Feel free to drop me a line if you'd like to add something or if you feel that I've represented something incorrectly. All package names are the property of their respective manufacturers.

( COMING SOON -- POSER, AMAPI & CARRARA, but I've got to finish my movie first )

3D Studio MAX / Version: 3
Autodesk
Perhaps the single most popular 3D modeling and animation solution for PC-based professionals. 3D Studio MAX is fully integrated with other Discreet software products, including paint, edit, and effect. The ancillary Character Studio package is perhaps the most commonly used character generator in the film, video and game industries and I've personally used it for more than a dozen projects. It combines motion capture, editing, and blending technology with traditional keyframe animation, and skin deformation tools.
Synthetic characters is something I've been into for many years and CharacterStudio makes it affordable.

The Animation Stand / Version: 4.3
Linker Systems
One of the earliest professional tools on the Mac, Animation Stand is a computer-assisted animation and special effects system. Its functions include scanning, ink & paint, 3D shading, auto-painting, animation direction with exposure sheet control, special and optical effects, lay-out to tape, disk, or film, and management reporting. Available in professional, multimedia and personal editions. I must admit that my copy is quite old so the chart may not still be relevent.

Bryce 3D / Version: 4.1
Corel Corporation
One of the few applications with both ease of use and power, Bryce is a standalone Macintosh application that designs and renders natural and supernatural 3-D landscapes and terrains. Bryce enables users to create breathtaking skies with natural cloud formations, humidity and light refraction, as well as astonishing landscapes with plateaus, rivers, snowy peaks, desert floors and an amazing array of other special effects-all with complex textures and reflective surfaces. Many people consider this program a toy, its not.

CINEMA 4D XL / Version: 6
MAXON Computer GmbH
CINEMA 4D is an ultra-fast Raytracer, modeler, animator. The power, speed and image quality of CINEMA 4D competes well with expensive workstations with expensive software. CINEMA 4D gives you optimized anti-aliasing with over sampling up to 64 times and several render qualities from scanline with transparency and reflectivity up to real ray tracing. CINEMA 4D's adaptive technology allows you to render even the most complex scenes in a matter of seconds or minutes, rather than hours. While the manufacturer claims that CINEMA 4D is 6 to 10 times faster than other currently available programs on the Macintosh. Prior to the introduction of RayTracing in Universe, C4D had the edge on projects requiring transparencies. Now ... not so much.

ElectricImage / UNIVERSE Version: 4
Electric Image, Inc.
I've probably done more on-air graphics packages and corporate flying logos with this application than all others put together. For at least a dozen years, ElectricImage Animation System was the fastest software-only animation system on the Mac, then, like so many software companies, they allowed themselves to be bought out by a large company that didn't really understand the market. EI was purchased by PLAY and a lot of their dedicated followers drifted away to other packages as the new owners squeezed the life out of the once robust program.

Like many of my cohorts in the professional graphics industry, I stuck with the six year old version 2.7.5 which was the last version that actually came with a manual. Then ... in what has got to be one of the greatest comeback stories in software history, a handful of the original founders bought back the mortally wounded company and breathed new life into it. I purchased the newest version which is now called Universe and runs on all platforms. Not to extend a doggy metaphor beyond the bounds of good taste, but I believe Universe is truly a binary prodigal son worthy of a second chance.

The new look is very professional and the performance is better than ever. Now that they've got a real manual again, the workflow doesn't need to stop, every time you need to look something up. I've kicked out a couple small network projects with it and aside from a bit of retooling, I haven't really run into anything but pleasant surprises. I still have yet to get a hang or a crash ... and I'm using it on a Mac! I'd really like to hear how it works on a burly SUN system. I created the entire graphics package for Ripley's Believe it or Not! using this and Adobe AfterEffects.

Being an old FormZ and Maya user, I initially had a problem with the Universe modeler, but since so many of the people working on my movie were using it I plodded through the tutorials and got up to speed. Two days later, I'm UberModeling up a storm. Very nice and stable and ... most importantly ... great manual.

The short-coming of the Universe Animator for me was the conspicuous absence of any material presets. It came with some basic shaders, but if you wanted a nice glass or metal, you basically had to build it from scratch. So I posted a request for materials on the company's forum and in less than 24 hours had more truly great materials than I'll ever use.

Perhaps the single best recommendation was a link to a French site. Electro303. They have a huge resource of some of the most excellent material presets I've run across in any package. Kind of like Brice on steroids. There are also a number of very excellent tutorials as well a several plug-ins and applications that all work extremely well. The hitch is that everything is in French. (say la veee) My work around is to access the site through Google search engine and then use the translator to turn the entire site into quite passable English.

I've had a number of requests to include a list of plug-ins and shaders. Stay tuned and I'll see what I can muster up.

Form Z / Version: 3.6.5
by Autodessys Inc.
Form-Z is a general purpose 3D solid and surface modeller with drafting and rendering and features a highly interactive interface. It performs boolean operations, dynamic 3D form editing and sculpting, terrain modeling, curved splines and meshes including NURBS, 3D text, object rounding, symbol instances and libraries, and has a number of direct format translators, including DXF, PICT EPS, RIB, TIFF, STL, FACT, Illustrator, IGES, 3DGF. Although the learning curve is quite steep, it can be used to model just about any imaginable 3D form. I've been a user for over ten years and while I strongly prefer Maya on the SGI or NT, this is a good performer on the Mac.

