3D Graphics

5 open source tools compared. Sorted by stars — scroll down for our analysis.

Tool	Stars	Velocity	Language	License	Score
Three.js JavaScript 3D graphics library	111.8k	+128/wk	JavaScript	MIT License	82
Lottie Render After Effects animations on web	31.8k	+15/wk	JavaScript	MIT License	79
blender Official mirror of Blender	18.0k	—	C++	—	75
orillusion	5.2k	+3/wk	TypeScript	MIT	75
zeno	1.4k	—	C++	MPL-2.0	64

Our Analysis

Three.js111.8k★

Three.js brings 3D to the browser: interactive visualizations, product configurators, entire games, all running in WebGL. It wraps WebGL (the low-level browser graphics API that nobody wants to write by hand) into something you can actually build with. Everything is free. MIT license, no paid tier, no cloud service, no account, and nearly two decades of development. The ecosystem is massive: loaders for every 3D format, physics engines, post-processing effects, VR/AR support. The documentation and examples library is one of the best in open source. Self-hosting isn't really applicable. It's a client-side library you bundle into your app. Install via npm, import it, and start rendering. The catch: the learning curve is steep if you've never touched 3D math. Cameras, lighting, materials, geometry. It's a different mental model from DOM manipulation. Performance optimization requires understanding the GPU pipeline. And the API surface is enormous, which means lots of ways to do things wrong before you find the right one. For simpler use cases like displaying a single 3D model, consider react-three-fiber which wraps Three.js in React components.

Lottie31.8k★

Designers export from After Effects, developers drop the JSON file into the app, and it just plays: vector-based, resolution-independent, tiny file sizes. MIT, originally built by Airbnb. The workflow is: designer creates animation in After Effects, exports via the Bodymovin plugin as a JSON file, developer loads it with lottie-web. That JSON is typically 10-50KB where an equivalent GIF would be megabytes. Works on web, iOS, Android, and React Native. Fully free and open source. No paid tier for the renderer. The After Effects plugin (Bodymovin) is also free. LottieFiles (a separate company) offers a paid platform for hosting, editing, and collaborating on animations, but you don't need it. Solo to large teams, the library costs nothing. LottieFiles' free tier gives you basic hosting and a library of pre-made animations. Their paid plans ($20-50/mo) add team collaboration, more storage, and advanced editing. The catch: you need After Effects (or a compatible tool) to create animations. That's a $22.99/mo Adobe subscription. Not every After Effects feature is supported; 3D layers, expressions, and some effects won't export cleanly. And debugging a broken animation means digging through JSON by hand.

blender18.0k★

Blender is a full 3D creation suite: modeling, sculpting, animation, rendering, compositing, motion tracking, and video editing in one package. It competes directly with Maya, Cinema 4D, and 3ds Max, tools that cost thousands per year. The fact that this is free and open source is remarkable. Used in film production, game development, and architectural visualization by professionals and studios. The Cycles renderer produces film-quality output. Geometry Nodes opened up procedural modeling. The community is massive and the plugin ecosystem is deep. Autodesk charges $1,875/year for Maya. Maxon charges $719/year for Cinema 4D. Blender charges nothing. The catch: the learning curve is steep and the UI, while dramatically improved in recent versions, still has its own logic that takes time to internalize. Some industry-specific workflows (like CAD integration) are weaker than commercial alternatives.

orillusion5.2k★

Orillusion is a WebGPU-first 3D engine. While Three.js runs on WebGL (the older standard), Orillusion is built from the ground up for WebGPU, which means better performance, compute shaders, and modern rendering techniques like clustered forward rendering and GPU-driven particle systems. It's fully free under MIT. TypeScript-native, component-based architecture, with a physics engine, animation system, and media extensions (video textures, chroma key). The engine is designed to feel familiar if you've used Unity or other component-based engines. The catch: WebGPU support is still limited across browsers. Chrome has it, but Safari and Firefox support is incomplete or behind flags. That means your audience needs a modern browser. At, the community is tiny compared to Three.js (111K). Documentation is sparse, examples are limited, and if you hit a bug, you're likely reading the source code. This is bleeding-edge territory: exciting if you're experimenting, risky if you're building a product that needs to work everywhere today.

zeno1.4k★

Zeno is a node-based visual programming framework for building those simulations. Picture a Houdini-like node graph but open source, built for technical artists and simulation engineers. MPL-2.0 license, C++ core. You connect nodes to build simulation pipelines: meshing, physics solvers, rendering, data processing. Supports OpenVDB, CUDA GPU acceleration, and real-time preview. The node system is extensible. Write custom C++ nodes for your specific simulation needs. Zenus Technology offers commercial licensing and support, though exact pricing isn't publicly listed. The open source version under MPL-2.0 is free for use. You can modify it but must share changes to Zeno's own files. Solo VFX artists or researchers: the open source version gives you a capable simulation platform for $0. Small studios: free, add custom nodes for your pipeline. Larger studios: contact Zenus for enterprise support and potentially proprietary extensions. The catch: and velocity means a small community. If you hit a bug or need help, you're largely on your own. The node-based paradigm has a learning curve, and documentation is limited compared to commercial tools like Houdini. For production VFX, Houdini is the industry standard. Zeno is the open source alternative for teams that can't or won't pay SideFX's licensing fees ($2K-4.5K/year).