
Astar Pathfinding. 2D A* pathfinding for Unity.
Atlas Unity. Gradle plugin to run Unity batchmode commands and unit tests and export .unitypackage files.
AudioRecorder. Audio recorder component for Unity.
AudioTexture. Generates a Unity Texture2D from an AudioClip.
Auto Save Scene. Unity editor helper that auto-saves the scene to minimize lost work.
Autoya. Thin application framework for Unity.
Barebones Master Server. Master server framework for Unity.
Beautiful Text Outline for Unity UI. Text outline and vertex effects for Unity UI.
Bep In Ex. Unity game patcher and plugin framework for modding shipped games.
Better Defines. Manage preprocessor directives in Unity.
BetterDefines.cs. Gist: improved scripting define symbol management for Unity.
BezierCanvas. Illustrator pen-tool style bezier editor for Unity.
BitpackingTools. Bitpacking and serialization libraries behind the NetworkSyncTransform and TransformCrusher Unity assets.
Bitstrap. BitCake's collection of Unity workflow tools.
Bolt Paid. Visual scripting for Unity to build gameplay and interactive systems without code. Now part of Unity as Visual Scripting.
Bona Data Editor. Unity editor plugin for manipulating assets of specific types.
Bullet Pattern Editor Unity. Editor for authoring shoot-em-up bullet patterns.
CAFU Core. Clean-architecture framework for Unity.
CameraLib4U. Third-person chase-camera system for Unity.
CarPaint. Car paint material for the Unity Standard Assets car.
Chanquo. Partial Go-channel implementation for Unity.
CharacterController2D. 2D controller that behaves like Unity's CharacterController component.
Charon Unity3D. Charon game data editor plugin for Unity to define data structures, edit data, and access it from code.
Cheatography Unity Cheatsheet. Hotkey reference for the Unity editor.
Chest Of Property Drawers. Collection of small reusable Unity property drawers.
ClassTypeReference for Unity. Serializable references to System.Type with a custom property drawer for dropdown class selection.
CO2. Android plugin generator for Unity.
ColorPalette. Lightweight color palette asset for Unity.
Colorus. Coloring book game for web and iOS made with Unity.
Command Terminal. In-game console and command terminal for Unity.
Complete Unity 2018 Game Development. Companion code for the Complete Unity 2018 Game Development book.
Constellation. Visual scripting language for Unity, no code required.
Coop Design. Prototype for runtime cooperative level design in Unity.
CoroutineChain. Chainable coroutine helper for Unity.
CosineGradient. Cosine gradient generator for Unity.
Cpp Unity TCP Client Server. Sample Unity TCP client with a C++ (Boost) server.
CropTexture. Crop and resize textures in the Unity editor.
Crystal AI. Utility-based AI framework for C# and Unity.
CUDLR. Console for Unity debugging and logging remotely.
CurveTexture. Encode arbitrary curves into textures and apply them to materials or shader properties.
Custom 2D Colliders. Custom 2D colliders for Unity.
DataRenderer2D. Generates line and polygon meshes in Unity.
DeadSimple Pixel-Perfect Camera. Pixel-perfect orthographic camera script for 2D Unity scenes.
Deform. Deformer system for Unity meshes.
DeltaDNA Unity SDK. deltaDNA analytics and smartads mediation SDK for Unity games.
Devdog UnityTips Compilation. Collected Unity tips and tricks posted by developers.
Dissonance. Real-time voice chat asset for Unity multiplayer.
DownloadManager.cs. Download manager gist for Unity.
DT Compile Time Tracker. Unity editor extension that tracks compile time.
DTCommandPalette. Command palette for Unity to run methods and open scenes.
Dual Quaternion Skinning for Unity. Dual quaternion skinning implementation for Unity.
EasingCore. Simple easing-function implementation for Unity.
EasyMOBA. MOBA game template for Unity.
ECS Tween. Unity tweening system built on ECS that also works with GameObjects.
ECSRx.unity. Reactive ECS framework for Unity built on UniRx.
Edge Detect Post Processing Unity. Unity legacy edge-detect image effect ported to Post Processing Stack v2.
Enhanced Scroll View. 3D scroll view for Unity (NGUI and uGUI support).
EnumDispatcher. ECS-backed C# enums as Flux/Redux actions in Unity.
EpPathFinding3D.cs. 3D jump-point-search pathfinding for cube-based games in C#.
EZ Item Editor. Game data editor for Unity for entering, maintaining, and consuming game data.
EzySlice. Mesh slicer framework for Unity, written in C#.
Firestorm. Makeshift Cloud Firestore C# API for Unity over REST. Basic functions only.
Fixed Function States from Materials (gist). Aras Pranckevicius gist on driving fixed-function render states from materials and scripts in Unity.
FlexibleUI Unity. Multiple GUI theme system for Unity.
Fluid Behavior Tree. Code-first behavior tree micro-framework for Unity.
Flurry Unity Plugin. Flurry analytics library for Unity on Android and iOS.
FrameDump. Exports image sequences from Unity.
Fungus. Unity library for building illustrated interactive-fiction and visual-novel games.
Futile. A code-first 2D framework for Unity.
Game View Maximizer. Maximizes the Unity game view with a keyboard shortcut.
GameAI Movement. NPC movement algorithms built in Unity for an AI-for-games university course.
GameFramework (EllanJiang). Game framework for Unity that encapsulates common game modules and standardizes the development process.
GameFramework (FlipWebApps). Free Unity framework adding common game systems and features.
Gamekit3D. Official Unity 3D game kit sample project from Unity Technologies.
Gendarme. Mono rule-based static analysis tool, usable on Unity project assemblies.
Get Social Deep Linking Activity.java. Gist activity that captures onNewIntent deep links missed by Unity when backgrounded.
GetSocial Unity SDK. GetSocial social SDK and demo for Unity.
GitHub: mob-sakai. GitHub profile with open-source Unity tools and effects.
GitHub: mrzapp. GitHub profile with open-source Unity tools and utilities.
Gizmos. Draw runtime gizmos in builds and the editor in Unity.
GOAP. Goal-oriented action planning AI for Unity.
Good Coding Practices in Unity. Trello board of good coding practices for Unity.
Google Analytics Plugin for Unity. Google Analytics plugin for Unity.
Google Mobile Ads Unity Plugin. Official Unity plugin for the Google Mobile Ads SDK.
Google Sheets Unity. Read data from private Google Sheets into Unity (read-only).
Graphmesh. Graph-based procedural mesh generation inside the Unity editor.
Green Mamba Stealth. Stealth system for Unity that detects how well-lit a character is, so they can hide in dynamic shadows.
Guitar Hero Unity. Guitar Hero fan game made in Unity.
HermodToolkit. A set of 2D tools for Unity.
HexTiles. Hex tile editor for Unity.
HiSocket. Lightweight socket library for Unity and C# projects.
Hogwarts. Open-source Harry Potter sandbox game made in Unity.
How to Set Up Unity's VR Editor (EditorVR). Tutorial on setting up Unity's experimental EditorVR.
Hydrogen CSharp. C# framework for Unity providing collections, utilities, and helpers.
Ico Sphere Creator. Icosphere mesh creation tool for Unity.
Imgui Unity. Dear ImGui integration for Unity.
In-Game Editor UI. In-game runtime Hierarchy and Inspector for Unity, like the built-in editor.
InfinityScroll. Makes Unity ScrollRects scroll infinitely.
iOS Unity Vuforia Guide. Guide to integrating Unity + Vuforia into a native iOS app.
iTween Expansion. Expansion of Bob Berkebile's iTween tweening plugin for Unity.
Jitter Physics. C# real-time physics engine ported into Unity.
JourneySand. Unity project reproducing the sand rendering style of Journey.
JSONObject. JSONObject parsing library for Unity.
JWT for Unity. JSON Web Token implementation for Unity / .NET 3.5+.
KEngine. Unity asset bundle framework (LGPL).
KinoBloom. Bloom post-processing effect for Unity.
KinoObscurance. Screen-space ambient obscurance image effect for Unity.
KlakHap. HAP video player plugin for Unity.
KlakSyphon. Syphon video-sharing plugin for Unity on macOS.
Knight Windjson. JSON parser for Unity.
Knowledge Representation. Small Unity project showing AI responding to changes in the game world.
Koch's Fractals. Koch fractals demo for Unity.
kode80SSR. Open-source screen-space reflections for Unity 5.
L Systems In Unity. L-system rewriting for modeling plants, letting you generate plants in Unity games.
Leading Ones (LeadingOnesVR). Quick look at Unity's EditorVR.
LibPdIntegration. libpd (Pure Data) audio wrapper for Unity.
Light Probes Placement. Unity project showing automatic light probe placement via the LightProbesVolumes package.
LINQ to GameObject for Unity. Traverse the GameObject hierarchy using LINQ.
Live2D with Unity. Imports Live2D models and reads mtn motion files in Unity.
Lochie Westfall. YouTube channel with Unity VR tutorials.
log4net.unity. log4net helpers and a UnityEngine.Debug appender for Unity.
Loxodon Framework. MVVM framework for Unity with data binding, localization, and uGUI support.
LuaProfiler For Unity. Profiler for Lua inside Unity.
MafiaUnity. Open-source Mafia game framework for Unity.
Marschner Hair Unity. Marschner hair shading model implemented in Unity.
MassiveNet. Unity UDP networking library for high-CCU, multi-server architectures.
Master Unity Handles. Examples of custom handles in the Unity editor.
MeshDecimator. Mesh decimation library for .NET and Unity.
Message Pack Grid View. MessagePack data viewer built on MessagePack-CSharp and Unity TreeView.
MessagePack CSharp. Fast MessagePack serializer for C# (.NET, Unity, Xamarin).
Metaverse Standards Forum. YouTube channel of the Metaverse Standards Forum, with talks and panels.
Minesweeper. Tile-based Minesweeper with high scores made in Unity.
MiniMap. Minimap and radar system for Unity.
Missing References Unity. Unity editor extension for finding missing object references.
MLAPI. Game networking framework for Unity (now Netcode for GameObjects).
MMD for Unity. MikuMikuDance model and motion importer for Unity.
MOBA CSharp Unity. MOBA game framework for Unity with a Unity-independent server that runs on Linux.
Msgpack Unity3D. MessagePack and JSON serializer for Unity.
MVPScriptGenerator4Unity. MVP script generator for the Unity editor.
My S7 Pro Sim Lib. Connects Unity to Siemens PLCSim via COM interop (S7PROSimLib).
Nakama Unity. Unity client for the Nakama game server.
Naphier Gists. Collection of reusable Unity code gists.
NATPunchthroughClient. Example NAT punchthrough combined with Unity's UNet HLAPI.
NAudio Unity. Port of NAudio to the Mono subset used by Unity.
NaughtyAttributes. Inspector attribute extensions for Unity.
NaughtyCharacter. Third-person character controller for Unity.
NDocumentation. Documentation window for the Unity editor that displays rich-text pages.
Net Peeweek Console. Interactive runtime console for Unity, distributed as a package.
NGTools. Unity editor extensions and tools by Napland Games.
Node Inspector. Node graph editor extension for Unity.
NPBehave. Event-driven behavior trees for Unity.
NVIDIA Hair Works Integration. NVIDIA HairWorks hair simulation integration for Unity.
OpenConvo. Open-source dialogue framework for Unity.
OpenEd. Open-source runtime editor for Unity.
OpenFile. Open-source serialization for Unity.
OpenFramework. Lightweight Unity framework with dependency injection.
OpenGUI. Open-source GUI framework for Unity.
Openpath. Open-source pathfinding for Unity.
OpenStash. Open-source inventory framework for Unity.
OSMTrafficSim. Traffic simulation built on Unity ECS.
P2P.NET. Peer-to-peer networking in Unity using WebRTC with a free signaling server (formerly UnityP2P).
Pacman. Pacman clone with original AI made in Unity.
Path. Pathfinding library for Unity.
PBD Fluid in Unity. Position-based-dynamics fluid simulation running on the GPU in Unity.
Pedometer API. Native pedometer API for Unity on mobile.
PerfAssist. Performance and profiling components for Unity development.
Perfect Spheres. System for rendering spheres cheaply and accurately in Unity.
Physical Camera. Official Unity component describing physical camera attributes.
Pitaya. Go game server framework with clustering and client libraries, including Unity via the C SDK.
Pixel Camera 2D. Pixel-perfect camera with scaling options for 2D games.
Pixel Render Unity3D. Real-time rendering of 3D scenes as 2D pixel art in Unity.
Pixel Sprite Generator Unity. C# port of PixelSpriteGenerator for Unity.
PNGCS. PNG encoding and decoding for Unity.
Pomelo Unity Client. Unity client for the Pomelo distributed Node.js game server.
PPOL. Crowd simulator using Unity ML-Agents and PPO reinforcement learning.
ProbePolisher. Light probe editor for Unity.
Procedural Level Generator Unity. Unity plugin for procedural dungeon generation.
ProceduralMesh. Simple procedural mesh generation for Unity.
ProjectRider Unity. JetBrains Rider integration for Unity.
Protobuf3 for Unity. Protocol Buffers v3 runtime for Unity (.NET 3.5).
Psd2UnityImporter. PSD importer for Unity.
QuadWarp. Quad-warp projection sample for Unity.
Quickfracture. Mesh fracture and destruction effect for Unity.
Ray Marching. Ray marching of signed distance functions in Unity, by Sebastian Lague.
Raywenderlich.com Unity Cheatsheet. Cheatsheet of common Unity development problems and fixes.
RecyclerKit. Object pool manager for Unity.
Reflected Inspector. Inspector system for Unity that serializes non-Unity types, similar to SerializedProperties.
Reign Unity Plugin. Cross-platform unified API plugin for Unity.
Render Queue. Render queue editor extension for Unity.
Reorderable Inspector. Automatic reorderable lists for Unity component inspectors.
Reorderable List Editor Field for Unity. Drag-to-reorder list field for Unity inspectors.
Resharper Unity. JetBrains ReSharper and Rider plugin for Unity.
RestClient (proyecto26). Promise-based HTTP and REST client for Unity, with callback support.
RestClient (Unity3dAzure). REST client for Unity with JSON and XML parsing, including nested arrays and abstract types.
Restifizer Unity3D. Restifizer SDK for Unity to build RESTful services backed by MongoDB.
RiderProxy. Unity support for both ReSharper and Rider.
RPGCore. Framework for building RPG games and mechanics in Unity.
Runtime Unity Editor. In-game inspector and debugging tools for Unity applications.
San Andreas Unity. Open-source port of GTA San Andreas to Unity.
SceneHistory Unity. Open scenes quickly from a custom scene history, with additive support.
Script Templates for Unity. Editor window that generates C# source stubs for Unity.
ScriptableObject Architecture. Makes ScriptableObjects a core part of your Unity architecture.
ScriptFinder. Unity editor extension to find script references across a project.
SDF Gen Unity. Signed distance function generator running inside Unity.
SearchTools. Search tools for the Unity editor.
Selection History Navigator. Unity editor extension to navigate between object selections.
SerializableCallback. Serializable callbacks for Unity that return values, blending UnityEvent and System.Func.
Serialized Parameter Unity. Attribute that persists field data between Unity play-mode sessions.
SetProperty. PropertyAttribute/PropertyDrawer combo for exposing C# properties in the Unity inspector.
Settings Unity. Settings management utility for Unity.
Shapes. Hand-drawn meshes and vector shapes for Processing and Unity.
Shortcuter. Shortcut utility for Unity.
Show Toast Unity Android.cs. Gist showing native Android toast messages from Unity.
Signals (UnityPatterns). Editor-driven signal/event system for Unity.
Signals (yankooliveira). Type-safe lightweight messaging library for Unity.
Simple ECS. Example of Unity's Entity Component System, inspired by Roll-a-ball.
Simple Light Probe Placer. Simple tool for placing light probes in Unity scenes.
SmartData. Editor-driven Unity framework for connecting data and events, designer-friendly.
Smrvfx. Example passing skinned-mesh data into the Unity VFX Graph.
SonarFx. Sonar scanning effect for Unity.
SpacePuppy Unity Framework 3.0. Collection of tools for making games in Unity.
SpatialOS GDK for Unity. SpatialOS game development kit for Unity. Discontinued.
Spine Runtimes. Spine 2D animation runtimes, including a Unity runtime.
SpriteDicing. Unity extension for reusing sprite texture areas to cut memory.
SpriteMaker. Tool for making sprites inside Unity.
Sproto Unity. Demo of using sproto-csharp in Unity.
Static Blured Screen. Static (non-realtime) screen blur for Unity, handy as a dialog background.
Strange Io C. Lightweight extensible inversion-of-control (IoC) framework for C# and Unity.
StyleBrowser. Editor window to browse all built-in Unity GUI styles.
Super Character Controller. Custom character controller for Unity.
Super Mario Bros AR Game. Channel showing an AR Super Mario game built with Microsoft HoloLens and Unity.
Terrain Tool Samples. Official Unity terrain tools and brush asset samples.
Texture3DPreview for Unity. Interactive previews of Texture3D assets in the Unity inspector.
TexturePanner. Unity shader for scrolling-texture effects like neon signs and conveyor belts.
ThreeDScans. Scanned statue models from the Three D Scans project, optimized for real-time use.
Tidy Up. Keeps Unity projects organized by sorting assets into designated folders.
Time Flow Shiki. Timeline GUI skeleton for the Unity editor.
TsiU AIToolkit CSharp. AI toolkit for Unity.
TTConsole. Runtime debug console for Unity.
Typogenic. Signed-distance-field text rendering for Unity.
U Net Voice. Tiny voice chat implementation for Unity.
U Texture Send Receive. Unity network texture sender and receiver for video and frame streaming.
UDBase. Module-based Unity game template where controllers can be swapped without changing project source.
uGUI LinkImageText. Adds inline links and images to Unity uGUI Text.
uMVVM. Simple MVVM framework for Unity.
UndoPro. Command-based undo system integrated with Unity's native undo/redo.
UNet Controller. Character controller built for Unity's UNet networking system.
Uni Android Vibration. Unity Android plugin for triggering device vibration.
Uni Version Manager. Reads app and build version in Unity across editor, iOS, and Android.
UniClipboard. Simple clipboard plugin for Unity.
Unidux. Redux-style state architecture for Unity.
UniGif. GIF image decoder for Unity.
UniIosAudioService. Unity iOS plugin for playing iOS system sounds.
UniLua. Pure C# implementation of Lua 5.2, compatible with Unity.
UniteBerlin. Companion repo for the Unite Berlin talk on working faster in Unity.
Unity 2D Platformer Controller. Customizable 2D platformer motor with double jumps, wall jumps, and corner grabs, plus a drop-in player prefab.
Unity 5 Effects. Collection of effects for Unity 5.
Unity A Star Navigation. A* navigation for Unity using Burst-compiled jobs.
Unity Ableton Link. Ableton Link tempo-sync plugin for Unity.
Unity Ads. Official Unity ad monetization SDK.
Unity AI. AI behavior tree framework for Unity.
Unity AR Foundation and MARS. Unity's AR tooling: AR Foundation cross-platform framework plus MARS authoring environment.
Unity Asset Usage Detector. Finds which objects reference the selected assets or objects in a Unity project.
Unity Async Routines. Lightweight async coroutine library for Unity.
Unity Atoms. Modular ScriptableObject-based architecture pieces for Unity.
Unity Auth Manager. Example JWT-based authentication for a Unity app.
Unity Beat Detection. Musical beat detection and audio spectrum analysis for Unity.
Unity Bezier Solution. Bezier spline solution for Unity with utilities like constant-speed traversal.
Unity Bitmap Drawing. Bitmap drawing API extension methods for Unity's Texture2D class.
Unity BitmapFontImporter. Unity editor extension for importing bitmap fonts.
Unity Camera Follow 2D. 2D camera-follow script for Unity.
Unity Camera Shake. Pseudo-random camera shake using Perlin noise.
Unity CameraSizeToVelocity2D. Script that scales camera size with target velocity.
Unity Character Customization. Character customization demo for Unity.
Unity Color Picker. Standalone color picker asset for Unity.
Unity Color Wheel. Color picker element for the newer Unity uGUI system.
Unity ColourLovers Importer. Unity editor tool to load colors and palettes from COLOURlovers.com.
Unity Compact Field Attribute. Per-property label widths in the Unity inspector to stop labels getting cut off.
Unity Delaunay. Delaunay/Voronoi library for Unity, with a simple destruction effect.
Unity Documentation for VR. Unity manual section on VR development.
Unity Dynamic Scroll View. Dynamic scroll view built on uGUI.
Unity ECS Instanced Sprite Renderer. Performant sprite renderer example using Unity's ECS.
Unity Editor Helper. Scripts that make editor scripting in Unity easier.
Unity Editor Hotkeys. Unity manual page listing editor hotkeys.
Unity Editor Icons. Reference of built-in Unity editor icons loadable via EditorGUIUtility.IconContent.
Unity Editor Junkie. Editor scripts that improve working with the Unity editor.
Unity Editor Snippets. Collection of Unity editor productivity helpers.
Unity Editor Spotlight. macOS-Spotlight-style file search inside the Unity editor.
Unity Editor Texel Density. Texel density checker for Unity.
Unity EditorVR Experimental Build (blog). 2016 Unity blog announcing the experimental EditorVR build.
Unity Elevator Compiler. Plugin that plays elevator music while Unity compiles your code.
Unity Engine Analyzer. Roslyn analyzer for Unity that flags common performance pitfalls.
Unity Events. Strongly typed event system for Unity with global and per-GameObject events.
Unity Extensions.Inspect Inline. Inspect and edit object references inline and embed objects as subassets in Unity.
Unity Extensions.Selection History. Adds navigation menu items in the Unity editor: Edit/Selection/Back and Edit/Selection/Forward.
Unity File Debug. Enhanced debug logging for Unity, with JSON/CSV export and an HTML viewer.
Unity File Extension. Shows file extensions in the one-column project window.
Unity First Person View. First-person view asset where viewmodel objects do not clip the environment, use a separate FOV, and receive shadows.
Unity Flurry SDK. Unity plugin for the Flurry analytics SDK.
Unity Framework. Application framework for C# Unity game projects.
Unity Frosted Glass. Frosted glass material made in Unity.
Unity Good Practices. Unity best-practices reference from Futurice.
Unity Inmediate Color Picker. Color picker for Unity in immediate-mode GUI.
Unity Interface Reference. Serializable wrapper that holds a reference to an interface in Unity.
Unity Jobs View Frustum Culling. View frustum culling jobs for Unity's job system.
Unity Logs Viewer. View editor console logs inside the running game.
Unity LoMenu. UI menu package for Unity.
Unity Main Thread Dispatcher. Thread-safe way to run actions on Unity's main thread.
Unity Math Reference. Game math reference, visualized in Unity.
Unity Mecanim VR IK vs Final IK. Channel comparing VR IK using native Unity Mecanim IK versus Final IK.
Unity Mesh Counter. Shows mesh data counters in Unity.
Unity Mesh Simplifier (Unity-Technologies). Mesh simplification for Unity. Official Unity-Technologies fork.
Unity Mesh Simplifier (Whinarn). Mesh simplification for Unity.
Unity Mesh Triangulator. Mesh triangulator for Unity, forked from alexmuab's version.
Unity Movement AI. Steering-behavior movement scripts for NPCs in Unity.
Unity Native Scripting. Write Unity scripts in C++.
Unity Neural Network. Simple neural network implemented in C# for Unity.
Unity Non Null. [NonNull] attribute for fields and classes in Unity.
Unity Object Pool. Object pool and manager for Unity.
Unity Object Pooler. Simple object pool for Unity.
Unity Open API. RESTful API client generator for Unity.
Unity Optix Plugin. Example Unity plugin for NVIDIA OptiX.
Unity Package Manager Lifecycle. Unity blog explaining the Package Manager release lifecycle.
Unity Path Finding. Dijkstra shortest-path finding for Unity.
Unity Pause Menu. Open-source pause menu for Unity, originally built for the game New Horizons.
Unity Physics CSP. Client-side-prediction demo in Unity with all network traffic simulated in one instance.
Unity Pixel Camera. Resolution-independent pixel-perfect camera for Unity.
Unity Plane Mesh Splitter. Script to split any mesh into smaller chunks.
Unity Preview Generator. Generates preview textures and icons for Unity models and sprites.
Unity Procedural Flower. Procedural flower generator for Unity.
Unity PSD Layout Tool. Imports Photoshop .psd files into Unity.
Unity QuickPool. Simple object pooling toolkit for Unity.
Unity Raytracer. Ray tracing demo built in Unity.
Unity Remote 4 (iOS/tvOS). Unity Remote app to preview play mode on iOS and tvOS devices.
Unity Resource Checker. Editor utility to check scene resources in Unity, including textures, materials, meshes, and which objects use them.
Unity Routines. Coroutine replacement for Unity with hierarchical routines and pooling.
Unity Rulers. Ruler editor to measure distances between objects in the Scene view.
Unity RuntimeCodeExecuter. Executes arbitrary code at runtime via the .NET 2.0 library, aimed at Unity.
Unity Rust Plugin. Example of writing a Unity native plugin in Rust.
Unity Scene Camera Controller. Drive a runtime camera like the SceneView camera.
Unity Scrolly. Touch/drag scroll list using Unity GUI (4.6+).
Unity SemVer. SemVer 2.0.0 implementation for Unity.
Unity Serializer NG. Revival of Mike Talbot's discontinued Unity Serializer (Unity 5).
Unity Simple File Browser. uGUI-based runtime file browser for Unity, draggable and resizable.
Unity SimpleUsefulGizmos. Extra scene-view gizmos for Unity like colored colliders and rotation indicators.
Unity Singleton MonoBehavior. Singleton pattern implementation for Unity MonoBehaviours.
Unity Snippets. Unity code snippets for various IDEs.
Unity Socket IO. Socket.io client for Unity.
Unity Stb Easy Font. Port of stb_easy_font.h to Unity and C#.
Unity Symlink Utility. Editor extension that adds a menu item to add folders as symlinks in Unity.
Unity Texture Packer. Combines color channels from different textures into a single output.
Unity Timeline Conditions. Experimental port of Animator conditions to Timeline events.
Unity Timeline Sync. Synchronize multiple Unity Timelines over UDP.
Unity Timelord Blender. Demo of custom blending for Unity Timelines.
Unity Tools. VS Code extension with tools for Unity development.
Unity UI Extensions. Extra controls and components for the Unity uGUI system.
Unity UI Polygon. Polygon renderer for the Unity UI system.
Unity Unet Movement. Server-authoritative movement for Unity UNET with client-side prediction and reconciliation.
Unity VariableTileLayout. Pinterest-style variable tile layout for Unity UI.
Unity Virtual Reality. Unity's official documentation on developing virtual reality applications.
Unity Visual Behavior Tree. Reactive visual-scripting behavior tree tool for Unity 2018+.
Unity Voxel Tools. Collection of voxel utilities for Unity. Experimental.
Unity VS Toolbox. Visual Studio toolbox of MonoBehaviour events in execution order, plus installable templates.
Unity Wave Function Collapse. Wave Function Collapse procedural generation for Unity.
Unity Web Socket. WebSocket client for Unity.
Unity Webview. WebView overlay plugin for Unity on Android, iOS, Web Player, and macOS. Windows is unsupported.
Unity.Library.eppz. Collection of utility libraries for Unity.
Unity.ProceduralContentGeneration Terrain. Procedural terrain content generation for Unity.
Unity2D Components. C# components for 2D games: pixel-art cameras, events and messaging, save/load, collision handlers, object pools.
Unity3D Async Await Util. Helpers that make async/await easier to use in Unity.
Unity3D Automatron. Automation tool for Unity.
Unity3D ComponentAttribute. Attribute that auto-loads components in Unity.
Unity3D Extensions. Extension and utility methods for Unity.
Unity3D Official Blog. News and development insights from Unity.
Unity3D PerlinCameraShake. Perlin-noise camera shake MonoBehaviour for Unity, coroutine-driven and self-exiting.
Unity3D Prefab Pool. Simple prefab pool for Unity.
Unity3D Quick Search. Command palette for Unity.
Unity3D Script Library. Collection of reusable Unity C# scripts.
Unity3D Sound Manager. Sound manager for Unity with AudioSource pooling, 3D positioning, and completion callbacks.
Unity3DPolylineEditor. 2D polyline editor for Unity.
Unity3DVim. Vim editor integration for Unity on Linux.
UnityComponent. Resource and component management helpers for Unity.
UnityEffects. Collection of free effects for Unity.
UnityExtensions MeshIntersection. Raycast against one or more meshes in Unity.
UnityGameFramework Template. Starter project template based on UnityGameFramework.
UnityGraphicsProgramming Vol.2. Unity graphics programming techniques and shader samples, volume 2.
UnityHelpers. Collection of helper scripts for Unity.
UnityHTTP. TCP-based HTTP library for Unity.
UnityIO. File manipulation API for Unity that wraps AssetDatabase.
UnityOctree (Nition). Loose octree for Unity in C#, the upstream of the Unity-Technologies fork.
UnityOctree (Unity-Technologies). Dynamic loose octree implementation for Unity in C#.
UnityPhysics2D. Examples of Unity 2D physics components and features.
UnityPooling. Optimized object pooling for Unity.
UnityRandom. Random number library in C# for Unity.
UnitySpline2D. A simple 2D spline library for Unity. Unmaintained.
Unitystation. Open-source remake of Space Station 13 in Unity.
UnityStudio. Tool for exploring, extracting, and exporting assets from Unity games and apps.
UnitySVG. SVG renderer for Unity.
UnityTetris. Tetris clone written in C# and rendered with Unity.
UnityTile3D. Simple 3D tile editor for Unity.
UnityTimer. Library for running actions after a delay in Unity.
Universal Unity Hooks. Framework for hooking into and modifying methods in Unity games via DLLs.
UniVoice. Peer-to-peer VoIP for Unity.
UVPreview. Preview UV islands for textures in the Unity inspector.
UXF. Framework for running human behavior experiments in Unity.
Variable Infinite Scroll. Variable-size infinite scroll for Unity UI.
VariableAssets. ScriptableObject variable assets for Unity.
Vector Graphics Samples. Official Unity SVG and vector graphics sample project.
Vexe Framework (VFW). Editor extension adding advanced inspector and editor extensibility to Unity.
Volumetric Clouds. Volumetric clouds for Unity.
Volumetric Lines Unity. Source for the Volumetric Lines Unity Asset Store asset.
VoxBlend. Blend shape controller plugin for Unity.
Voxel Mesh Generator. Generates voxel 3D meshes in Unity using greedy meshing.
Voxelmetric. Efficient voxel framework for Unity.
VoxelWorld. Voxel world demo built in Unity.
VSCode Unity Code Snippets. Unity development code snippets for VS Code.
VSCode Unity Debug Support. Official Unity debugging support for VS Code.
VSCode Unity Integration. VS Code integration for Unity.
Warfest Voxel Unity. Voxel game prototype made with Unity.
WaveformProvider. Generates a texture that simulates waves in Unity.
Weaver. Code-weaving framework for Unity, based on Fody.
Web View Hook. Exposes the internal UnityEditor WebView API.
WebRTC Unity Plugin. Cross-platform WebRTC support for Unity apps.
Xamarin.Forms.Unity. Xamarin.Forms platform implementation for Unity.
xNode BehaviourTree. Behaviour tree built on the xNode node editor for Unity.
yaSingleton. Singleton pattern for Unity using ScriptableObjects instead of MonoBehaviour.

