13 January, 2009 - 17:17
A quick start guide to Free/Libre Software for Art and Creativity
I already lost track of the number of times a student, colleague or friend asked me something like "So, what is the Free Software alternative to XYZ?"
Because I try to keep an open and updated mind about Free Software, particularly Free Software for education and arts/creative tasks, I guess for some folks it's easier to ask me than spend some hours searching the web and trying new applications.
Anyway, this quick start guide was created as an answer to that frequently asked question. There are a lot more FLOSS projects out there and some are already very good or look very promising. This is just a quick list of some of the most important projects, it's only a starting point, a small map to help you explore the amazing world of Free Software ;)
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FLOSS |
Proprietary |
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Operating System |
GNU/Linux distro: Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, etc.
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Microsoft Windows XP Microsoft Windows Vista MacOS X |
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OS for artists |
64 Studio ArtistX Dyne:bolic JackLab Audio Distribution Musix Pure:dyne Ubuntu Studio |
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Image editing (raster) |
CinePaint GIMP Krita Paint.NET |
Adobe Photoshop ArtRage Corel Paint Shop Pro |
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Image editing (vector) |
Inkscape Skencil Karbon |
Adobe Illustrator CorelDRAW |
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Video editing (non-linear) |
Cinelerra LiVES Kdenlive Kino Open Movie Editor PiTiVi |
Adobe Premiere Pro Sony Vegas Avid Media Composer Apple Final Cut Express & Pro |
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Desktop publishing |
Scribus Passepartout |
Adobe Indesign Adobe Pagemaker MS Publisher QuarkXPress |
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Video effects |
Jahshaka |
Adobe AfterEffects Shake (Apple) Eyeon Fusion |
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Web design |
Amaya Kompozer Quanta Plus |
Adobe Dreamweaver MS Expression Web Web Studio |
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Dynamic Web development |
Aptana Studio Django Eclipse OpenLaszlo |
Adobe Flash Adobe AIR MS Silverlight |
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DVD authoring |
DeVeDe DVD Styler DVD Flick |
Sonic MyDVD Sony DVD Architect Ulead DVD MovieFactory |
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CD recording |
Brasero InfraRecorder |
Nero |
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Content Management Systems (CMS) |
Drupal Joomla ... |
Brunner CMS Community Server ... |
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Video players |
Kaffeine Miro Mplayer VLC |
Cyberlink Power DVD Media Center Quicktime WinDVD |
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Audio production |
Audacity Ardour Hydrogen Jokosher LMMS MusE Rosegarden Wired |
Adobe Audition Sony Sound Forge Sony ACID Steinberg Cubabase |
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Audio players |
Amarok Banshee VLC |
Media Jukebox Sonique Windows Media Player |
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3D modeling - animation |
Art of Illusion Wings 3D Blender Makehuman |
Autodesk 3D Studio Autodesk Maya XSI Softimage Poser |
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Animation (2D) |
Pencil Synfig Ktoon |
Toon Boom Studio Anime Studio Retas!Pro |
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Animation (Stopmotion) |
Anasazi Stop Motion Animator MUAN Stopmotion |
Stop Motion Pro AnimatorDV |
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(Real time) Video mix |
Gephex LiVES mute Onyx-VJ OpenTZT Veejay |
Arkaos Isadora Modul8 Motion Drive Resolume Visual Jockey |
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(Real time) Audio mix |
dj64 Mixxx xwax |
Ableton Live MixVibes TRAKTOR DJ Studio Virtual DJ |
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Writing |
Celtx OpenOffice Writer |
MS Word |
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Project (multimedia) management |
Celtx OpenProj GanttProject |
MS Project |
If you're interested in fractal and generative art, take a look at Evolvotron, Apophysis and GNU Xaos
If you're interested in installations and interactive art, creative coding, you really should look at Arduino, OpenFrameworks, Processing and Pure Data.
For more software and suggestions, check the "Software" section in our links page.
