[Community List] Free Software Tools & Resources List

ULLS · January 27, 2015, 4:38pm

Please post links to any free resources you know of and if possible credit the creators. I (and any moderator that can spare some time) will add them to the list in very post.
Special thanks to all the resource creators and the people who have submitted the links.

There have been some great submissions since I last updated post, linkwill take you to the last one I added, so it’s worth foraging for anything past the link.

Free Software:

Game Engines
https://www.unrealengine.com/ - The one & only!!!

Texturing & Image Tools:
https://share…com/ - Free substances!!
TextureGenerator-Online - Generate textures in browser
~~http://www.mapzoneeditor.com/ - Free texturing tool from (makers of substance)~~ Dead link
NormalMap-Online - Generate normals in browser
http://www.krita.org/ - Image Editor/Painting program
www.gimp.org/ - Image Editor/Painting program
Irfanview - Open, convert, optimize, and use batch processing (renaming for example) for nearly any image type.
SpaceScape - Create an outer space skybox with stars & nebula’s.
xNormal - Bakes out normal/AO/height and many other maps from a high poly mesh.
handplane - Tangent space calculator for converting Object space normal maps.
RoadKill UV Tool - Unwraps your models from 3dsMax/Maya/Softimage.
Wood Workshop - Wood texture generator (credit to 94)

Modelling, Sculpting, Animation and Mesh Optimization Tools:
http://pixologic.com/sculptris/ - Free sculpting + painting tool from the makers of ZBrush
http://www.blender.org/ - Free modelling/rigging/scuplting/animating tool
https://www.simplygon.com/games - LOD generator and mesh optimization (cloud based, free for personal use)
MakeHuman - Free 3D Humanoid character creator (Open Source).
3dsMax Rock Generator - MaxScript for quickly creating high quality rock meshes.
Autodesk FBX Converter - Quickly convert OBJ/DXF/DAE/3DS files to an FBX format file.
TerreSculptor - Currently in beta, is very similar to World Machine.
http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/ - modelling app
TreeIt | Tree Generator - Foliage generator
Download L3DT Standard Edition - Terrain generator
~~IKinema WebAnimate - Free web based animation for your 3d characters.~~ No longer free??
Houdini Apprentice | SideFX - Free Apprentice edition of Houdini (watermarked and of limited use but good for learning)
http://www.fragmosoft.com/ - ‘Fragmotion can be used without buying it (for 50 USD), if you type in the prayer text appearing weekly’
Versa Connector (TNDCI DEV) 0.0.1 - Sign On - A mesh mashup tool from Autodesk, some pretty cool sculpting tools too
http://www.wings3d.com/ - I just found yesterday, now my all time favorite 3D modelling program - it’s the only one I am capable of making anything with
http://www.mit.edu/~ibaran/autorig/pinocchio.html - Auto rig meshes (with source code), would be good if could be turned into a simple UE4 plug-in (hint hint)

Audio and Sound Tools:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ - Audacity, a free audio editor
http://www.bfxr.net/ - an awesome online sound effect generator
Studio One | PreSonus Shop - Free DAW
http://yamamavcs5.weebly.com/ - VST compatible or standalone synthesizer
https://lmms.io/ - Free open source DAW

Other
[FREE] Launchpad - A free, open-source UE4-compatible game launcher - Programming & Scripting - Epic Developer Community Forums - Open source launcher
Blackmagic Design releases Fusion 7 for free | CG Channel - Compositing package
https://obsproject.com/ - Live streaming and recording
Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition – Download Latest Free Version - Community edition of Visual Studio (highly recommended!!)
http://blog.bahraniapps.com/gifcam/ - Capture gif’s
http://www.mapeditor.org/ - Tiled 2d map editor

Free Assets/Resources:

Models:

http://www.3dmodelfree.com/

http://www.blendswap.com/
http://www.sharecg.com/
http://www.yobi3d.com/#!/

Animations & Motion captures:
http://www.turbosquid.com/search/motion-capture/free/

http://animation.comp.nus.edu.sg/nusmocap.html
http://birhandursun.com/motion.php
http://www.3d-brothers.com/index.php/
http://www.motioncapturedata.com/

Models, Materials & Textures:

http://www.michalorzelek.com/blog/?cat=9

http://redpolygon.com/free-textures/
[FREE] Foliage Starter Kit - World Creation - Epic Developer Community Forums - fighter5347’s incredible gift
[FREE] Various models - World Creation - Epic Developer Community Forums - Thanks to DaveFace!!

Materials and Textures:

Textures only:

http://cgtextures.com/
http://opengameart.org/textures/all

2D Sprite Sheets & Background Textures:

Audio:
https://www.freesound.org/
www.freesfx.co.uk/
www.grsites.com/sounds/
99Sounds - A ton of high quality sound fx collections.
https://forums.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?49316-FREE-Audio-Pack

Tutorials/Books

Some great tutorials and example projects to get you started in UE4

Other
IES Lighting Profile Archive - A great resource for IES photometric lighting textures (Lithonia Lighting).

*Disclaimer - I have not had the time to test all of the links, assets and software, therefore I will not be held accountable for any damage these may cause to your computer, , ch’i, karma or well being

anonymous_user_0df12f74 · January 27, 2015, 6:21pm

Alright, I’ll add a few helpful apps here for you.