XR, AR & VR: Resources

AR/VR/XR SDKs, frameworks, tools, and references across ARKit, ARCore, WebXR, and VR platforms.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
8th Wall	Niantic's WebAR platform. Markerless world tracking, image targets, face effects via the browser. No app required.	Paid	WebAR · Niantic	Marketing WebAR, branded AR experiences
Mozilla Hubs	Open-source social VR rooms in the browser. Forked and maintained by community after Mozilla sunset.	Open Source	WebXR · Social	Social VR, virtual events, meetings

Related:

A-Frame VR. Blender add-on allows you to model your scene in Blender and export it to an A-Frame VR project with a single click.
Advanced VR Mechanics With Unity and the HTC Vive Part 1. Tutorial: advanced VR mechanics in Unity with the HTC Vive (part 1).
Advanced VR Mechanics With Unity and the HTC Vive Part 2. Tutorial: advanced VR mechanics in Unity with the HTC Vive (part 2).
Bino. 3D video player with support for 180/360 video and VR headsets.
Building an AR game with ARKit and Spritekit. Tutorial: building an AR game with ARKit and SpriteKit.
Capturing Body Motion in 3D | Apple Developer Documentation. Apple ARKit documentation: capturing body motion in 3D.
How to Create a Minimap for VR in Unity. Tutorial: creating a minimap for VR in Unity.
How to support GearVR and Google Cardboard in one Unity3D project. Tutorial: supporting Gear VR and Google Cardboard in one Unity project.
HTC Vive VR Input. Tutorial: VR GUI input module for Unity with the HTC Vive.
I3D Past Projects. Virtual 3D teleportation in real-time by Microsoft Research
Medium by Adobe. Medium is a dedicated VR sculpting and painting package for users of Oculus headsets, capable of exporting models to DCC applications in OBJ or FBX format.
North Star Kit Paid. Hardware kit implementing Leap Motion's open-source Project North Star AR headset reference design (dual 1600x1440 120 FPS displays).
Oliver Kreylos's blog. Good resource to get started learning about VR / stereo rendering.
RealityKit. High-level AR framework by Apple. Comparable to Unity and Unreal Engine but specific for AR solutions.
Rigging a Model for Motion Capture | Apple Developer Documentation. Apple ARKit documentation: rigging a model for motion capture.
Sceneform Android SDK Maintained. ARCore Android SDK with Google Filament 3D engine. Continuation of Google Sceneform
Tensorflow2 Ue4 AR. Augmented Reality Computer Vision Application using TensorFlow 2 and the Unreal Engine 4.23
Three.js Editor. Online 3D editor with AR export capabilities.
Ultraleap Paid. Hand-tracking hardware and SDK (formerly Ultrahaptics and Leap Motion).
Unity VR Video Recording Test. Sample Unity project for recording VR sessions.
ViroCore: A cross-platform AR/VR renderer. Open-source cross-platform AR/VR renderer, with ViroReact for React Native.
VR Development - Unity Learn. Unity Learn pathway preparing you for VR development jobs.
Vuforia Freemium. AR SDK that is directly integrated in the Unity Editor. Proprietary license, free to develop with

Unreal Engine: Resources

Unreal Engine resources and marketplace picks.

📄 Recommended Asset Naming Conventions ~ epicgames. Official naming conventions for folders and asset files.
📺📜 Control Rig ~ Ask A Dev. Control Rig tutorials for character animation. 22 videos.
Acl Ue4 Plugin. Official Animation Compression Library plugin for Unreal Engine 4.
Alex Forsythe. Deep-dive tutorials on Unreal's game framework and replication.
ALS Community. Replicated, optimized community fork of Advanced Locomotion System V4.
ALS Refactored. Reworked C++ version of Advanced Locomotion System V4.
AndroidNative. Call Java functions via JNI from Unreal Engine on Android.
Animated Crosshairs UE4. 17 ready-to-use animated UMG crosshair widgets with a demo scene.
Articy Importer For Unreal. Imports articy:draft narrative data into Unreal Engine.
Async Loading Screen. Configure an async loading screen system from Unreal Engine project settings.
Audio Analysis Tools. Audio analysis functions for Unreal Engine. Pairs with Runtime Audio Importer.
Ble Utilities Unreal. Scan, connect to, and subscribe to Bluetooth LE devices from Unreal Engine.
blueprintUE. Paste and share Unreal Blueprint nodes online.
cashgenUE. Runtime procedural terrain generator for Unreal Engine.
CensoredUE4. World-space area censoring (mosaic/blur) attachable to any actor.
Cesium for Unreal. Brings 3D geospatial tiles and globes into Unreal Engine.
Code Like Me. A wide variety of Unreal Engine tutorials.
DataConfig. Serialization framework for the Unreal property system.
DungeonGenerator. Procedural dungeon generator for Unreal Engine 4.
Easy Json Parser. JSON parsing library for Unreal Engine.
EasyXMLParser. XML parsing library for Unreal Engine.
Fairy GUI Unreal. Flexible UI framework for Unreal Engine.
FastSwitcher. UMG widget switcher that loads only the active widget in Unreal Engine 4.
Fresh Cooked Tweens. Tweening library with curve easing for any value in Unreal Engine.
Game Development & Unreal Engine Programming Guide. Notes and guide on game development and Unreal Engine programming.
GameDev.tv Unreal 5.0 C++ Developer: Learn C++ and Make Video Games Paid. Course teaching C++ game programming in Unreal Engine 5.
GASP ALS. Game Animation Sample with ALS locomotion layering.
GASShooter. Advanced FPS/TPS sample project for the Gameplay Ability System.
GGPOUE4. GGPO rollback netcode port for Unreal Engine 4.
Ghost Mesh Plugin. Creates ghost/silhouette mesh effects in Unreal Engine 4.
Global Event System Ue4. Loosely coupled global event system for cross-map and cross-Blueprint communication.
Gorka Games. Long tutorial series, short tutorials, and Unreal Engine news.
Greebler. Auto-scatters rubble and greeble detail across a scene. UE4 and Unity.
Hermes. Adds deep links into the UE4 editor.
Horizontal 360 Radar. 360-degree radar system (Skyrim-style) for Unreal Engine 4.
Houdini Engine for Unreal. Plugin bridging Houdini Digital Asset workflows into Unreal.
InfraworldRuntime. Use Google gRPC services from C++ or Blueprints in Unreal Engine 4.
Inventory + Equipment System. Inventory container and equipment system for Unreal Engine 4.
Japanese Village (Marketplace) Paid. Japanese medieval village asset pack.
KawaiiPhysics. Simple fake secondary-motion physics for Unreal Engine 4.
Kotlin Unreal. Use the Kotlin language with Unreal Engine 4.
LeapUnreal. Leap Motion hand-tracking SDK for Unreal Engine.
LocalizationUE4. Standalone translation editor for Unreal Engine 4.
Locus Replication Graph. Replication Graph setup helper for Unreal Engine multiplayer.
LuaMachine. Lua API integration plugin for Unreal Engine 4.
MassSample. Community sample project for the Mass Entity (ECS) framework.
Mathew Wadstein. Short videos covering nearly every Unreal class and Blueprint node.
MD Meta Data Editor. Edit metadata on Blueprint properties, functions, and parameters. UE 5.1+.
Medieval Houses (Marketplace) Paid. Modular medieval house asset pack.
Mixed Reality UX Tools Unreal. UX tools and components for Mixed Reality apps in Unreal Engine 4.
MobileUtils. Integrate common mobile utilities into Unreal Engine 4 projects.
mod.io. Integrate mod.io user-generated-content management into your Unreal game.
Morphs Player. Play morph targets directly on a skeletal mesh animation track.
Mqtt Utilities Unreal. Exposes MQTT client functionality to Blueprints in Unreal Engine.
My SQL Connector UE4 Plugin. MySQL database connector plugin for Unreal Engine 4.
Myo Ue4. Myo armband input plugin for Unreal Engine 4.
Nano. Minimal starter template for small Unreal Engine games.
NiagaraUIRenderer. Render Niagara particle systems inside UMG UI widgets.
nimue4. Nim language integration for Unreal Engine 4.
Nuke.Unreal. C# scriptable workflow for automating Unreal Engine project tasks, built on Nuke.
ObjectDeliverer. Data transmission and reception library for Unreal Engine.
OceanProject. Ocean simulation project for Unreal Engine 4.
OpenCL.uplugin. OpenCL GPU compute plugin for Unreal Engine 4.
OpenLand. Open source landscape auto-material for Unreal Engine.
OSVR Unreal. OSVR open-source VR headset plugin for Unreal Engine.
PBCharacterMovement. HL2-style classic FPS movement for Unreal Engine, written in C++.
PluginTemplate. Starter Unreal plugin template with editor and runtime modules.
Prefabricator Ue4. Prefab system plugin for Unreal Engine 4.
ProjectExodus. Transfers Unity scenes and projects into Unreal Engine.
Ps Facebook Mobile. Facebook authorization for mobile in Unreal Engine 4.
Ps Real Vehicle. Simple force-driven vehicle simulation plugin for Unreal Engine 4.
Ps Replay Kit. iOS plugin to record or stream screen video plus app and mic audio.
Ps Web Server. CivetWeb web server integration plugin for Unreal Engine 4.
puerts. Write game logic in TypeScript for Unreal Engine 4 or Unity.
Quests. Quest system plugin for Unreal Engine 4.
Realtime Mesh Component. Unreal Engine 5 component for rendering runtime-generated meshes.
RedTalaria. Set of Hermes deep-link endpoints for Unreal Engine.
RemCommon. Common gameplay utilities for Unreal Engine.
RemRanges. Combines IGRanges and ranges-v3 for Unreal Engine.
Runtime Audio Importer. Import audio of various formats at runtime in Unreal Engine.
Runtime Files Downloader. Download files over HTTP/HTTPS at runtime in Unreal Engine.
Runtime Mesh Component. Unreal Engine 4 component for rendering runtime-generated meshes.
Runtime Mesh Loader. Import meshes at runtime in Unreal Engine 4.
Runtime Speech Recognizer. Offline real-time speech recognition for Unreal Engine, based on whisper.cpp.
Ryan Laley. Primarily Blueprint-based Unreal Engine tutorials.
SCUE5 Plugin. Steam Core updated for Unreal Engine 5.
SilvervineUE4Lua. Lua scripting plugin for Unreal Engine 4.
sluaunreal. Lua scripting plugin for Unreal Engine 4.
Socket IO Client Unreal. Socket.IO client plugin for Unreal Engine.
Socketer. TCP socket Blueprint library for Unreal Engine.
Socketio Client Ue4. Socket.io client plugin for Unreal Engine 4.
SQLite3UE4. SQLite3 database plugin for Unreal Engine 4.
Stats + Attributes. Stats, attributes, and leveling system for Unreal Engine 4.
Street Map. Import OpenStreetMap XML data into your Unreal Engine project.
Sublime Unreal Snippets. Sublime Text 3 snippets for writing Unreal Engine 4 game code.
Swipe. Exposes mobile swipe gestures as Blueprint events in Unreal Engine 4.
Tcp Ue4. Convenience TCP wrapper for Unreal Engine 4.
TCP Unreal. Convenience TCP wrapper for Unreal Engine.
Tensorflow Ue4. TensorFlow machine-learning plugin for Unreal Engine 4.
Tom Looman UE5 Tutorials Freemium. Unreal C++ and gameplay tutorials, courses, and articles.
UAssetAPI. Low-level .NET library for reading and writing Unreal Engine 4 game assets.
Udp Ue4. Convenience UDP wrapper for Unreal Engine 4.
UDP Unreal. Convenience UDP wrapper for Unreal Engine.
UE BUI Tween. UMG UI tweening library for Unreal Engine, usable from C++.
UE DSS Plugin. MMO server instancing, dungeon instancing, and player balancing subsystem for Unreal Engine.
UE Easy JWT. JWT wrapper subsystem for Unreal Engine.
UE Easy Kafka. Kafka/Redpanda client subsystem for Unreal Engine, usable from Blueprint and C++.
UE4 Aurora Effect. Raymarched aurora borealis effect for Unreal Engine 4.
UE4 Binary Builder. Builds installed (Rocket) Unreal Engine binaries from GitHub source.
UE4 BYG Localization. Simple CSV-based localization system for Unreal Engine 4.
Ue4 Canvas GUI. Simple canvas-based GUI with mouse input for Unreal Engine 4.
UE4 Custom Gravity Plugin. Custom directional gravity plugin for Unreal Engine 4.
Ue4 Docker. Windows and Linux containers for Unreal Engine 4.
UE4 Env. project. Open environment simulation project (day/night, weather) for Unreal Engine 4.
UE4 EOS Plugin. Plugin and sample implementing the Epic Online Services SDK in Unreal Engine 4.
UE4 Game Lift Client SDK. AWS GameLift client SDK for Unreal Engine 4.
UE4 Node Graph Assistant. Speeds up node graph editing in Unreal Engine 4.
UE4 Plugin Resources. Community resource list for Slate, graphs, and UE4 plugin development.
Ue4 Protobuf. Integrates Protocol Buffers into Unreal Engine 4 without extra system setup.
Ue4 Uitween. UMG UI tweening library for Unreal Engine 4, written in C++.
UE4GamepadUMG. Use a gamepad like a mouse in UMG menus in Unreal Engine 4.
Ue4MarchingCubes. 3D Perlin noise meshing via marching cubes for Unreal Engine 4.
UE4MasterServer. Server registration and discovery against a master server in Unreal Engine 4.
UE5 Styleguide. Guidelines for keeping Unreal Engine projects consistent.
UE5 Stylized Post Process. Stylized post-process effects for Unreal Engine 5.
ue5coro. C++20 coroutine plugin integrated with Unreal Engine 5.
UELlama. llama.cpp LLM inference plugin for Unreal Engine 5.
UEWebsocket. WebSocket plugin for Unreal Engine 4, usable from C++ and Blueprint.
Ultraleap SDK. Brings Ultraleap hand-tracking data into Unreal projects.
UMG Resizable Widget. Resizable UMG widget for Unreal Engine 4.
Unreal Bp Csv Parsing. Adds CSV parsing Blueprint nodes to Unreal Engine.
Unreal Docs: Game Features And Modular Gameplay. Docs for Game Features and Modular Gameplay plugins.
Unreal Docs: Gameplay Ability System. Docs for the Gameplay Ability System (GAS): abilities, attributes, and effects.
Unreal Docs: Gameplay Camera System. Docs for the Gameplay Camera System.
Unreal Docs: Gameplay Targeting System. Docs for the Gameplay Targeting System.
Unreal Docs: Getting Started With Texture Graph. Docs for Texture Graph, Unreal's node-based texture authoring tool.
Unreal Docs: InstancedStruct. API reference for InstancedStruct, a container for instanced UStruct data.
Unreal Docs: Mass Entity. Docs for Mass Entity, Unreal's ECS framework for large agent counts.
Unreal Docs: Metahuman Documentation. Docs for MetaHuman creation and integration.
Unreal Docs: Modeling And Geometry Scripting. Docs for in-editor modeling tools and Geometry Script.
Unreal Docs: Motion Design. Docs for Motion Design, Unreal's broadcast and motion-graphics toolset.
Unreal Docs: Mutable Overview. Docs for Mutable, runtime character customization and mesh generation.
Unreal Docs: Procedural Content Generation Framework. Docs for the Procedural Content Generation (PCG) framework. See also Electric Dreams PCG.
Unreal Docs: Scriptable Tools System. Docs for the Scriptable Tools System (Blueprint-authored editor tools).
Unreal Docs: Smart Objects. Docs for Smart Objects, registerable interaction points for AI.
Unreal Docs: State Tree. Docs for State Tree, a hierarchical state machine for AI and logic.
Unreal Docs: Umg Viewmodel. Docs for UMG ViewModel (MVVM-style UI data binding).
Unreal Docs: Water System. Docs for the Water System (rivers, lakes, oceans).
Unreal Engine Advanced Functions. Library of handy Blueprint utility functions for Unreal Engine.
Unreal Engine Learning. Getting-started tutorial for Unreal's Texture Graph.
Unreal Engine Official YouTube. Official Unreal Engine YouTube channel with weekly live streams.
Unreal Engine Python. Embed Python scripting in Unreal Engine 4.
Unreal Fast Noise. Modular, Blueprint-friendly noise generation for Unreal Engine 4.
Unreal Fast Noise2. Blueprint wrapper for the FastNoise2 noise generation library.
Unreal Fetch. Fetch API-inspired HTTP client for Unreal Engine.
Unreal Im GUI. Integrates Dear ImGui debug UI into Unreal Engine 4.
Unreal Library. UE Explorer's library for parsing data from Unreal Engine games.
Unreal Magic Nodes. Custom Kismet node system that lets you write C++ inside Blueprint graphs.
Unreal Rust. Opinionated Rust integration for Unreal Engine.
Unreal Sandbox Terrain. Smooth voxel terrain plugin for Unreal Engine.
Unreal Signal R. SignalR client for Unreal Engine.
Unreal UMG 3 D Object In Widget. Sample showing how to render a 3D mesh inside a UMG widget.
Unreal Version Changer. Fakes a plugin's UE version so it installs on newer engine versions.
Unreal.hx. Haxe integration for Unreal Engine.
Unreal.js. JavaScript runtime built for Unreal Engine.
UnrealCLR. Unreal Engine integration for .NET 6 (C#).
unrealcpp. Collection of Unreal Engine 4 C++ examples.
unrealcv. Connects computer vision research to Unreal Engine.
UnrealLive2D. Render Live2D models in Unreal Engine 4.
USharp. C# scripting plugin for Unreal Engine 4.
Va Fog Of War. Fog of War solution for Unreal Engine.
Va Tex Atlas. Texture atlas support for Unreal Engine 4 UMG.
VaRest. REST API plugin for Unreal Engine.
Velocity Grid Export. Tool to export vector fields out of Houdini for Unreal.
ViewportManager. Multiple customizable viewports for Unreal Engine, in C++.
Virtus Learning Hub. Unreal Engine tutorials with several long course series.
Voxel Plugin. Volumetric, destructible, infinite voxel worlds in Unreal Engine.
VS Code Setup for UE. Official guide to setting up VS Code for Unreal C++ work.
Vscode Unreal Snippets. VS Code snippets for Unreal Engine, based on the Sublime snippet set.
Weapon Trace Unreal. Weapon tracing plugin for reliable melee combat hits.
WindowCapture2D. Capture and display OS windows in real time inside Unreal Engine.
Working with Data (Unreal Engine Learning). Tutorial on data tables, data assets, and UProperty specifiers.
XJ music. Adaptive music plugin for Unreal Engine games.
ZipUtility Plugin. Event-driven 7-Zip compression utility for Unreal Engine 4.

