Best 3D Painting Software for Mac of 2025

Blender is a versatile 3D creation suite that is both free and open source. It encompasses the complete 3D pipeline, which includes modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing, motion tracking, video editing, and even a 2D animation workflow. The platform features Cycles, an advanced unbiased path-tracer engine that delivers breathtakingly realistic renderings. With its extensive suite of modeling tools, users can easily create, modify, and edit their 3D models. VFX professionals have praised it as “likely the best tracker available in the market.” Blender also offers robust camera and object tracking capabilities, enabling users to import raw footage, track it, mask specific areas, and visualize live camera movements within their 3D environment—all without needing to switch applications. Furthermore, its high-quality rigging and animation features have led to its adoption in various short films, advertisements, television series, and feature-length movies, illustrating its widespread impact on the industry. As a result, Blender continues to be a go-to tool for artists and creators looking to push the boundaries of 3D visualization.

Construct vast universes, intricate characters, and breathtaking visual effects seamlessly. Animate realistic characters using advanced animation tools that captivate audiences. Design 3D models and environments effortlessly with the user-friendly modeling features of Maya® software. Produce lifelike effects, ranging from dramatic explosions to detailed cloth simulations. A cutting-edge visual programming workspace equipped with dynamic solvers allows for swift creation of stunning effects suitable for blockbusters. Utilize the Bifrost Graph Editor to assemble personalized graphs tailored to your project's needs. Generate remarkable effects—such as snow, sand, and swirling dust storms—with pre-made graphs at your disposal. Render intricate projects effortlessly with Arnold, a powerful tool designed to tackle challenges related to complex characters, environments, and lighting. With Arnold’s integration into Maya, you can preview high-quality results instantly and make rapid adjustments. Experience time savings through Arnold’s user-friendly interface and straightforward controls, enabling you to focus on your creative vision more effectively. Ultimately, this powerful combination not only enhances productivity but also elevates the quality of your artistic endeavors.

Modo is an advanced 3D modeling and rendering platform specifically crafted to assist businesses in producing 3D designs while managing UV mapping and texturing processes. This robust toolset enables artists to animate, model, texture, and render with unparalleled flexibility, allowing for the seamless exploration and realization of creative visions. Modo® serves as your gateway to artistic discovery, equipped with features like rapid direct modeling, adaptable procedural modeling, the innovative MeshFusion Boolean toolset, and integrated sculpting capabilities, all harmonizing to create an unmatched modeling experience. By utilizing Modo’s user-friendly tools, you can escape the restrictions that stifle creativity, letting you concentrate on your artistic process rather than technical details. Whether you're shaping basic forms or crafting intricate designs, Modo empowers you to prioritize creation over construction. Moreover, the versatile tool assembly system allows you to build a customized collection of specialized tools by merging various operations, enhancing your workflow. With Modo, every task becomes simpler, enabling you to continuously uncover and implement new efficiencies in your projects while elevating your artistic capabilities.

Mudbox is a powerful software for 3D digital painting and sculpting, enabling artists to craft stunning characters and immersive environments. With its tactile toolset, users can sculpt and paint intricate details on 3D geometry and textures. This software, Mudbox® 3D, offers an intuitive interface that mimics real-world sculpting techniques, allowing for the creation of complex 3D characters and settings. Artists can paint directly onto their 3D models across various channels, enhancing the texturing process. The camera-based workflow allows for the addition of resolution only in specific mesh areas, making it an artist-friendly option. Users can produce clean, production-ready meshes from a variety of sources, including scanned, imported, or sculpted data. The software supports the baking of normal, displacement, and ambient occlusion maps, streamlining the texturing process. Effective brush-based workflows are available for both polygons and textures, promoting efficiency and creativity. Artists can seamlessly transfer assets from Maya into Mudbox to enrich their geometry with detailed features. Moreover, characters can easily be sent from Maya LT to Mudbox for sculpting and texturing, and then transferred back to Maya LT for final adjustments. This integration allows creators to elevate their 3D assets and environments from initial concepts to polished, high-quality final frames, showcasing the full potential of their artistic vision. Ultimately, Mudbox serves as an essential tool for artists seeking to bring their imaginative worlds to life.

