Creating artwork and printed material on a budget.
If you are on this website, you know what Blender is: a completely free, open-source 3D platform.
Which means you can successfully model, texture, rig, animate, track, match, blend, edit, and export whatever you heart so desires. I'm just going to take a pause and drink some coffee and think about how awesome blender is.....
Yep. So awesome! If you don't have Blender installed, then go download it before you finish reading this.
Sometimes, however, you need different software for other creative needs you might have. That is why I compiled a "Top 5" list of free, open-source softwares.
#5 Open Office
Anytime I need to write a word document or just jot down some notes on the computer, Open Office gets the job done. It is a great free program with regular updates, and if you are used to working with Microsoft Word or Apple's Pages, this is an extremely helpful free replacement.
#4 Inkscape
Creating scalable vector graphic images, or SVGs, is an extremely important task to be able to accomplish with any line of design work. Inkscape still has plenty of bugs and a very long way to go before it matches up with industry leader, Adobe Illustrator, but I am repeatedly impressed with the potential of this free alternative.
#3 Lightworks
Video editing is a very tough subject for me because I began my creative design career editing video. It was one of the first skills I learned, and I began at the age of 10 using Final Cut Pro 3. I have gone through the updates and still to this day prefer to work with Final Cut Pro for all my editing needs.
With that being said, there are plenty of other great video editing softwares that are free and professional, and, yes, Blender is one of them! If, however, you are looking for a dedicated video editor that is at professional level, check out Lightworks. Great interface and plenty of bells and whistles to keep any editor happy.
#2 Gimp
Gimp is a program that has made leaps and bounds in the past couple years of development. I firmly believe that with any photo editing or image manipulation software, Photoshop will always remain the industry standard, but If you are looking for a great free replacement Gimp is the way to go.
