animation
   Blender
   Maya

simulation
   finite difference, finite element, cellular automata
   COMSOL , COSMOS , ANSYS , Elmer , FEAP
   Open Dynamics , OpenFEM
   SPICE , HSPICE , LTspice , NGspice

optimization
   Nelder-Mead
   Levenberg-Marguardt
   simulated annealing, GA, ...
   constrained optimization, convexity

assignment
   animate &/or simulate &/or optimize your final project