MakeHuman - Free 3D Humanoid character creator (Open Source).
IKinema WebAnimate - Free web based animation for your 3d characters.
xNormal - Bakes out normal/AO/height and many other maps from a high poly mesh.
handplane - Tangent space calculator for converting Object space normal maps.
RoadKill UV Tool - Unwraps your models from 3dsMax/Maya/Softimage.
Irfanview - Open, convert, optimize, and use batch processing (renaming for example) for nearly any image type.
IES Lighting Profile Archive - Not an app, but a great resource for IES photometric lighting textures (Lithonia Lighting).
SpaceScape - Create an outer space skybox with stars & nebula’s.
3dsMax Rock Generator - MaxScript for quickly creating high quality rock meshes.
Autodesk FBX Converter - Quickly convert OBJ/DXF/DAE/3DS files to an FBX format file.
TerreSculptor - Currently in beta, is very similar to World Machine.

I will add to post with some more later on.

anonymous_user_f70d3582 · January 27, 2015, 6:51pm

Gimp 2.8 Image/Texture editor http://www.gimp.org/

ULLS · January 28, 2015, 9:36am

Thanks for the great additions, lets keep em coming!

anonymous_user_1ea75afe · January 29, 2015, 3:10pm

Not sure if counts as “software and resources” but I found bunch of 60 materials and 220 textures, extremely useful and somebody might find the same. Best of all, its free for commercial use even.

Here’s another list put together by S0T0 which could prove helpful as well:

Models:

http://www.3dmodelfree.com/

Sound:

www.grsites.com/sounds/

Textures:

http://cgtextures.com/
http://opengameart.org/textures/all

Hope helps out!
Cheers.

ULLS · January 29, 2015, 3:15pm

Thanks VeerWolf, is a great addition, I would call those a resource. Perhaps thread should include any free stuff that is useful for game dev’s anyway.

anonymous_user_1ea75afe · January 29, 2015, 3:44pm

Haha, sounds great mate! I shall try and contribute whatever I can find. Just a suggestion though, as thread may (or may not) end up having several pages it would make sense for a game dev to look at the first post rather than scroll through numerous pages to find the resources, let alone the non topic related discussions, so if you can keep updating the first post with all the new additions it will be awesome. If its too much work not an, I guess people shouldn’t complain when they get free stuff and can put in a little effort to look through it.

ULLS · January 29, 2015, 4:03pm

Good point but I’m far too busy (lazy) to do that

tegleg · January 29, 2015, 4:15pm

a couple of good audio things

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ - Audacity, a free audio editor
http://www.bfxr.net/ an awesome online sound effect generator

anonymous_user_f70d3582 · January 29, 2015, 4:29pm

if you want I could merge all 5 posts with links into to first one or copy/paste them into the first post, probably better to just copy/paste as merging them all would make the rest of the thread unreadable;)

anonymous_user_1ea75afe · January 29, 2015, 8:52pm

to the rescue~

ULLS · January 29, 2015, 9:20pm

Thanks , by all means go for it, it would definitely be useful.

Ivey · January 30, 2015, 2:08am

;212017:

Alright, I’ll add a few helpful apps here for you.

MakeHuman - Free 3D Humanoid character creator (Open Source).

IKinema WebAnimate - Free web based animation for your 3d characters.

xNormal - Bakes out normal/AO/height and many other maps from a high poly mesh.

handplane - Tangent space calculator for converting Object space normal maps.

RoadKill UV Tool - Unwraps your models from 3dsMax/Maya/Softimage.

Irfanview - Open, convert, optimize, and use batch processing (renaming for example) for nearly any image type.

IES Lighting Profile Archive - Not an app, but a great resource for IES photometric lighting textures (Lithonia Lighting).

SpaceScape - Create an outer space skybox with stars & nebula’s.

3dsMax Rock Generator - MaxScript for quickly creating high quality rock meshes.

Autodesk FBX Converter - Quickly convert OBJ/DXF/DAE/3DS files to an FBX format file.

TerreSculptor - Currently in beta, is very similar to World Machine.

I will add to post with some more later on.

all the 1

Jacky · January 30, 2015, 2:32am

I’ve posted in one of my WIP threads before but i’ll post here as well: 99Sounds

A ton of high quality sound fx collections.

NullTechs · January 30, 2015, 7:20am

Hello

I would like to add one of my favorites
Meshlab it is a 3d modeling program ,I use it a lot for decimating (polygon reduction),
here is the link http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/ try it, you won’t regret it
and here is a tutorial for decimating Mesh Processing: Decimation - YouTube

anonymous_user_f70d3582 · January 30, 2015, 8:13am

done:)

I split it into sections as well, hope that’s ok.

ULLS · January 30, 2015, 9:21am

Brilliant!! Thanks !

Hevedy · January 30, 2015, 10:40am

Purpleprint Kit: (Models, Textures, Materials, Scenes)

Steve_T · January 30, 2015, 11:13am

Some more resources like opengameart (not sure about commercial use, but handy assets for learning):

http://www.glitchthegame.com/public-domain-game-art/

http://www.dumbmanex.com/bynd_freestuff.html

http://www.davidhellman.net/braidbrief.htm

Drixil · January 30, 2015, 11:24am

Ikwebanimate is not free by any stretch of the imagination thus you are doing FREE advertising for them by using FREE as a plug for their paid service.

Free is being highly misused now days. English is pretty straight forward which is why it is often referred to as the International business language. Some of these links link to subscriptions (promising free trail which means demo not free) others make you sign up only to realize their “Free Models” are not actually worth a ****… Using the term free for a marketing scam pretty much is the same thing as saying “Moral serial killer”…