Modeling, Sculpting & TexturingEdit

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

Blender: Plugins & Addons

Notable addons extending Blender.

Related:

• 3 D Machine Learning. A resource repository for 3D machine learning.
• 3DN BIP. A Python library for Blender. Blazingly fast preview loads in Blender. Images of arbitrary size. bpy.utils.previews drop-in replacement.
• Advanced Blender Add-on. This repository intends to give a starter kit as well as to illustrate and intensively comment design patterns commonly used in advanced Blender add-ons.
• AMD Radeon ProRender. AMD’s physically-based rendering engine that lets creative professionals use open industry standards to use GPU and CPU performance to produce stunningly photorealistic images in B
• AnimAide. Free add-on for Blender that has some helpful tools for animation.
• Array Tools. Addon for Blender to create translation, scale, rotation array with offset or global parameters in any direction and mix them. GitHub
• Arsenal. Blender integrated game engine written in Rust. GitHub
• Auto Terrainer Paid. Automatic Blender Terrain Generator is a and easy-to-use tool that lets you turn any low poly mesh into realistic and customizable terrain. You can use it to create mountains, valleys, isl
• AutoMask. A Blender Add-on for automatic rotoscoping with the help of Machine Learning.
• Awesome 3D Human. A curated list of papers & resources linked to 3D Human research including face, body, hand and motion modeling.
• Awesome 3D Printing. A curated list of awesome 3D printing resources.
• Bangingcuts. Cut up audio and video clips based on peaks in the audio track removing silences. Last Blender versions: don't install the zip, install.py file instead.
• Blender Addon Tester. The blender addon tester is a test harness to enable pytest hook to allow addons to be tested inside a defined version of blender.
• Blender Addons. Helpers for Blender
• Blender CLI Rendering. Python scripts for rendering images using Blender from command-line interface.
• Blender Colab. Render on Google Colab, this is a Python script that allows you to render Blender scene using Google Colaboratory. Only Cycles.
• Blender Data Visualisation. Load data into Blender and create visualisations.
• Blender Debugger For Vscode. Blender addon for remote debugging Blender with VS Code (and Visual Studio).
• Blender For Unreal Engine. This Add-on allows you to export content created with Blender to Unreal Engine 4.
• Blender Kitti. Render large point clouds and voxel grids with blender.
• Blender Launcher. Standalone client for managing official builds of blender.
• Blender Manager. Auto-Update, Project Management and Time Tracking, Addon Control, Version Handling, Render Management.
• Blender Metaverse Addon. Blender toolset for creating content for Metaverses like High Fidelity.
• Blender NLA Midi Copier. Blender add-on for creating midi-driven animations from the Nonlinear Animation view.
• Blender Pyblish. Blender Addon to integrate the Pyblish framework
• Blender Scripting. Introduction to blender scripting. This is a collection of simple to more involved examples to scripting in Blender with Python.
• Blender Sculpt Tools. Addon for help sculpting base mesh like Zbrush with Zsphere.
• Blender to Unity FBX. Unity export addon.
• Blender Updater CLI. Command line version of BlenderUpdater.
• Blender Version Manager. Minimalistic download manager for blender.
• Blender Vscode. Visual Studio Code extension for Blender development.
• Blender XR. A free virtual and mixed reality user interface for Blender that enables artists to edit scenes within the software using a suitable headset and controllers.
• Blender2Godot. Addon that exports a Blender scene to a Godot Engine project.
• BlenderCAM. An Open Source solution for CAM with Blender 3D. GitHub
• BlenderSynth. Blender scripting for generating synthetic datasets at scale.
• BlenderUpdater. Download and install nightly builds with one click.
• BlendyPose. Blender Motion Capture using your camera.
• Blign. Alignment and distribution tool for Blender. It allows users to align and distribute shapes with many different options.
• Bone Widget. Blender addon to assist with making custom bone shapes.
• Bonsai. Beautiful, detailed, data-rich OpenBIM add-on for Blender (formerly BlenderBIM). GitHub
• BookGen. Free book-generation addon for Blender.
• Building Tools. Building generation addon for blender.
• Bystedts Blender Baker Paid. This addon streamlines the texture baking process in Blender.
• CAD Sketcher. CAD Sketcher is a free and open-source project looking to enhance precision workflows in blender by bringing CAD like tools, features and usability. GitHub
• Camera Shakify. An addon for Blender that lets you easily add realistic camera shake to your cameras.
• Capsule. Blender addon to export, manage and automate to share between Blender and Unreal/Unity or other real-time engine.
• CharMorph. An open source character creation tool for Blender. It's a rewrite of MB-Lab, which is now unmaintained. GitHub
• COA Tools. 2D Animation Suite for blender. It offers a 2D cutout animation workflow similar to programs like 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 different types of data within Blender from.csv files.
