Dwarfed Films NEW ESSENTIAL FREE SOFTWARE LIST

A few years ago I compiled what I believe were the best free software tools for movie-making in list formate (DWARFED FILMS ESSENTIAL FREEWARE 2007).

Well I think it's about time I updated the list for 2011, taking into account any newer programs that have popped up during this time and removing programs taht are obsolete or which I personally are old hat.

So here goes:

DWARFED FILMS NEW ESSENTIAL FREEWARE LIST 2011

Essential Freeware or Open Source Software:
Note: items frequently used by Dwarfed Films.

Animation/Modelling Tools

(Alternatives to Maya/XSI/Lightwave 3D/Cinema 4D/3DS Max/Poser)

Blender 3D: Open source (freeware) 3D modelling, animation, sequencer for windows/mac/linux/etc
Still, in my humble opinion, one of the best graphical software programs out there. There has been a massive redesign of the user interface with versions 2.5+.

The only issue I have with the new versions is the problems it has displaying images in the sequencer; to make your images display in the display window while editing you need to set the output formate to 512X512 pixels (also works 1024X1024, etc). Maybe this has been corrected in the updates but I haven't checked.
Anyway, you can always use an earlier version (Blender 2.49 for instance) for sequence editing.
Visit www.BLENDER.org to download Blender (you can visit the archives and get earlier versions also)

Makehuman: Open source software for creation of hyper-realistic human characters with no need for any modelling experience - just toggle some parameters and you can tweak every anatomical part of the base character to create any male/female character of your choice. Exports to OBJ format.
www.makehuman.org/

Image Editor Tools
(Alternative's to Photoshop/Painter/MS Paint)

The Gimp: Open Source image editor that is just like photoshop www.gimp.org.
I've used The Gimp for years and prefer it to Photoshop and Painter. Some people find it fiddly, but I love it and think it is reliable and allows me to do whatever I need to get done.
The very best graphical software program - and its free.

Irfan View: Freeware image viewer supporting practically every format from .png to .mov.
Mainly use it for converting images to different formates and viewing stuff. Fast, reliable.
Find it at www.irfanview.com/

Paint.Net: Similar to The Gimp but easier interface and it also loads much quicker. Supports layers and a whole range of effects.
Haven't used in a long time, but if you like nice interfaces and want something like Painter - but Free! -then this is for you.
www.getpaint.net/index2.html

Visual FX Tools
(Alternative's to Adobe After Effects/Nuke/Mocha)

Terregen: Freeware landscape creator for making stunningly realistic landscapes.
Haven;t used in a while but this program can really give you options if you really need a cool helicopter-flying-over-mountains type sequence.
Terragen 2 was released which offers import of 3D objects and creation of fully 3-dimensional worlds.
www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/

Terranim: Freeware plugin for terregen that makes animations of created landscapes.
Without this you only get static images from Terragen. With it you get unlimited camera moves and image morphing (to simulate a flat plan 'growing' into a mountain, for example).
Do a Google search to find "Terranim plugin for Terragen".

Landformer: Freeware landscape map generator for use in Terregen.
Do a Google search for "Landformer for Terragen".

Voodoo Camera Tracker: Freeware camera tracking software.
Raely use as I have After Effects and don't really ever need 3D motion tracking, but this could od the trick for you. And its free. Downsides are the import formates accepted: TGA.
www.digilab.uni-hannover.de/download.html

Apophysis: Fractal-based image creation. This can produce incredible imagery (see our short film "BIRTH" for Apophysis designed animation).
Not sure if the basic download package includes an animation output, so do a search for "apophysis animation plug-in" on Google if it doesn't.
www.apophysis.org

Video Editors
(Alternative's to Sony Vegas Pro/Adobe Premiere Pro/Avid/Final Cut Pro)

Lightworks Beta: the legendary Lightworks video editor is now available for free!
Enjoy the weird editing process and famous Shark delete button in the safety of your own home!
I remember learning to edit using this thing when I was in college. It was very intuitive once you got the hang of it (is that an oxymoron?). It has auto save...which is handy becasue the program has an annoying habit of randomly crashing. I find it a bit finicky nowadays when compared to other video editors such as Sony Vegas and others. But it's a small download (approx 40MB) and it can't hurt to try it.
http://www.lightworksbeta.com/