Game Dev Tools: Level Design

Level editors and blockout tools.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
LDtk	Modern 2D level editor by Dead Cells creator.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#level-design--map-editing-software">Software Reference → Level Design & Map Editing Software</a></small>	Open Source	2D Levels · Dead Cells Creator	2D level design
Mappy	Free tilemap editor.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#level-design--map-editing-software">Software Reference → Level Design & Map Editing Software</a></small>	Free
OGMO Editor 3	Free project-based 2D level editor with grid and entity layers.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#level-design--map-editing-software">Software Reference → Level Design & Map Editing Software</a></small>	Open Source
Sprite Fusion	A free level design tool to craft beautiful 2D tilemaps right in your browser using any tileset.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#level-design--map-editing-software">Software Reference → Level Design & Map Editing Software</a></small>	Free
Tiled	General-purpose tilemap editor. TMX format.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#level-design--map-editing-software">Software Reference → Level Design & Map Editing Software</a></small>	Open Source	Tilemap Editor · TMX	Tilemap editing
TrenchBroom	Quake-style level editor, great for blockouts.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#level-design--map-editing-software">Software Reference → Level Design & Map Editing Software</a></small>	Open Source	Blockouts · Quake-style	Blockouts, Quake-style levels

Related:

Chisel.Prototype. Work in progress prototype for the Chisel Level Editor, for Unity.
Editor2D. Tile based level editor for Unity
GILES. A runtime level editor for Unity3D.
Sprytile (GitHub). Blender add-on for building tile-based low-poly scenes with paint and map-editor tools.
Sprytile (itch.io). Blender addon for tile-based 3D levels.
Tiled2Unity. Export Tiled Map Editor (TMX) files into Unity.
Unity2D TMX. A small library to import and render tilemap in Unity2D, only support TMX file format.

Game Dev Tools: Dialogue & Narrative

Dialogue, narrative scripting, and IF tools.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Articy:draft	Professional narrative design middleware.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Paid	Middleware · Pro	Professional narrative middleware

Related:

Ink. Narrative scripting by Inkle (Heaven's Vault, Sable).
Ink Unity Integration. Unity integration for the open source ink narrative scripting language.
Prototype. Prototype component pattern for Unity.
Twine. Free, open-source interactive fiction.
Yarn Spinner. Dialogue tool for Unity/Godot (Night in the Woods).

Game Dev Tools: Audio Middleware

Adaptive audio and spatial audio middleware.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
FMOD	Industry-standard adaptive audio. Free for indie <$200k.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#audio-software">Software Reference → Audio Software</a></small>	Freemium	Industry Standard · Indie-Free	Adaptive game audio
Steam Audio	Physics-based spatial audio by Valve. Free.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#audio-software">Software Reference → Audio Software</a></small>	Free	Spatial Audio · Valve Free	Spatial game audio
Wwise	AAA audio middleware with free tier.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#audio-software">Software Reference → Audio Software</a></small>	Freemium	AAA · Free Tier	AAA game audio

Related:

Wwise Unreal Plug-in Freemium. Plugin for integrating Wwise assets for realtime playback in-engine.

Game Dev Tools: Networking & Multiplayer

Multiplayer frameworks and game servers.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Epic Online Services	Free multiplayer, matchmaking, voice chat.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Free	Free EOS · Matchmaking/Voice	Free multiplayer services
Nakama	Open-source game server (social, matchmaking, leaderboards).<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Open Source	Social Server · Matchmaking	Social game server
Photon Engine	Cloud multiplayer (PUN, Fusion, Quantum SDKs).<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Freemium	Cloud Multiplayer · Unity/Unreal	Cloud multiplayer
SmartFoxServer 2X	A SDK for rapidly developing multiplayer games and applications with Adobe Flash/Flex/Air, Unity, HTML5, iOS, Windows Phone 8, Android, Java, Windows 8, C++.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Freemium

Related:

Basic Multiplayer Unity. Fast-Paced UDP Client-Server implementation.
Bomber. Open-source Bomberman multiplayer game made in Unreal Engine 5.
Colyseus. Node.js multiplayer framework.
Colyseus Unreal. Colyseus Multiplayer SDK for Unreal Engine
Fish Net. High-performance Unity networking.
Forge Networking Remastered. Free open-source multiplayer networking system with good Unity integration.
Gambetta_Networked Demo. Fast-Paced Multiplayer: Sample Code and Live Demo - Gabriel Gambetta's Multiplayer Network Demo in Unity C# as Networked using Lidgren Network.
GameDev.tv Unreal Multiplayer Master: Video Game Dev In C++ Course Paid. Course on building Unreal Engine multiplayer games in C++.
Mirror (GitHub). A community replacement for Unity's abandoned UNET Networking System.
Mirror (site). Open-source Unity networking.
Unity Multiplayer Packages. Unity multiplayer packages and samples.

Game Dev Tools: Sprite & VFX

Sprite animation, 2D VFX, texture packers.

Software	Description	Pricing	License	Tags	Best For
LibreSprite	LibreSprite is an open source fork of Aseprite.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#2d--animation-software">Software Reference → 2D & Animation Software</a></small>		Open Source
Lightcube	Pixel art editor for Windows w/ PSD, JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF support.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#2d--animation-software">Software Reference → 2D & Animation Software</a></small>		Paid	Windows · PSD Support	Windows pixel art w/ PSD
Pickle	Pixel art editor.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#2d--animation-software">Software Reference → 2D & Animation Software</a></small>		Paid	Pixel Art · Editor	Pixel art editing
Pixa.Pics	Browser pixel-art tool w/ vectorization.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#2d--animation-software">Software Reference → 2D & Animation Software</a></small>		Freemium	Browser · Vectorization	Browser pixel art
Pixelator	Turn any image into pixel art.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#2d--animation-software">Software Reference → 2D & Animation Software</a></small>		Paid	Image→Pixel · Conversion	Image→pixel art
Pixelorama	Free pixel art editor (made in Godot).<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#2d--animation-software">Software Reference → 2D & Animation Software</a></small>		Open Source	Pixel Art · Godot-built	Pixel art for games
PixelOver	Convert artwork to pixel art with animation, bone rigging, and pixel-perfect transforms.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#2d--animation-software">Software Reference → 2D & Animation Software</a></small>	~$20 (free demo)	Paid	Artwork→Pixel · Rigging	Artwork → pixel art conversion
Pixen (GitHub)	Pixel Art Editor for OSX<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#2d--animation-software">Software Reference → 2D & Animation Software</a></small>		Open Source
Pro Motion	Paid with trial, works on Windows. Advanced features tailored to creating pixel art for games.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#2d--animation-software">Software Reference → 2D & Animation Software</a></small>		Paid
PyxelEdit	Pixel art editor for tilesets, levels, animations.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#2d--animation-software">Software Reference → 2D & Animation Software</a></small>		Paid	Tilesets · Pixel Art	Pixel art tilesets/levels
SpriteMancer	2D VFX and sprite animation.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#2d--animation-software">Software Reference → 2D & Animation Software</a></small>		Paid	2D VFX · Sprites	2D game VFX
TexturePacker	Sprite sheet packing, multi-engine export.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#2d--animation-software">Software Reference → 2D & Animation Software</a></small>		Paid	Sprite Sheets · Multi-Engine	Sprite sheet packing

Related:

Cheetah Texture Packer. High efficient and fast 2D bin packing tool
Ez Sprite Sheet. Creates sprite sheets from animated GIFs
Fusion Character Animator. Small tool for Clickteam Fusion 2.5 to facilitate the animation of 2D character sprites for developers.
GlueIT. Free Simple Spritesheet Tool
Kavex's Spritesheet Maker. Free spritesheet maker to replace GlueIT. Has much newer export formats.
Laigter. Free normal/specular/AO map generator for 2D.
Leshy SpriteSheet Tool. HTML5 tool for creating, packing, and modifying sprite sheets and texture atlases
Libgdx Texture Packer. Texture Packer built into Libgdx
Make Your Own Pixel Art Paid. Walks you step-by-step through the available tools, pixel art techniques, the importance of shapes, colors, shading, and how to turn your art into animation.
Owlboy. Explore a detailed steampunk world in the clouds. With it's range of endearing animations and expressions the world and it's characters come to life.
Paul Robertson. Australian, creating cute, sometimes cosmic and psychedelic, and sometimes weird nightmarish pixel art.
PixelCraft. Open source and free, works in the browser. Easy to try out in the browser and as a PWA offline.
ShoeBox. Adobe Air based app with game and ui related tools.
Sprite Sheet Maker. Sprite Sheet Maker is a handy no fuss utility to pack sprites
Sprite Sheet Slicer. Sprite Sheet Slicer is a handy no fuss utility to slice sprites
SpriteLib. Collection of static and animated graphic objects (also commonly known as sprites).
SpriteUV2 Paid. Tool for creating optimal meshes for textures/sprites and packing them into an atlas.
Starbound. Travel across vibrant, colorful and expansive galaxies, including creative dynamic animations.
Stitches. An HTML5 sprite sheet generator
Talos VFX. Node based, open source VFX Editor with interface and a ready to use libGDX runtime.
Tilesplit. CLI text-based tilesheet splitter and namer. Turn a spritesheet into many separate files with names you pick, or not if you don't care. Support templates and textures that are not all the same size
Walking animation cycle in games. Tutorial series on 2D walk-cycle animation for games.
Wobblepaint. Pico8 editor that give life to pixel art with a little wobble.

Game Dev Tools: AI & Procedural Generation

WFC, noise, procedural pipelines, economy design.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Houdini Engine (SideFX product)	Procedural generation pipeline for Unreal/Unity/Godot.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Paid	Procedural Pipeline · Multi-Engine	Procedural pipeline in-engine

Related:

DotRecast. A port of Recast & Detour, navigation mesh toolset for games, Unity3D, servers, C#.
Fast Noise Lite. Fast noise generation (Perlin, Simplex, Cellular).
Machinations Paid. Visual tool for designing and simulating game economies.
Procedural GL JS. Based on Three.js, this framework is dedicated to generating a 3D Map experience on a web service.
Wave Function Collapse. Procedural generation from example patterns.

Game Dev Tools: Physics Engines

Open-source physics engines.

Box2D v3. 2D physics engine rewrite by Erin Catto.
Box2D.NET. A port of Box2D, is a 2D physics engine for games,.NET C#, Unity3D, servers.
Cannon.js. Lightweight and simple 3D physics engine for the web.
Jolt Physics. Open-source 3D physics (used in Horizon Forbidden West).
Lockstep Framework. A framework designed for games that need lockstep simulations. It includes a deterministic 2D physics engine, pathfinding, behavior system. LSF is integrated with Unity.
Rapier. Rust physics engine (2D/3D, used with Bevy).
UnrealJolt. Jolt physics integration (Plugin) for Unreal Engine 5 (UE5)

Game Dev Tools: Version Control

Version control for binary-heavy game projects.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Perforce Helix Core	Industry standard for large assets (free ≤5 users).<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Freemium	Industry Standard · Free ≤5 users	Large-asset VCS
Plastic SCM / Unity Version Control	Artist-friendly binary version control.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Freemium	Artist-Friendly · Unity-Integrated	Artist-friendly VCS

Related:

Git LFS. Large file storage for Git.

Game Dev Tools: Analytics & Playtesting

Analytics and playtesting services.

Steam Playtest. Free playtesting on Steam.

Game Design & Theory

Design fundamentals, patterns, and references.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Open 3D Engine (O3ED)	Successor to Amazon Lumberyard, an open-source, real-time, multi-platform 3D engine to build AAA games	Open Source

Related:

Deconstructor of Fun. F2P game design and business.
DevianArt7Soul1. Offers a specific set of 420 pixel art icons designed for RPG games.
Epic Games. Epic Games on GitHub. Official Unreal Engine and related repos.
friflo ECS. High-performance C# ECS with simple API. Supports.NET, WASM/WebAssembly, Native AOT, Unity, Godot, MonoGame,..
Game Development Essentials: Game Level Design. Book on game level design fundamentals.
Game Programming Patterns. Lots of great game development patterns useful when making games with or without Unity.
Game UI Database. Searchable database of game UI/UX screenshots for interface reference.
How To Market A Game. Marketing strategies for indie games.
LWF. Lightweight SWF. LWF is an animation engine which can play animation data converted from FLASH contents in HTML5, Unity, Cocos2d-x, iOS UIKit.
Phototiler. Lightweight photorealistic map renderer that allows quick rendering of 3D maps for creative cartography.
Pixel Composer (GitHub). Node-based VFX editor for pixel art.
pixeldudesmaker. Small pixel-art character generator, with basic animation.
Red Blob Games. Interactive visual explanations (pathfinding, hex grids, noise).
Slynyrd. American, game designer with tons of material, game specific knowledge and mini-tutorials.
SpriteKit. SpriteKit code to make your game work on iOS, macOS, and tvOS without a hitch.
Spritemate. Online Editor for Commodore 64 Sprites
Timanthes. A pixel art editor for the Commodore 64 computer running on Windows
Turbulenz. HTML5 game engine for building, publishing, and monetising games with 3D effects and real-time physics.
Unity Audio Manager. Plugin to play, change, stop, and mute 2D/3D sounds in Unity.
Unity Game Programming Patterns. Game Programming Pattern Examples in Unity3D.
Unity in Action (book). Hands-on Unity game development book (Manning).
Unity Technologies. Unity Technologies on GitHub. Official Unity repos and samples.

Game Dev: YouTube Channels

Channels covering game dev technique, design, and industry.

📺 Learning All IN ORDER ~ Game Dev Cave. Unreal game-dev tutorial channel: blueprints, C++, quests, and GAS, ordered for beginners (160+ videos).
Aarthificial. Pixel art devlogs.
Acerola. Graphics programming.
Blackthornprod. 2D art and design.
Cain On Games. Tim Cain (Fallout creator) on game design philosophy and war stories.
Freya Holmer. Math for game devs, shaders.
Game Maker's Toolkit. Game design analysis.
GDQuest (YouTube). Godot tutorials.
Jonas Tyroller. Indie dev logs.
Libgdx Wiki. Libgdx documentation wiki (includes Texture Packer page).
Lincoln Margison. Procedural animation tutorials. Step by step walkthroughs for game dev rigging and motion.
Masahiro Sakurai. Game design philosophy, 250+ episodes.
MFGD - Fragment Shaders. YouTube playlist about fragment shaders.
Pontypants. Animation for games.
Sebastian Lague. Procedural generation and simulations.
t3ssel8r. Stylized rendering.
The Cherno Project. While not specific to Unreal Engine, Cherno has tons of great C++ and general game engine content.
Thomas Brush. Indie business and marketing.

Game Dev: Courses

Structured game dev courses.

CS50 Game Development (Harvard). Free, covers Love2D, Unity.
Polyglot Gamedev Mastersheet. Massive community-curated master list of game dev resources across engines, art, audio, and design.

Game Dev: Communities

Reddit, Discord, forums, indie job boards.

Brackeys Discord. Brackeys Discord community.
Game Dev League. Game dev Discord.
Games Artist. Game art community with breakdowns, tutorials, and showcases.
IndieDB. Indie game database and promotion.
r/gamedesign. Game design subreddit.
r/gamedev. 1.5M+ game dev subreddit.
r/IndieDev. Indie developer subreddit.
r/indiegaming. Indie gaming subreddit.
r/pixelart. Pixel art subreddit.
r/unrealengine. Unreal Engine subreddit.
TIGSource Forums. Long-running indie forum.
Unreal Slackers. Unreal Engine Discord community.
Work With Indies. Indie game job board.

Game Jams

Recurring game jams.

Brackeys Game Jam. Beginner-friendly jam.
Global Game Jam. Annual, in-person worldwide.
GMTK Game Jam. Largest jam by entries.
itch.io Jams. Hundreds of active jams.
JS13KGames. 13KB size limit JavaScript jam.

<h3 id="mirror-game-engines-free-oss" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">Game Engines: Free & Open Source</h3> Also in <a href="#game-engines-free--open-source">Software Reference → Game Engines: Free & Open Source</a>

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
A Frame	An easy web framework for building 3D/AR/VR experiences.	Open Source	WebXR · JavaScript	Web AR/VR experiences
Armory3D	Blender-integrated Haxe game engine.	Open Source	Blender-Integrated · Haxe	Blender-integrated game engine
axys	A fork of Cocos2d-x-4.0, it has Full Support OpenAL for all platforms, single texture multi GPU texture handler and C++ 17.	Open Source
Babylon.js	JavaScript 3D engine/framework for browser games and apps.	Open Source	Browser · JavaScript	Browser 3D apps/games
Bevy	Rust data-driven ECS game engine.	Open Source	Rust · ECS	ECS architecture, data-driven games
Blend4Web	JavaScript framework for interactive 3D in browsers. Blender integration.	Open Source	Browser · Blender Integration	Browser 3D from Blender
Blitz3D	3D BASIC-like programming language for fast 3D desktop games.	Open Source	BASIC · Legacy	BASIC 3D desktop games
Ceramic	Haxe cross-platform 2D framework. Exports to Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, HTML5/WebGL, Unity.	Open Source	Haxe · Cross-Platform 2D	2D cross-platform (Haxe)
Cocos Creator	TypeScript mobile/web game engine.	Open Source	Mobile/Web · TypeScript	Mobile/web games (huge in China)
Cocos2d X	C++ OpenGL 2D/3D engine with JS and Lua bindings. Targets all major mobile and desktop platforms.	Open Source	C++ · Mobile	Cross-platform 2D/3D mobile games
CopperCube	CopperCube is an all-in-one 3D game engine. Very easy to use.	Free	No-Code · All-in-One	No-code 3D games
CopperLicht	JavaScript library and WebGL 3D engine for games and 3D applications.
Dash	A free and open 3D game engine written in D.	Open Source	D Language · Niche	D-language 3D
Defold	Lua-based 2D mobile game engine by King.	Open Source	2D Mobile · King (Candy Crush)	2D mobile games
Diligent Engine	Modern cross-platform low-level graphics library supporting D3D11/12, OpenGL/GLES, and Vulkan.	Open Source	Low-Level · Multi-API	Low-level cross-API graphics
Ebitengine	Go 2D game engine.	Open Source	Go · 2D	Simple 2D games
Flax Engine	High-fidelity 3D engine. Free for small studios.	Open Source	High-Fidelity · C# + C++	High-fidelity 3D, free for small studios
FNA	C# XNA reimplementation for ports.	Open Source	XNA Port · Shipping Games	XNA reimplementation for ports
Folded Paper Engine	Blender-to-Godot game mechanics engine/plugins. 2.5D/FPS/TPS controls, triggers, inventory, holdable items.	Open Source	Blender-to-Godot · No-Code	Blender-Godot mechanics
Fusee	A multiplatform 3D C# real-time engine with strong emphasis on content transformation.	Open Source	C# · Multiplatform	C# multiplatform 3D
Fyrox	Rust 3D engine with scene editor.	Open Source	Rust · Scene Editor	3D games with scene editor
gameplay	A free, open-source, cross-platform, 2D + 3D game framework written in C++. It is aimed towards indie game developers who are creating desktop and mobile games.	Open Source
Godot 4	MIT-licensed 2D/3D engine. GDScript, C#, C++.	Open Source	MIT-licensed · 2D + 3D	2D/3D indie games, MIT-licensed
Harfang 3D	C++ 3D visualization library usable in Python, Lua, and Go.	Open Source	C++ · Visualization	3D visualization
Heaps.io	Haxe engine. Dead Cells, Northgard.	Open Source	Haxe · Dead Cells	Shipping 2D/3D indie games
Irrlicht	Open source high-performance realtime 3D engine (C++).	Open Source	C++ · Classic Engine	C++ realtime 3D (classic)
jMonkeyEngine 3	3D open-source game engine for Java developers.	Open Source	Java · 3D	Java 3D games
JPCT	3D engine for desktop Java and Android.	Free	Java · Android	Java/Android 3D
Juno	Framework for making 2D games with chunky pixels in Lua.	Open Source	Lua · Pixel Art	Pixel-art 2D in Lua
Leadwerks	Easy-to-learn game engine for 3D and VR.	Free	Beginner-Friendly · VR	Beginner 3D/VR
Love2D	Lua 2D game framework.	Open Source	Lua · Jam-Friendly	2D prototyping, game jams
LumixEngine	3D game engine built on C++.	Open Source	C++ · Lightweight	C++ 3D engine
Lums	2D/3D framework written in C++11. Efficient and modern. Heavy development.	Open Source	C++11 · WIP	Modern C++11 framework
Macroquad	Rust minimal 2D/3D with WASM support.	Open Source	Rust · WASM	Minimal 2D/3D, WASM support
Magnum (site)	Lightweight modular 2D/3D graphics/game engine written in C++11.	Open Source	C++11 · Modular	Lightweight modular C++ graphics
MonoGame	C# XNA successor (Celeste, Stardew Valley).	Open Source	XNA Successor · C#	XNA successor
Neo Axis Engine	Integrated development environment with built-in 3D and 2D game engine.	Open Source	IDE-Integrated · C#	Integrated 2D/3D IDE
O3DE	AAA-grade Linux Foundation open-source engine.	Open Source	AAA-grade · Linux Foundation	AAA-grade, Linux Foundation
Ogre	Open source graphical rendering engine (C++).	Open Source	C++ · Rendering Engine	C++ rendering engine
Overload	3D game engine with editor.	Open Source	C++ · Editor	3D engine with editor
Panda3D	Python-based 3D engine (originated at Disney VR Studio, now CMU ETC).	Open Source	Python · Disney Origin	Python 3D games
Pixel Vision 8	Teaches retro game development with streamlined workflows. 8-bit fantasy console.	Open Source	Fantasy Console · 8-bit	8-bit fantasy console
PixiJS	Newcomer HTML5 game renderer - first released in early 2013. A main appeal of the engine is its use of WebGL for faster performance. If WebGL isn't supported, the engine falls back to standard	Open Source
Raylib	Minimal C library for learning game programming.	Open Source	Library (not engine) · C	Learning game programming, no engine overhead
Screen 13	Easy-to-use Vulkan rendering engine with render graph for Rust.	Open Source	Rust · Vulkan	Rust Vulkan rendering
Solar2D	Lua 2D mobile framework (formerly Corona SDK).	Open Source	2D Mobile · Lua	2D mobile games
SpriteBuilder	Open source game development suite for macOS.	Open Source	Mac-only · 2D	2D games on Mac
Stride	C# 3D game engine (formerly Xenko).	Open Source	C# · 3D	3D games
Superpowers	HTML5 Collaborative 2D/3D Game Maker	Open Source	games · opensource-alt
Three.js	JavaScript 3D library. The standard for web 3D.	Open Source	Browser · Standard JS 3D	Web 3D graphics (broad)
Torque3D	C++ engine with decades of Torque technology lineage.	Open Source	C++ · Legacy	C++ game engine
UPBGE (GitHub)	Integrated game engine in Blender.	Open Source	Blender-Integrated · Python	Blender-integrated game engine
UPBGE (site)	Open-source 3D game engine forked from old Blender Game Engine, deployed with Blender itself. <a href="https://github.com/UPBGE/upbge" class="repo-pill" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><svg viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="12" height="12" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true"><path d="M8 0C3.58 0 0 3.58 0 8c0 3.54 2.29 6.53 5.47 7.59.4.07.55-.17.55-.38 0-.19-.01-.82-.01-1.49-2.01.37-2.53-.49-2.69-.94-.09-.23-.48-.94-.82-1.13-.28-.15-.68-.52-.01-.53.63-.01 1.08.58 1.23.82.72 1.21 1.87.87 2.33.66.07-.52.28-.87.51-1.07-1.78-.2-3.64-.89-3.64-3.95 0-.87.31-1.59.82-2.15-.08-.2-.36-1.02.08-2.12 0 0 .67-.21 2.2.82.64-.18 1.32-.27 2-.27.68 0 1.36.09 2 .27 1.53-1.04 2.2-.82 2.2-.82.44 1.1.16 1.92.08 2.12.51.56.82 1.27.82 2.15 0 3.07-1.87 3.75-3.65 3.95.29.25.54.73.54 1.48 0 1.07-.01 1.93-.01 2.2 0 .21.15.46.55.38A8.012 8.012 0 0016 8c0-4.42-3.58-8-8-8z"/></svg>GitHub</a>	Open Source
Urho3D	Cross-platform rendering and game engine.	Open Source	C++ · Cross-Platform	Cross-platform 2D/3D
ursina	A game engine powered by Python and Panda3D.	Open Source	Python · Prototyping	Easy Python game prototyping
Whitestorm.js (GitHub)	3D JavaScript framework for building apps and games.	Open Source	JavaScript · Browser	Browser 3D apps
Wonderland Engine	WebXR-focused engine with visual editor. Targets VR, AR, and standard browser 3D. Free for indies.	Freemium	WebXR · Editor	WebXR apps, browser VR/AR

