Anim8or vs LightWave 3D

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.

LightWave 3D has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.