Best 3D Rendering Software
3D rendering software is a computer application that takes user-created 3D models and places them into fully realized 3D environments or images. These tools help professionals across various industries, including film, architecture, VFX, video gaming, fashion design, automotive design, and more. With 3D rendering programs, graphic designers and media developers can insert diverse objects and characters imported from 3D modeling programs into a graphically appropriate setting.
Some popular features of 3D rendering include unidirectional path tracing, real-time viewpoint previews, physically based rendering (PBR) shaders, high dynamic range (HDR) lighting support, virtual reality (VR) support, GPU rendering, and more. These 3D-rendered images are often scalable, high-quality, navigable, and interactive. 3D rendering software may include animation tools or integrate with animation software to bring scenes to life for later use in video games, movies, television shows, or other media. These programs also have features such as lighting and texturing, adding depth and realism to scenes.
To qualify for inclusion in the 3D Rendering category, a product must:
Best 3D Rendering Software At A Glance
G2 takes pride in showing unbiased reviews on user satisfaction in our ratings and reports. We do not allow paid placements in any of our ratings, rankings, or reports. Learn about our scoring methodologies.
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Real-time rendering and virtual reality that brings your visual exploration directly into your modeling tools so you can focus on creating, designing, and building. Enscape plugs directly into your mo
- Architect
- Director
- Architecture & Planning
- Design
- 79% Small-Business
- 15% Mid-Market
31,260 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
D5 Render is a real-time ray tracing renderer for architecture, landscape, interior design, engineering and other 3D professionals. This software is fully compatible with SketchUp, 3ds Max, Revit, Arc
- Architect
- Arquitecto
- Architecture & Planning
- Design
- 95% Small-Business
- 3% Mid-Market
2,751 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- What G2 Users Think
- Seller Details
Bring your imagination to life with Maya® 3D animation, modeling, simulation, and rendering software. Maya helps artists tell their story with one fast, creative toolset.
- 3D Artist
- Director
- Animation
- Computer Games
- 60% Small-Business
- 24% Mid-Market
- Reviewers like that Maya is a powerful tool that can edit large data sets in a short amount of time to create realistic 3D models- but some mention that it is very costly.
- Reviewers appreciate the complete 3D package that Maya offers, especially for animation purposes, but some say that it is difficult to master.
282,926 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- What G2 Users Think
- Seller Details
Blender is an open source 3D creation suite that supports the 3D pipeline, modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing, and motion tracking, video editing, and game creation.
- Software Engineer
- Animation
- Computer Games
- 74% Small-Business
- 12% Mid-Market
- Reviewers like the robust features and frequent updates offered by Blender such as UV mapping, texturing objects, animations and more to support complex modeling for 3D printing.
- Reviewers value that Blender is an open-source free-to-use software, even though some have noted that the user-interface is a bit complicated, especially for beginners.
- Reviewers appreciate the functional versatility that Blender offers, as users are able to use it for 3D modeling, 3D rendering, 2D animation, texturing, and more- but some mention that there is a steep learning curve.
85,124 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Coohom, a leading global cloud-based, all-in-one 3D design platform, that provides software and services to empowers designers and businesses to effortlesssly bring ideas to life, streamline processes
- Architect
- Architecture & Planning
- Design
- 90% Small-Business
- 9% Mid-Market
835 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Twinmotion is a real-time visualization tool designed to assist users, including architects, designers, filmmakers, and storytellers, in producing high-quality images, panoramas, standard or 360° VR v
- Architect
- Architecture & Planning
- 68% Small-Business
- 21% Mid-Market
5,514,473 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- What G2 Users Think
- Seller Details
Chaos® V-Ray® is a 3D rendering plugin that integrates seamlessly with industry-standard tools like SketchUp, 3ds Max, Maya, Cinema 4D, Rhino, Revit, and more. Designed to meet the needs of creative p
- Architect
- Architecture & Planning
- Design
- 75% Small-Business
- 16% Mid-Market
- Reviewers like the architectural modeling capabilities that V-Ray offers, especially the light settings and editing, but some say it has a steep learning curve.