• Daz to Blender Bridge. This easy-to-use Bridge transfers your Genesis 8 and 3 characters from Daz directly to Blender.
• DreamUV. Collection of tools that allow you to manipulate UVs in the 3D viewport.
• Drop It. Designed to drop fast and simply Objects to Ground or Surface. GitHub
• Easy HDRI. HDRI management addon.
• Easy Proxy. Blender addon to create proxy files for Video Sequence Editor (VSE) easily using FFMPEG.
• EasyBake. Texture baking UI for Blender that lives in the 3D Viewport. Small but powerful! Fast one-click baking and iteration.
• EdgeFlow. This addon adds two operators to blender which both work on edgeloop selections.
• Embark Blender Tools. A Blender add-on containing workflow tools for game development. Includes tools for standardized import/export workflow, 3D modelling and new object types. [[medium]](https://medium.com/embarkstudi
• Engraver Paid. Blender addon with set of few tools designed to help carving decals in 3D models.
• Export Paper Model from Blender. Add-on for creating paper models. GitHub
• EZ Baker. An easier alternative to blender's default bake system. GitHub
• F Spy Blender. Official fSpy Blender importer.
• FaceBuilder Paid. [$] : A Blender add-on that lets you create photorealistic 3D models of human faces and heads using a few photographs with a neutral face expression. [[medium]](https://medium.com/keentools/facebuild
• Fake Bpy Module. Collections of the fake Blender Python API modules for the code completion in commonly used IDEs.
• FLIP Fluids Paid. liquid simulation plugin that gives you the ability to create high quality fluid effects all within Blender, the free and open source 3D creation suite. [![market]](https://blendermar
• FontSelector. Easy font management inside Blender.
• Gaffer (Blender addon). Blender add-on that helps you light your scenes by presenting all the right settings in convenient panels for quick access and experimentation. [![market]](https://blendermarket.com/products/g
• Geometry Nodes Pipes Paid. Addon for blender which helps generating complex pipe layouts.
• Geometry Script. Scripting API for Blender's Geometry Nodes. It makes complicated node trees more manageable and easy to share.
• Glsl Texture. Create textures from Glsl fragment shaders on Blender (2.8)
• GoB. GoZ-alike tools for simple ZBrush-Blender interchange.
• Graswald Paid. Grass and plants library.
• GreaseWriter. A Blender Add-on for auto-animating grease pencil strokes and emulating hand-drawn text.
• HDRI Sun Aligner. HDRI Sun Aligner is a Blender addon for automatically rotating an object (e.g. a sun) to match the brightest point in a HDRI environment texture.
• Hi Phy Engine Paid. Fully-coupled high-fidelity physics engine addon. 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. A blender addon that display IOR values in a list.
• JARCH Vis. Add-on for Blender 3D that helps create commonly used object for architectural visualization. GitHub
• Jet Fluids. Jet fluid simulator integration in blender.
• JewelCraft. Jewelry design toolkit add-on for Blender.
• Kaleidoscope. The add-on adds two new nodes, Spectrum and Intensity, which essentially improves your workflow inside Blender when creating materials.
• KeKit. Brings some much needed functionality to Blender, with a whole array of production tools.
• Laser Slicer. Cuts up a Blender object and exports the slices to SVG files for cutting on a laser cutter or other post-processing.
• LeoMoon LightStudio Paid. Lighting system for Blender. ![market]
• Lib SM64 Blender. This add-on integrates libsm64 into Blender and provides various additional integrations with Fast64.
• Lodify. LOD(Level of Detail) and Proxy system for blender. GitHub
• Loom. Add-on to simplify the rendering process of image sequences and certain frames, allows batch rendering and comes with some handy utilities that help in production.
• Lumiere. Interactive Lighting add-on for Blender.
• Magic UV. This is a blender add-on Magic UV consisted of many UV manipulation features which Blender lack of. GitHub
• Maps Models Importer. A Blender add-on to import models from Google Maps. [more info]
• MB Lab. Character creation (archived, succeeded by CharMorph).
• MDSANIMA RenderTime. Blender add-on estimates and calculate how long your animation will take to render done based on the rendering time of the only one frame.
• Mesh Align Plus. Precisely align, move, and measure+match objects and mesh parts in your 3D scenes.
• Mesh Heal. Add-on for Blender, it includes additional Blender operators for healing surface meshes.
• Mesh Maze. Blender add-on to generate a maze on any mesh.
• MeshSync. Live link plugin for Unity. supported blender and other 3D software.
• MifthTools. 3Dcoat, Houdini, Modo mesh exchange tools.
• Mixer by Ubisoft. Blender addon developed at Ubisoft Animation Studio for Real Time Collaboration in 3D edition.
• Modeling Cloth. Create real-time cloth-like behavior in meshes in Blender.
• Modifier List. Blender add-on with enhanced UI layout for modifiers with handy features. Replaces the regular modifier UI and adds a tab in the Sidebar and a popup.