<h3 id="mirror-game-engines-commercial" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">Game Engines: Commercial Free Tiers</h3> Also in <a href="#game-engines-commercial-free-tiers">Software Reference → Game Engines: Commercial Free Tiers</a>

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Construct 3	Browser-based no-code 2D engine with visual scripting.	Freemium	No-code · Browser	No-code 2D games, browser-based
CryEngine	High-fidelity 3D engine, pay-what-you-want.	Freemium	High-Fidelity · PWYW	High-fidelity 3D
Evergine	Enterprise-focused graphics engine for 3D business and industry applications.	Open Source	Enterprise · Industrial	Enterprise 3D apps
GameMaker	GML-based 2D engine (Undertale, Hotline Miami).	Freemium	2D Focus · Indie Proven	2D games
GDevelop	Open-source event-based no-code 2D.	Open Source	No-code · Open Source	Open-source no-code 2D
PlayCanvas	JavaScript browser-based 3D engine.	Freemium	Browser-Based · JavaScript	Browser-based 3D games
Ren'Py	Python visual novel engine (industry standard).	Open Source	Visual Novels · Industry Standard	Visual novels
RPG Maker MZ	JavaScript-based RPG creation.	Paid	RPG Focus · JavaScript	RPG creation
SceneKit	Apple proprietary 3D game engine (available on macOS, iOS, iPadOS, tvOS and watchOS).	Free	Apple-Native · Proprietary	Apple ecosystem 3D games
Unbound	SDF-based game development platform. Non-destructive real-time editing, Lua 5.3 scripting, FBX/glTF export. Early Access.	Freemium	SDF-Native · Early Access	SDF-native game creation
Unity	Cross-platform engine with massive asset store ecosystem (current major release Unity 6).	Freemium	Cross-Platform · XR	Mobile, AR/VR, cross-platform
Unreal Engine 5	AAA engine from Epic. Free until $1M revenue, then royalty.	Freemium	AAA · Virtual Production	AAA, film, virtual production

<h3 id="mirror-level-design-software" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">Level Design & Map Editing Software</h3> Also in <a href="#level-design--map-editing-software">Software Reference → Level Design & Map Editing Software</a>

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
LDtk	Modern 2D level editor by Dead Cells creator.	Open Source	2D Levels · Dead Cells Creator	2D level design
Mappy	Free tilemap editor.	Free
OGMO Editor 3	Free project-based 2D level editor with grid and entity layers.	Open Source
Sprite Fusion	A free level design tool to craft beautiful 2D tilemaps right in your browser using any tileset.	Free
Tiled	General-purpose tilemap editor. TMX format.	Open Source	Tilemap Editor · TMX	Tilemap editing
TrenchBroom	Quake-style level editor, great for blockouts.	Open Source	Blockouts · Quake-style	Blockouts, Quake-style levels

Art, Design & Visual Storytelling

Fundamentals. Concept art, composition, color, typography, photography, cinematography, animation principles. The craft underpinning 3D work.

Concept Art & Illustration: Channels

Channels on concept art, figure drawing, painting.

Awesome Illustrations. Curated awesome-list of illustration resources, tools, and references.
Awesome Stock Resources. A collection of links for free stock photography, video and Illustration websites.
Illustration Tools. Directory of tools and resources for illustrators, creatives, and artists.
Michael Mattesi. Force drawing (Instagram).
Neural Network-Generated Illustrations. Google Research article on AI-generated illustrations for Allo.

Concept Art & Illustration: Courses

Structured concept art and design courses.

Drawing & Painting for 3D Artists

Gesture, figure, digital painting fundamentals for 3D artists.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Pixen (site)	Paid, works on macOS and iOS. Superb OS integration, create pixel art on a tablet using pressure-sensitive drawing.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#2d--animation-software">Software Reference → 2D & Animation Software</a></small>	Paid
Rebelle 8 Pro	Natural-media painting app simulating real watercolor, oil, acrylic, ink with fluid dynamics.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#2d--animation-software">Software Reference → 2D & Animation Software</a></small>	Paid	Natural Media · Watercolor Sim	Realistic traditional-media digital painting

Related:

Animation with Dall-e + AE | Reddit. Reddit thread on AI-assisted animation with DALL-E and After Effects.
ArtStation Learning. Free courses from Blizzard, Riot, Pixar pros.
BodyVisualizer. 3D body shape visualizer for proportion reference.
Ctrl+Paint. Structured free video library. Digital painting fundamentals, value studies, color.
Graphite 3D Paid. A collaborative drawing tool for modeling precise shapes in real spaces.
Human Anatomy for Artists. Massive free photo reference by body part and angle.
Instanced Line Rendering Part I. Builds on "Drawing Lines is Hard" to draw lines via instanced rendering.
Intro to JS: Drawing & Animation. Use JavaScript and the ProcessingJS library to create drawings and animations.
Learn HTML5 Graphics and Animation Freemium. Introduction to the canvas 2D drawing API.
Line of Action. Free timed gesture drawing (figures, animals, hands, faces).
Posemaniacs. Rotatable 3D pose reference with muscle groups.
Proko Free Library Freemium. Anatomy, figure drawing, portrait (substantial free tier).
QuickPoses. Timed drawing practice with huge photo library.
SketchDaily Reference. Timed drawing sessions across categories.

Photography: Reference & Fundamentals

Photography knowledge directly applicable to 3D lighting and composition.

/r/FOSSPhotography. Reddit community on free open-source software for photography.
B&H Explora Photography. Deep technical articles on lighting modifiers and color temperature.
Cambridge in Colour. Photography tutorials on exposure, color, and composition.
Femto-Photography: Visualizing Photons in Motion at a
Trillion Frames Per Second. Raskar et al., SIGGRAPH 2012.
Fstoppers Education. Studio lighting, portrait ratios, product photography.
Gavin Hoey (Adorama). Studio lighting tutorials with setup diagrams.
Open Source Photography Community on Google+. Open-source photography community on Google+.
PIXLS.US. Community for tutorials and workflows on high-quality photography with free-software tools.
Strobist Lighting 101. Definitive free course on shaping light (directly applicable to 3D lighting).
Workphlo. Studio product photography lighting breakdowns with placement diagrams.

Cinematography & Camera Work

Shot composition, camera techniques, lighting for film/CG.

CinemaTyler. Deep analysis of lens choice, color, blocking, lighting in film.
Every Frame a Painting. Gold-standard video essays on composition, camera, editing rhythm. See also: <a href="#pre-production-storyboarding--script-tools">Art, Design & Visual Storytelling → Pre-Production, Storyboarding & Script Tools</a>
How to Create Stunning Cinematic Lighting. Cinematic lighting tutorial.
In Depth Cine. Practical lighting setups and narrative technique.
No Film School. Cinematography. Constant stream of technique articles.
Roger Deakins on Learning to Light. Cinematography Techniques Ep. 1.
Shane Hurlbut ASC Blog. Real DP knowledge on cinematography, lens choice, lighting setups.
StudioBinder Film Guides. Shot composition, camera shots encyclopedia, camera movements, lighting. See also: <a href="#pre-production-storyboarding--script-tools">Art, Design & Visual Storytelling → Pre-Production, Storyboarding & Script Tools</a>
Wolfcrow. Cinematography fundamentals, color science, exposure theory.

Composition & Visual Storytelling

Composition theory, color theory, visual hierarchy.

Can't Unsee. Interactive game training visual alignment and spacing precision.
Handprint Color & Composition. Deepest free color theory resource online. Covers perception and harmony.
Laws of UX. Gestalt principles, visual perception laws (directly applicable to 3D composition).
Neil Blevins Art Lessons. Composition types, tangents, visual hierarchy by a Pixar artist. See also: <a href="#3d-inspiration--showcase">Learning, Community & Industry → 3D Inspiration & Showcase</a>
PhotoPills Golden Ratio Guide. Golden ratio, spirals, triangles with overlay diagrams.

Animation Principles

The 12 principles of animation and related fundamentals.

Animation Resources. Archives of classic animation, frame-by-frame studies.
Animator Island. 51 Exercises. Structured practice curriculum by difficulty.
Endless Reference. Video clips browsable by action type (walk, run, fight, etc.).
Hippydrome. Richard Williams walk cycle and timing chart reference.
iAnimate Free Resources. Webinars from Disney/Pixar/DreamWorks animators.
New Frame Plus. Animation analysis in games (walk cycles, weight, timing).
The 12 Principles (Illustrated). GIF breakdowns of each principle.

Design Principles & Typography

Typography, visual hierarchy, design fundamentals.

Better Web Type. Free typography course on rhythm and hierarchy.
How to Proof a Typeface. Jonathan Hoefler's proofing guide.
Kerning Tool. Kerning typography in Houdini.
NNGroup Visual Design. Research-backed principles on hierarchy, contrast, whitespace.
Practical Typography. Free online book on type fundamentals, hierarchy, spacing.
The Futur. Graphic design fundamentals, typography, grid systems.
Typewolf. Curated typography inspiration. Fonts in real-world use.

Color Theory & Tools

Color palettes, generators, matching, and theory tools.

Adobe Color. Color wheel, harmony tool, palettes.
Canva Color Palettes. Pre-made palettes.
Color Hunt. Curated color palette collection.
Color Method. Interactive color matching game.
ColorBox. Systematic color scale generator.
Coolors Freemium. Fast palette generator.
Gradient Horse. Experimental gradient generator.
Huemint Freemium. AI-assisted brand color generation.
Lospec Palette List. Pixel art palette repository.
Paletton. Classic color scheme designer.
poline. Esoteric palette generation via polar color interpolation.
Swatchr. A color palette management system for Unity.
WebGradients. Gradient library.

Design Tools

Vector editors, creative effect tools, and design utilities.

Software	Description	Pricing	License	Tags	Best For
Adobe Express	Quick Adobe design tool.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#design-software">Software Reference → Design Software</a></small>		Freemium	Web · Adobe	Quick design
Adobe Illustrator	Industry-standard vector graphics editor; available on iPad.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#design-software">Software Reference → Design Software</a></small>	$22.99/mo annual single-app	Paid	Industry Standard · Vector	Vector illustration, logos, layout
Adobe InDesign	Page layout and publishing for print and digital.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#design-software">Software Reference → Design Software</a></small>	$20.99/mo annual single-app	Paid	Industry Standard · Layout	Editorial layout and publishing
Adobe Photoshop	Industry-standard raster image editor and compositor; available on iPad.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#design-software">Software Reference → Design Software</a></small>	Single App $22.99/mo; Photography Plan $19.99/mo	Paid	Industry Standard · Raster	Photo editing, matte painting, texture work
ArcBrush	Node-based non-destructive image editor for generating asset variants and export formats; optional credit-based AI features.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#design-software">Software Reference → Design Software</a></small>		Freemium	Node-based · Non-destructive	Node-based batch image editing
Eagle	Visual asset organizer.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#design-software">Software Reference → Design Software</a></small>		Paid	Asset Organizer · Visual	Asset organization
Graphite	Open-source 2D vector and raster graphics editor with procedural node-based workflow. In active development.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#design-software">Software Reference → Design Software</a></small>		Open Source	Procedural · Open Source	Procedural design, non-destructive vector
Krita	Free open-source digital painting app from KDE; v5.3 and v6.0 shipped March 2026.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#design-software">Software Reference → Design Software</a>, <a href="#2d--animation-software">Software Reference → 2D & Animation Software</a></small>		Open Source	Free OSS · Painting	Digital painting, concept art
Modyfi	Browser-based creative suite.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#design-software">Software Reference → Design Software</a></small>		Freemium	Browser Suite · Creative	Creative suite in browser
Sketch	Mac-native UI/UX design tool with web previews and collaboration.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#design-software">Software Reference → Design Software</a></small>	Standard $12/editor/mo; Mac one-time $120/seat	Paid	UI/UX · Mac-native	UI/UX design on Mac

Related:

Are.na Freemium. Collaborative visual research blocks and channels. See also: <a href="#pre-production-storyboarding--script-tools">Art, Design & Visual Storytelling → Pre-Production, Storyboarding & Script Tools</a>
BabyTrack. Blob tracking effect.
Carbon. Code snippet screenshot generator.
ContentCore. Curated creative content.
Cosmos. Visual content curation platform.
Efecto. ASCII and dithering effects.
Halftone Maker. Halftone generator.
Mockup Photos Freemium. Device and print mockup library.
Muzli. Design inspiration Chrome extension.
OS Design Directory. Open-source design resources directory.
Savee Freemium. Visual bookmarking tool.
Space Type Generator. Experimental type generator.
The Toolbox. Curated creative tools directory.
Tiled Art. Tessellation creator.
Undesign. Design learning resources.
X Design Freemium. Browser-based design editor for product photos and visuals.

General Inspiration

Blogs, feeds, and curated inspiration sources.

5 Decades of Digital Art History. YouTube playlist surveying 50 years of digital art.
Activation Ideas. Brand activation inspiration.
But Does It Float. Contemporary design and art feed.
Designspiration Freemium. Design inspiration feed.
DETHJUNKIE. Dark creative blog.
FX References (Sylvain Nouveau). Collected real-world FX reference footage.
FYFD. Fluid dynamics blog with reference imagery for FX.
Generative Art Timeline. Interactive timeline of generative art history.
Geometric Design (Canva). Geometric design article.
H.R. Giger (Artnet). H.R. Giger gallery archive.
Houdini on Dribbble. Houdini work tagged on Dribbble for inspiration.
Instagram. Motion and 3D work under the xuxoe hashtag.
Mech Blog. Mecha design inspiration.
Movie Scenes Inspired by Art. Thread on movie scenes mirroring paintings.
Mr Cup. Graphic design blog.
mr5ivethou5and. Tumblr archive of motion and abstract visual inspiration.
Muddycolors. Pro illustrator blog.
OTAKU GANGSTA. Anime/otaku visual blog.
Sakuga Booru. Animation clip archive (non-www mirror).
The Black Workshop. Design inspiration blog.
Truchet's Tiles. On Truchet tiles and patterns.

2D Art References & Inspiration

2D animation sheets, cloth, anime model sheets.

2D Tutorials. Draw a Box. Free drawing fundamentals course.
Anatomy 360, Free Reference. 3D scanned human reference images.
Dimensions.com. Dimensioned drawings database.
National Gallery of Art (NGA). Open-access collection of historical paintings, drawings, and prints. High-res downloads for reference.
Saint11 Pixel Art Paid. Pixel art tutorials.

Pre-Production, Storyboarding & Script Tools

Storyboard apps, previs tools, script breakdown, reference managers, moodboarding, and direction-theory channels.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Boords	Browser storyboard, animatic, and script sync for teams.	Paid	Browser · Team	Team browser storyboarding
Celtx	Browser script + breakdown + pre-prod.	Paid	Browser · Pre-prod	Browser pre-prod
Cinetracer	Real-time cinematography simulation on Unreal Engine. Lights, lenses, cameras.	Paid	Cinematography Sim · Unreal-based	Pre-shoot lens/lighting blocking
Eagle	Local image and video asset manager with tags.	Paid	Local DAM · Tags	Local reference DAM
Fade In	Pro screenwriting at a lower price point.	Paid	Screenwriting · Affordable	Affordable pro screenwriting
Final Draft	Industry-standard screenwriting with breakdown tagging.	Paid	Industry Std · Screenwriting	Pro screenwriting
FrameForge Storyboard Studio	3D previs/storyboard hybrid with accurate lens and camera simulation.	Paid	3D Storyboard · Lens-Accurate	3D techvis-aware storyboarding
Highland	Fountain-native Mac screenwriter.	Paid	Fountain · Mac	Mac Fountain screenwriting
Kuadro	Minimal floating image viewer for references.	Free	Free · Lightweight	Lightweight ref viewer
Milanote	Visual notes and moodboards for creative planning.	Freemium	Moodboards · Cloud	Visual moodboards
Movie Magic Scheduling	Industry-standard scheduling and stripboards.	Paid	Industry Std · Schedule	Film scheduling
PureRef	Floating reference canvas. Standard for artists.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#misc-3d-utilities-software">Software Reference → Misc 3D Utilities Software</a></small>	Freemium	Pay What You Want · Std Artist Tool	Reference canvas
ShotPro	iOS and desktop 3D storyboard and previs.	Paid	iOS · 3D Storyboard	3D iOS storyboarding
Storyboard Pro (Toon Boom)	Industry-standard storyboarding with animatic, camera, and audio timeline.	Paid	Industry Std · Storyboard	Pro storyboard + animatic
Storyboarder (Wonder Unit)	Free, fast sketch-first boarding tool with Shot Generator.	Open Source	Free · MIT	Free sketch-first storyboarding
StudioBinder	Cloud production suite. Script breakdown, shotlists, storyboards, call sheets.	Paid	Pre-Prod Suite · Cloud	Full pre-production suite
WriterDuet	Realtime collaborative screenwriting in the browser.	Freemium	Collab · Browser	Collab screenwriting

Related:

Are.na Freemium. Collaborative visual research blocks and channels. See also: <a href="#design-tools">Art, Design & Visual Storytelling → Design Tools</a>
Cine Designer (C4D) Paid. Cinema 4D previs and techvis plugin for lights, lenses, set pieces.
Every Frame a Painting. Gold-standard video essays on composition, camera, editing rhythm. See also: <a href="#cinematography--camera-work">Art, Design & Visual Storytelling → Cinematography & Camera Work</a>
FilmGrab. Curated film stills archive. Free. See also: <a href="#motion-graphics-inspiration">Motion Graphics & Video → Motion Graphics: Inspiration</a>
Halon Entertainment. Previs, VP, and virtual scouting case studies and tooling writeups.
Magnopus. VP and XR studio. Tooling and case studies.
Shot.Cafe. Searchable film and TV frames.
ShotDeck Paid. Searchable film still library for storyboards and references. See also: <a href="#motion-graphics-inspiration">Motion Graphics & Video → Motion Graphics: Inspiration</a>
StudioBinder Film Guides. Shot composition, camera shots encyclopedia, camera movements, lighting. See also: <a href="#cinematography--camera-work">Art, Design & Visual Storytelling → Cinematography & Camera Work</a>
The Third Floor. Previs and postvis studio blog with breakdowns from major features.
VES (Visual Effects Society). VES handbook, talks, and methodology resources for on-set VFX.

<h3 id="mirror-design-software" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">Design Software</h3> Also in <a href="#design-software">Software Reference → Design Software</a>

Software	Description	Pricing	License	Tags	Best For
Adobe Express	Quick Adobe design tool.		Freemium	Web · Adobe	Quick design
Adobe Illustrator	Industry-standard vector graphics editor; available on iPad.	$22.99/mo annual single-app	Paid	Industry Standard · Vector	Vector illustration, logos, layout
Adobe InDesign	Page layout and publishing for print and digital.	$20.99/mo annual single-app	Paid	Industry Standard · Layout	Editorial layout and publishing
Adobe Photoshop	Industry-standard raster image editor and compositor; available on iPad.	Single App $22.99/mo; Photography Plan $19.99/mo	Paid	Industry Standard · Raster	Photo editing, matte painting, texture work
Affinity	Unified vector, photo, and layout app. Free, by Canva.		Free	Free (Canva) · Vector + Raster	Illustration, photo editing, page layout
ArcBrush	Node-based non-destructive image editor for generating asset variants and export formats; optional credit-based AI features.		Freemium	Node-based · Non-destructive	Node-based batch image editing
Clip Studio Paint	Industry-standard illustration and comics with animation timeline.		Paid	Manga · Frame-by-Frame	Manga, illustration, frame-by-frame animation
Eagle	Visual asset organizer.		Paid	Asset Organizer · Visual	Asset organization
Figma	Collaborative UI/UX design with free tier.		Freemium	Collaborative · UI/UX	UI design, prototyping, design systems
FontLab 8	Professional font editor.		Paid	Font Editor · Pro	Type design, font editing
GIMP	Free open-source image editor.		Open Source	Open Source · Photoshop-alt	Texture editing, photo manipulation
Google Drawings	Free browser-based diagramming and simple vector tool. Collaborative.		Free	Browser · Collaborative	Quick diagrams, collaborative sketches
Graphite	Open-source 2D vector and raster graphics editor with procedural node-based workflow. In active development.		Open Source	Procedural · Open Source	Procedural design, non-destructive vector
Inkscape	Free open-source vector editor.		Open Source	Vector · SVG	SVG editing, illustration
Krita	Free open-source digital painting app from KDE; v5.3 and v6.0 shipped March 2026.		Open Source	Free OSS · Painting	Digital painting, concept art
Lunacy	Free graphic design app from Icons8. Native Sketch file support, built-in icons/illustrations/photos, AI tools.		Free	Sketch-alt · Free	UI design, Sketch file editing on Win/Linux
Microsoft Paint	Built-in Windows raster editor. Now ships with layers, transparency, and Cocreator AI.		Free	Windows-native · Lightweight	Quick raster edits, mockups
Modyfi	Browser-based creative suite.		Freemium	Browser Suite · Creative	Creative suite in browser
Origami Studio	Free interaction design and prototyping tool by Meta. Patch-based logic, Figma import.		Free	Prototyping · Meta	Interaction prototyping, motion specs
Paint.NET	Free Windows raster editor with layers, plugins, and unlimited undo. Sits between Microsoft Paint and Photoshop.		Free	Windows-native · Layers	Quick raster edits, texture tweaks, photo touch-ups
Penpot	Open-source design platform. Native SVG/CSS/HTML output. Cloud-hosted or self-host. Figma alternative.		Open Source	Open Source · Figma-alt	Open-source collaborative UI/UX design
Picsart	Photo and video editor with AI tools. Web, mobile, and desktop.		Freemium	AI Tools · Mobile	Quick edits, social content, AI photo tools
Pixelmator	Full-featured image editing app for the Mac.		Paid	Mac-native · Image Editor	Mac image editing
PixiEditor	Universal 2D graphics editor. Procedural graphics w/ node graph, image editing, vectors, pixel art, animations.		Open Source	Unified · Node-based	Unified 2D editor
PowerPoint	Microsoft presentation app. Used as a quick-draft motion/layout tool for storyboards and diagrams.		Paid	Presentations · Microsoft	Presentations, quick layout/storyboards
Procreate	IPad painting app. Procreate Dreams for animation.		Paid	iPad-native · Storyboarding	Mobile illustration, storyboards
ProtoPie	High-fidelity interaction prototyping for apps and connected devices.		Freemium	Prototyping · Interaction	Interaction prototyping
Sketch	Mac-native UI/UX design tool with web previews and collaboration.	Standard $12/editor/mo; Mac one-time $120/seat	Paid	UI/UX · Mac-native	UI/UX design on Mac
Unicorn Studio	Browser-based interactive scene and motion design for the web. No-code, exports to embed.		Freemium	Web Motion · No-code	Interactive web hero scenes, motion-driven landing pages
Vectorpea	Free browser-based vector editor by Photopea team. Opens AI/SVG/PDF/EPS/CDR.		Free	Browser · Illustrator-alt	Quick vector editing in-browser

AI & Machine Learning for CG

Generative AI and ML tools across image, video, 3D, texture, audio. AI mocap lives in §3 (dual-listed).

