Thanks for posting it here, will have to check what people recommend as I am the creator of this list and some things such as some free apps aren’t really so, it was so long I lost track of what was what. It’s crazy how much it was shared in a couple days compared to the previous one.
Don’t think that’s very easy, I think you need an email ended on @/edu for that, it’s weird but I think only in the US or commmonwealth countries people are more hessitant to pirate adobe.
A couple of mac options for animation are Keyshape and Tumult Hype. Both are pretty affordable. Hype can output HTML 5 and has some interactive features to make projects that take advantage of user input. https://tumult.com/hype/
Keyshape https://www.keyshapeapp.com/ is a very lightweight SVG vector animation alternative that can output lottie format and is pretty easy to get to grips with. It has a 14 day trial. I have used both to make simple timeline based animations and was quite surprised at both of their capabilities. They should be getting more attention than they currently have. Here is a link to Keyshapes twitter page for the latest news… https://twitter.com/keyshapeapp
This simply isn’t true for the rigging part, to be frank… rigging in Maya is a bit obfuscated but limitless, and the playback performance is just astounding, they cache deformations so that animation plays always smoothly. The graph editor works really well too, better than that of Blender. If you’re in the animation business it’s not all black and white
@Frozen_Death_Knight Maya has the marking menus… basically power users hide the toolbars, they never use it because everything is at a flick of the wrist
Yeah, character animation is one of Maya’s strong sides, I agree, although I’ve got no personal experience with those tools.
…And I don’t like it? I know those menus exist, I just don’t like that workflow compared to using the keyboard with modifiers for the instant tools. As for flicking menus, you can do that in Blender as well. I know, since I personally customised every single mouse click to do an action, including certain menus. I have at least 6 menus keyed to just R click. Without modifiers. Then I have several other menus keyed with modifiers, but those are for specific things and not the tools themselves which I use my keyboard keys for.
There is no menu that can replace having instant tool actions from a single button press; i.e. loop cut (Maya doesn’t even allow you to scroll to change the amount of loops like in Blender) or locking a tool in one axis in the middle of an action (which Blender can do with with the X, Y, and Z keys). Plus, the times that I have found inconvenient stuff in Blender I have been able to customise it so everything flows better through the Keymap (it has crazy amounts of customisation).
The Maya keymap is at first glance more beginner friendly with how easy it is to find your hotkeys, but it has far less depth as well as some really annoying restrictions. For instance, I can’t hotkey shift+4 on my Swedish keyboard because Maya thinks that key has a symbol it can’t handle (not the only one I found on my keyboard which Blender can handle with ease). I also can’t hotkey Tab with modifiers like I can with Blender or some other programs like Affinity, so I lose out on a lot of convenient stuff to improve workflow. Little problems like that exist all over Maya.
This is shift+4 btw.
Animation and rigging are great, I agree. Really enjoy animating with the Graph Editor. My only real gripe is some restrictions with they keymap, but overall it is really good. I also have always liked UV mapping and creating retopology in Maya. Blender is not that bad at those things with a couple of free addons, but Maya has all you need baseline, which is something I appreciate.
My short look:
I’m using a Mac / BigSur (Latest version)
Tenacity, I haven’t been able to figure out how to install from the Git Hub. Audacity meets my (minimal) needs for now
DaVinci Resolve is like Final-Cut-Pro, at some point there’s a $ 299 price tag. If whatever they’re offering for free works all well and good.
Agama Materials looks like it may be Windows
Haven’t looked at Ardour yet.
PhotoGimp seems to either require GIMP or require GIMP via Flatpak. Either way. Installing PhotoGimp seems to require Flatpak which seems to work exclusively for Linux - best I can tell or try (Brew, MacPort, Apple store - nada, zip, nothing)
Apple Motion, seems to be paired with Final-Cut-Pro every time I look for it, short of the Apple Store, which sells it for $ 49.99. But, if it requires or recommends Final-Cut-Pro for optimum use, Final-Cut-Pro is $ 299 including Apple Motion if that’s an essential rather than optional pairing means $ 350 (ballpark); Final-Cut-Pro comes up short against Adobe After Effects in just about every way that matters in at least one review. And most Final-Cut-Pro tutorials are “Beginner’s Tutorials” compared to Adobe After Effects specific step by step tutorials, leaves me thinking that, if Final-Cut-Pro (or even Motion) are acceptable alternatives, I would consider it really useful to be able to find comparable Apple to Apple comparatives of how to do (maybe not all, but some) After Effects Tutorials using Final-Cut-Pro or Motion rather than finding out the hard way that perhaps neither is a feature to feature comparable alternative to After Effects after the money is spent
So far Oceanside Audio looks like something that will work for Mac, but, I’m not sure (not having downloaded it or tried it) if it’s a better alternative or just an alternative, maybe Reaper too - haven’t looked at that yet.
Diffractor runs on Windows. I have a Mac.
Rebelle, in head to head comparisons comes up short compared to PhotoShop as do most of the other applications. I’m already using Pixelmator Pro, PhotoscapeX, Affinity Designer / Photo, Procreate IPad, Gimp, Krita (for G’Mic wihich Gimp hasn’t figured out yet and better than Natron which is node based and not nearly as simple or convenient as the interface for Gimp or Krita (and Krita v5.0 has G’Mic built in by default) and Pinta for simple edits. None of them is perfect.
On a Mac, I’m using Vector Styler, Affinity Designer, Inkscape and SuperVectorizer Pro for Vector edits and conversions.
That’s as far as I’ve gotten so far. Adobe’s plan is a non-starter. And Apple’s “In-App Purchases” are the death of 1,000 cuts. Looks like everyone, even Public TV is going the same way with pay for play.
