Four 3D Computer-Aided Design / modeling programs

1. Blender
Blender is an open-source 3D modeling program. It is free to use, unlike Maya. The models are saved in ".blend" files. Blender used to have a worse interface, but the UI was overhauled a few years ago. Blender plugins can be written in Python. Blender has a game engine included. The logic of the game engine can be defined by drawing lines between logic blocks.

2. Sweet Home 3D
Sweet Home 3D can be used to make a model of a house and arrange furniture to see how it would look. It is written in Java.




3. Maya
MayaⓇ is a proprietary 3D CAD program by AutodeskⓇ. It uses radial popup menus instead of vertical menus. There is a student & educator edition of MayaⓇ which is free. Otherwise it costs money.

Example of a radial pop-up menu

4. POV-Ray

POV-Ray is another CAD program but this one can be scripted with a DSL (domain-specific language) called scene description language. POV-Ray stands for Persistence of Vision Ray Tracer.

This was originally going to be a list of five CAD programs but Gazebo is a robot simulator instead of a CAD program.