Embark on a genuine ZBrush journey as you step into the vibrant realm of digital sculpting with ZBrushCoreMini. Tailored specifically for budding artists of any age, ZBrushCoreMini features a user-friendly interface that allows anyone to start sculpting right away. Focused entirely on the art of sculpting, you can begin with a basic sphere or a stone block, then utilize a carefully curated selection of popular digital sculpting brushes from ZBrush to artistically manipulate material and bring your vision to life! ZBrushCoreMini empowers you to unleash your creativity. Once you're satisfied with your artistic piece, it also offers an innovative method to showcase your work to others through the iMage3D format. This format presents your creation as a standard 2D image on any website, but other ZBrushCoreMini users can access it in full 3D! Moreover, with the rise of 3D printing technology, ZBrushCoreMini enables you to export your model for physical printing, allowing your digital designs to come to life in the real world. This unique feature opens up new avenues for artists to share their creativity beyond the digital realm.

3DCoat is a comprehensive application that equips users with all the necessary tools to transform a digital block of clay into a production-ready, fully textured model, whether organic or hard-surfaced. Currently, it is taught in over 300 universities, colleges, and educational institutions around the globe. As one of the most sophisticated software solutions for crafting intricate 3D models, 3DCoat stands out in a market where many competitors focus on a single function, such as digital sculpting or texture painting. Instead, 3DCoat excels across a wide array of tasks within the asset creation pipeline, encompassing sculpting, retopology, UV editing, PBR texture painting, and rendering. This versatility allows it to be regarded as a multifaceted tool, serving as 3D texturing software, 3D texture painting software, a 3D sculpting program, retopology software, UV mapping software, and 3D rendering software all in one. Consequently, users benefit from a streamlined experience, eliminating the need to invest in and master multiple specialized software packages. Overall, 3DCoat simplifies the workflow for artists and creators in the 3D modeling sphere.

Cheetah3D is a robust and user-friendly software designed for 3D modeling, rendering, and animation, specifically created for Mac users. Dive into the realm of computer-generated imagery and craft stunning 3D visuals for your upcoming iPhone game or design your very first animated character. Equipped with a comprehensive array of polygon, subdivision surface, and spline modeling tools, artists can concentrate on their creative process, knowing that Cheetah3D offers an extensive range of features to support them. This software simplifies 3D modeling, making it accessible for both beginners and seasoned professionals. The character rigging functionality is integrated into Cheetah3D's fluid animation system, allowing nearly every attribute of an object to be animated effortlessly. Bring your characters to life for your next mobile game or create captivating architectural fly-throughs using the powerful animation capabilities embedded in Cheetah3D. Moreover, Cheetah3D seamlessly incorporates the robust Bullet physics engine, enabling realistic simulations of both rigid and soft body dynamics, enhancing the overall visual experience. With its innovative features and user-centric design, Cheetah3D stands out as an essential tool for artists and developers in the field.

Bforartists is an all-encompassing, freely available, and open-source 3D software suite designed for the creation of 3D content. It provides a comprehensive 3D art workflow suitable for producing game graphics, pre-rendered films, and images. This includes everything from modeling and sculpting to texturing, rigging, animation, rendering, and post-processing. The name Bforartists encapsulates its philosophy of prioritizing the needs of artists over those of programmers. It is a derivative of the well-known open-source 3D application Blender, created by a group of 3D enthusiasts aiming to enhance the original software. The main objective of the Bforartists project is to offer an improved graphical user interface and enhanced usability, shifting focus from a hotkey-centric approach to a more intuitive and user-friendly design. Bforartists maintains full compatibility with Blender files and add-ons, ensuring that any feature functioning in Blender is also available in Bforartists. Additionally, the software keeps pace with the latest Blender updates, ensuring that users benefit from the same toolset. In essence, Bforartists represents a significant step towards making powerful 3D tools accessible to everyone.