On apple store, if I have to spend money, I do some research first and go for the once and done purchases. The kind that don’t keep informing me that, for just a little more… every other day reminders.
Blender is “free” then there’s BlenderMarket, Gumroad, Patreon and other additional functionality sites and products.
Pretty soon it all starts to add up. Do you have to? No. But, at 66, I’m a little old to be learning it all and doing it all short of some help. And Blender being keyboard intensive leaves my memory a little strapped most days.
Not that there is or are any better “free” alternatives (OpenScad / FreeCad come in handy, if for no other reason than conversions and what Kit Wallace offers for OpenScad).
I did tech support for 20 years. So, it’s not all Greek to me, but, it’s still a LOT.
I don’t know that I want to keep up with the Jones’ for much longer. They may just have to carry on without me.
I think you’re right.
I also checked and found that email has just expired, so I’m lucky I got in with a new account beforehand since this was last years online study got me the .edu.au address.
Student until October 22, Adobe Account is telling me.
Then it’s back to $30/month for every app, which will only wind-up being one app since Illustrator’s all I use now. 
God bless ten years ago when we could simply download the CS demos then find a keygen - the good old days 
Thanks for sharing your info, @unkerjay. Anticipating a return to macOS, I’m regaining interest in applications for that platform.
When I was still a Mac user, I bought Apple Motion in the App Store and have never used Final Cut Pro. Apple Motion can be used as a companion tool to FCP, but also as a stand-alone After Effects competitor, just like AE and Premiere can be used fully separately.
For bitmap to vector conversions I still haven’t found a better tool than Vector Magic, also available for macOS.
Fully seconded. Too bad Blenderkit is fully centered on native Blender renderers. I’d love it if they would also support LuxCoreRender, Octane, Renderman, Radeon ProRender, etc…
I hear you. Blender’s rapid development pace is both a blessing and a curse. For example, the frequency of keyboard shortcut changes drives me crazy sometimes, particularly in my main area of interest: Sculpt Mode.
In the light of this, it’s a delight to return to old school tools like MoI 3D and ZBrush, which don’t change nearly as much as Blender. A Blender user needs to frequently keep up with the latest changes or he/she will start lagging behind in Blender knowledge.
Luckily, approximately 436574 YouTubers have discovered that gaining a following by endlessly regurgitating Blender knowledge is lucrative, so there are more than enough tutorial videos available to keep your Blender skills up to date. 
Nice thread.
My 1.5 cents 
Very interesting software, with some unique features… mostly unknown.
Project Dogwaffle digital image paint and animation software, photo editing, painting, special FX, animation, post work, particle brushes, tutorials, 2D resources, textures and more (thebest3d.com)
Verve painter, another interesting piece of software. Love to see these features integrated in Krita, for example. Anyway you can try and have fun time. And Maybe make new image for your desktop 
Verve Painter, a Tiny Fluid Dynamics Based Paint Application - Lesterbanks
When I started BlenderKit, one of the reasons was to create an asset database for open source world. With the possibility of open source and free content, but with curated database and a sustainable business model. Thanks for mentioning us;)
Excuse me but What news about Agama ?
I search a forum about Agama. Can I download some materials build with Agama?
Since Substance Designer became an Adobe product as of the last few years, it is appropriate to mention the good news of Material Maker surviving the transition to Godot 4.x and Vulkan and now has the buildbot restarted for wider testing.
Workflow runs · RodZill4/material-maker (github.com)
Sadly, it appears the other possible alternative (Texture Lab) has joined Neo Texture Edit in the FOSS graveyard. The FOSS world is now entirely dependent on Material Maker becoming an ever more robust project.
Hey, by looking into enve I found out about a fork called friction : https://friction.graphics/
It’s for vector motion design, an open source, multi-platform potential replacement of AE animation capabilities, didn’t tried yet but looks quite promising !
Detailed comparisons and standout features to assist in choosing the right tool for various projects. https://bijutoha.com/blog/free-adobe-software-alternatives/
June 2024 updated list:
Still missing on that list:
Illustrator:
InDesign:
Animate:
Miss VectorStyler too, in the list.
For anyone looking for a illustrator vector graphics alternative
you may take a look at “VectorStyler” (PC/Mac), no subscription.
Your licence is valid for PC and Mac as long as you are the only
User.
It have, real vector Brushes, Trim Tool, real vector Eraser,
Shape Builder, Shape Paint Tool, Vector Effects a Vector Tracer
and many more to discover.
Thanks! I made a little Mastodon thread for this:
I noticed someone asking about channel packing and how bothersome it is outside of Photoshop.
It’s actually very simple and flexible in PhotoLine: select one of the texture layers, and check the channel that it should affect in the layer properties. Done. Save to PNG, TGA, BMP,…
The only thing to remember is to change the map’s layer from greyscale mode to RGB before those options become available (if necessary).
Here is a packed orm texture map example:
The beauty about this approach is that each texture map can be edited non-destructively as well as long as the final result is grouped and that group is set to isolated drawing. Editing each channel becomes entirely non-destructive if need be.
It is of course a completely different way of working with channels compared to Photoshop where each channel must be changed directly by pasting in the texture map in a channel. But more flexible, and arguable simpler and less steps are involved.
Here I added the word “METAL” to the metallic texture map only.
It might be worth to add InstaMat to the list as a Substance Painter/Designer alternative.
I have tried very hard to use open-source “Inkscape” as an SVG editor (e.g. Illustrator). Good though it appears to be, I find that it has bugs which somehow embed themselves into the saved files. Suddenly, Inkscape will begin crashing whenever you reopen the file or start to do the next things to it. And, it seems to “have been this way for years.” I try to post bug-reports and get no replies. Very disappointing, because this tool should be “very good.”
