How to replace software for 3D design and game development under sanctions
In this article, we’ll take a look at the current state of 3D design and game development tools and look for possible alternatives.
Current situation
And so, what we have lost over the last month with a little:
Everything that Autodesk did, primarily 3ds Max, Maya, Mudbox (sales ban).
Unity game engineuncertain situationbut apparently the ban does not apply to everyone).
Everything Adobe has donesales ban). Their most used software in the 3D industry was Photoshop and their freshly bought Substance Painter.
Maxon products, in particular the Cinema 4D modeling package (stop sales).
CGTrader, 3D model marketplace (ban).
The following software and services are in question:
Unreal Engine – no sales ban yet (Press release).
ZBrush by Pixologic – lack of any information about the sanctions in the blog and social. networks.
Sketchfab, hosting interactive 3D models – silence.
V-Ray – nothing is heard yet.
Of course, many are trying to remain silent and wait out the crisis, but there are a sufficient number of activists on social networks who advocate the boycott of products of neutral companies. In particular, among the GameDev community there is a collage of the following content (slogans retouched):
How to replace 3ds Max, Maya, Mudbox, ZBrush, Cinema 4D
We transfer everyone to Blender. Blender is a harvester that replaces a ton of tools for modeling, animation, sculpting and texturing. It is also well suited for video processing. In terms of politics, everything is also more or less neutral. To the calls of a number of users to prohibit users from downloading software from Russia, project manager Ton Roosendaal spoke with a clear statementthat it won’t. But even if Blender is eventually banned, it can always be downloaded as an open source project from other places (or using a VPN).
The advantages of Blender include the fact that it works perfectly under Linux, in particular, it is included in the standard delivery of domestic distributions such as Alt Linux, Astra Linux, Rosa.
How to replace 3D engines Unity, Uneal Engine
In Russia, they make two engines that can successfully replace Unity and Unreal. This is Verge3D developed by the Moscow team Soft8Soft And UNIGINE, the brainchild of programmers from Tomsk. Both engines are paid, but they have a free trial version.
The advantages of the first solution, Verge3D, include a simpler pipeline for developing applications and games, the ability to create browser-based applications, built-in tools for developing e-commerce and educational applications, as well as compatibility with Blender out of the box.
The UNIGINE engine is suitable for developing simulators, large-scale visualizations (up to planetary ones), as well as extended game worlds.
How to replace V-Ray, ARNOLD and other renderers
There is no alternative, this is the Cycles ray tracing engine, which is part of Blender.
How to replace Sketchfab
Depends on what purpose it is used for. When it comes to demonstrating models, in particular on your own website, Verge3D Network, a service based on the domestic engine of the same name, is suitable. If we are talking about the sale of finished models, you need to follow the news. As far as I know, there are no domestic analogues of CGTrader and TurboSquid yet.
How to replace Substance Painter
There is a good open analogue – ArmorPaint.
How to replace Photoshop
GIMP (well, where to go!) for image processing, Blender for texturing.
How to replace the product or service “NAME”
Try to search for an open analogue of “NAME” on the site AlternativeTo.