Blender: Didn't I already mention this? Who cares! Not only is it a great animation/modelling program, but the Blender sequencer is one of the best video editing applications you will find: fast and free.
www.blender.org

Image Players/Editors
(Alternative's to Windows Media Player)

Handbrake: Open Source media converter. Highly regarded.
http://handbrake.fr/

Super: Freeware video converter for conversion to avi/mpeg/wav/mp3/swf/ogg/mobile phone/etc and vice versa.
www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

VLC Media Player: Multi formate media player.
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

MPEG Steamclip: Plays and converts multiple file formats.
http://www.squared5.com/

VirtuaDub: Still good after all these years. Great for quickly converting video footage to image sequences (although I personally use Blnder to do this as I find it faster). http://www.virtualdub.org/

Audio Editor/Sequencer Tools
(Alternative's to Pro Tools/Adobe Audition/Sound Forge)

Audacity: Open Source audio editor and recording audacity.sourceforge.net/

Reaper: The best audio composer/editor. It's not free technically, but you can download it and use the full version indefinitely if you don't use it for 'commercial purposes'.
Excellent program.
www.reaper.fm/

Acid Xpress: It's free and it's Sony. Sony make good products generally, so put two and two together and see what you come up with.
www.acidplanet.com/downloads/

Shittalker: Basic text to speech program. Not sure how much use you would get out of this but it will make you laugh, and that's gotta be a good thing. www.unaesthetic.net

DVD Tools

EXPRESS BURN: Excellent, Freeware DVD/CD/BlueRay/HD DVD burn sotware that is 100% compatible with Windows Vista. Nice clean design and the best DVD burning program we've yet seen. Choose this instead of Final Burner! Download it here http://www.nch.com.au/burn

DVD Shrink:Excellent and versatile Freeware tool for copying DVD's and compressing them so that they can fit on a standard DVD-/+ disc. (NOTE: Copying a commercial copyright-protected DVD may be done for personal use only). www.dvdshrink.org/

Final Burner: A great Freeware CD/DVD burning program like Nero (the program - not the Roman emperor). Small download size (about 2mb) and with a user friendly interface. Recommended (Note for personal use only). http://www.protectedsoft.com/

Presentation Tools
(Alternative's to Microsoft Word/Excel)

*Open Office: Open Source equivalent to MS Office, but far superior. Can write direct to .pdf format. www.openoffice.org

*Wink: Freeware tool to create presentations in .swf (shockwave flash) or .exe (executable file) format. Records mouse movements and allows you to edit this into a tutorial demo. www.debugmode.com/wink/

*Cam Studio: Open Source screen-grab utility that records video/audio to .avi or.swf format. Pretty much similar to Wink except for the .avi capabilities. Very useful.
www.camstudio.org/

*Foxit PDF Reader: Freeware PDF reader and editor. Better that Adobe Reader. www.foxitsoftware.com

*PDF Xchange Viewer: Freeware PDF reader and editor. Again better than Adobe Reader. www.docu-track.com

Compression Tools
(Alternative's to WinZip/WinRar)

*7Zip: Open source compression software. Much better compression than winzip/win rar etc. Supports all compression formats. www.7-zip.org/

Web Browser Tools
(Alternative's to Internet Explorer)

*Mozilla Firefox: Open Source web browser. Far more secure and user friendly than Internet Explorer. www.mozilla.com/

Operating Systems
(Alternative's to Windows/Mac)

Linux Ubuntu: Open Source (ie: FREE) operating system that is updated every 6 months. Has received a lot of very good feedback and reviews and is considered to be more secure that Windows. Comes with software such as Open Office, etc. Can be downloaded from the site or you can apply to receive a copy by post for free! www.ubuntu.com/

Freeware Websites

Major Geeks: Safe and secure freeware software arranged into various categories. Click here to visit site

