Think CGI, the latest Hollywood movies and the major role played by 3D animation is all but evident. Aside from the big screen, this delightful application has many practical purposes- from medicine to construction, from designing of automobiles to bringing lifelike imagery in desktop and online gaming.
It’s obvious that the global market for 3D animation is booming, and consequently, the manufacturers/vendors of 3D animation software are looking at a highly profitable market, boasting an impressive CAGR and encountering little resistance from competing technologies through the forecasted duration stretching from 2016 to 2020.
Technavio has examined this market in detail and have earmarked the following vendors as principal players in the global 3D animation software market. These companies have set lofty benchmarks when it comes to 3D animation software and offer staunch competition to any enterprise that is looking to sink some flags in this market.
1) Adobe Systems
The monolith when it comes to video-audio-photo manipulation software, Adobe is an immediate afterthought when we speak of 3D animation. The company’s best offering is Photoshop, the apex photo manipulation tool, that includes ‘Fuse’, a simple software to conjure up 3D creations for photoshop projects. Other prominent Adobe products include Flash, Acrobat and Shockwave.
2) Autodesk, Inc.
A prominent American software company, Autodesk specializes in crafting software for a diverse range of business verticals including construction, architecture, manufacturing, media, entertainment, etc. The company offers two popular computer animation and modelling software, namely Maya and 3D Studio Max. Autodesk has retained its market leadership thanks to its collaboration with a number of frontline media and animation companies.
3) Corel Corporation
Based out of Ontario, Canada, Corel is known for its lineup of popular graphics processing software. The company’s products are classified into the following segments – illustration, design and digital painting, photo editing and digital imaging, video editing, and office suite and utilities. CorelDraw is the company’s top offering, alongside PaintShop Pro, Video Studio and WordPerfect. Also, Corel Corporation is the progenitor of that famous file compression miracle, WinZip.
4) EIAS3D
A collective of developers, EIAS3D’s best offering is the Electric Image Animation System (EIAS), a super-fast 3D animation software that is lauded for its exceptionally fast rendering engine. Electric Image, Inc. initially started out as a visual effects production company that utilized its own in-house 3D animation and rendering setup. Later on, buoyed by positive responses, when the company decided to market this setup under the EIAS moniker, top movie production houses and video game creators jumped aboard.
5) MAXON Computer GmbH
Located in Germany, MAXON is the creator of the ‘Cinema 4D’ application suite that is a popular 3D modelling and animation software. It can perform a number of activities including animating, texturing, rendering, lighting and other features expected off a professional 3D modelling application. The company’s other big offering is BodyPaint 3D, that helps produce real-time 3D paintings and is compatible with 3DS Max, Maya, XSI and other such popular software.
6) Side Effects Software
Based out of Toronto, Canada, Side Effects Software is famous for ‘Houdini’, a popular 3D animation application software that stands out of the crowd of similar software thanks to its exclusive attention to procedural generation. Houdini has found wide usage in Hollywood, with popular movies like Frozen, Zootopia and Ant Bully being crafted using this very versatile application. Houdini is used for modelling, animation, particle, lighting, rendering, volumetric, compositing, and the development of plugins.
7) NewTek
Known for their industry leading LightWave 3D animation and visual effects software, NewTek specializes in the production of video tools and visual imaging applications for personal computers. LightWave 3D is highly favored by designers and artists working for motion pictures, television programs, commercials and video games. Not surprisingly, LightWave 3D holds the distinction of being the preferred media that has won the maximum number of Emmy Awards for the animators using it to create visual effects magic.