Machine Learning for CG

ML fundamentals and courses for CG artists.

3D Machine Learning. Resource repository for 3D machine learning.
Awesome 3D Human. Curated list of papers and resources on 3D human research, including face, body, hand and motion.
DINOv2. Meta self-supervised vision features. Strong general-purpose image embeddings. Useful as backbone for CG ML tasks.
Generative AI Genius 2024. Free generative AI course material by Aishwarya Naresh Reganti.
IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems. Publishes technical articles on the theory, design, and applications of neural networks and related learning systems.
Introduction to Generative AI Community Course. Free community course on generative AI fundamentals by iNeuron.
Meta 3D Gen. Meta research pipeline for text-to-3D. Combines AssetGen geometry with TextureGen materials. Paper and results.
PyTorch3D. Meta FAIR library for 3D deep learning. Differentiable rendering, mesh ops, point cloud utils on PyTorch.

Image Generation

text-to-image models and platforms.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Adobe Firefly 3	Commercial-safe, deep Creative Cloud integration.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Paid	Commercial-Safe · Adobe CC	Commercial-safe Adobe workflows
Aga Miko/pixel Character Generator	Generating retro pixel game characters with Generative Adversarial Networks. Dataset "TinyHero" included.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Open Source
FLUX.2 (Black Forest Labs)	Open-weight photorealism with Kontext editing.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Open Weight · Photoreal	Open-weight photorealism
GPT Image (OpenAI)	Instruction-following image model with strong text rendering. GPT Image 1.5.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Paid	OpenAI · Text Rendering	Instruction following
Grok Aurora (xAI)	Photorealistic image gen integrated into Grok.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Paid	xAI · Photoreal	Photorealism in Grok
HunyuanDiT (Tencent)	Open-source DiT-based, strong Chinese text.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Open Source	Tencent · DiT	Chinese text rendering
Ideogram 2.0	Best-in-class typography and text rendering, canvas mode.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Typography · Text Rendering	Typography in images
Imagen	Google photoreal image model via Gemini and Vertex.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Paid	Photoreal · Google	Photoreal image gen
Jimeng / Dreamina (ByteDance)	High quality, integrated with video pipeline.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	ByteDance · Video Pipeline	Integrated image + video pipeline
Kolors (Kuaishou)	Open-source, bilingual Chinese/English.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Open Source	Open Source · Bilingual	Bilingual open model
Krea AI	Real-time generation, upscaling, and style transfer platform.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Real-time · Upscaling	Real-time + upscaling
Leonardo AI	Real-time generation with artistic control.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Real-time · Controlled	Controlled artistic generation
Midjourney v7	Industry-leading artistic coherence and stylized output.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Paid	Artistic · Subscription	Artistic and stylized imagery
Nano Banana Pro (Google Gemini)	Instruction-based editing with character and product consistency across edits.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Consistency · Editing	Consistency editing
Playground v3	Mixed-mode design canvas for graphic design.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Design Canvas · Mixed-mode	Graphic design canvas
Recraft V3	Design-oriented gen. Vector, icons, brand assets.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Design Focus · Vector	Design assets, vectors
Reve	Image model with strong prompt adherence.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Prompt Adherence	Prompt adherence
Snowpixel	Generate Images/Videos/Animations/Audio/Music/3D Objects with Text and/or Image. Upload your own data to create custom models.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium
Stable Diffusion 3.5	Open-source diffusion (Large, Medium, Turbo sizes).<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Open Source	Open Source · Self-Host	Self-hosted image gen

Related:

Canva AI Text-to-Image Generator Freemium. Canva's free built-in text-to-image generator.
RenderNet Freemium. AI tool for generating images and videos with control over character design, composition, and style.
Stable Diffusion Frivolous. Community response to the Stable Diffusion litigation.
Word-As-Image for Semantic Typography. Semantically transforming fonts into illustrations.

Video Generation

AI video generation platforms and models.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Cog Video X	Tsinghua/Zhipu open-source, multiple sizes.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Open Source	Open Source · Tsinghua	Research open-source video gen
Drawstory	Cinematography and story sequencing with strong character continuity.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Cinematography · Continuity	Character continuity
Frameo	Script to cinematic video with scenes, characters, audio, and timeline assembly.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Script to Video · Timeline	Structured film pipeline
Genmo Mochi 1	Open-source video gen model.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Open Source	Open Source · Genmo	Open-source video gen
Google Flow	Filmmaking app over Veo with scenebuilder and ingredients-to-video.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Paid	Filmmaking · Scenebuilder	Veo filmmaking app
Hailuo AI / MiniMax	"Director" model. Strong motion and character consistency.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Director Model · Character Consist	Directed motion
Haiper	Ex-DeepMind team, animation and video-to-video modes.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Ex-DeepMind · V2V	Video-to-video
HeyGen	AI avatar marketing videos with a talking-head focus.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Avatars	Avatar videos
HunyuanVideo 1.5	Open-source 8.3B params, runs on 14GB VRAM.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Open Source	Open Source · 14GB VRAM	Self-hosted video gen
InVideo AI	Prompt to video for marketing and social content.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Marketing	Marketing and social video
Kling 3.0	Up to 5min clips, strong human motion. Motion Brush control.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	5min Clips · Motion Brush	Long clips, human motion
LTX Studio	Pre-production to video pipeline with storyboards, character consistency, and timeline.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Pre-production · Storyboards	Script to video pipeline
LTX-2 (Lightricks)	Fast open video model. LTX-2 Fast ranks top-3 in the arena.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Open Source	Open Source · Fast	Fast open-source video gen
Luma Dream Machine	Atmospheric image-to-video. Ray3 is the first native 16-bit HDR video model.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	HDR · Atmospheric	Atmospheric video gen
Mootion	Idea to a 2-minute cinematic video in one tool.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	All-in-one	Fast all-in-one film
Morphic	AI film studio for story-driven video.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Paid	Film Studio	Story-driven film
Pika 2.0	Extended video gen with improved consistency.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Extended Gen · Stylized	Stylized video
PixVerse	Style-specific modes (anime, 3D, realistic), character consistency.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Style Modes · Consistency	Style-specific video gen
Runway Gen-4.5	Motion brushes and scene consistency on the GWM-1 world model.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Motion Brushes · Consistency	Motion control
Seedance 2.0 (ByteDance)	High raw quality video gen with audio. Tops the Artificial Analysis ranking.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Paid	Top Quality · Native Audio	Top raw quality
Stable Animation SDK	Text-to-animation SDK for developers by Stability AI.	Paid
Veo 3.1 (Google DeepMind)	Top leaderboard, native audio, 60s+ clips.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Paid	Top Leaderboard · Native Audio	Top-quality video gen
Vidu	16s clips, strong human motion (Shengshu).<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	16s · Human Motion	Long human-motion clips
Wan 2.2 (Alibaba)	Cinematic MoE diffusion, 8GB+ VRAM. Open source.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a></small>	Open Source	Open Source · MoE Diffusion	Cinematic open-source video gen

Related:

Deforum Notebook v0.5 (Stable Diffusion animation). Deforum v0.5 notebook for Stable Diffusion animation with math automation, perspective flips, prompt weights, and video masking.
Deforum Stable Diffusion Animation (Artificial Selections). YouTube channel covering Deforum Stable Diffusion animation techniques.
Emu Video (Meta). Meta's text-to-video research model. Factorized generation, image-then-video. Demos and paper.
Stable Diffusion KLMC2 Animation. Colab notebook by @RiversHaveWings generating animation from scripted prompts via KLMC2 discretization of underdamped Langevin dynamics.
Stable Diffusion KLMC2 Animation (forked). Colab notebook for Stable Diffusion animation, forked by @DigThatData.

3D Generation

AI tools for generating 3D models from text or images.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
3DTopia	Open-source text-to-3D pipeline (coarse → refined).<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-3d-generation-software">Software Reference → AI 3D Generation Software</a></small>	Open Source	Coarse→Refined · Open Source	Text-to-3D open-source
Ashawkey/stable Dreamfusion	A pytorch implementation of text-to-3D dreamfusion, powered by stable diffusion.	Open Source
InstantMesh	Fast single-image-to-3D reconstruction.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-3d-generation-software">Software Reference → AI 3D Generation Software</a></small>	Open Source	Fast · Image→3D	Fast image→3D
Intangible	Prompt and drag-drop to 3D scenes for previz. No-code.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-3d-generation-software">Software Reference → AI 3D Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Previz · No-code	No-code 3D previz
Kaedim	Image-to-3D with hybrid AI plus artist cleanup for production quality.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-3d-generation-software">Software Reference → AI 3D Generation Software</a></small>	Paid	Hybrid AI+Artist · Production	Production-quality via hybrid AI+artist
Luma Genie	Text/image to 3D, integrated with Dream Machine.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-3d-generation-software">Software Reference → AI 3D Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Luma · Integrated	Luma-integrated 3D gen
Meshy v4	Production-reliable, improved topology and PBR textures.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-3d-generation-software">Software Reference → AI 3D Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Production-Reliable · PBR	Production-ready AI 3D
Rodin Gen-2 (Hyper3D)	10B params, photorealistic, free generation tier.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-3d-generation-software">Software Reference → AI 3D Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	10B Params · Free Tier	Photorealistic AI 3D
Sloyd	Procedural 3D generation with parametric control.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-3d-generation-software">Software Reference → AI 3D Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Procedural · Parametric	Parametric procedural 3D
Spline AI	Generate 3D objects and textures from text prompts in-editor.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-3d-generation-software">Software Reference → AI 3D Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	In-Editor · Text→3D	In-editor AI 3D
Stability SPAR3D	Open-source single-image 3D reconstruction.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-3d-generation-software">Software Reference → AI 3D Generation Software</a></small>	Open Source	Stability AI · Open Source	Single-image open-source 3D
TRELLIS.2 (Microsoft)	Full PBR materials, complex topologies.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-3d-generation-software">Software Reference → AI 3D Generation Software</a></small>	Open Source	Microsoft · PBR + Open Source	PBR AI 3D (open source)
Tripo v3.0	Sculpture-level precision, clean quad topology.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-3d-generation-software">Software Reference → AI 3D Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Clean Quads · Sculpt-level	Clean topology AI 3D
TripoSR	Tripo/Stability collab. Fast open-source image-to-3D.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-3d-generation-software">Software Reference → AI 3D Generation Software</a></small>	Open Source	Open Source · Fast	Fast open-source image→3D
Unique3D	High-quality mesh from single image (NeurIPS 2024).<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-3d-generation-software">Software Reference → AI 3D Generation Software</a></small>	Open Source	Single-Image · NeurIPS	Single-image open-source 3D
Wonder3D++	Cross-domain diffusion, textured meshes in 2-3min.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-3d-generation-software">Software Reference → AI 3D Generation Software</a></small>	Open Source	Fast · Textured Mesh	Fast textured mesh gen

Related:

NativeBlend CLI. AI CLI to generate and edit low-poly 3D game assets in Blender from text prompts.
Pixal3D. Single-image to 3D asset generation via pixel-feature back-projection. Outputs geometry and PBR textures.
Point-E (OpenAI). OpenAI point-cloud diffusion for text and image to 3D synthesis.
Threestudio. A unified framework for 3D content generation.
Transforming 2D Images into 3D with AdaMPI. Guide to using the AdaMPI model to create 3D photos from 2D images.

Texture & Material Generation

AI-generated PBR textures and materials.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Adobe Firefly Textures	Prompt-to-edit texture workflows.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Paid	Adobe · Prompt-to-Edit	Adobe-integrated AI textures
InstaMAT	Material authoring with AI workflows (Substance alternative).<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Paid	Substance-alt · AI Workflows	AI-assisted material authoring
Meshy Textures	Integrated with 3D pipeline.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Meshy Pipeline · Integrated	Textures tied to Meshy 3D
Poly	AI-generated PBR textures and materials, tileable with full map sets.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	AI PBR · Tileable	AI PBR textures
Ponzu	AI texture gen from text prompts for uploaded meshes.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Mesh-aware · Text→Tex	Mesh-aware AI textures
Scenario	Game-ready PBR materials, full map sets.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Paid	Game-Ready · Full Maps	Game-ready AI materials

ComfyUI Ecosystem

Node-based AI generation. ComfyUI and its ecosystem.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
ComfyUI	Node-based AI generator for image/video/3D/audio.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a></small>	Open Source	Node-based · Multi-modal	Node-based AI workflows

Related:

Awesome ComfyUI. Curated custom nodes collection.
Comflowy. ComfyUI tutorials for ControlNet, SDXL, FLUX workflows.
Comfy UI Manager. Install and manage custom nodes and dependencies.
ComfyUI Registry. Community workflow and subgraph sharing.
ControlNet SD3.5. Blur/Canny/Depth models, free commercial use.

AI-Assisted CG Tools

AI tools that augment traditional CG workflows.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Autodesk Flow Studio (Wonder Dynamics)	AI VFX, auto CG characters in live footage, USD export.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-assisted-cg-software">Software Reference → AI-Assisted CG Software</a></small>	Paid	Auto CG Chars · USD Export	AI CG characters in live plates
Blockade Labs Skybox AI	AI-generated 360° skyboxes/HDRIs from text.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-assisted-cg-software">Software Reference → AI-Assisted CG Software</a></small>	Freemium	AI Skybox · 360°	AI skyboxes/HDRIs
Gigapixel AI	AI photo enlargement that adds detail to upscaled images.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-assisted-cg-software">Software Reference → AI-Assisted CG Software</a></small>	Paid		Detail-preserving upscaling
Let's Enhance	Photo upscaler up to 16x with a free tier.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-assisted-cg-software">Software Reference → AI-Assisted CG Software</a></small>	Freemium	Photo Upscale	Photo upscaling
Magnific AI	Creative upscaler that adds detail. Folded into Freepik plans Apr 2026.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-assisted-cg-software">Software Reference → AI-Assisted CG Software</a></small>	Paid	Creative Upscale · Freepik	Creative AI upscaling
Rosebud AI	Vibe coding platform for creating 3D games and interactive web apps with AI.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-assisted-cg-software">Software Reference → AI-Assisted CG Software</a></small>	Freemium	AI Game Builder · Vibe Coding
Topaz Photo AI / Video AI	Upscaling, denoising, and sharpening. Topaz Bloom adds unlimited creative upscaling.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-assisted-cg-software">Software Reference → AI-Assisted CG Software</a></small>	Paid	Upscale · Denoise	Upscale/denoise
UneeQ Digital Humans	Cloud platform for real-time interactive digital humans.	Paid
Unity Muse	Unity in-editor AI for texture, sprite, and animation generation.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-assisted-cg-software">Software Reference → AI-Assisted CG Software</a></small>	Paid	Unity AI Suite
Upscayl	Open-source desktop upscaler that runs locally at no cost.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-assisted-cg-software">Software Reference → AI-Assisted CG Software</a></small>	Open Source	Open Source · Local	Free local upscaling

Related:

AI Game Developer. Unity Editor and Unity Runtime AI integration. Unit Test, Coding, C# Roslyn, Reflection, Assets. Helps to create games with AI. And helps to run AI logic during gameplay.
AI Render (Stable Diffusion in Blender). Blender addon that renders an AI image from a text prompt and your scene via Stable Diffusion.
Comfy UI Blender AI. Run ComfyUI workflows inside Blender.
ControlNet. Depth/pose/edge control for precision CG workflows.
Coplay Freemium. AI copilot for Unity.
CorridorKey. Corridor Crew's open keying tool. AI-driven chroma key for VFX work.
CoTracker. Meta FAIR point tracker for video. Tracks arbitrary points jointly across frames. Useful for matchmove and roto prep.
DEVA (Tracking Anything). Decoupled video segmentation. Long-form, multi-object roto with text or click prompts.
Dream Textures (Blender). Generate textures in Blender via Stable Diffusion, locally.
Genetic Drawing. Python library that generates a stylized rendering from an image.
GPT 4. Prompt engineering techniques for GPT-4, including tips, applications, limitations, and additional reading materials.
RIFE for Nuke. Real-Time Intermediate Flow Estimation for video frame interpolation (ML framerate upscaling) for Nuke.
Robust Video Matting (RVM). Real-time human video matting. Strong alpha mattes with no greenscreen.
Rotobot Paid. Paid AI roto plugin for Nuke and After Effects. Auto-mattes people and objects.
SAM 2 (Segment Anything Model 2). Meta's promptable segmentation for images and video. Masks objects across frames from a single click. Useful for rotoscope and matte work.
Sammie Roto 2. SAM-based rotoscope app. Click-to-mask, propagates across frames.
SolidUI. AI-generated visualization prototyping and editing platform, support 2D, 3D models, combined with LLM(Large Language Model) for quick editing.
Track Anything. SAM plus XMem for interactive video object tracking and segmentation. Useful for roto and matte propagation.

AI Audio & Music

AI music generation, voice, TTS, and SFX.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
ACE Studio	AI singing voice synthesizer with expression control.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-audio--music-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Audio & Music Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Singing · Expression	AI singing synthesis
AIVA	AI composition, good for orchestral/cinematic scoring.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-audio--music-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Audio & Music Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Orchestral · Scoring	Orchestral/cinematic scoring
DiffRhythm	Open-source full-song gen with vocals from lyrics.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-audio--music-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Audio & Music Generation Software</a></small>	Open Source	Open Source · Lyrics→Song	Open-source song gen with vocals
ElevenLabs	Voice cloning, narration, music generation.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-audio--music-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Audio & Music Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Voice Cloning · TTS	Voice cloning, TTS
F5 TTS	Open-source zero-shot voice cloning TTS.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-audio--music-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Audio & Music Generation Software</a></small>	Open Source	Zero-Shot · Voice Clone	Zero-shot voice cloning
Fish Audio	Open-source TTS with voice cloning, fast and multilingual.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-audio--music-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Audio & Music Generation Software</a></small>	Open Source	Open Source · Multilingual	Open-source TTS
Suno v5	Full song generation, 100M+ users.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-audio--music-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Audio & Music Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Song Gen · 100M users	Full song generation
Udio	Strong electronic/pop, licensed for commercial use.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#ai-audio--music-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Audio & Music Generation Software</a></small>	Freemium	Electronic/Pop · Commercial	Commercial-licensed AI music

Related:

AudioCraft (MusicGen / AudioGen / EnCodec). Meta's open audio generation stack. MusicGen for music, AudioGen for SFX, EnCodec for neural audio compression.
COVAL. Guide to building, scaling, and evaluating voice AI, from speech recognition to emotional intelligence.

Open-Source Models (HuggingFace)

Notable open-source generative models.

Hugging Face Transformers. NLP models and pipelines.
Hunyuan Video I2V. Image-to-video, multilingual.
sd-concepts-library (Stable Diffusion Concepts Library). Community library of Stable Diffusion textual-inversion concepts to browse and use in prompts.
SV3D (Stable Video 3D). Orbital video from single image.

Research Papers

Research papers on ML for CG, generative 3D, neural rendering, and related topics. Each entry: title (the plain-English summary), year, and venue/links in the description.

