Didimo vs Spline

Tagline

Automate your 3D character pipeline to create lifelike digital humans, avatars, and massive crowds instantly.

Design 3D scenes in the browser, with AI

Category

Pricing

Rating

Platforms

API

Open source

Description

Didimo is a 3D character creation and automation platform. Its primary software suite, Popul8 (available as Standalone Software or SDK), automates character generation, asset and garment fitting, and crowd management. Designed for game development, virtual worlds, and interactive experiences, Didimo provides seamless, engine-agnostic integrations with Unity, Unreal Engine, and proprietary platforms to scale production and reduce manual pipeline tediousness.

Spline is a collaborative 3D design tool with AI-powered texture and style generation.

Key features

• Crowd Generation
• Automated Garment Fitting
• Automated Accessory Fitting
• Real-time Character Customization
• Mesh Culling for Garments
• Color and Texture Customization
• Body Shape Morphing and Scaling
• Asset Export to Unity & Unreal Engine

• Clean topology
• PBR textures
• Rig-ready output

Pros

• Automatically fits garments and accessories across diverse body types and face shapes.
• Integrates directly with industry-standard game engines like Unity and Unreal Engine.
• Enables the rapid generation of thousands of fully-rigged, high-quality NPCs and crowds.
• Includes a Character Editor for runtime, in-game character customization.
• Available in both Standalone Software and SDK configurations to fit different pipelines.
• Proven utility in major titles, such as facilitating character scalability in Cities: Skylines II.
• Reportedly cuts character creation time by up to 70% with Popul8 Express.
• Enables bulk-fitting, allowing users to apply new assets to all characters or fit all assets onto a new character.
• Supports deep runtime customization parameters including body builds, species attachments, and skin tones.

• Browser-based 3D editor
• Real-time collaboration
• No download required
• Interactive web export
• Physics simulation
• Reusable component system
• AI texture and style generation
• Generous free tier

Cons

• No free-tier or free trial option is listed on the pricing details page.
• Specific pricing figures (exact costs) are not publicly disclosed on the website.
• No public API developer documentation is directly accessible on the website.
• Support for proprietary engines is restricted to the high-tier Enterprise license.
• Standard tier (Popul8 Express) is restricted to Standard Support, while Full Client Support requires the Enterprise license.

• Learning curve for 3D newcomers
• Performance limits in browser
• Less powerful than Blender
• Limited render quality
• Lag on complex scenes
• Export format restrictions
• No offline mode
• Advanced features gated to paid

Pricing plans

• Popul8 Express—
  • • Fast, self-service character creation
  • • Annual subscription
  • • Unreal, Unity
  • • Standard Support
• Popul8 Enterprise—
  • • Full customization and integration
  • • Unreal, Unity & Proprietary
  • • License per Game
  • • Full Client Support

• FreeUSD0/month
  • • Unlimited Viewers
  • • Web exports with watermark
  • • Access to Spline Templates
• StarterUSD12/month
  • • Everything on Free, plus:
  • • Unlimited 3D & 2D files
  • • Upload video
  • • No watermark on web exports
• ProfessionalUSD20/month
  • • Everything on Starter, plus:
  • • Unlimited folders and projects
  • • Video export
  • • Apple & Android exports
• Spline AI+USD5/month
  • • 2000 AI credits / month
  • • AI 3D Generation & more
• Enterprise—
  • • Everything on Professional, plus:
  • • Multiple teams with team privacy
  • • Custom onboarding and training
  • • Custom requests / month

Website