Daz 3D vs SelfCAD

Daz Studio is 3D software for creating characters, scenes, images, and animation, available for macOS, Windows, and the web. Its Genesis creator supports rigged figures, mix-and-match clothing and hair, and morphing between figure shapes. The Daz store contains tens of thousands of premade models and assets, including environments, props, wearables, textures, shaders, lighting, and animation kits. Daz identifies Genesis 9 as its latest figure platform and describes it as enabling billions of combinations. For movement and rendering, Daz Studio uses dForce for cloth and hair simulation with the NVIDIA Iray render engine; the maker also describes a Filament-enabled viewport and render engine for real-time rendering and animation. Bridges transfer content to Blender, Unreal, Unity, Cinema 4D, Maya, and 3ds Max. Daz cautions that its Blender bridge may not be compatible with the latest Daz Studio version. Daz Base is free and includes Daz Studio, Starter Essentials content, free monthly Legacy content, and cross-platform exporters. Daz+ costs $69 a year, while Daz Premier costs $199 a year and includes Premier tools and content while membership is active.

SelfCAD is a 3D modeling application that covers work from sketching and sculpting through rendering and 3D printing. It runs in a browser without downloads and also has a PC version for offline project work and storage; online and offline projects synchronize. Listed platforms are web, Windows, macOS and Linux. Tools include sculpting, animation, image-to-3D conversion, shape generators and model changes such as extrusion, reshaping and simplification. Designs can be rendered and prepared for printing with a built-in slicer compatible with most FDM 3D printers. The software supports industry-standard 3D formats and includes interactive tutorials, lessons, videos and starter courses. A limited free plan offers basic modeling. Pro plans add full modeling tools, rendering, animation and image-to-3D. A 10-day trial gives access to all products, requires no credit card and can be canceled anytime. Listed prices include $14.99 a month, $139.99 a year and $599, paid once for a perpetual license.