3D Neural Scene Representations for Visuomotor Control. Li et al., CoRL 2021 Oral
3DALL-E: Integrating Text-to-Image AI in 3D Design Workflows. ArXiv 2022 paper on integrating text-to-image AI in 3D design workflows.
A Higher-Dimensional Representation for Topologically Varying Neural Radiance Fields. Park et al., Arxiv 2021 | github
A Shading-Guided Generative Implicit Model for Shape-Accurate 3D-Aware Image Synthesis. Pan et al., NeurIPS 2021 | github
Align Your Gaussians: Text-to-4D with Dynamic 3D Gaussians and Composed Diffusion Models. 🌐 Project Page
AligNeRF: High-Fidelity Neural Radiance Fields via Alignment-Aware Training. Jiang et al., CVPR 2023
Animatable Neural Radiance Fields for Modeling Dynamic Human Bodies. Peng et al., ICCV 2021 | github
Animatable Neural Radiance Fields from Monocular RGB Videos. Chen et al., Arxiv 2021 | github
AutoInt: Automatic Integration for Fast Neural Volume Rendering. Lindell et al., CVPR 2021 | github
BeyondPixels: A Review of the Evolution of Neural Radiance Fields. AKM Shahariar Azad Rabby and Chengcui Zhang, Arxiv 2023
Block-NeRF: Scalable Large Scene Neural View Synthesis. Tancik et al., Arxiv 2022
BundleSDF: Neural 6-DoF Tracking and 3D Reconstruction of Unknown Objects. Wen et al., CVPR 2023 | github
CADOps-Net: Jointly Learning CAD Operation Types and Steps from Boundary-Representations. 3DV 2022 | [project]
CLA-NeRF: Category-Level Articulated Neural Radiance Field. Tseng et al., ICRA 2022
CLIP-NeRF: Text-and-Image Driven Manipulation of Neural Radiance Fields. Wang et al., CVPR 2022 | github
CodeNeRF: Disentangled Neural Radiance Fields for Object Categories. Jang et al., ICCV 2021
Color-NeRF. NeRF research paper on color and appearance modelling.
Consolidating Attention Features for Multi-view Image Editing. 🌐 Project Page
Contrastive Lift: 3D Object Instance Segmentation by Slow-Fast Contrastive Fusion. Bhalgat et al., NeurIPS 2023 (Spotlight)
CROSSFIRE: Camera Relocalization On Self-Supervised Features from an Implicit Representation. Moreau et al., ICCV 2023
D-NeRF: Neural Radiance Fields for Dynamic Scenes. Pumarola et al., CVPR 2021 | github
Deep Generative Models on 3D Representations: A Survey. 🌐 Project Page
DeepCAD: A Deep Generative Network for Computer-Aided Design Models. ICCV 2021 | [project] [code]
Deformable Neural Radiance Fields. Park et al., Arxiv 2020 | github
Depth-supervised NeRF: Fewer Views and Faster Training for Free. Deng et al., Arxiv 2021 | github
DeRF: Decomposed Radiance Fields. Rebain et al., Arxiv 2020
DFNet: Enhance Absolute Pose Regression with Direct Feature Matching. Chen et al., ECCV 2022 | github
Direct Voxel Grid Optimization: Super-fast Convergence for Radiance Fields Reconstruction. Sun et al., CVPR 2022 | github
DM-NeRF: 3D Scene Geometry Decomposition and Manipulation from 2D Images. 💻 Code
DMV3D: Denoising Multi-View Diffusion using 3D Large Reconstruction Model. 🌐 Project Page
DONeRF: Towards Real-Time Rendering of Compact Neural Radiance Fields using Depth Oracle Networks. Neff et al., CGF 2021 | github
Dream3D: Zero-Shot Text-to-3D Synthesis Using 3D Shape Prior and Text-to-Image Diffusion Models. 🌐 Project Page
DreamCraft3D: Hierarchical 3D Generation with Bootstrapped Diffusion Prior. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
DreamFusion: Text-to-3D using 2D Diffusion. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
DreamGaussian: Generative Gaussian Splatting for Efficient 3D Content Creation. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
DreamGaussian4D: Generative 4D Gaussian Splatting. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
DreamWaltz: Make a Scene with Complex 3D Animatable Avatars. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
DyLiN: Making Light Field Networks Dynamic. Yu et al., CVPR 2023 | github
Dynamic Neural Radiance Fields for Monocular 4D Facial Avatar Reconstruction. Gafni et al., CVPR 2021 | github
DynIBaR: Neural Dynamic Image-Based Rendering. Li et al., CVPR 2023
Editable Free-viewpoint Video Using a Layered Neural Representation. Zhang et al., SIGGRAPH 2021 | github
Editing Conditional Radiance Fields. Liu et al., Arxiv 2021 | github
En3D: An Enhanced Generative Model for Sculpting 3D Humans from 2D Synthetic Data. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
EndoGaussian: Real-time Gaussian Splatting for Dynamic Endoscopic Scene Reconstruction. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
ENeRF: Efficient Neural Radiance Fields for Interactive Free-viewpoint Video. Lin et al., SIGGRAPH 2022 | github
FastNeRF: High-Fidelity Neural Rendering at 200FPS. Garbin et al., Arxiv 2021
FiG-NeRF: Figure Ground Neural Radiance Fields for 3D Object Category Modelling. Xie et al., Arxiv 2021
From 2D CAD Drawings to 3D Parametric Models: A Vision-Language Approach. AAAI 2025 | [project]
GALA3D: Towards Text-to-3D Complex Scene Generation via Layout-guided Generative Gaussian Splatting. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
GARF: Gaussian Activated Radiance Fields for High Fidelity Reconstruction and Pose Estimation. Chng et al., ECCV 2022
GaussianAvatars: Photorealistic Head Avatars with Rigged 3D Gaussians. 🌐 Project Page
GaussianObject: High-Quality 3D Object Reconstruction from Four Views with Gaussian Splatting. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
Gemini Robotics 1.5. Embodied reasoning, thinking, and motion transfer.
Generative Occupancy Fields for 3D Surface-Aware Image Synthesis. Xu et al., NeurIPS 2021 | github
GIRAFFE: Representing Scenes as Compositional Generative Neural Feature Fields. Niemeyer et al., CVPR 2021
GNeRF: GAN-based Neural Radiance Field without Posed Camera. Meng et al., Arxiv 2021
GO-NeRF: Generating Objects in Neural Radiance Fields for Virtual Reality Content Creation. 🌐 Project Page
GRAF: Generative Radiance Fields for 3D-Aware Image Synthesis. Schwarz et al., NeurIPS 2020 | github
GRF: Learning a General Radiance Field for 3D Scene Representation and Rendering. Trevithick and Yang, Arxiv 2020 | github
Ha-NeRF: Hallucinated Neural Radiance Fields in the Wild. Chen et al., CVPR 2022 | github
HumanNeRF: Free-viewpoint Rendering of Moving People from Monocular Video. Weng et al., CVPR 2022 | github
IBRNet: Learning Multi-View Image-Based Rendering. Wang et al., CVPR 2021 | github
IDE-3D: Interactive Disentangled Editing for High-Resolution 3D-aware Portrait Synthesis. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
Image Sculpting: Precise Object Editing with 3D Geometry Control. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
Importance Sampling for Production Rendering. SIGGRAPH course notes on importance sampling for production rendering.
In-Place Scene Labelling and Understanding with Implicit Scene Representation. Zhi et al., Arxiv 2021
iNeRF: Inverting Neural Radiance Fields for Pose Estimation. Yen-Chen et al. IROS 2021
InfNeRF: Towards Infinite Scale NeRF Rendering with O(log n) Space Complexity. Liang et al., SIGGRAPH Asia 2024 | github
Instant3D: Instant Text-to-3D Generation. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
KiloNeRF: Speeding up Neural Radiance Fields with Thousands of Tiny MLPs. Reiser et al., ICCV 2021 | github
KiloNeuS: Implicit Neural Representations with Real-Time Global Illumination. Esposito et al., Arxiv 2022
L2G-NeRF: Local-to-Global Registration for Bundle-Adjusting Neural Radiance Fields. Chen et al., CVPR 2023 | github
Learned Initializations for Optimizing Coordinate-Based Neural Representations. Tancik et al., CVPR 2021 | github
Learning Compositional Radiance Fields of Dynamic Human Heads. Wang et al., Arxiv 2020
Learning Neural Transmittance for Efficient Rendering of Reflectance Fields. Mohammad Shafiei et al., BMVC 2021
Learning Object-Compositional Neural Radiance Field for Editable Scene Rendering. Yang et al., ICCV 2021 | github
Learning the 3D Fauna of the Web. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
Lightning NeRF: Efficient Hybrid Scene Representation for Autonomous Driving. Cao et al. ICRA 2024 | github
Loc-NeRF: Monte Carlo Localization using Neural Radiance Fields. Maggio et al., ICRA 2023 | github
Local 3D Editing via 3D Distillation of CLIP Knowledge. Hyung et al., CVPR 2023| github
M3DBench: Let's Instruct Large Models with Multi-modal 3D Prompts. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
Magic3D: High-Resolution Text-to-3D Content Creation. 🌐 Project Page
Make-A-Character: High Quality Text-to-3D Character Generation within Minutes. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
Make-It-3D: High-Fidelity 3D Creation from A Single Image with Diffusion Prior. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
MinD-3D: Reconstruct High-quality 3D objects in Human Brain. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
MINE: Towards Continuous Depth MPI with NeRF for Novel View Synthesis. Jiaxin Li et al., ICCV 2021 | github
Mip-NeRF 360: Unbounded Anti-Aliased Neural Radiance Fields. Barron et al., Arxiv 2022
Mip-NeRF: A Multiscale Representation for Anti-Aliasing Neural Radiance Fields. Barron et al., Arxiv 2021 | github
Mixture of Volumetric Primitives for Efficient Neural Rendering. Lombardi et al., SIGGRAPH 2021
MVSNeRF: Fast Generalizable Radiance Field Reconstruction from Multi-View Stereo. Chen et al., ICCV 2021 | github
NeO 360: Neural Fields for Sparse View Synthesis of Outdoor Scenes. Irshad et al., ICCV 2023 | github
NeRF (paper site). Mildenhall et al., ECCV 2020 | github
NeRF in the Dark: High Dynamic Range View Synthesis from Noisy Raw Images. Ben Mildenhall et al, arXiv 2021
NeRF in the Wild: Neural Radiance Fields for Unconstrained Photo Collections. Martin-Brualla et al., CVPR 2021
NeRF--: Neural Radiance Fields Without Known Camera Parameters. Wang et al., Arxiv 2021 | github
NeRF-In: Free-Form NeRF Inpainting with RGB-D Priors. Liu et al., Arxiv 2022
NeRF-MAE: Masked AutoEncoders for Self-Supervised 3D Representation Learning for Neural Radiance Fields. Irshad et al., ECCV 2024
NeRF-SOS: Any-view Self-supervised Object Segmentation on Complex Real-world Scenes. Fan et al., ICLR 2023
NeRF-VAE: A Geometry Aware 3D Scene Generative Model. Kosiorek et al., Arxiv 2021
NeRF: Neural Radiance Field in 3D Vision, Introduction and Review. Kyle Gao, Yina Gao, Hongjie He, Dening Lu, Linlin Xu, Jonathan Li
NeRF++: Analyzing and Improving Neural Radiance Fields. Zhang et al., Arxiv 2020 | github
NerfingMVS: Guided Optimization of Neural Radiance Fields for Indoor Multi-view Stereo. Wei et al., ICCV 2021
NeRV: Neural Reflectance and Visibility Fields for Relighting and View Synthesis. Srinivasan et al. CVPR 2021
Neural 3D Video Synthesis from Multi-view Video. Li et al., CVPR 2022
Neural Body: Implicit Neural Representations with Structured Latent Codes for Novel View Synthesis of Dynamic Humans. Peng et al., CVPR 2021 | github
Neural Radiance Flow for 4D View Synthesis and Video Processing. Du et al., Arxiv 2020
Neural Rays for Occlusion-aware Image-based Rendering. Liu et al., Arxiv 2021
Neural Refinement for Absolute Pose Regression with Feature Synthesis. Chen et al., CVPR 2024 | github
Neural Scene Flow Fields for Space-Time View Synthesis of Dynamic Scenes. Li et al., CVPR 2021 | github
Neural Scene Graphs for Dynamic Scenes. Ost et al., CVPR 2021
Neural Sparse Voxel Fields. Liu et al., NeurIPS 2020 | github
Neural Volume Rendering: NeRF. Dellaert and Yen-Chen, Arxiv 2020 | blog
NeuS: Learning Neural Implicit Surfaces by Volume Rendering for Multi-view Reconstruction. Wang et al., NeurIPS 2021 | github
Non-Rigid Neural Radiance Fields: Reconstruction and Novel View Synthesis of a Deforming Scene from Monocular Video. Tretschk et al., Arxiv 2020 | github
NoPe-NeRF: Optimising Neural Radiance Field with No Pose Prior. Bian et al., CVPR 2023 | github
One-2-3-45++: Fast Single Image to 3D Objects with Consistent Multi-View Generation and 3D Diffusion. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
ParSeNet: A Parametric Surface Fitting Network for 3D Point Clouds. ECCV 2020 | [project] [code]
PC2WF: 3D Wireframe Reconstruction from Raw Point Clouds. ICLR 2021 | [code]
Photo tourism: Exploring photo collections in 3D. Snavely, Seitz, Szeliski. SIGGRAPH 2006.
pi-GAN: Periodic Implicit Generative Adversarial Networks for 3D-Aware Image Synthesis. Chan et al., CVPR 2021
pixelNeRF: Neural Radiance Fields from One or Few Images. Yu et al., CVPR 2021 | github
PlankAssembly: 3D Reconstruction from Three Orthographic Views with Learnt Shape Programs. ICCV 2023 | [project] [code]
PlenOctrees for Real-time Rendering of Neural Radiance Fields. Yu et al., Arxiv 2021 | github
Point-NeRF: Point-based Neural Radiance Fields. Xu et al., CVPR 2022 | github
Point2Cyl: Reverse Engineering 3D Objects from Point Clouds to Extrusion Cylinders. CVPR 2022 | [project] [code]
PolyGen: An Autoregressive Generative Model of 3D Meshes. ICML 2020 | [code]
Ponder: Point Cloud Pre-training via Neural Rendering. Huang et al., ICCV 2023
PonderV2: Pave the Way for 3D Foundation Model with A Universal Pre-training Paradigm. Zhu et al., Arxiv 2023 | github
PoRF: Pose Residual Field for Accurate Neural Surface Reconstruction. Bian et al., ICLR 2024 | github
Portrait Neural Radiance Fields from a Single Image. Gao et al., Arxiv 2020
Progressive3D: Progressively Local Editing for Text-to-3D Content Creation with Complex Semantic Prompts. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
PSAvatar: A Point-based Shape Model for Real-Time Head Avatar Animation with 3D Gaussian Splatting. 💻 Code
Putting NeRF on a Diet: Semantically Consistent Few-Shot View Synthesis. Matthew Tancik et al., Arxiv 2021
PVA: Pixel-aligned Volumetric Avatars. Raj et al., CVPR 2021
PVDeconv: Point-voxel deconvolution for autoencoding cad construction in 3D. ICIP 2020 | [project]
Reconstructing Editable Prismatic CAD from Rounded Voxel Models. SIGGRAPH Asia 2022
Recovering HDR Radiance Maps (Debevec & Malik, 1997). SIGGRAPH 1997 paper. Original HDR-from-bracketed-exposures recovery method.
Rendering Synthetic Objects into Real Scenes (Debevec, 1998). SIGGRAPH 1998 paper founding image-based lighting.
RichDreamer: A Generalizable Normal-Depth Diffusion Model for Detail Richness in Text-to-3D. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
Rig3DGS: Creating Controllable Portraits from Casual Monocular Videos. 🌐 Project Page
Rodin: A Generative Model for Sculpting 3D Digital Avatars Using Diffusion. Wang et al., CVPR 2023 | github
RT-NeRF: Real-Time On-Device Neural Radiance Fields Towards Immersive AR/VR Rendering. Li et al., ICCAD 2022
SEEAvatar: Photorealistic Text-to-3D Avatar Generation with Constrained Geometry and Appearance. 🌐 Project Page
Self-Calibrating Neural Radiance Fields. Jeong et al., ICCV 2021 | github
SIGNeRF: Scene Integrated Generation for Neural Radiance Fields. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
SINE: Semantic-driven Image-based NeRF Editing with Prior-guided Editing Field. Bao et al., CVPR 2023 | github
SinNeRF: Training Neural Radiance Fields on Complex Scenes from a Single Image. Xu et al., ECCV 2022 | github
Space-time Neural Irradiance Fields for Free-Viewpoint Video. Xian et al., CVPR 2021
Streaming Radiance Fields for 3D Video Synthesis. Li et al. NeurIPS 2022 | github
Street Gaussians: Modeling Dynamic Urban Scenes with Gaussian Splatting. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
StyleNeRF: A Style-based 3D-Aware Generator for High-resolution Image Synthesis. Gu et al., Arxiv 2021
Supervised Fitting of Geometric Primitives to 3D Point Clouds. CVPR 2019 | [code]
SurfelNeRF: Neural Surfel Radiance Fields for Online Photorealistic Reconstruction of Indoor Scenes. Gao et al., CVPR 2023 | github
Switch-NeRF: Learning Scene Decomposition with Mixture of Experts for Large-scale Neural Radiance Fields. Mi et al., ICLR 2023 | github
Taming Mode Collapse in Score Distillation for Text-to-3D Generation. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
Text-To-4D Dynamic Scene Generation. 🌐 Project Page
Text2CAD: Text to 3D CAD Generation via Technical Drawings. NeurIPS 2024 | [project]
TextField3D: Towards Enhancing Open-Vocabulary 3D Generation with Noisy Text Fields. 🌐 Project Page
TextureDreamer: Image-guided Texture Synthesis through Geometry-aware Diffusion. 🌐 Project Page
TiNeuVox: Fast Dynamic Radiance Fields with Time-Aware Neural Voxels. Fang et al., SIGGRAPH Asia 2022 | github
TOSS:High-quality Text-guided Novel View Synthesis from a Single Image. 🌐 Project Page
Triplane Meets Gaussian Splatting: Fast and Generalizable Single-View 3D Reconstruction with Transformers. 🌐 Project Page
UV Volumes for Real-time Rendering of Editable Free-view Human Performance. Chen et al., CVPR 2023 | github
ViCA-NeRF: View-Consistency-Aware 3D Editing of Neural Radiance Fields. 💻 Code
Volume Rendering of Neural Implicit Surfaces. Yariv et al., NeurIPS 2021 | github
Wonder3D: Single Image to 3D using Cross-Domain Diffusion. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code
X-NeRF: Explicit Neural Radiance Field for Multi-Scene 360° Insufficient RGB-D Views. Zhu et al., WACV 2023 | github
Zero123++: a Single Image to Consistent Multi-view Diffusion Base Model. 🌐 Project Page | 💻 Code | 🤗 Hugging Face

<h3 id="mirror-ai-image-software" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">AI Image & Texture Generation Software</h3> Also in <a href="#ai-image--texture-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Image & Texture Generation Software</a>

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Adobe Firefly 3	Commercial-safe, deep Creative Cloud integration.	Paid	Commercial-Safe · Adobe CC	Commercial-safe Adobe workflows
Adobe Firefly Textures	Prompt-to-edit texture workflows.	Paid	Adobe · Prompt-to-Edit	Adobe-integrated AI textures
Aga Miko/pixel Character Generator	Generating retro pixel game characters with Generative Adversarial Networks. Dataset "TinyHero" included.	Open Source
ComfyUI	Node-based AI generator for image/video/3D/audio.	Open Source	Node-based · Multi-modal	Node-based AI workflows
FLUX.2 (Black Forest Labs)	Open-weight photorealism with Kontext editing.	Freemium	Open Weight · Photoreal	Open-weight photorealism
GPT Image (OpenAI)	Instruction-following image model with strong text rendering. GPT Image 1.5.	Paid	OpenAI · Text Rendering	Instruction following
Grok Aurora (xAI)	Photorealistic image gen integrated into Grok.	Paid	xAI · Photoreal	Photorealism in Grok
HunyuanDiT (Tencent)	Open-source DiT-based, strong Chinese text.	Open Source	Tencent · DiT	Chinese text rendering
Ideogram 2.0	Best-in-class typography and text rendering, canvas mode.	Freemium	Typography · Text Rendering	Typography in images
Imagen	Google photoreal image model via Gemini and Vertex.	Paid	Photoreal · Google	Photoreal image gen
InstaMAT	Material authoring with AI workflows (Substance alternative).	Paid	Substance-alt · AI Workflows	AI-assisted material authoring
Jimeng / Dreamina (ByteDance)	High quality, integrated with video pipeline.	Freemium	ByteDance · Video Pipeline	Integrated image + video pipeline
Kolors (Kuaishou)	Open-source, bilingual Chinese/English.	Open Source	Open Source · Bilingual	Bilingual open model
Krea AI	Real-time generation, upscaling, and style transfer platform.	Freemium	Real-time · Upscaling	Real-time + upscaling
Leonardo AI	Real-time generation with artistic control.	Freemium	Real-time · Controlled	Controlled artistic generation
Meshy Textures	Integrated with 3D pipeline.	Freemium	Meshy Pipeline · Integrated	Textures tied to Meshy 3D
Midjourney v7	Industry-leading artistic coherence and stylized output.	Paid	Artistic · Subscription	Artistic and stylized imagery
Nano Banana Pro (Google Gemini)	Instruction-based editing with character and product consistency across edits.	Freemium	Consistency · Editing	Consistency editing
Playground v3	Mixed-mode design canvas for graphic design.	Freemium	Design Canvas · Mixed-mode	Graphic design canvas
Poly	AI-generated PBR textures and materials, tileable with full map sets.	Freemium	AI PBR · Tileable	AI PBR textures
Ponzu	AI texture gen from text prompts for uploaded meshes.	Freemium	Mesh-aware · Text→Tex	Mesh-aware AI textures
Recraft V3	Design-oriented gen. Vector, icons, brand assets.	Freemium	Design Focus · Vector	Design assets, vectors
Reve	Image model with strong prompt adherence.	Freemium	Prompt Adherence	Prompt adherence
Scenario	Game-ready PBR materials, full map sets.	Paid	Game-Ready · Full Maps	Game-ready AI materials
Snowpixel	Generate Images/Videos/Animations/Audio/Music/3D Objects with Text and/or Image. Upload your own data to create custom models.	Freemium
Stable Diffusion 3.5	Open-source diffusion (Large, Medium, Turbo sizes).	Open Source	Open Source · Self-Host	Self-hosted image gen

<h3 id="mirror-ai-video-software" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">AI Video Generation Software</h3> Also in <a href="#ai-video-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Video Generation Software</a>

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Cog Video X	Tsinghua/Zhipu open-source, multiple sizes.	Open Source	Open Source · Tsinghua	Research open-source video gen
Drawstory	Cinematography and story sequencing with strong character continuity.	Freemium	Cinematography · Continuity	Character continuity
Frameo	Script to cinematic video with scenes, characters, audio, and timeline assembly.	Freemium	Script to Video · Timeline	Structured film pipeline
Genmo Mochi 1	Open-source video gen model.	Open Source	Open Source · Genmo	Open-source video gen
Google Flow	Filmmaking app over Veo with scenebuilder and ingredients-to-video.	Paid	Filmmaking · Scenebuilder	Veo filmmaking app
Hailuo AI / MiniMax	"Director" model. Strong motion and character consistency.	Freemium	Director Model · Character Consist	Directed motion
Haiper	Ex-DeepMind team, animation and video-to-video modes.	Freemium	Ex-DeepMind · V2V	Video-to-video
HeyGen	AI avatar marketing videos with a talking-head focus.	Freemium	Avatars	Avatar videos
HunyuanVideo 1.5	Open-source 8.3B params, runs on 14GB VRAM.	Open Source	Open Source · 14GB VRAM	Self-hosted video gen
InVideo AI	Prompt to video for marketing and social content.	Freemium	Marketing	Marketing and social video
Kling 3.0	Up to 5min clips, strong human motion. Motion Brush control.	Freemium	5min Clips · Motion Brush	Long clips, human motion
LTX Studio	Pre-production to video pipeline with storyboards, character consistency, and timeline.	Freemium	Pre-production · Storyboards	Script to video pipeline
LTX-2 (Lightricks)	Fast open video model. LTX-2 Fast ranks top-3 in the arena.	Open Source	Open Source · Fast	Fast open-source video gen
Luma Dream Machine	Atmospheric image-to-video. Ray3 is the first native 16-bit HDR video model.	Freemium	HDR · Atmospheric	Atmospheric video gen
Mootion	Idea to a 2-minute cinematic video in one tool.	Freemium	All-in-one	Fast all-in-one film
Morphic	AI film studio for story-driven video.	Paid	Film Studio	Story-driven film
Pika 2.0	Extended video gen with improved consistency.	Freemium	Extended Gen · Stylized	Stylized video
PixVerse	Style-specific modes (anime, 3D, realistic), character consistency.	Freemium	Style Modes · Consistency	Style-specific video gen
Runway Gen-4.5	Motion brushes and scene consistency on the GWM-1 world model.	Freemium	Motion Brushes · Consistency	Motion control
Seedance 2.0 (ByteDance)	High raw quality video gen with audio. Tops the Artificial Analysis ranking.	Paid	Top Quality · Native Audio	Top raw quality
Veo 3.1 (Google DeepMind)	Top leaderboard, native audio, 60s+ clips.	Paid	Top Leaderboard · Native Audio	Top-quality video gen
Vidu	16s clips, strong human motion (Shengshu).	Freemium	16s · Human Motion	Long human-motion clips
Wan 2.2 (Alibaba)	Cinematic MoE diffusion, 8GB+ VRAM. Open source.	Open Source	Open Source · MoE Diffusion	Cinematic open-source video gen

<h3 id="mirror-ai-3d-software" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">AI 3D Generation Software</h3> Also in <a href="#ai-3d-generation-software">Software Reference → AI 3D Generation Software</a>