Sourceforge: Directory of open Source projects with downloads. Not the best laid out site in the world but you can find programs of all types for all formats. Click here to visit the site

VST4FREE: Site offering free VST plugins for creating and editing music. Use the plugins alongside other free audio creation software such as Psycle or Reaper. Click here to visit the site

PC-Utilities: Website of the PC-Utilities magazine. You can directly download software in various categories. Click here to visit the site

Wikipedia: The Wiki list of Free/Open Source software. Click here to vist the site

FSF/UNESCO Free List: A list of freeware compiled by the UN. Click here to visit the site

Light Links: This is a bit strange but it's religious site offering freeware! You can ignore the christian preachy stuff and check out the free software links on the left hand side of the main page. Click here to visit the site



As always you can contact us here
Or you can leave a comment or any other links to free software that you think others might find useful.

Express Burn: free DVD burner that works under Vista

Yesterday I was trying to back up some Office Hours files to a disc, but I ran into a few difficulties. I was using Windows Vista and was attempting to burn a DVD using freeware program Final Burner. Final burner is usually so reliable - well it is under Windows 2000/XP - but with Vista it just kept failing to write. Annoying.

Anyway's, I went looking on the internet for a Vista Compatible alternative and came upon Express Burn.

It has a nice simple interface, can burn Audio CD's, Data DVD's, Video, and even BLue Ray and HD DVD discs. And it's free! Most importantly it burned those important Office Hours files for me and I intend to keep using it. Maybe you should give it a try too.

You can download it here : EXPRESS BURN http://www.nch.com.au/burn

The people who make this software also do Wave Editor (the free audio editing program), so you can check that out too while you're on their site. Express Burn is not shareware, contains no time-linits or any crap like that, and it's adware free.

Remember to check out the Dwarfed Films Essential Freeware List for other top quality free software recommended by us.

NOTE: I just noticed today (Dec/10/2007) that my copy of Express Burn no longer burns to DVD/Blu Ray/HD DVD. As far as I knew, Express burn was "freeware" - with no restrictions or expiry limits. Well, guess what? It does expire after 14 days. This is pretty crappy, In my opinion. You can stil burn CD's but not DVD's. Just wanted to let you know - Shane

Dwarfed Films blog is B.B.D featured feed

Our site is the featured feed on the Big Blog Directory (B.B.D) for this week.
So if anyone who is reading this linked to us from B.B.D we'd encourage you to check out the Dwarfed Films site history of postings.
You are sure to find something interesting to read or view!
Oh, and don't forget the updated Dwarfed Films Essential Freeware List or the To Shoot A Rurf blog either.
Check the links section on this site to navigate to more Dwarfed Films related sites.

As usual you can email Dwarfed Films or simply leave a comment on the site

Essential Free Software List has been updated

The Dwarfed Films Essential Freeware List has been updated with some new programs and direct links to download sites.
Some websites that advertise freeware are fake and contain malware/spyware. The sites we've included are ones we've used ourselves.
We hope you find some useful programs and realise that just because something is free doesn't mean it's crap! The particular programs we've featured are the equal or better than their commercial rivals. Programs marked with "*" are ones we regularly use.

Click to go to Dwarfed Films Essential Freeware List

Email Dwarfed Films or leave a comment below

SHIT TALKER

No, I'm not talking about myself! I'm instead talking about the voice synthesis software program Shit Talker. It basically speaks aloud whatever you type into it in a variety of voices. Ok, some of them sound "speak and spell" style robotic but some, like old woman, nerd and choir boy, are pretty good especially with a little bit of tweaking.
Shit Talker is aimed at making prank calls but if you get a little creative you can find lots of uses for it in music and filmmaking. If you want to record what is being said in Shit Talker you will need to record from your soundcard using something like Audacity (don't worry it's freeware too, and very good). And Shit Talker is free! Check out it's website and listen to some of the funny recordings done with Shit Talker.
Shit Talker: It does exactly what it says in it's title!

