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Creative
Software Collection - Photo, Vector, Web Design, 3D, Video, Audio
Full Suite of Creative Programs - Save 1/3 on price.
Save money and buy all of these programs together. An economical
alternative to the other more expensive and popular CS software collection sold at hundreds of
pounds. Please see list and description of package below:
Photo Editing
One of the most powerful general-purpose image editors
around, the upgrades make the GNU Image Manipulation Program eminently
comparable to Photoshop. Older features include channels, layers and
masks, filters and effects, tabbed palettes, editable text tools,
perspective clone, improved printing, and color operations such as
levels. New improvements include GEGL integration for 32-bit color
support, dynamic brushes, and more options for the free select tool. It
even has regex-based pattern matching for power users.
Video
Editing
Making simple crop edits to videos of all formats shouldn't be
tricky business, Avidemux is a breath of fresh air. Cropping a video is
as simple as selecting the section you want to remove and then hitting
the Delete key. Re-encoding a video is equally painless: select the
output format from the drop-down list, save the file, and you're good
to go.
Vector
Graphics
Inkscape is a great vector graphics
editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw,
or Xara X using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file
format. Supported SVG features include shapes, paths, text, markers,
clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, patterns, and grouping.
Inkscape also supports Creative Commons meta-data, node editing,
layers, complex path operations, bitmap tracing, text-on-path, flowed
text, and direct XML editing. It imports formats such as JPEG, PNG,
TIFF, and others and exports PNG as well as multiple vector-based
formats. Inkscape's main goal is to create a powerful and convenient
drawing tool fully compliant with XML, SVG, and CSS standards.
Audio
Editing
With so many audio editors out there, finding the right tool
for the job can be tricky. The multiplatform, audio editor Audacity has
leaped to the top of our list with its clean interface, excellent
features, and support for 32-bit floating-point audio. Audacity
succeeds at being both feature-rich and flexible, while keeping the
toolbar and work space uncluttered. It does this by relegating most
functions--such as effects, edits, and project management--to handy
drop-down menus.
Audacity supports uncompressed audio standards such as WAV and
AIFF in addition to OGG and MP3 files. A full complement of basic
effects such as reverb, delay, and compression are included. Virtual
Studio Technology (VST), Linux Audio Developers Simple Plugin
Architecture (LAPSDA), and Nyquist plug-ins also are available if
you're looking to expand. Another eye-catching feature is the Beat
Analyzer, which helps you peg the beats per minute of a phrase.
The performance of most functions is quick--even CPU-hogging
tasks such as exporting to MP3 or adding complex effects.
3D
Modelling
If you've ever thought about making professional-quality
animations but decided not to because of the cost of the software, your
excuse just got up and walked out the door. Blender is a great 3D
rendering program that puts the power of the medium back into the hands
of the artist.
Blender features a laundry list of animation essentials that
can be broken down into categories: Interface, Modeling, Rigging,
Rendering, Animation, UV Unwrapping, Shading, Physics and Particles,
Imaging and Compositing, and Real Time 3D/Game Creation. The interface,
though loaded with complicated tools, is remarkable for neither
obscuring nor interfering with the image being worked on. A brief
sampling of tools and functions includes 3D paint for vertex weighing,
polygon meshes, 2D and 3D procedural brushes, edge rendering, textures,
collision simulation, and support for around two dozen 2D and 3D file
formats.
Web
Site Design
If you dislike that achy, bloated feeling that other HTML
editors can give your computer, KompoZer may be the cure you're looking
for. An fantastic Web development tool built on the NVU architecture,
KompoZer aims to improve upon the NVU's bugginess.
It does a fairly admirable job of that, while not being
bloatware. Major editing buttons live on the top three-tier toolbar,
including a one-click Publishing icon as well as one-clicks for Image
insertion and Table and Form creation. Font tweaks like Size and Style
live in toolbars just below that, making for easy HTML editing. A Site
Manager, including File tree, is anchored on the left, although it can
be collapsed, and the WYSIWYG standard means that KompoZer can compete
more than adequately with other, better-known editors.
Desk Top Publishing
Scribus offers up a desktop publisher that lacks the polish of
more popular, expensive programs. It has a full complement of useful
features that compare very favorably against more expensive
competition.
There wasn't much jazz to the interface, but all the major
beats were present: buttons were laid out logically and grouped
according to function, without any unusual placement.
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