Free Stuff: Making Movies for Nothing

In summary, Anim8or is for beginners, Art of Illusion is for intermediates and Blender is for pros. Maya PLE is also for beginners who just want to learn Maya without making money with it, since it isn’t for commercial purposes. Wings is for graphic designers, or Jahshaka users who need a modeling program that doesn’t need to animate.

But there’s even more 3D freeware I haven’t even tried yet:

3D Canvas – A pro software with a free version. The website seems to be down at the moment, but if it comes back, go to www.amabilis.com/

OpenFX – Looks pretty slick! http://www.openfx.org/

K-3D – Also looks good. http://www.k-3d.org/wiki/Main_Page