Anim8or vs Bforartists

Anim8or is a free Windows program for 3D modeling and character animation. Modeling tools include primitives, mesh editing, subdivision, splines, extrusion, lathing, modifiers, bevels, and warps. Character animation features include a jointed editor, inverse kinematics, morph targets, procedural motion, and facial animation. The program creates scenes and animations, outputs AVI movies and JPG, PNG, or BMP images, and imports, modifies, and exports .3DS, .OBJ, and .STL files. Materials and preview options cover textures, bump maps, soft shadows, spotlights, fog, and OpenGL shaders. A scripting language and plugins extend parametric shapes, object export, and editing tools. Its license permits personal, educational, and commercial use, gives users ownership of creations, and has no fee. Installation uses a single executable that can be unzipped and run from a chosen directory. The download page lists version 1.0, dated May 29, 2017, as the latest release there. Support includes forums, email, release notes, a manual, and tutorials.

Bforartists is a free desktop 3D creation suite for producing game graphics, pre-rendered movies, and still images. Its tools cover modeling, sculpting, texturing, rigging, animation, rendering, and post-processing, with 3D print export also available. The project uses a graphical, menu-oriented interface intended to make Blender’s tools easier to discover. It is compatible with Blender files and uses the same Python API. Most Blender add-ons work, although Renderman for Blender and Amaranth Toolset are listed exceptions. Rendering options include Cycles with CPU and GPU rendering and Eevee for real-time rendering. Bforartists runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Listed minimum requirements are a 64-bit quad-core CPU with SSE2, 8 GB RAM, and a graphics card with 2 GB RAM and OpenGL 4.3. The Windows installer is unsigned and may trigger a warning; a ZIP file or Windows App is offered as an alternative. The project describes its developers as volunteers and hobbyists and small indie developers as intended users.