LightWave 3D / Version: 6
by NewTek, Inc.
This is probably the most popular cross-platform 3D modelling package currently on the market. It sports all of my favorite 3D features; ray tracing, depth of field, variable lens settings, a great lighting package (3rd party plug-in) and great motion blur. MetaNURBS handles facilitate realtime transformations between polygons and splines while MataBalls facilitate fast approximation of complex shapes. If you're looking for an inexpensive soloution to creating a big-time look, this is the one to go with. There are several high-end production houses in LA that use this package exclusively. The specular optics and negative light values are one of the reasons that LightWave 3D creates extremely realistic inanimate objects. (I.e.: Dodge Trucks, Ants)

Maya
Alias/Wavefront
This award-winning 3D animation and visual effects software has been used extensively for film, broadcast television, video, game development and location based entertainment markets. With a perfectly integrated, single environment that is completely customizable, Maya is optimized for maximum productivity. I've used Maya and its earlier incarnations on both the NT platform and on the SGI UNIX environment. If you're looking for the single most powerful application with the longest learning curve and highest price-point, look no further. If 3D is your life, then Maya is your application.

Yes, the interface is a bit gauche (due to the French influence no doubt), but the modeler is second only to SoftImage in my opinion. Unfortunately the chops I developed on the NT version didn't transpose as seamlessly as I had hoped, but the UNIX based app is totally at home on the Mac's new OSX. Yes it is like a million times faster on a 16 proc Onyx, but throw this baby on the new-and-improved G5 and you've got yourself a genuine portable feast. So you think you're a CG savvy kind'a dweeb? Try this: Fake or Foto

Painter 3D / Version: 1.0
Corel Corporation
Painter 3D is a paint product that revolutionized 2D and 3D design and lets 2D designers use their image-editing skills to create compelling textured, rendered objects for 2D designs. With integrated support for Painter floaters and Photoshop layers, users can map photos onto 3D models, arrange and modify maps and bring rendered objects into their 2D compositions. It was formerly known as Detailer and comes from some of the wackiest code-smiths in the biz. It takes a bit of getting used to but once you get the hang of it the results are quite impressive.

PixelPutty Solo 3D / Version: 1.5.2
The Valis Group
While PixelPutty is probably one of the easier to use modelers in this line-up (don't let its ease of use fool you) and produces cross platform RIB files which are UNIX platform compatible. While it's animation program has a few tiny flaws with regard to time-line integration (these may well have been fixed in subsequent releases), the packages render engine (MacRenderMan from Pixar) is one of the more powerful on the Macintosh. This package will give you photorealistic, resolution independent, images or animations for pre-press or multimedia content design. RenderMan is used worldwide by professionals in digital photography, movie & TV production, game development, advertising web animation & architectural and industrial design.

Rhinoceros / v2.0
Robert McNeel & Associates
Rhino can create, edit, analyze, and translate NURBS* curves, surfaces, and solids in Windows. There are no virtually limits on complexity, degree, or size. Rhino also has support for polygon meshes. Uninhibited free-form 3-D modeling tools like those found only in products costing 20 to 50 times more. Model any shape you can imagine. So easy to learn and use that you can focus on design and visualization without being distracted by the software. Fast, even on an ordinary laptop computer. No special hardware is needed. Since I've only demo'd this product at a trade show, I can't really offer an honest judgement but what I saw, I really liked.

SoftImage / xsi
Softimage
Softimage has been developing 3D animation software for over 14 years and has a well deserved history of award winning commercials, games, TV-series ("Reboot", "Walking with Dinosaurs") and movies like "Jurassic Park", "The Matrix", "Gladiator" and "The Cell". The highly sophisticated GUI sports a clean, customizable look. I've used this package in the past and was very impressed with the results. Unfortunately my version has long since expired so I can't comment on the newer releases.

For shere quality, I really don't think you can do better than this veteran of the pixel wars. When you get up into the high-end packages, you don't just buy them, you rent them, and the monthly or annual payments can easily exceed those of a brand new Boxter. Back when we didn't have many options people were more predisposed to anti-up, but now the vast array of inexpensive yet powerful 3D packages has made everyone into a mini ILM. SoftImage and a very few other packages represent the very top of the graphic food chain. When and if they ever upgrade my copy, I'll post an update.

Strata 3D StudioPro / Version: 3.0
Strata Inc.
If you only have time to learn one application or if you're looking for something that does 3D modeling, animation and rendering and also has an extremely powerful graphic application for compositing and graphics, this is the one. StudioPro is a comprehensive 3-D modeling, animation and special effects package that supports solid textures, surface maps, and volumetric effects, as well as multiple texture layering. StudioPro provides controls for many realistic 3-D special effects, including atmospheric and environment effects, lens flares, auras and visible light rays. A truly great package from truly great folks.

TREE / Version: 4.0
Onyx Computing, Inc.
Man, I love this package. I've used for almost ten years to create photo-realistic trees for both broadcast and motion picture work. It comes with a very extensive library that is quite easy to modify or you can build your own trees, shrubs and bushes from scratch. Monty Python would love the "lovely shrubbery" that this package creates. (you either get that one or you don't) There is now a plugin for ElectricImage that enables the user to model trees into the scene with an unprecedented speed - 20,000 polygons in a mere two seconds. Very nice indeed.

True SPace / v4.3
Caligari Corporation
TrueSpace4 includes a brand new photorealistic renderer based on Lightworks Pro rendering engine from Lightwork Design. Its features are truly impressive and include Hybrid Radiosity, Volumetric Rendering, adaptive Anti-aliasing, Area and Projector Lights, Advanced Shaders, Anisotropic Reflectance Shaders, and Layered Materials. While it is my guess that mediocre marketing (rather than image quality) has kept them out of the lime-light, you could do much worse than to adopt this package.