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
3DTopia	Open-source text-to-3D pipeline (coarse → refined).	Open Source	Coarse→Refined · Open Source	Text-to-3D open-source
InstantMesh	Fast single-image-to-3D reconstruction.	Open Source	Fast · Image→3D	Fast image→3D
Intangible	Prompt and drag-drop to 3D scenes for previz. No-code.	Freemium	Previz · No-code	No-code 3D previz
Kaedim	Image-to-3D with hybrid AI plus artist cleanup for production quality.	Paid	Hybrid AI+Artist · Production	Production-quality via hybrid AI+artist
Luma Genie	Text/image to 3D, integrated with Dream Machine.	Freemium	Luma · Integrated	Luma-integrated 3D gen
Meshy v4	Production-reliable, improved topology and PBR textures.	Freemium	Production-Reliable · PBR	Production-ready AI 3D
Rodin Gen-2 (Hyper3D)	10B params, photorealistic, free generation tier.	Freemium	10B Params · Free Tier	Photorealistic AI 3D
Sloyd	Procedural 3D generation with parametric control.	Freemium	Procedural · Parametric	Parametric procedural 3D
Spline AI	Generate 3D objects and textures from text prompts in-editor.	Freemium	In-Editor · Text→3D	In-editor AI 3D
Stability SPAR3D	Open-source single-image 3D reconstruction.	Open Source	Stability AI · Open Source	Single-image open-source 3D
TRELLIS.2 (Microsoft)	Full PBR materials, complex topologies.	Open Source	Microsoft · PBR + Open Source	PBR AI 3D (open source)
Tripo v3.0	Sculpture-level precision, clean quad topology.	Freemium	Clean Quads · Sculpt-level	Clean topology AI 3D
TripoSR	Tripo/Stability collab. Fast open-source image-to-3D.	Open Source	Open Source · Fast	Fast open-source image→3D
Unique3D	High-quality mesh from single image (NeurIPS 2024).	Open Source	Single-Image · NeurIPS	Single-image open-source 3D
Wonder3D++	Cross-domain diffusion, textured meshes in 2-3min.	Open Source	Fast · Textured Mesh	Fast textured mesh gen

<h3 id="mirror-ai-audio-software" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">AI Audio & Music Generation Software</h3> Also in <a href="#ai-audio--music-generation-software">Software Reference → AI Audio & Music Generation Software</a>

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
ACE Studio	AI singing voice synthesizer with expression control.	Freemium	Singing · Expression	AI singing synthesis
AIVA	AI composition, good for orchestral/cinematic scoring.	Freemium	Orchestral · Scoring	Orchestral/cinematic scoring
DiffRhythm	Open-source full-song gen with vocals from lyrics.	Open Source	Open Source · Lyrics→Song	Open-source song gen with vocals
ElevenLabs	Voice cloning, narration, music generation.	Freemium	Voice Cloning · TTS	Voice cloning, TTS
F5 TTS	Open-source zero-shot voice cloning TTS.	Open Source	Zero-Shot · Voice Clone	Zero-shot voice cloning
Fish Audio	Open-source TTS with voice cloning, fast and multilingual.	Open Source	Open Source · Multilingual	Open-source TTS
Suno v5	Full song generation, 100M+ users.	Freemium	Song Gen · 100M users	Full song generation
Udio	Strong electronic/pop, licensed for commercial use.	Freemium	Electronic/Pop · Commercial	Commercial-licensed AI music

<h3 id="mirror-ai-assist-software" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">AI-Assisted CG Software</h3> Also in <a href="#ai-assisted-cg-software">Software Reference → AI-Assisted CG Software</a>

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Autodesk Flow Studio (Wonder Dynamics)	AI VFX, auto CG characters in live footage, USD export.	Paid	Auto CG Chars · USD Export	AI CG characters in live plates
Blockade Labs Skybox AI	AI-generated 360° skyboxes/HDRIs from text.	Freemium	AI Skybox · 360°	AI skyboxes/HDRIs
Gigapixel AI	AI photo enlargement that adds detail to upscaled images.	Paid		Detail-preserving upscaling
Let's Enhance	Photo upscaler up to 16x with a free tier.	Freemium	Photo Upscale	Photo upscaling
Magnific AI	Creative upscaler that adds detail. Folded into Freepik plans Apr 2026.	Paid	Creative Upscale · Freepik	Creative AI upscaling
Rosebud AI	Vibe coding platform for creating 3D games and interactive web apps with AI.	Freemium	AI Game Builder · Vibe Coding
Topaz Photo AI / Video AI	Upscaling, denoising, and sharpening. Topaz Bloom adds unlimited creative upscaling.	Paid	Upscale · Denoise	Upscale/denoise
Unity Muse	Unity in-editor AI for texture, sprite, and animation generation.	Paid	Unity AI Suite
Upscayl	Open-source desktop upscaler that runs locally at no cost.	Open Source	Open Source · Local	Free local upscaling

<h3 id="mirror-ai-canvas-software" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">AI Creative Canvas Software</h3> Also in <a href="#ai-creative-canvas-software">Software Reference → AI Creative Canvas Software</a>

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Flora	Node canvas for image and video gen with 50+ models and Style DNA.	Freemium	Node Canvas · Multi-model	Visual node workflows
Freepik Spaces	Node workflows tied to the Freepik stock library.	Freemium	Node Workflows · Stock Library	Node workflows with stock
Higgsfield Canvas	Node editor chaining prompts, style transfer, motion, and render across image and video.	Freemium	Node Editor · Image + Video	Image to video pipeline
Kaiber	Unified canvas for image and video generation and editing. Superstudio.	Paid	Unified Canvas · Image + Video	Unified gen canvas
Weavy	Node canvas with pro editing for compositing, matte, and relighting. Acquired by Figma.	Freemium	Node Canvas · Pro Editing	Node canvas plus editing
Wireflow	AI workflow canvas with a developer lean.	Freemium	Workflow Canvas	Dev-leaning AI canvas

<h3 id="mirror-ai-design-viz-software" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">AI Design Viz Software</h3> Also in <a href="#ai-design-viz-software">Software Reference → AI Design Viz Software</a>

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Arko.ai	Arch-viz AI renderer for sketch and 3D model screenshots.	Freemium	Architecture	Arch-viz rendering
LookX	Arch-viz AI renderer with style references.	Freemium	Architecture	Arch-viz rendering
Mnml.ai	Arch-viz AI renderer from sketch and 3D screenshot input.	Freemium	Architecture	Arch-viz rendering
NewArc	Sketch to render for product, fashion, and automotive design.	Freemium	Sketch to Render	Product and fashion render
SketchPro	Sketch, SketchUp, and massing to render for architecture.	Freemium	Architecture	Architecture massing render
Visualizee	Sketch and 3D screenshot to render for architecture and interiors.	Freemium	Architecture · Sketch to Render	Architecture rendering
Vizcom	Sketch to render for industrial, product, and footwear design with line control.	Freemium	Sketch to Render · Product Design	Industrial design sketching

<h3 id="mirror-ai-product-photography-software" data-mirror="1" tabindex="-1">AI Product Photography Software</h3> Also in <a href="#ai-product-photography-software">Software Reference → AI Product Photography Software</a>

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Claid.ai	Catalog image cleanup and AI product shots at ecommerce scale.	Freemium	Ecommerce · Product Shots	Catalog cleanup at scale
Emersya	3D and AR product experiences from ideation to ecommerce.	Paid	3D + AR	3D and AR product viz
Flair.ai	AI product photography canvas. Drag products into staged scenes.	Freemium	Product Photography	Staged product scenes
Omi	3D digital twins of products for virtual photoshoots. Built for CPG brands.	Paid	Digital Twins · Product Shots	CPG product twins
Photoroom	Marketplace-first mobile app for batch product listing images.	Freemium	Mobile · Batch	Batch listing images
Threekit	Enterprise 3D twins with photoreal renders and configurators from one file.	Paid	Enterprise · Configurators	Enterprise 3D twins

Tools, Pipeline & Utilities

Viewers, converters, USD, plugin marketplaces, pipeline standards, and miscellaneous CG utilities.

USD (Universal Scene Description)

OpenUSD resources, specifications, and guides.

AL USD Maya. Animal Logic's Maya plugin for round-tripping USD scene data into Maya.
Animal Logic's USD Docker. Docker build scripts that fetch and compile Pixar USD and its open-source dependencies.
Apple USD Tools. Usdz_converter, Reality Composer.
Luma USD. USD plugins and schemas from Luma Pictures.
NVIDIA USD Resources. Omniverse, tutorials, tools.
OpenUSD. Official Pixar USD site. Specification, tools, resources.
USD Cookbook (Colin Kennedy). Code recipes and examples.
USD Manager. Lightweight app for browsing, managing, and editing USD files.
USD Noodle. Node-graph viewer showing the dependencies of a USD file.
USD Qtpy. Python Qt components for building custom USD tools.
USD Shell Extension for Windows. Windows File Explorer extension adding USD thumbnails, side previews, and deep-metadata search.
USD Survival Guide. Practical USD guide for VFX artists.
USD URI Resolver. URI-based asset resolver for USD, with custom plugin support.
USD Working Group (ASWF). Alliance for Open Media USD resources.
UsdQt. Qt components for building custom USD tools.

Scene & Pipeline Tools

Production pipelines, render management, look dev.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
CGAL	A software project that provides easy access to efficient and reliable geometric algorithms in the form of a C++ library.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Open Source	Geometry Lib · Open Source	Computational geometry algorithms
CGRU	CG tools pack that includes AFANASY, a free open-source render farm manager.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Open Source	Render Farm · Open Source	Open-source render farm
Coalition	Render-farm manager from Mercenaries Engineering (makers of Guerilla Render).<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Open Source	Render Farm · Guerilla-adjacent	Small-studio render farm
Flamenco (Blender render farm)	Blender Foundation's free render-farm manager.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Open Source	Render Farm · Blender	Blender render farm
Flamenco (flamenco.io)	From the Blender Foundation<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Open Source	Render Farm · Blender	Blender render farm
ftrack	Production tracking.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Paid	Production Tracking · Pro	Production tracking
Gaffer (GafferHQ compositing)	Gaffer is a great toolbox, it's a VFX application that enables look developers, lighters, and compositors to easily build, tweak, iterate, and render scenes.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Open Source	Look Dev · Open Source	Look dev / lighting / compositing
Godot Game Tools	Blender addon that eases Mixamo animation import into Godot.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Free		Mixamo-to-Godot animation import
Kitsu (CGWire)	Production tracker.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Open Source	Open Source · Tracking	Open-source production tracking
Medieval Fantasy City Generator	Browser tool that generates random medieval city map layouts.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Free		Procedural city map reference
Open3D	Modern library for 3D data processing. Point clouds, meshes, voxels, reconstruction.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Open Source	3D Data Processing · Open Source	3D data processing (Python/C++)
OpenCue (docs)	Open-source render management.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Open Source	Render Farm · Open Source	Render farm management
OpenTimelineIO (site)	(repo) - Editorial timeline.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Open Source	Editorial · Open Source	Editorial timeline interchange
Pandora	Open-Source Renderfarm-Manager.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Open Source	Render Farm · Open Source	Indie render farm management
Prism Pipeline	Animation and VFX pipeline.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Freemium	Pipeline · Free Core	Indie/small studio pipeline
TerraForge3D	A procedural terrain generation and procedural modeling toolkit.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Open Source
Tik Manager (GitHub)	Artist friendly asset and pipeline manager.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Open Source	Pipeline · Open Source	Asset/pipeline management for small teams
Tik Manager (site)	Artist-friendly asset and pipeline manager.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Freemium	Pipeline · Asset Mgmt	Asset/pipeline management

Related:

BlenderProc. A procedural Blender pipeline for photorealistic training image generation.
CGCmake. CMake modules for CG apps.
Cortex. Libraries for VFX software development.
Cross3D. Scene and node management abstraction.
Dailies. Wraps ffmpeg, Nuke, or RV to process video files and image sequences. Integrates with Shotgun, Ftrack, Kitsu.
Easy3D. A lightweight, easy-to-use, and efficient C++ library for processing and rendering 3D data.
Example of Python scripts for 3D Studio Max, Maya and Blender. Sample Python scripts for 3ds Max, Maya, and Blender automation.
Field3D. Open-source library for storing voxel data.
MayaCharm. Run and edit Maya scripts directly from PyCharm
MayaSublime. Run and edit Maya scripts directly from SublimeText
mGui. Portable pure-python GUI library for Maya.
minq. Maya query language for speeding up common scene operations.
nuke.vim. Run and edit Nuke scripts directly from vim
OD CopyPasteExternal. Tool to easily copy/paste a geometry across 3D application like Blender <> 3DS Max <> Maya <>.. <>.
Pipeline Developer Forum. Forum for pipeline TDs and studio tool developers.
Prisma. Computational photography pipeline tool that performs multiple inferences (masks, depth, motionvectors) from any image or video.
Py3dsMax. 3dsMax API in Python.
PyMEL. Python in Maya Done Right.
Ramses. Asset Management System for motion picture production (by Rainbox Laboratory).
Stalker. Open Source Production Asset Management (ProdAM) Library designed specifically for Animation and VFX Studios.
VEX. Houdini add-on for Sublime Text

Gaussian Splatting & NeRF

Neural and splatting reconstruction.

3D Gaussian Splatting (INRIA reference impl). Original implementation.
3DGS Introduction. HuggingFace introductory guide to 3D Gaussian Splatting.
3DGS.cpp. Cross-platform, high performance 3DGS renderer in C++ and Vulkan Compute, supporting Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and visionOS.
4D Gaussian Splatting. Dynamic scenes (CVPR 2024).
Brush. Cross-platform Gaussian Splatting reconstruction and viewer (Rust/wgpu), runs in browser.
Gaussian Head Avatars: A Summary. Summary of Gaussian-splatting head-avatar techniques (Towards Data Science).
LichtFeld Studio. Native desktop app for training, inspecting, editing, and exporting 3D Gaussian Splatting scenes. Plugin extensible.
MegaSaM. Structure and motion recovery from casual handheld video.
msplat. A modular differential gaussian rasterization library.
Pointrix. Differentiable point-based rendering framework for Gaussian Splatting.
PyTorch Implementation. Curated implementation of Vanilla 3DGS in PyTorch
spaTV. WebGL Viewer for 4D Gaussians (based on SpaceTime Gaussian) with demo here.
SpectacularAI. Conversion scripts for different 3DGS conventions.
splatviz. Viewer that allows you to edit the rendering code during runtime or to display multiple scenes at once.
Taichi 3D GS. Taichi-based implementation (Apache-2.0).
vkgs. Cross-platform, high performance 3DGS renderer in C++ and Vulkan Compute/Graphics.
Warp 3DGS. Warp/Python-based implementation (AGPL-3.0).

Photogrammetry & 3D Scanning

Photogrammetry, LiDAR, and Gaussian splat capture.

Software	Description	Pricing	License	Tags	Best For
3DF Zephyr	Free lite version (up to 50 photos).<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#photogrammetry--scanning-software">Software Reference → Photogrammetry & Scanning Software</a></small>		Freemium	Free Lite · 50 Photos	Lite photogrammetry
3DF Zephyr Free	Free version of 3DF Zephyr photogrammetry software for personal use. It comes with some limitations.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#photogrammetry--scanning-software">Software Reference → Photogrammetry & Scanning Software</a></small>		Free	Free · Personal Use	Free photogrammetry
Agisoft Metashape	Professional photogrammetry with GIS features.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#photogrammetry--scanning-software">Software Reference → Photogrammetry & Scanning Software</a></small>		Paid	GIS Features · Pro	Pro photogrammetry + GIS
Artec Studio	Capture and alignment software for Artec handheld scanners.		Paid	Handheld Scanners · Artec	Artec handheld scan workflow
CloudCompare	A 3D point cloud (and triangular mesh) processing software. Open-source and designed for visualizing and editing LiDAR and photogrammetry data. Good for alignment, meshing, cleanup, segmentation, a<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#photogrammetry--scanning-software">Software Reference → Photogrammetry & Scanning Software</a></small>		Open Source	Open Source · Point Cloud	Point cloud and mesh processing
COLMAP	A general-purpose Structure-from-Motion (SfM) and Multi-View Stereo (MVS) pipeline with a graphical and command-line interface.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#photogrammetry--scanning-software">Software Reference → Photogrammetry & Scanning Software</a></small>		Open Source	Photogrammetry · Open Source	Photogrammetry SfM/MVS reconstruction
Depthkit	Depth-sensor volumetric capture toolkit.		Paid	Depth Sensor · Volumetric	Depth-sensor volumetric capture
FARO SCENE	Capture and process FARO Focus scan data.		Paid	FARO · Point Cloud	FARO Focus pipeline
Geomagic Wrap	Convert point clouds to polygon meshes (Oqton, formerly 3D Systems).		Paid	Scan to Mesh · Geomagic	Point cloud to mesh
HDR Light Studio	Interactive HDRI editing and relighting tool for 3D. Bridges to Maya, 3ds Max, Houdini, Cinema 4D, Modo, Blender.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#misc-3d-utilities-software">Software Reference → Misc 3D Utilities Software</a></small>		Paid	HDRI Editor · DCC Bridges	HDRI relighting in 3D
Hugin	Free OSS panorama stitcher built on Panorama Tools.		Open Source	Open Source · Free Stitcher	Free panorama stitching
KIRI Engine	Cross-platform mobile photogrammetry.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#photogrammetry--scanning-software">Software Reference → Photogrammetry & Scanning Software</a></small>		Freemium	Cross-platform · Mobile	Cross-platform mobile photogrammetry
Leica Cyclone	Point cloud registration and processing for Leica scanners.		Paid	Leica · Point Cloud	Leica scan pipeline
Luminance HDR	HDR workflow. Merge brackets, tonemap, convert EXR/HDR/RGBE.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#viewers--file-utilities">Software Reference → Viewers & File Utilities</a>, <a href="#conversion-tools">Tools, Pipeline & Utilities → Conversion Tools</a></small>		Open Source	HDR Workflow · EXR	HDR workflow
Meshroom (AliceVision)	Free, open-source photogrammetry. Node-based, GPU-accelerated.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#photogrammetry--scanning-software">Software Reference → Photogrammetry & Scanning Software</a></small>		Open Source	Open Source · Node-based	Open-source photogrammetry
Open Scan Tools	A collection of open-source tools for photogrammetry, depth-sensing, and 3D reconstruction workflows. Nice rendering options for xray style.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#photogrammetry--scanning-software">Software Reference → Photogrammetry & Scanning Software</a></small>		Open Source	Open Source · Toolkit	Open-source scan toolkit
OpenDroneMap / WebODM	Open source drone photogrammetry stack.		Open Source	Open Source · Drone	Open drone photogrammetry
PCL (Point Cloud Library)	Large-scale open project for 2D/3D image and point cloud processing.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#photogrammetry--scanning-software">Software Reference → Photogrammetry & Scanning Software</a></small>		Open Source	Point Clouds · Open Source	Point cloud processing
Pix4D	Survey and mapping photogrammetry suite.		Paid	Drone · Mapping	Drone photogrammetry
Polycam	Mobile photogrammetry (iOS LiDAR + photo, Android photo). Cloud processing.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#photogrammetry--scanning-software">Software Reference → Photogrammetry & Scanning Software</a></small>		Freemium	Mobile · LiDAR	Mobile photogrammetry
Postshot	Desktop Gaussian Splatting tool. Train, clean, edit, export.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#photogrammetry--scanning-software">Software Reference → Photogrammetry & Scanning Software</a></small>		Freemium	Desktop · Splat Editor	Desktop Gaussian splat
PTGui Pro	Industry-standard panorama stitcher. Full HDR/bracketed support, mask painting, viewpoint correction.	~€169 PTGui, ~€339 Pro	Paid	Industry Standard · HDR Stitcher	Pro panorama stitching for HDRI
Quixel Megascans	World’s largest photogrammetry 2D and 3D asset library. Now it is free for the Epic Games accounts (only UE projects).<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#photogrammetry--scanning-software">Software Reference → Photogrammetry & Scanning Software</a></small>		Free	Asset Library · Epic Games	Photogrammetry asset library
RealityCapture	Fast, high-quality photogrammetry (now Epic Games). PPI pricing.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#photogrammetry--scanning-software">Software Reference → Photogrammetry & Scanning Software</a></small>		Freemium	Epic Games · High-Quality	Production photogrammetry
Scaniverse (Niantic)	Free mobile scanning, Gaussian splat support.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#photogrammetry--scanning-software">Software Reference → Photogrammetry & Scanning Software</a></small>		Free	Free Mobile · Gaussian Splat	Mobile scan, Gaussian splat
Trimble RealWorks	Survey-grade point cloud registration and modeling.		Paid	Trimble · Survey	Survey-grade scan processing

Related:

360 Gaussian Splatting. Generate gaussian splatting directly from 360 images
3D Gaussian Splatting (joeyan reimpl). Python/CUDA Gaussian Splatting reimplementation (MIT).
3D Gaussian Splatting (WangFeng18 reimpl). Python/CUDA Gaussian Splatting reimplementation (MIT).
3D in Geospatial: NeRFs, Gaussian Splatting, and Spatial Computing. Blog. Applying NeRFs and Gaussian Splatting to geospatial 3D mapping.
4DViews Paid. Volumetric capture stages and HOLOSYS rigs.
Awesome-3DGS Paper List. Curated list of 3D Gaussian Splatting papers, maintained by MrNeRF.
Book: High Dynamic Range Imaging (Reinhard et al.) Paid. Reinhard, Heidrich, Debevec, Pattanaik, Ward, Myszkowski. The reference text on HDR imaging.
Compressing Gaussian Splats. PlayCanvas blog. Compressing Gaussian Splat data for the web.
CyArk. Heritage site laser scanning archive. Free models for cultural sites worldwide.
Direct Gaussian Style Optimization (DGSO): Stylizing 3D Gaussian Splats. Applying style transfer during gaussian optimization to produce stylized gaussian splats of a scene.
Eisko Paid. Digital human scanning and asset service.
Gaussian Splats Town Hall - Part 2. PixelReconstruct YouTube. Community town hall on Gaussian Splatting tooling.
Gaussian Splatting 3D. Python/CUDA Gaussian Splatting implementation.
Gaussian Splatting is pretty cool. Aras Pranckevicius blog. How Gaussian Splatting works under the hood.
Gaussian Splatting Lightning. A 3D Gaussian Splatting framework with various derived algorithms and an interactive web viewer
Infinite-Realities (Triple-I) Paid. Photogrammetry and light-stage rentals for film and games.
Intro to gaussian splatting (and Unity plugin). Blog walkthrough of Gaussian Splatting with a Unity plugin demo.
JaxNeRF. Deng et al., 2020. JAX NeRF with multi-device training.
Light Probe Image Gallery. Original mirror-ball HDR probes (Grace Cathedral, Uffizi, etc.). Still used in IBL teaching.
Making Gaussian Splats more smaller. Aras Pranckevicius blog. Further Gaussian Splat size reduction.
Making Gaussian Splats smaller. Aras Pranckevicius blog. Shrinking Gaussian Splat file sizes.
Meshroom. AliceVision photogrammetry pipeline. Reconstructs 3D meshes from photos.
Metastage Paid. LA volumetric capture studio using Microsoft tech.
Mip-NeRF. google, 2021. Anti-aliased NeRF reference implementation.
MrNeRF (awesome-3D-gaussian-splatting). Curated awesome-list of 3D Gaussian Splatting papers, tools, and viewers.
NeRF. Mildenhall et al., 2020. Original NeRF reference implementation.
NeRF (PyTorch3D). facebookresearch, 2020. NeRF project inside PyTorch3D.
NeRF-PyTorch (yenchenlin). Yen-Chen Lin, 2020. Faithful PyTorch reimplementation of NeRF.
NeRF-PyTorch-Lightning (nerf_pl). kwea123, 2020. NeRF in PyTorch-Lightning.
NeRF-W (nerf_pl). kwea123, 2021. NeRF in the Wild reimplementation.
Nerfstudio gsplat. CUDA-accelerated Gaussian Splatting library integrated with Nerfstudio (Apache-2.0).
Nerfstudio Unofficial. Unofficial Nerfstudio fork adding Gaussian Splatting support.
Neural Rendering (YouTube). Ben Mildenhall
Open Heritage 3D. Open scan datasets for heritage sites.
openMVG. A library for computer-vision scientists targeted for the Multiple View Geometry community.
Overview of Gaussian Splatting. Towards Data Science article. End-to-end overview of Gaussian Splatting.
Paul Debevec. Site of the IBL and HDR-from-bracketed papers, Light Probe Image Gallery, Light Stage research history.
Photogrammetry Guide. Guide to photogrammetry covering applications, libraries, and tools.
Photogrammetry Importer. Addon to import different photogrammetry formats into Blender.
Polyscope. A C++ & Python viewer for 3D data like meshes and point clouds.
Smithsonian 3D. Historical artifacts. See also: <a href="#model-libraries-specialized">Assets & Libraries → Model Libraries: Specialized</a>
Stanford Digital Michelangelo. Foundational large-statue laser scanning project (Marc Levoy).
SuperSplat. A browser-based tool for inspecting, editing, optimizing and publishing 3D Gaussian Splats.
Ten24 Paid. Full-body photogrammetry rig services for games and film.
USC ICT Graphics Lab. Home of Light Stage research and digital-human capture papers.
Volucap Paid. Babelsberg volumetric video studio.

