If you want to create actors which are more complex than a snowman, do you need a tool like Blender or can you do everything in UE4?
Would the question be more correct, if I used the word “mesh” instead of “actor”?
If you can do it in UE4, where?
If you need a tool like Blender,
3.a) which tool is the best (if there is “a best”)?
3.b) which is the best freely available tool?
Don’t bother with complex long answers or tools which are a bit better for certain exotic circumstances, I am a total beginner, so just some pointers and short answers are currently good enough for me.
1.) Actors are placeable objects in UE4. They don’t exist in Blender afaik. In Blender you make meshes, so mesh is the correct term.
2.) You can make either procedural meshes with BP or C++ or create meshes from BSP, though they’re really basic and suited only for prototyping.
3.a) Depends. Blender can be very powerful but I don’t like the UI and workflow that much. Other choices are 3ds Max, which is usually industry standard, Maya and finally ZBrush
3.b) Blender is the only free one of the ones I named.
Depends what you mean by more complex than a snow man, you could create static mesh shapes from coming BSP brushes into static meshes that are more comple than a snow man but this is really meant for prototyping and your best bet is to learn the glorious program that is blender