Autodesk Mudbox vs World Machine
Autodesk Mudbox
autodesk.com
World Machine
world-machine.comSide by side
| Figure | Autodesk Mudbox | World Machine |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $119/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 9 | 9 |
| Spec score · Game Texture Software | 9.2 (#1) | 8.4 (#10) |
| Spec score · 3D modeling software | 9.2 (#7) | 8.9 (#18) |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Support | Autodesk advertises 24x7 online support resources and access to three previous versions for subscribers. | Paid licenses include one year of support and free updates, and the maker offers a help center, helpdesk and community forum. |
| What it does | Mudbox is Autodesk software for digital 3D sculpting and painting of detailed characters and environments. | World Machine is desktop procedural terrain software that generates landscapes and exports heightmaps, masks, meshes and PBR textures for creative pipelines. |
Plans
Autodesk Mudbox
- SubscriptionPriced on request
- SubscriptionPrice not published
- SubscriptionPriced on request
- Autodesk Education accessFree
- Mudbox free trialFree
- Mudbox 2-year$160 a year
- Mudbox 3-year$240 a year
- Annual subscriptionPrice not published
- Monthly subscriptionPrice not published
World Machine
- Indie$119 a month
- Professional$299 a month
- Studio Site$1,999 a month
- BasicFree
- BasicFree
- Indie$119, paid once
- Indie to Professional upgrade$180, paid once
- Professional$299, paid once
- Studio Site$1,999, paid once
In their own words
Autodesk Mudbox
Autodesk Mudbox is desktop software for 3D sculpting and painting, used to create detailed characters and environments with textures. Artists can build production-quality meshes from scanned, imported, or sculpted data, paint across multiple channels on 3D models, and add mesh resolution where needed. Retopology tools help create clean production meshes, and the layer-based workflow supports work on high-resolution models and textures. Mudbox also supports 3D print export. Autodesk identifies professional VFX and game studios among its users. It runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. The 2026 requirements specify Windows 10 version 1809 or later and Windows 11, macOS 13.x through 15.x, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 8.10, 9.3, and 9.5, and Rocky Linux 8.10, 9.3, and 9.5. Hardware requirements include a 64-bit Intel or AMD multi-core processor, 4 GB RAM, 2 GB free disk space, and a three-button mouse; 8 GB or more RAM is recommended. There is no free plan, but a 30-day trial is available.
World Machine
World Machine is procedural 3D terrain-generation software for artists creating realistic or stylized landscapes, including game, film, and visualization work. Its node graph offers more than 100 devices for terrain, erosion, rivers, masks, materials, and outputs. Simulations cover flow-based and thermal erosion, snow accumulation, river channels, lakes, and coastal erosion; Dragontail Peak adds terrain with overhangs, cliff faces, and caves. Exports include heightfields, meshes, masks, and PBR textures in standard formats, with listed file types including RAW, EXR, TIFF, PNG, TER, OBJ, glTF, and GLB. Compatible tools named by the maker include Unreal Engine, Unity, Godot, Blender, Maya, and Cinema 4D. Professional and higher editions support tiled builds for worlds larger than memory and can resume builds after interruption. The free Basic edition has the Indie toolset but caps each output asset at 1025×1025 pixels and is limited to non-commercial use. Paid plans are Indie at $119 a month, Professional at $299 a month, and Studio Site at $1,999 a month. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows.