Digital Art Software Part 4: 3D Art & Animation

My Top Picks for 3D Art and Animation Software with Product Descriptions

Manga Studio Debut 4

Sketch original art with a mouse or tablet, scan in existing art, or import artwork or graphics to get started
Invigorate your artwork using color, express motion using speed lines, apply dimension with screen tones and add dialog through built-in word balloons
Export professional quality manga from Manga Studio Debut 4 to various Mac and Windows file formats such as JPG, BMP, PSD, TGA, PNG, TIFF and PICT
Dynamic help offers instant access to information about tool palettes and menu options

Poser 8

Affordable, powerful, yet easy to use 3D character animation solution
Includes 3D character tools and over 2.5GB of ready to use scene content and figures; no need to model 3D characters from scratch
Includes 8 brand new, ready-to-pose, fully textured human figures with over 400 morphs and body controls to fully customize each character
Renders photorealistic or stylized images and videos for print, web or animation projects
With included Wardrobe Wizard, fit your Poser clothing assets to the new Poser 8 figures

Adobe Photoshop Extended CS5

Tools that let you create and edit 3D and motion-based content.
Go beyond traditional image editing by bringing 3D elements to your 2D artwork directly within your favorite digital imaging application
Digital imaging applications, which now offers an easy on-ramp to 3D image creation.
Fast performance on 64-bit hardware systems,
Smoother interactions thanks to GPU acceleration, and dozens of time-savers throughout the application.
Solution for advanced digital imaging, delivering all the capabilities of Photoshop CS5 plus breakthrough tools that let you create and edit 3D and motion-based content.
Access your assets in the context of what you’re working on by using the customizable Adobe Mini Bridge panel in Photoshop.
Easily manage media with more flexible batch renaming, and access your assets in the context of what you’re working on by using Adobe Mini Bridge panel in Photoshop.
Select, adjust, paint, and recompose images with tremendous precision and freedom.

Autodesk Mudbox

Digital sculpting and texture painting solution ideal for 3D/2D artists, fine artists, web and multimedia professionals, traditional sculptors, students
Work interactively in an environment in which high-res 3D models retain their subtlety, realism, and detail
Provides an organic brush-based 3D modeling experience that includes 2D and 3D layers to easily manage sculpting and painting iterations on multiple meshes and maps
Designed by professional artists in the film, games, and design industries
Interoperates well with Autodesk Maya and Autodesk 3ds Max, as well as with other 3D software applications, making it a natural choice for experienced artists

LightWave 3D