Retopology & Mesh Tools

Retopology and mesh processing.

Software	Description	Pricing	License	Tags	Best For
3D Coat	Sculpt, retopo, UV, and PBR paint suite from Pilgway. Voxel and surface sculpt, AUTOPO auto-retopo, manual quad retopo, UV unwrap, bake.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#retopology--uv-software">Software Reference → Retopology & UV Software</a>, <a href="#3d-software-paid">Software Reference → 3D Software: Paid</a></small>	~$379 perpetual (Educational $99)	Paid	Sculpt + Retopo · PBR Paint	Sculpt + retopo + UV + PBR paint in one app
AutoRemesher	Open-source auto-retopology tool intended to convert source meshes into clean, animation-friendly all-quad geometry.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#retopology--uv-software">Software Reference → Retopology & UV Software</a></small>		Open Source	Free · Auto Retopo	Auto-retopology
Cozy Blanket	iPad sculpt-to-retopo app. Clay sculpt plus auto-quad retopology for game/film topology, from Naam.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#retopology--uv-software">Software Reference → Retopology & UV Software</a></small>	~$80 perpetual	Paid	iPad Sculpt · Auto Retopo	iPad sculpt + auto-retopo
Instant Meshes	Free, open-source auto-retopology.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#retopology--uv-software">Software Reference → Retopology & UV Software</a></small>		Open Source	Free · Auto Retopo	Auto-retopology
Topogun	Standalone retopology and baking.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#retopology--uv-software">Software Reference → Retopology & UV Software</a></small>		Paid	Retopo + Bake · Classic	Retopo + baking

Related:

Danny Mac 3D. Character modeling, posing, rigging, retopology, sculpting.
Instant Meshes Remesh. Blender addon wrapping Instant Meshes for fast auto-retopology.
Quad Remesher Paid. Auto-quad retopology plugin (Exoside) for Maya, 3ds Max, Blender, C4D, Modo, Houdini, ZBrush. ZRemesher-style algorithm. See also: <a href="#retopology--uv-software">Software Reference → Retopology & UV Software</a>
Retopo MT Paid. Tool for retopo, you use it in addition with other addons or tools in Blender, in Edit Mode.
RetopoFlow 3 Paid. Blender retopology suite with sketch, contour, strip, patches, and tweak tools. Sold via Blender Market. See also: <a href="#retopology--uv-software">Software Reference → Retopology & UV Software</a>
SpeedRetopo. Free add-on for Blender to make fast and easy retopology using Bsurface.
Topology Guides. Topology reference.
ZWrap Paid. ZBrush plugin (R3DS) that auto-wraps a base topology onto a scan or sculpt. Standard for garment/character retopo. See also: <a href="#retopology--uv-software">Software Reference → Retopology & UV Software</a>

UV Tools

UV unwrapping, packing, and UDIM tools.

Software	Description	Pricing	License	Tags	Best For
Headus UVLayout	Standalone UV editor, flatten-based.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#retopology--uv-software">Software Reference → Retopology & UV Software</a></small>		Paid	Flatten-based · Classic	Flatten-based UV editor
RizomUV	Fast UV unwrapping, auto-seam, auto-pack. Standalone or bridge.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#retopology--uv-software">Software Reference → Retopology & UV Software</a></small>		Paid	Industry Standard · Standalone	Fast pro UV unwrapping
UVPackmaster	Advanced UV packing, UDIM support. Blender addon + standalone.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#retopology--uv-software">Software Reference → Retopology & UV Software</a></small>		Paid	UDIM · Packing	UV packing + UDIM
Valence 3D	iPad UV unwrap and texture paint app from Naam. Pairs with Cozy Blanket for full iPad asset workflow.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#retopology--uv-software">Software Reference → Retopology & UV Software</a></small>	~$30 perpetual	Paid	iPad UV · iPad Paint	iPad UV + texture paint

Related:

UV Checker Map Maker. Custom UV checker textures.
UV Grid Generator. Web tool to generate custom UV checker textures.
UV Toolkit Paid. Tools collection for UV editing in blender.

Rigging & Animation Tools

Auto-rig, retargeting, and animation middleware.

AccuRIG. Free application designed for fast and easy character rigging.
APEX (Houdini) Paid. SideFX's procedural node-based rigging framework.
Auto-Rig Pro (Blender) Paid. Automatic rigging and retargeting.
CvWrap. Fast Maya wrap deformer.
EasyMocap. Open-source toolbox for markerless human motion capture and novel view synthesis from RGB videos.
Mesh2Motion. FREE & open-source web application to animate your 3D models. Supports humanoid, four-legged, and bird creatures.
Onion Skin Renderer. Onion Skin Renderer for Maya.
ossos. A complete character skinning & animation library for the web
trigger. Operational code-driven rigging tool for Autodesk Maya.

Matchmoving & Camera Tracking

Camera tracking, object tracking, and camera matching tools.

Software	Description	Pricing	License	Tags	Best For
3DEqualizer	High-end matchmoving (major VFX studios).<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#matchmoving--camera-tracking-software">Software Reference → Matchmoving & Camera Tracking Software</a></small>		Paid	High-End · Studio Standard	High-end matchmove
fSpy	Free, open-source single-image camera matching → Blender.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#matchmoving--camera-tracking-software">Software Reference → Matchmoving & Camera Tracking Software</a></small>		Open Source	Free · Blender Bridge	Free single-image cam match
KeenTools	Face and geometry tracking plus FaceBuilder for Blender, Nuke, AE, Houdini.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#vfx--compositing-software">Software Reference → VFX & Compositing Software</a></small>	$18/mo or $179/yr per plugin (Studio $499/yr floating)	Paid	Face Tracking · VFX	Face/geo tracking for VFX
Mocha Pro	Boris FX planar tracker for VFX. Roto, object removal, screen replacement, lens distortion.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#vfx--compositing-software">Software Reference → VFX & Compositing Software</a>, <a href="#motion-graphics-tools--utilities">Motion Graphics & Video → Motion Graphics: Tools & Utilities</a></small>	$48/mo or $325/yr; perpetual from $765	Paid	Industry Standard · Planar Tracking	Planar tracking, roto, screen replacement
PFTrack	Professional matchmoving, object tracking, mesh generation.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#matchmoving--camera-tracking-software">Software Reference → Matchmoving & Camera Tracking Software</a></small>		Paid	Matchmove · Pro	Pro matchmove
Silhouette	Boris FX node-based roto/paint compositor with AI-driven matte tools.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#vfx--compositing-software">Software Reference → VFX & Compositing Software</a></small>	$165/mo or $875/yr; perpetual standalone $2,195	Paid	Industry Standard · Roto/Paint	Feature-film roto and paint
SynthEyes	Camera tracking with lens distortion solving.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#matchmoving--camera-tracking-software">Software Reference → Matchmoving & Camera Tracking Software</a></small>		Paid	Lens Distortion · Pro	Camera tracking + distortion

Related:

F Spy Maya. Unofficial fSpy Maya importer (one of several).
Lockdown Paid. After Effects plugin for tracking warped, deforming surfaces (faces, fabric, skin). Mesh-based.
VFX Camera Database. Reference database of camera sensor sizes, formats, and specs for matchmoving and lens setup. See also: <a href="#miscellaneous-3d-tools--utilities">Tools, Pipeline & Utilities → Miscellaneous 3D Tools & Utilities</a>

Miscellaneous 3D Tools & Utilities

Assorted CG utilities and specialty tools.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
Blockbench	Free low-poly/voxel 3D modeler.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#misc-3d-utilities-software">Software Reference → Misc 3D Utilities Software</a></small>	Free	Low-poly · Voxel	Low-poly / voxel modeling
darktable	Open-source RAW photo editor for reference/texture processing.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#misc-3d-utilities-software">Software Reference → Misc 3D Utilities Software</a></small>	Open Source	RAW Editor · Open Source	RAW processing
Dust3D	Open-source quick base mesh generation.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#misc-3d-utilities-software">Software Reference → Misc 3D Utilities Software</a></small>	Open Source	Base Meshes · Open Source	Base mesh generation
Gaea	Terrain generation tool (free community edition).<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#misc-3d-utilities-software">Software Reference → Misc 3D Utilities Software</a></small>	Freemium	Terrain Gen · Free Community	Terrain generation
Gl Ch Ao S.P	RealTime 3D Strange Attractors scout on GPU.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#misc-3d-utilities-software">Software Reference → Misc 3D Utilities Software</a></small>	Open Source	Strange Attractors · GPU
Hesiod	Free open-source node-based procedural terrain/heightmap generator.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#misc-3d-utilities-software">Software Reference → Misc 3D Utilities Software</a></small>	Open Source	Terrain Gen · Node-based	Procedural terrain
IFS Renderer	Free GPU-accelerated fractal renderer with HDR/EXR export.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#misc-3d-utilities-software">Software Reference → Misc 3D Utilities Software</a></small>	Free	Fractals · HDR/EXR	Fractal rendering
Mandelbulb3D (thargor6 fork)	A program designed for the Windows platform for generating 3D views of different fractals.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#3d-software-free">Software Reference → 3D Software: Free</a></small>	Open Source	Fractals · Windows
Massive	AI-driven crowd simulation pioneered on Lord of the Rings; Massive Prime + plugins for Maya/Max.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#pipeline--production-management-software">Software Reference → Pipeline & Production Management Software</a></small>	Paid	Industry Standard · Crowd Sim	Feature-film crowd simulation
MeshLab	Open-source mesh processing, essential for photogrammetry cleanup.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#misc-3d-utilities-software">Software Reference → Misc 3D Utilities Software</a></small>	Open Source	Mesh Processing · Photogrammetry	Mesh processing
OBS Studio	Free screen recording/streaming. Essential for tutorials.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#misc-3d-utilities-software">Software Reference → Misc 3D Utilities Software</a></small>	Open Source	Recording · Streaming	Screen recording, streaming
Photopea	Free browser-based Photoshop alternative with full PSD support.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#misc-3d-utilities-software">Software Reference → Misc 3D Utilities Software</a></small>	Free	PSD · Browser	Quick PSD editing
Pixie	Pixie is a photorealistic renderer that uses a Pixar's RenderMan-like interface.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#misc-3d-utilities-software">Software Reference → Misc 3D Utilities Software</a></small>	Open Source	RenderMan-like · Renderer
ShareX	Free Windows screen capture with recording and annotation.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#misc-3d-utilities-software">Software Reference → Misc 3D Utilities Software</a></small>	Open Source	Screen Capture · Windows	Screen capture, annotation
Storm HydroFX	Real-time liquid and fluid simulation tool.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#misc-3d-utilities-software">Software Reference → Misc 3D Utilities Software</a></small>	Paid	Fluids · FX	Fluid simulation
tlRender	Timeline render, is an early stage project for rendering editorial timelines.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#misc-3d-utilities-software">Software Reference → Misc 3D Utilities Software</a></small>	Open Source	Timeline · Editorial

Related:

3DN BIP. Fast image-preview Python library for Blender, a bpy.utils.previews drop-in replacement.
Advanced Blender Add-on. Starter kit and annotated design patterns for advanced Blender addon development.
Blender Addon Tester. Pytest-based test harness for running Blender addon tests inside a target Blender version.
Blender CLI Rendering. Python scripts for rendering images with Blender from the command line.
Blender Launcher. Standalone client for managing official Blender builds.
Blender Manager. Standalone app for Blender auto-update, project management, time tracking, addon control and render management.
Blender Scripting. Python scripting examples for Blender, from simple to advanced.
Blender Updater CLI. Command-line version of BlenderUpdater.
Blender Version Manager. Minimal download manager for Blender builds.
BlenderUpdater. Download and install Blender nightly builds with one click.
City Roads. Generate road maps of any city as vector art.
DEM Net Elevation API Freemium. Live 3D textured terrain generation from real data - export height/normal maps, glTF, OBJ, STL
DEM Net Elevation API C#. Terrain generation from real data with textures, normal maps, glTF, OBJ, STL support
Developer Documentation. Blender developer docs: development process, design, architecture, and build instructions.
emojillate. Pixellate an image into emoji
EZGIF. Online GIF and video editing and conversion tools.
Fake Bpy Module. Fake Blender Python API modules for IDE code completion.
Graphtoy. Mathematical function grapher by Inigo Quilez.
HDRI To Cube Map. A tool to convert your HDRI file into a Cube map.
Jsplacement. Procedural displacement map generator.
Kiko. DCC-agnostic animation-curve interchange. Transfers curves between Maya and Nuke.
Math for Motion. Interactive math concepts for motion graphics.
Palladio. CityEngine Plugin for Houdini
Penzil. A web application to sketch in 3d made in three.js and Vue.
RedKetchup Twitter Downloader. Save MP4 and GIF video from Twitter posts.
Sorcar. A procedural modeling node-based system which uses Blender and its Python API to create a visual programming environment for artists and developers
Sprite Stacker. Create pseudo-3D sprite stacks from pixel art with integrated voxel editor (Godot-based, pre-1.0).
SunCalc. Sun position, golden hour, and shadow visualization for any location and time.
Tangram Heightmapper. Interactive grayscale heightmap browser, which can generate heightmaps for use in 3D applications.
Texture Extractor. Extract textures and materials from photos (Godot-based, pre-1.0).
VFX Camera Database. Reference database of camera sensor sizes, formats, and specs for matchmoving and lens setup. See also: <a href="#matchmoving--camera-tracking">Tools, Pipeline & Utilities → Matchmoving & Camera Tracking</a>
WebGL Texture Tester. Attempts to load one of every texture format supported by WebGL, intended to quickly show which formats your browser/device supports.
Wumbo Math Glossary. Visual glossary of math concepts useful for technical art.

Plugin & Addon Marketplaces

Per-software plugin marketplaces.

30 Free PBR materials by Artem Lebedev. 30 free PBR material set for Blender.
aescripts + aeplugins Paid. Primary After Effects / Premiere plugin marketplace.
Archipack Paid. Parametric architectural primitives for ArchViz in Blender, with realtime on-screen editing.
Autodesk App Store Paid. Official Maya plugins and scripts.
Blender Osm Freemium. One click download and import of OpenStreetMap and terrain for Blender.
BlenderAddons.org. Provides a list of free and paid Blender addons. Find the addon you need under categories or tags.
Blenderesse's Generators. Free Blender geometry-nodes generators, including an electric power-line generator.
Blenderkit Paid. In-app asset browser.
Brush Manager for Blender. Create custom Blender brushes, store them in a file, and organize a categorized brush library.
BY GEN. Blender addon for non-destructive, generative modeling styles.
City Scatter. Generate cityscape concepts, powered by Blender's collection system.
E Cycles Paid. Cycles fork that renders up to 2.5x faster on CUDA GPUs, up to 15x with new options.
EasyBPY. Abstraction layer over the Blender Python API (bpy) for more readable, memorable scripting.
ExtraInfo. Show more info in the viewport.
FlippedNormals Freemium. 3D education site by Henning Sanden and Morten Jaeger. Discord community for character artists and 3D learners. See also: <a href="#3d-communities--forums">Learning, Community & Industry → 3D Communities & Forums</a>
Flow Map Painter. Blender addon with a brush tool for flow-map painting.
Free Hard Surface KitBash Models. Free hard-surface and sci-fi kitbash model sets.
Free Sky Environment Shading. Free custom procedural environment shading.
Free VDB Clouds. Pack of 3 cloud VDBs for large aerial views.
Greyscalegorilla (site) Paid. C4D plugins, materials, HDRIs.
Gumroad Paid. Creator-direct marketplace.
gumroad/bluefoxcreation Freemium. Blue Fox Creation Gumroad. Blender motion-graphics products and tutorials.
gumroad/simonthommes Freemium. Simon Thommes Gumroad. Free and paid Blender materials.
Higgsas Blender Freemium. Higgsas Gumroad. Free and paid Blender geometry-nodes setups.
Highend3d Paid. Maya community scripts and plugins.
jamajurabaev Freemium. Jama Jurabaev Gumroad. Concept-art brushes and tutorials.
KIT OPS Freemium. Kitbash-driven hard-surface modeling for Blender. Build complex industrial designs fast.
Kitbash3D Paid. High-end kitbash asset packs.
Layer Painter Paid. Layer-based PBR material painting in Blender, with masks, filters, and procedurals.
MACHIN3tools. Free collection of Blender tools and pie menus in one customizable package.
Maxivz’s Interactive Tools. Collection of intuitive, context sensitive tools for Blender.
Mech/Fy. A procedural workflow that automates the process of hard surfaces modelling.
MotionArray Paid. Motion graphics and video assets.
Orbolt Paid. Official Houdini HDA marketplace.
Parallax UV Mapping. Parallax mapping material and node setup for Blender, works in EEVEE and Cycles.
Path Solver HDA. Houdini HDA that distributes points/objects along a path without intersections.
Photographer 2. Blender camera addon for exposure, white balance, and autofocus. Now free.
Pixel Art Rendering. Free Blender addon for pixel-art-style renders in EEVEE, with Bayer dithering and multiple lights.
Point Based Growth HDA. Houdini point based growth Asset.
Poly Source. Shows ngon/quad/tri counts on the active object to keep topology clean in Blender.
PowerSave. Streamlines and simplifies saving in Blender.
Reactor (DaVinci). Community package manager for DaVinci Resolve, hundreds of free tools.
Speedflow Paid. Blender addon for a non-destructive modifier workflow.
Speedsculpt Paid. Blender addon for fast character sculpting with Dyntopo, booleans, curves, skin modifier, and masks.
SSGI for EEVEE. Converts diffuse and Principled BSDFs to node groups for a screen-space global illumination effect in EEVEE.
Super Fast Render Paid. Either uses preset render settings optimised to speed up render times or Uses a benchmark to detect the fastest settings for the same render quality
Super Res Render Paid. Plugin that splits renders up into several chunks to make rendering at super high resolutions possible.
Texel Density Checker. Blender addon to calculate, set, and copy texel density.
Universal Human Rigged Base Mesh Paid. Rigged human base mesh.
VideoHive (Envato) Paid. Templates and presets.
Wrap Deformer. Houdini wrap deformer. Surface-proximity alternative to point deform.

Conversion Tools

Format conversion across image, video, audio, and 3D.

Software	Description	License	Tags	Best For
fre:ac	Free, open-source batch audio converter.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#viewers--file-utilities">Software Reference → Viewers & File Utilities</a></small>	Open Source	Audio Batch · Open Source	Batch audio conversion
HandBrake	Free, open-source H.265/AV1 video encoder.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#viewers--file-utilities">Software Reference → Viewers & File Utilities</a></small>	Open Source	H.265/AV1 · Open Source	Video encoding
Luminance HDR	HDR workflow. Merge brackets, tonemap, convert EXR/HDR/RGBE.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#viewers--file-utilities">Software Reference → Viewers & File Utilities</a>, <a href="#photogrammetry--3d-scanning">Tools, Pipeline & Utilities → Photogrammetry & 3D Scanning</a></small>	Open Source	HDR Workflow · EXR	HDR workflow
Shutter Encoder	FFmpeg GUI with professional presets.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#viewers--file-utilities">Software Reference → Viewers & File Utilities</a></small>	Free	FFmpeg GUI · Pro Presets	Pro video encoding GUI
XnConvert	Batch image converter, 80+ actions.<br><small class="see-also">See also: <a href="#viewers--file-utilities">Software Reference → Viewers & File Utilities</a></small>	Free	Batch · 80+ Actions	Batch image conversion

Related:

123apps Freemium. Free web tools for audio, video, image.
3DGS Converter. Format conversion tool for 3D Gaussian Splatting data.
Assimp (GitHub). Open-source library, 40+ 3D format import (C/C++/Python).
Assimp (site). A portable Open-Source library to import various well-known 3D model formats in a uniform manner.
CloudConvert Freemium. 200+ formats with API.
Convertio Freemium. Multi-format converter.
F Spy USD. Unofficial fSpy to USD converter.
FBX2glTF. Meta's CLI for FBX → glTF 2.0.
FreeConvert Freemium. Free online file converter.
glTF Pipeline. GlTF ↔ GLB, Draco compress, texture resize.
GLTF Report. Web app to diagnose and optimize glTF files. Inspector supports BASIS/KTX2 textures. By Don McCurdy.
glTF Transform. JS library/CLI for reading, editing, optimizing glTF (Draco, KTX2).
glTF Validator. Official Khronos spec validation.
glTF Viewer. Web-based glTF/GLB viewer.
gltfpack. Aggressive glTF mesh/texture optimization.
ImageMagick. CLI, 200+ image formats.
MAZANOKE. Browser-based converter.
Needle USD Converter. Web-based USD/USDZ viewer and converter.
obj2gltf. Cesium's OBJ → glTF with PBR mapping.
OIIO (OpenImageIO). ASWF CLI tools, 100+ formats. VFX pipeline standard.
Online Convert Freemium. Web-based format converter.
Packyderm. A lightweight tool that lets you browse and extract the contents of unitypackage files without opening Unity
Pixelicious. Image-to-Pixel

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3D Resources: Software, Assets, Tutorials & Tools for 3D Artists

Contents

Assets & Libraries

Model Libraries: Free & General

Model Libraries: Specialized

Model Libraries: Architecture & Furniture

Asset Marketplaces

Free Asset Giveaways

Software-Specific Asset Libraries

HDRIs

Textures & Materials: Free PBR Libraries

Textures: Specialized

Textures: Premium

Stock Images & References

Stock Footage

Audio: SFX & Music Libraries

Fonts

Icons

Game Assets

Modeling, Sculpting & Texturing

Blender: Plugins & Addons

Blender: Tutorials

Houdini: Getting Started

Houdini: Essential Learning Resources

Houdini: VEX & Coding

Houdini: FX & Simulations

Houdini: Rigging & Animation (KineFX)

Houdini: Grooming

Houdini: Miscellaneous Tutorials

Houdini: Plugins & Tools

Houdini: Courses & Free Content

Houdini: Communities

Cinema 4D: Learning

Cinema 4D: Plugins

Cinema 4D: Tips & Workflows

3ds Max: Plugins

Fusion 360: Learning

Material Creation Tools

Animation & Rigging

Animation: YouTube Channels

Animation: Courses

AI Motion Capture & Animation

Lighting, Rendering & Shaders

3D Lighting: Fundamentals

3D Lighting: Redshift-Specific

3D Lighting: Production

Rendering & Shader Theory

Renderer-Specific Learning

VFX, Compositing & Virtual Production

Virtual Production

Tech Art

Compositing Learning, Books & Industry

Motion Graphics & Video

Motion Graphics: YouTube Channels

Motion Graphics: Courses

After Effects: Learning & Templates

Fusion (DaVinci Resolve): Learning

Motion Graphics: Inspiration

Motion Graphics: Tools & Utilities

Video Editing: Courses

Game Development

Godot: Official Resources

Godot: Key Plugins & Addons

Godot: Learning

Godot: Communities

Unity Engine: Resources

XR, AR & VR: Resources

Unreal Engine: Resources

Game Dev Tools: Level Design

Game Dev Tools: Dialogue & Narrative

Game Dev Tools: Audio Middleware

Game Dev Tools: Networking & Multiplayer

Game Dev Tools: Sprite & VFX

Game Dev Tools: AI & Procedural Generation

Game Dev Tools: Physics Engines

Game Dev Tools: Version Control

Game Dev Tools: Analytics & Playtesting

Game Design & Theory

Game Dev: YouTube Channels

Game Dev: Courses