• MPFB. MPFB2 is an open source human generator for Blender. It's complete rewrite of MakeHuman as a Blender addon. GitHub
• Mr Mannequins Tools. Blender add-on that gives the ability to export animations and weighted meshes that are directly compatible with the third person mannequin without re-targeting anything in Unreal Engine!
• Multi User. Enable real-time collaborative workflows inside blender. GitHub
• Needle Engine Freemium. Allows you to create highly interactive, flexible and lightweight web applications right inside Blender.
• OctaneRender Prime for Blender Freemium. Fully integrated Octane Render, free tier. (blender plugin manual)
• Parallel Render. Render the output from the Sequencer multithreaded through the Render sidebar.
• PBR Texture Mapper. Create PBR node setup with one click.
• Phobos. An add-on for Blender allowing to create URDF, SDF and SMURF robot models.
• Point Cloud Visualizer. Display, edit, filter, render, convert, generate and export colored point cloud PLY files.
• Poliigon Blender Addon. This addon allows you to browse, purchase, download, and import Poliigon assets from inside Blender. It supports loading textures, models, and HDRs recently supports generating Blender materials from Poliigon texture sets.
• Power Sequencer. Brings smart new editing features to edit faster with Blender's Video Sequence Editor. It is completely Free and Open Source.
• PresetterProfessional. View and visibility presets, 3d cursor presets, snap presets, etc. presets.
• Principled Baker. Bake PBR textures with a few clicks.
• Projectors. A blender add-on for simple projector creation and modification.
• ProSidebar. Add additional properties and operators to the 3D View Sidebar.
• PSOFT Pencil+ 4 Paid. NPR line rendering.
• QBlocker. Interactive object creation tool for Blender.
• QuickSwitch. A helper to quick switch workspaces and view render menu in viewport.
• RandoMesh. A blender addon to add randomized geometry to any mesh.
• reflow. Blender addon to change fps.
• Render Useful. Command-line tools for Blender renders.
• Rig on the Fly. Rig on the Fly is a Blender dynamic rigging tool used to simplify and speed up animation workflow.
• Rigid Body Bones. Blender addon which adds rigid body / spring physics to bones.
• Scene Strip Tools. Preview Scene Strips directly in the 3D View.
• Screencast Keys. Status Add-On for Blender.
• Screenwriter. Write screenplays in Blender Text Editor in Fountain markup syntax view/export with correct screenplay formatting.
• Sculpt Alphas Manager. This addon provides a simple solution to be able to quickly switch alpha textures for the sculpt brushes.
• Search Online References. Search current text in API Reference, Python Reference, Blender Stack Exchange, Blender Source Code and Github.
• Shot Manager by Ubisoft. Add-on that introduces a true shot entity in Blender scenes.
• Sketchfab Blender Addon. Directly import and export models from and to Sketchfab in Blender.
• SliceMesh. Simple script for Blender to automate mesh slicing.
• Spaceship Generator. Procedurally generate 3D spaceships.
• Spring Bones. Blender addon to add spring/bouncy dynamic effect to bones.
• Subsimport. Addon for Blender that allows users to create and edit subtitles for movies or music.
• SuperPoke. Iterative poking tool for Blender.
• Sverchok. A parametric Blender tool for architects, allowing geometry to be programmed visually with nodes.
• TextCounter. LeoMoon TextCounter is an easy to use text animation plugin for Blender that can be used to make GUI simulations.
• TexTools. TexTools is a Free addon for Blender 3D with a set of professional UV and Texturing tools. GitHub
• The Grove 3D Paid. [$] : Grow natural 3D trees for visualisation and film. Grow, bend, prune, interactively simulate the seasons year by year.
• Theme Switcher. Addon to quickly change active theme not leaving 3D View.
• Tilecam. Render repeatable images.
• Tissue. Blender's add-on for computational design.
• Transform Tools. Quickly transform, crop and fade video strips in Blender's Video Sequence Editor.
• Tree Gen. Procedural generation of tree models in blender.
• Typewriter. Typewriter text animation for font objects.
• UcuPaint. A addon to manage texture layers for EEVEE and Cycles renderer.
• Usage in Science, Academia, and Industry. Curated list of resources about the usage of Blender in Science, Academia, and Industry.
• UV Packer. Automatic and free UV-Packer Add-on for Blender.
• V HACD. Library decomposes a 3D surface into a set of near convex parts. GitHub
• Verge3D Paid. yet cost-efficient solution for creating interactive 3D web experiences.
• VSEQF. Overhaul for Blender's VSE that can completely change your workflow. Designed for quick, mouse and keyboard balanced editing with a focus on real-time feedback.
• Welder. Welds generator for Blender.
• Wiggle Bones. Jiggle bone implementation for Blender with realistic physics. GitHub
• WoT Tank Viewer. Package of plugins for Blender, which allows you view 3D models from World of Tanks.
• WritingAnimation. This add-on generates writing animation for the selected Bezier curves in blender.

