Summary

• Adobe Illustrator offers 3D features for converting 2D drawings.
• Maya and 3ds Max are expensive alternatives to Blender for 3D modeling.
• Tinkercad and Substance 3D offer free or affordable options for beginners.

Blender is a fantastic tool for 3D modeling, rendering, and animation. Since Blender is an open-source tool, you benefit from better privacy and cost — although Blender is totally free — but if, for any reason, you need an alternative to Blender for 3D modeling, there are options. Most creative software has great alternatives, whether you have to pay more for better features, or you can find them for free for more straightforward offerings.

7 Adobe Illustrator

Turn your 2D illustrations into 3D easily

Despite Adobe Illustrator largely being a 2D software, it added 3D features in recent years after Adobe removed 3D tools from Photoshop. This allows you to easily turn your 2D digital drawings into 3D renderings with a variety of tools in the software at present, as well as future 3D tools upcoming in the next year or two.

The tools are less complex when making 3D models in Illustrator than in Blender, but the results can be as great. With a variety of textures, depth, and lighting to choose from, anything you can draw flat can be extruded and given depth for a custom 3D-rendered result.

Announced at the Adobe Max conference in October 2024, Adobe shared upcoming plans to allow Illustrator users to turn any 2D drawing into a 3D model from any angle — even if the 2D illustration doesn’t show that angle. While this isn’t implemented at the time of writing, it will be a game-changer to 3D design once the feature arrives.

6 Maya

3D animation and visual effects software

Maya from Autodesk allows users to create expansive worlds, complex characters, and dazzling effects with its software. If you’re looking for an alternative to Blender, the price might shock you in comparison to Blender’s free software — Maya costs $232 per month, $1,875 per year, or $5,625 for a 5-year plan. It’s not comparable in price to Blender. It does offer a free 30-day trial.

Like Blender, though, Maya is available on multiple platforms: Windows, macOS, and Linux. It offers professional quality 3D design and motion tools, and Maya has been used for large-scale projects such as the Hogwarts Legacy game and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 characters.

Maya lets you design in 3D and create special visual effects, but it can be used for 3D modeling by shaping 3D objects and scenes using Maya’s intuitive modeling tools.

5 3ds Max

3D modeling and animation software

Like Maya, 3ds Max is also developed and provided by Autodesk. 3ds Max is also a 3D modeling software with a focus on animation, similar to Blender.

Using robust 3D modeling tools, 3ds Max users can design and develop 3D landscapes and environments with fine detail and a range of realistic and intuitive textures. 3ds Max provides professional-quality rendering machines to produce and iterate your 3D models for all uses.

With automated workflows, 3ds Max lets you produce the 3D worlds inside your imagination, offering collaborative tools for bigger projects. You can create complex characters, scenes, and effects using creative workflows built into the tool.

3ds Max follows a similar pricing structure to Maya, and although the software is similar quality as Blender, the pricing structure is vastly different. One month of 3ds Max is $235; one year is $1,875; and a five-year plan is $5,625.

4 Tinkercad

Autodesk’s free app for beginners

We’ve mentioned Autodesk tools already in this list, but Tinkercad doesn’t follow the same pricing models as the previously mentioned Maya or 3ds Paint. Tinkercad is a free 3D creation tool, with a large focus on learning for beginners or children.

Tinkercad is a web-based tool, so there’s no downloading required, and you can access it on multiple platforms, so long as you can connect to the internet.

It isn’t as complex as most 3D modeling software, but if you’re looking to learn — or teach — basic 3D design, then Tinkercad is the best first step for a low-risk choice. It also offers coding and circuit board tools, to learn basic skills in both.

3 SketchUp

Affordable and versatile 3D tool

SketchUp is a professional-grade 3D software built largely for designing 3D renderings of buildings and construction plans. Although SketchUp is a paid-for software solution, it also offers a completely free version, making it as affordable as Blender’s free tool.

Unlike Blender, SketchUp offers native software for various operating systems — Blender is only native to desktop, with workarounds for tablets — with annual or monthly subscription plans for iPad, web-browser, Windows, and including plugins for further compatibility elsewhere.

While Blender has plentiful options for 3D model types, SketchUp’s focus on civil engineering and architecture means you’ll see better results in 3D modeling for this arena.

2 Cinema 4D

3D animation and modeling tool

Maxon’s Cinema 4D offers the creation of 3D animations, motion graphics, VFX, 3D images, and product and architectural visualizations. It’s a professional-grade 3D rendering software at a mid-to-high-end price point.

Cinema 4D comes with plugins for use in Adobe software like After Effects, but it largely works as a standalone 3D tool. It offers intricate tools for various 3D modeling, animation, and rendering.

Similarly to Blender, Cinema 4D is compatible to work on Windows, macOS and Linux operating systems. There’s no native support for tablet or iPad devices. It’s a good tool for beginners, although its price point may not be. Cinema 4D does offer a free 14-day trial, first.

1 Substance 3D

A suite of 3D tools from Adobe

Adobe acquired the Substance 3D range in 2019, and it’s been a hidden tool in Adobe’s toolbox since. Although it isn’t part of the Adobe Creative Cloud subscription plans, the Substance 3D suite is available as part of Adobe’s Enterprise subscription plan — or the suite can be subscribed to from $49.99 per month.

Substance 3D comes in a family of six different products:

• Substance 3D Painter
• Substance 3D Sampler
• Substance 3D Stager
• Substance 3D Designer
• Substance 3D Modeler
• Substance 3D Assets

Using some or all of the Substance 3D tools, you can design, model, render, and create entire 3D environments and landscapes from concept to final imagery and spaces. Like Blender, you can add textures, color, and lighting to your 3D models, but with the addition of creative AI toolsfrom Adobe, you can also use photos from your reality to influence your 3D renderings inside Substance software.

Most alternatives are more costly than Blender

There aren’t many reasons you’d need to find an alternative to Blender since it’s open-source — so your privacy is intact — and it’s free and cost-effective. However, if you must find an alternative, then be prepared to pay for the quality of most other 3D modeling software. Blender itself is like a diamond in the rough for offering such incredibly high-quality tools cost-free. There are many other tools you can use for your 3D renderings, but these are great tools to create 3D models, to begin with.