FREE STUFF!!! * * * FREE STUFF!!! * * * FREE STUFF!!!

[MrMovie]

Are you like me, do you like FREE stuff (as in software)? I'll bet that over the years, you've found some cool programs and utilities that you use all the time. Why not share them with the rest of us?

Let's limit this thread to programs and utilities which are FREE (not shareware) and which have official websites to download from (not something your uncle's cousin gave you.) The program/utility doesn't have to be VFX related (although that would be especially cool.)

Please give the name of the program, what it does, and where we can find it. I'll start:

*******************************

Pop Peeper
----------
POP Peeper is an email notifier that runs in your Windows task bar and alerts you when you have new email on your POP3, IMAP (with IDLE support), Hotmail\MSN\LiveMail, Yahoo, GMail, Mail.com, MyWay, Excite, iWon, Lycos.com, RediffMail, Juno and NetZero accounts. You can have multiple email accounts, each with custom settings.

http://www.poppeeper.com/


RN_DPX
--------
RN_DPX is software to inspect Cineon/DPX files. It will load an entire sequence and you can step through them.

http://www.rendernan.com/


XnView
------
XnView is a free software to view, organise, convert graphics and photos files or
to create slide show, contact sheet, HTML pages. It will also view Cineon and DPX files.

http://www.xnview.com/


CamStudio
---------
CamStudio is able to record all screen and audio activity on your computer and create industry-standard AVI video files and using its built-in SWF Producer can turn those AVIs into lean, mean, bandwidth-friendly Streaming Flash videos (SWFs). It's great for making tutorials, and includes a codec with really clean compression and small size.

http://camstudio.org/


Photocopier
-----------
Got a scanner and a printer? Why not combine the two into a copier? You no longer need a real photo copier if you have Photocopier. This is how it goes: insert a document into your scanner, start Photocopier and press its Copy button. After a few moments your printer produces a copy of the document. That's it. No difficult settings to make, it's very user friendly.

http://www.nicocuppen.com/pit/editor...l.php?id=10103


Versaverter
-----------
Versaverter has rapidly gained popularity world-wide as one of the fastest and most complete conversion tools around. Convert almost any measure from one to another. Great for converting inches to millimeters, etc.

http://www.pawprint.net/vv/


Okay, now it's your turn. Share your favorite FREE program or utility.

[Dotcommer]

Nice.

One of my favorites: DJV

Like framecycler from Nuke, only better because its a stand alone program, can be taken and used anywhere, and allows for slamming gamma, color correction, caching to disk for smooth playback of hd frames, light weight, and works on just about any operating system.

[scrimski]

Video Lan Client
------
Open source cross plattform video player.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Audacity
----
freeware cross platform audio recorder and editor

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

[avillabon]

I have two that come to mind.

DropBox

you install it and "share a folder" within your computer, all files you put in there are automatically synced with a virtual folder online. That way you can share files with yourself or others very easily. For instance, i have it at the office and at home, when there is a file i need or want to take home or vice versa i just drop it in that folder and when i get home its already there. You can always access your files online as well.
If you do open an account be sure to include "avillabon" as the person who recommended it, that way i get more storage


Direct Folders

You will not regret installing this! Its kind of hard to explain but visit their site for more info. In a nutshell it is a shortcut to any directory on you computer, only three clicks away!

Alex

[Hugh]

I was so on the verge of deleting this thread, assuming it to be spam!

A good bunch of links there!

[Tharyan]

Blender
An amazing 3D creation suite! If you don't have the money or interest to invest in a commercial package, this is the one to get. It even has node-based compositing implemented! First impression may be a bit daunting, but once you get the hang of it it works faster than many other commercial counterparts.

Gimp
alternative to Photoshop. There's also GimpShop

MyPaint
alternative to Painter

Inkscape
alternative to Illustrator

OpenOffice
alternative to MS Office

Scribus
alternative to InDesign/QuarkXPress

ffmpeg
audio and video conversion tool. Note that you may need a GUI if you don't know the command line that well. Links are listed.

CinePaint
This one's actually used in the professional movie industry!

[avillabon]

I was so on the verge of deleting this thread, assuming it to be spam!

A good bunch of links there!

LOL yeah i thought so too but who doesnt like FREE STUFF right!? hahaha

Alex

[forkazoo]

Movie related, but not specifically visual effects related:
Celtx. http://www.celtx.com
Basically, screenwriting software with lots of bells and whistles for notes, preproduction planning, etc.

Not a specific program:
Subversion. subversion.tigris.org
Subversion thinks it's a programmer's tool, but it's more useful for general audiences than most people realise. It allows you to keep full revision history for every file stored in a repository. Files can be checked out on many different machines, and checked into the central repository when changes are made. For text files, you can easily view a diff between versions to see what changes have been made by various people and who did what. TortoiseSVN has Windows explorer integration, and KDE offers a similar integration. I've been meaning forever to do a Nuke python script for "save and commit new version to repository" for composites. If you interact with files, you should learn the basics of some sort of revision control system.

[jokerxel]

Does anybody know of a free video capture solution? Instead of relying on Premiere or Final Cut.

[MrMovie]

Here's another one...

Super Copyright
---------------

SUPER © Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer. A GUI to FFmpeg, MEncoder, MPlayer, x264, mppenc, ffmpeg2theora & the theora/vorbis RealProducer plugIn.

This program will translate to and from just about any video format. It's pretty clean (although, not particularly fast). It seems to handle files which choke other programs.

http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

[Starjsjswars]

Does anybody know of a free video capture solution? Instead of relying on Premiere or Final Cut.

check MrMovies link on "CamStudio"


Btw, nice guys, nice, if i get around to it i got a few

[andjar]

Does anybody know of a free video capture solution? Instead of relying on Premiere or Final Cut.

hdvsplit for hdv capturing
windv for dv capturing.

Does anybody know a free sound capturing solution that will help me grab the sound of the streamed videos from youtube?

[avillabon]

Does anybody know a free sound capturing solution that will help me grab the sound of the streamed videos from youtube?

I believe there is a free app called Freecorder to record streaming audio, google it, it might be what you are looking for.

Alex

[jokerxel]

hdvsplit for hdv capturing
windv for dv capturing.

Does anybody know a free sound capturing solution that will help me grab the sound of the streamed videos from youtube?

Thanks. I have a link for the sound off of Youtube. http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/
Lots of free youtube to mp3/iphone/downloader.

[MrMovie]

Here's another one... I've been using it for several years to easily track my time while working on a client's project. A built-in timer can be started and stopped as needed.

Timesheets Lite
---------------

Timesheets MTS Software is happy to make an older version of Timesheets Lite freely available to anyone who wants free timesheet software. While this version of the software is no longer being developed but can be used to easily track time in your business. You can install the free timesheet software on as many computers as you like, the only restriction on the timesheet software is that only one person can be connected to the timesheet database at a time. Our experience has shown that a company of 2-3 people can easily manage this restriction and thus have completely free timesheet software.

Timesheets Lite is written for companies that cost bill their time on either a project or client basis. This could includes accountancy firms, consultants, or contractors. Tracking time spent on clients or projects is as simple as creating projects for each client and users for each of your staff and then having them enter time into the simple timesheet interface. Timesheets Lite integrates with Microsoft Excel to produce useful timesheet reports for easy invoicing, project time tracking, and project management.

http://www.timesheetsmts.com/freesoftware.htm

The link to the free download is about half way down the page.