The free (useful) software thread

[Guest firemind]

Post your links to sites with free software here.

 

The software *must* be relevant to motion graphics and actually usable in a production environment. Provide a short description of the software and be sure to mention what platform(s) it supports and any other relevant info.

 

Please refrain from posting links to early beta software, or free plug-ins for existing commercial software. This thread is about the hidden gems out there

[Guest firemind]

http://www.wings3d.com

 

Excellent polygon modeller, available for just about every platform imaginable and...completely free! Check out the great community as well.

[Guest firemind]

http://www.irfanview.com

 

Great picture viewer, nice alternative to ACDSee (which gets more and more bloated with each new release) and supports more formats too!

 

Sorry mac/linux peeps, Windows only.

[Guest firemind]

Originally posted by afterwork. Moved here by his request.

 

 

From what I can remember this fellow is an engineer for Nvidia and in his spare time he has developed a rather popular 3d program.

 

Sorry Mac folks, Windows only (I believe at the moment).

 

This program is fun and very easy to use. Not bad at all for someone wanting to learn some basics or even for the seasoned professional who wants to push the program to its max for fun...

 

http://www.anim8or.com/

 

Enjoy...

[Guest igorschmigor]

almost free: cinema 4D 6 CE. It comes as a free bonus to certain Magazines. In Germany these mags are "PC Go Grafik-Special" for 7.90 Euro, and "Creative Live" (a brandnew mag) for 9.90. The only difference to Cinema 4D 6 XL is that the output resolution is restricted to 600x400 Pixel. Btw. : Creative Live has some nice tutorial videos on the DVD, i especially like the 'Maya for Broadcast' tutorial which shows how to create some cool motion graphics with Maya's PaintFX.

[Guest firemind]

http://www.jahshaka.com

 

Free video compositing/fx/editing program, runs under linux and windows and soon OSX. Looks a lot like combustion, they have some powerful partnerships (nvdia, HP, etc.)

[Guest firemind]

Free editing app, for the truly poor among you:

 

http://www.avid.com/freedv/

[Guest firemind]

A JPG2000 compressor and a faster PNG exporter for Photoshop. Both free and for Mac & PC.

 

http://www.fnordware.com

[Guest igorschmigor]

a free postscript type1 font-editor:

http://www.typeforum.de/modules.php?op=mod...article&sid=126

the page is german but you could translate it with babelfish.

They used to sell it, but their marketing was so bad that they gave up and now give it away free. I haven't tried it yet. I think it only works on Windows.

The direct link to the software is:

http://www.typeforum.de/modules.php?op=mod...eq=getit&lid=56

[Guest firemind]

Originally posted by Plimsoull:

 

Dope little tool that helps me out a ton:

http://www.heimlich.net/trackconvert/

[Guest parallax]

almost free: cinema 4D 6 CE. It comes as a free bonus to certain Magazines. In Germany these mags are "PC Go Grafik-Special" for 7.90 Euro, and "Creative Live" (a brandnew mag) for 9.90. The only difference to Cinema 4D 6 XL is that the output resolution is restricted to 600x400 Pixel. Btw. : Creative Live has some nice tutorial videos on the DVD, i especially like the 'Maya for Broadcast' tutorial which shows how to create some cool motion graphics with Maya's PaintFX.

 

 

You could divide your screen into quarters, and comp 4 sequences back into a full res image, bypassing the 600x400 restriction.

[Guest igorschmigor]

www.sodipodi.com

a new vector tool, still in development but already downloadable and free. It's supposed to be quite good.

[Guest firemind]

AE exchange:

 

http://www.aenhancers.com/

[Guest igorschmigor]

Free black and white toon shader stand-alone app:

http://inkulator.sourceforge.net/

 

Edited February 11, 2005 by igorschmigor

[Guest igorschmigor]

Free After Effects filter:

sinedots

 

get it at http://www.philipp-spoeth.de/

 

see it in action:

 

http://www.philipp-spoeth.de/AfterFx/Sined...ts/sinedots.mov

Edited February 11, 2005 by igorschmigor

[Guest firemind]

Originally posted by nitrofurano:

 

i normally use wxbasic and sdlbasic for visual stuff i normally get more comfortable drawing by code than drawing by editing - the results are mainly .ai sequences i so import from any animation editor should recognize it

 

wxbasic.sourceforge.net

sdlbasic.sourceforge.net

 

note: even as open-source, MacOsX versions are not existing yet, and for it i tried to notify Fink project and let to know all wiki-like pages i found

 

coding language interpreters may be useful for guys (like me, John Maeda, Zdenko from message.sk, and any other) likes more drawing by coding instead of mouse drawing or from scanned work

[Guest igorschmigor]

free plugin for Max: trail

Pavel Kuznecov New Render Effect -Trail

 

Working above stages of space battles, has collided necessity of construction of a plenty of traces of work of engines and plasma shots.

For the decision of these problems I have written the small process allowing easily and evidently to achieve necessary effect, not loading thus a stage additional geometry.

Edited February 11, 2005 by igorschmigor

[Guest isotropy]

Is there a link for that trail plugin?

[Guest Papri]

Is there a link for that trail plugin?

http://www.lastjedioutpost.webzone.ru/

 

... and follow the readable links.

[Guest invisibleelement]

A good FREE DVD program that allows you to grab footage from all your favorite DVD movies to use however you like.

 

http://dvdshrink.org/what.html

 

very easy to use

[Guest igorschmigor]

Is there a link for that trail plugin?

 

oops!

here it is: http://www.lastjedioutpost.webzone.ru/Plug.../Download.htm?8

[Guest dr.andy]

Freeware fractal flame editor for Windows

 

www.apophysis.org/

 

 

 

 

Infinite possibilites.

[Guest agenda]

Hey, igorschmigor.

I saw a filter from www.philipp-spoeth.de/AfterFx/Sinedots/sinedots.jpg as your post but seems like problemo with AE 6.5. Is it really working?

[Guest igorschmigor]

Hey, igorschmigor.

I saw a filter from www.philipp-spoeth.de/AfterFx/Sinedots/sinedots.jpg as your post but seems like problemo with AE 6.5. Is it really working?

19299[/snapback]

 

Oh, i didn't see this post. Sorry for answering so late. But really, i don't know. I don't have AE 6.5.

[Guest vuzz]

iShake or Shake mini, I found this on the prolost blog.

 

http://www.anioni.com/edo/index.html