Best Software for Multimedia Arts 3 Years Update

 

     We know that there's a lot of options to choose from when using software when creating art or doing something creative so here, I'll explore the choices I personally recommend to use if you plan to use it for hobby or professionally. We'll explore each software individually showcasing their strengths and weakness to avoid biases and see them for what they are truly are. I'll start with Digital Art, after that for Graphic Design then lastly 3D.

Digital Art

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  Clip Studio Paint - The one I recommend for digital artist. It has vectors and specifically created for making art. Downside is their subscription used to be unlimited but now you have to subscribe for future updates.

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  Adobe Photoshop - A good alternate for Clip Studio Paint. It's good for painting and also have the tools you can use to manipulate your art. The downside is you kinda have to customize it to be good for art.

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  Procreate - Probably the best software to draw on if you use Tablet and don't draw on PC. Downside I see is Apple is kinda expensive and you might not wanna invest on so much money if you only draw occasionally.

Animation

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  Toon Boom Harmony - the industry standard for animation, animators use it and if you wanna go pro its a good choice. Downside is its price might be hard to justify if you are just starting or not already big in the industry.

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  Clip Studio Paint - if you already use this software then you might also wanna learn that its also possible to create animation in CSP. It's simple and straightforward but you do have to buy the EX version to use it mostly. 

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  Adobe Animate - recommend it for beginners, it's good to use to have a feel of animation digitally and it's specially created for animators. The downside I saw is the hotkeys is kinda clunky and not user friendly.

3D 

3D is kinda different since there's no winners, only softwares that specially made for their niche so you might wanna learn as much softwares as you can the longer you go, so I'll just give what I think the software does best and you'll decide whether the thing you wanna create is good in that software.

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  Blender - The recommend software for beginners, it's free and there's a lot of tutorials on YouTube but the only downside is its the not best at one thing but can do what everyone does but not as good. Still goated.

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  Autodesk Maya/3DS Max - the industry standard for 3D. Maya for animation and 3DS Max for any visualization. Downside is the tutorials about them is less than Blender.

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  Adobe Substance Painter - hands down the best software for its niche, for texturing and UV mapping. I highly recommend it but the downside is you have to learn another software and learning takes time.

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  ZBrush - If you wanna make characters and monsters, this is your best bet. It's specifically created for it but the downside is its expensive and buying it than realizing its not for you is waste of money.

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  Houdini - I heard good things about this software specifically about VFX and complicated effects but its mostly for post productions and when you kinda already know what you are doing. Downside not beginner friendly.