In this post I try to cover software that is completely free, has useful free trials or software that usually is not free, but under certain conditions you can use for free without many restrictions.
The reason I am putting this list together is mainly because, I know how difficult it can be in the beginning to get access to good software to work with for your own projects. Not everybody has the money to buy straight away these software packages, not everybody wants to get illegal copies. So I hope this will be useful for the most of you, and if you think I left something out that should be included in this list, let me know in the comments.
FREE Software
Krita
Krita is a free and open source digital painting tool that supports layer based working, gives you the possibility to customize your work-space, includes features like "Brush Stabilizer" for people with shaky hands, the possibility to import and create your own brushes and many more useful features. I think this is one of the best painting programs you can get for free out there. It is also used for photo-editing.
DigiCel-Flipbook
DigiCel-Flipbook is a 2D animation software. DigiCel offers a free learning edition and also a series of different editions for different prices. The main difference between all the available versions is the output resolution, number of output-frames and numbers of available animation layers. The free edition is enough for 2D-animation students to get started and the Flipbook-Lite edition only costs 98$ (At the moment there is a sale with up to 80% reduced prices).
(DigiCel Flipbook interface)
Mischief
Mischief is a vector based painting tool that has a open canvas concept. You basically can zoom in and out almost in an infinite way in your images. You could paint a character that is starring at at the sky, and then zoom in into his eye and paint a whole other image without worrying about the resolution of the picture you are just creating. This is only possible thanks to the vector based technology within Mischief. It is widely used for illustrations and digital-painting. The free versions includes all the essential painting tools + the infinite canvas. The full version of Mischief, that you can get for 15$, includes layer based drawing + a full color palette + PSD export.
(Image painted in Mischief)
Blender
Blender is the most powerful free all-in-one 3D software that is out there, that I am aware of. It covers everything from 3D-Modeling, to animation, to simulation up to the final rendering. If you check out the Blender.org website, you can have a look at the collaborative animation shorts that where created over the past couple of years by using Blender as the main 3D-Software. Most recently Blender was also used to create VFX for the movie "Hardcore Henry".
(Blender User Interface.)
(Animation-short "Big Buck Bunny" that was fully realized with Blender.)
Fusion
Blackmagic-Designs Fusion is a professional compositing software. It is a node based system that besides including the default compositing tools for keying, rotoscoping, painting and CGI integration it also comes with a 3D-environment for particles systems, 3D projections and lighting and rendering. I never worked with it my self but I know colleagues of mine that love working with it.
Sculptris
Sculptris is a very powerful 3D-sculpting tool that works similar to the better Known Z-Brush. Sculptris was bought by Pixologic a few years back and they still offer it for free. 3D-sculpting is very different from traditional 3D-modeling. It is very similar to real life sculpting using clay by pulling, squashing, adding material, and smoothing out surfaces with different brushes until you reach the desired shape.
(Example of a 3D model fully realized within Sculptris)
GIMP
GIMP is an open source image editor. For a long time it was seen as the Linux version of Photoshop. Now it is available for GNU/Linux/Mac OS/Windows. It supports layer based painting and different sets of brushes.
Houdini
SideFX has a range of free editions of its main software-Houdini. Houdini is widely used in big Game/VFX productions for modeling, animation, simulation and rendering. With Houdini-Indi, Houdini-Education, Houdini-Apprentice you have the chance to to use this amazing piece of software for free, with almost no restrictions compared to the full version of Houdini. To compare the features of all these editions check out the Houdini-Compare site.
(Example of work done with SideFX Houdini)
Poly Brush-Lite
Poly Brush is a 3D-modeling software with a different concept of creating 3D models. It combines traditional 3d-Sculpting with 3D-Sketching. You can basically sketch out your ideas like you would on paper, but in 3D-space. I did not had the chance to try it out my self, but I have a copy of the first Poly Brush version on my pc. Poly Brush costs only 20$ for the full edition, the Lite versions is for free but also has more restrictions. Feel free to try it out and let me know what you think about it.
(Poly Brush Demo.)
CrazyBump
You can see Crazy-Bump as a free add-on in your 3D-Projects. It helps you creating amazing normal/displacement/occlusion maps out of basically any texture you feed it in. This can help you to add tons of small details in your 3D-Models without the need to model those details.
Other FREE Software, but only if...
Autodesk
Autodesk offers their whole software range for FREE if you can prove that you are a student. This includes 3D Studio-Max, Maya, Maya LT, MudBox, Fusion 360, Cad 3D and many many more. When you go to the Autodesk "Free Student Software" website, you will need to click on one of the software packages you are interested in, from there you will be re-directed to a site where you will need to sign-up for a student account. Thanks to this system I still have access to the whole Autodesk suite thanks to my time as a student at [Animationmentor.com].(http://www.animationmentor.com)
Foundry
Foundry is well known for its compositing software Nuke, its texturing software Mari and for the 3D-modeling software Modo that they acquired not long time ago. If you sign-up on the Foundry homepage, you have access to all the Learning Editions of some of their products (Nuke, Mari,..) and to all the free 15 day trails they offer for the full edition for each software.
(Foundry Mari 3D-Painting interface)
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