Blender
Free 3D modelling, animation, rendering and motion graphics suite, used professionally.
Our verdict
Blender is the one piece of creative software where Linux users give up nothing. It is free, open source, and the same program professionals use for 3D modelling, animation and motion graphics.
For a Windows switcher, the sensible move is to install it on Windows first and spend a few evenings with it before you change anything else. Nothing about it changes on Linux, so whatever you learn now carries straight across.
Know what it is not. Blender models shapes for pictures and video, not parts for manufacture, so it has no dimensions, tolerances or drawing sheets. For those, look at FreeCAD instead.
What's good
- Free forever and used on real films and adverts, so there is no quality ceiling to worry about
- Covers modelling, sculpting, animation, rendering, compositing and video editing in one program
- Enormous amount of free tutorial material, and the same program runs on Windows
What to know first
- The learning curve is steep and the first week is genuinely uncomfortable
- Built for artistic and animation work rather than engineering, so it is a poor CAD substitute
- Rendering wants a decent graphics card, and older machines will crawl
The details
- Cost
- Free
- Open source
- Yes (GPL-3.0)
- How you install it
- App store (Flatpak), App store (Snap), AppImage download, Built-in app store
Windows apps it can replace
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