Blender: Tutorials

Blender learning resources, beginner to advanced.

• 📖 User Manual. 🔗 Python API | ⚙️ Developer Wiki
• Animation & Rigging Manual. Animation & Rigging Manual.
• Blender Checklist. Checklist of Blender features and workflows.
• Blender Python API Documentation. Official Blender Python API Documentation.
• blenderscripting. Blender related python snippets to get you started.
• Compositing Nodes List. Compositing Nodes List.
• Developer Documentation. Here you can find information about Blender's development process, design and architecture, as well as instructions for Building Blender.
• Motion Tracking Manual. Motion Tracking Manual.
• Programming Add-ons for Blender 2.8. It shows how to set up a professional IDE for writing Python programs for Blender, on the example of a simple plugin. It is an ebook, published freely on Creative Commons license.
• Realistic Hair in Blender Paid. Hair creation course.
• Texture Paint Manual. Texture Paint Manual.

Houdini: Getting Started

Beginner-friendly Houdini intros.

Related:

• Houdini Donut in Any Shape. Procedural donut by Lewis Orton.
• Houdini in Five Minutes. Quick intro by Entagma.
• 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).
• CGWiki (tokeru.com). Matt Estela's CGWiki. The most Houdini reference (Joy of VEX, LOPS, particles, everything).
• Entagma (site) Freemium. Advanced design and mograph tutorials. Also Unreal and Blender.
• Farmfield (Vimeo). Setups and hip files from Johnny Farmfield.
• John Kunz (site). Weekly streams. FX, coding, Redshift (Twitch | YouTube).
• SideFX Tutorials. Official tutorials.

Houdini: VEX & Coding

VEX, Python, OpenCL, and scripting in Houdini.

• 1 Minute VEX. Bite-sized VEX lessons.
• HouPy Wiki. Houdini Python wiki. Packages, shelf scripts, menu customization, node graph hooks.
• 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: Modeling, Sculpting & Texturing → Houdini: Plugins & Tools
• VEX Wrangle Cheat Sheet. Quick VEX reference by Mr Kunz.
• 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.
• 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.
• EarthMesh Houdini. Real-world meshes via Google API.
• Ffmpeg. Flipbook to MP4 conversion tool (setup guide).
• Houdini Attributes Cheatsheet. Houdini Attributes Cheatsheet.
• Houdini Engine for Unreal (AdrianPan optimized fork). Rebuilt Houdini Engine for UE, 2x-15x faster.
• Houdini Tech Art Challenge Winners 2021. HPaint, Polyline Creator, Poly Slice Tool
• JDB Houdini Toolkit. JDB Houdini Toolkit.
• Microbot VDB Painter Paid. MbPainter for Sidefx Houdini is an Artist Friendly Set of Tools for interactive Manipulation of OpenVDB (www.openvdb.org) SDF Volumes.
• MOPS. Motion graphics toolkit by Toadstorm.
• 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: Modeling, Sculpting & Texturing → Houdini: VEX & Coding
• VFX Fractal Toolkit. Set of tools for generating fractal and generative art.
• Wormhole Content Browser Paid. The Wormhole Content Browser is a custom UI for Houdini that enables quick browsing, previewing, and importing of content into Houdini.
• ZENO. Node-based 3D system that can produce cinematic physics effects at high efficiency.

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.

• Daily Hip. Tips from Eetu.
• Houdini Nerd Discord. Christopher Rutledge's Houdini community.
• Houdini Tricks. Quick tips archive.
• 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. 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.

Related:

• Agisoft De-Lighter. Free stand-alone tool designed to remove shadows from model textures. !download
• Architextures - Create Freemium. Web app allows you to create textures, bump maps and CAD hatches. Select any of the parameters to get started.
• Imogen. GPU Texture generator using dear imgui for UI.
• NVIDIA Texture Tools Exporter. Allows users to create highly compressed texture files (that stay small both on disk and in memory) directly from image sources using NVIDIA’s CUDA-accelerated Texture Tools compressor technology.
• ShaderExpo. Dependency free shader editor featuring inline error logs, auto completions, models and textures loading.
• SmartNormal 2.0. Normal map generation from images.
• TexGraph. A procedural texture creation tool that lets you create textures by connecting nodes in a graph.

CAD Software

Also in Software Reference → CAD Software

Material & Texture Creation Software

Also in Software Reference → Material & Texture Creation Software

Photogrammetry & Scanning Software

Also in Software Reference → Photogrammetry & Scanning Software

Retopology & UV Software

Also in Software Reference → Retopology & UV Software