- Reviewers appreciate the great materials and texture library that V-Ray offers, but some mention that the application may run slowly sometimes.
31,260 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- What G2 Users Think
- Seller Details
3ds Max Design software is a comprehensive 3D design, modeling, animation, and rendering solution for architects, designers, civil engineers, and visualization specialists.
- Interior Designer
- Architect
- Architecture & Planning
- Design
- 62% Small-Business
- 24% Mid-Market
- Reviewers appreciate that 3ds Max Design enables them to design 3D models and create a high resolution rendering of the model, which allow animations to be lifelike.
- Reviewers like that this product can be used widely in the architecture industry because of the photorealistic renderings it can create.
- Reviewers enjoy 3ds Max Design’s intuitive user interface- but some think the interface could be more harmonious with other Autodesk products.
282,926 Twitter followers
- Overview
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Direct3D is a low-level graphics API that enables you to manipulate visual models of 3D objects and take advantage of hardware acceleration such as video graphics cards.
- 38% Enterprise
- 38% Small-Business
14,060,532 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Chaos® Corona is a 3D rendering plugin known for its intuitive design and ease of use. Compatible with 3ds Max and Cinema 4D, Corona simplifies the rendering process, making high-quality visuals acces
- Architecture & Planning
- Design
- 96% Small-Business
- 4% Mid-Market
31,260 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- What G2 Users Think
- Seller Details
Unity is the world’s leading platform for creating and operating interactive, RT3D content. Creators, ranging from game developers to artists, architects,and automotive designers to filmmakers and mor
- Unity Developer
- Game Developer
- Computer Games
- Computer Software
- 74% Small-Business
- 18% Mid-Market
- Reviewers appreciate Unity’s asset shot, which allows users to purchase and download scripts directly from their platform, reducing the amount of time searching for or developing scripts.
- Reviewers find it useful that the Unity community is so large, because other users are readily available to help them resolve issues.
- Reviewers like that Unity is a cross-platform application, because it can run on multiple platform types, such as Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, and Linux- but some find it difficult to learn how to use at first.
105,840 Twitter followers
- Overview
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
NVIDIA IRAY is physically based rendering technology that generates photorealistic imagery by simulating the physical behavior of light and materials.
- 100% Small-Business
2,351,390 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- What G2 Users Think
- Seller Details
KeyShot is the leading Product Design-to-Market Suite, empowering companies worldwide to seamlessly turn product visions into market-ready realities. By integrating every phase of the product journey
- Designer
- Industrial Designer
- Design
- Higher Education
- 69% Small-Business
- 17% Mid-Market
- Reviewers like that Keyshot is extremely easy to use and how quickly it produces 3D renderings, but some mention that it lacks the robust features that other applications have.
- Reviewers appreciate that Keyshot is great for students to learn and practice the basics of 3D modeling and rendering.
9,783 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Adobe Dimension CC makes it easy for graphic designers to create high-quality, photorealistic 3D images.It composites 2D and 3D assets to build product shots, scene visualizations, and abstract art.
- Graphic Design
- Design
- 65% Small-Business
- 19% Mid-Market
975,649 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- What G2 Users Think
- Seller Details
Cinema 4D Studio is the very best that MAXON has to offer for professional 3D artists. If you want to create advanced 3D graphics but need a helping hand to ensure you create jaw-dropping graphics qui
- Creative Director
- Design
- Animation
- 72% Small-Business
- 15% Mid-Market
- Reviewers like that Cinema 4D can be used for a wide range of 3D applications to create high quality visualizations, however some mention that it lacks adequate training documentation.
- Reviewers appreciate the impressive animation tools that Cinema 4D offers, especially because of the clean and visually appealing work environment, but some modeling tools, such as retopology, can be improved.
- Reviewers enjoy how easy this product is to use, however some say it is very expensive.
59 Twitter followers