NB: Shit Talker (what a great name!) does not work well with Windows Vista. Also it sometimes will not speak after you have used another audio source (such as Audacity) to record from or after you have played a Wave/Mp3/Ogg format file on your computer. To get Shit Talker to speak again you must re-boot your computer. This is the crap side of the program.

Don't forget to check the Dwarfed Films essential freeware list

As usual leave a comment or email Dwarfed Films

Great Freeware website

I came across a really well laid and informative website.

It's called LIGHTLINKS and features literally hundreds of freeware utilities for music creation, animation, graphics applications, spyware removal and much more. Ignore the religious stuff on the page and focus your attention on the left hand side of the page where it says "3 angels Freeware" (don't ask...).Click on the categories to get taken to the relevent freeware goodies. There are lots of excellent ones to be found.

It seems to be run by some christian religious group but don't let that put you off as they don't appear to be forcing any opinions on web visitors - instead they bizarrely just seem to be promoting free stuff. Very strange!

DVD/CD burning software

What is it with burning software? I don't know how many times a DVD burn has failed or been unable to "write short lead out". It is so annoying!
I used to burn DVD video files with Magix. Trouble was it kept failing even when the program was reinstalled a few times.
Then I started to use Cyberlink DVD which worked alright for a bit (even though the DVD designs layouts were basic) until it too started acting up.
Well now I only use Ulead DVD Workshop for burning video DVD's and (so far) it hasn't let me down yet. And it's fast!
Now, burning a data CD/DVD used never be an issue. I was using Nero for that and it was pretty reliable. I'd put the occasional bad burn down to a faulty disk. But again recently Nero has been causing problems - bad file writes and sometimes even causing the computer to crash.
So the solution: a freeware program called Final Burner. It is only about 2mb in size, has a funtional layout and most importantly is very reliable. Here is the what the makers say

FinalBurner is a freeware alternative to expensive CD and DVD burners.
Its users will benefit from the opportunity to create data, audio,
and video disks and burn them onto any type of media, such as CD R/RW,
DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD DL. No tedious or confusing configuration needed.
You just select a few main settings and start burning. FinalBurner's
artificial intelligence will find the perfect recording balance.

Final Burner can rip from CD's, burn DVD video and data CD/DVD just like it's expensive commercial rivals. The protected soft website offer other programs and some of them are commercial or "pro" editions with extra features but do yourself a favour and just go for the freeware versions. (Note: Final Burner Free is for personnal use only).

Download Final Burner here.

Essential Free Software: has been updated

The heading says it all. The Essential Free Software list (posted a few days ago on the site) has been updated with direct web links to make it even easier for you to get your hands on some of the best filmmaking software out there!

Here are some useful sites to find free software:
www.sourceforge.net

www.majorgeeks.com

Each lists an extensive range of products. Source Forge has lots, but the site isn't the easiest to navigate as it has so may programs in development as well as completed.
Major Geeks is best place to start for beginners and those in a rush! Its listing is pretty much clean of spyware/adware compared to some other sites.

Contact DWARFED FILMS here

Essential Free Software

NOTICE: Click here for the Updated 2011 List of Dwarfed Films' Essential Free Software.

There are some incredible programs out there for creating/editing/viewing/manipulation of images and audio. Even better is the fact that a lot of these programs are freeware or open source. At Dwarfed Films we use certain open source products like Blender 3d and The Gimp every day so we've decided to include a list of software that other filmmakers might find useful.
The following programs are the equivalent (and in some cases superior) to many commercial products so don't let the "freeware" tag scare you off!
Some of these programs are a lot less cumbersome and processor intensive than their commercial rivals and are suited to specific tasks. Many of them have very small file sizes because they don't come bundled with tonnes of tutorials and manuals.
Also this is a rough list and certain products may have been forgotten or excluded for other reasons and website names may be incorrect or have changed too.

Look up these programmes on www.google.com

List compiled by Shane Sheils and Paula Sheils of Dwarfed Films.
www.dwarfedfilms.blogspot.com/
Contact us

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Essential Freeware or Open Source Software:
Note: items marked “*” are frequently used by Dwarfed Films.

Animation/Modelling Tools

*Blender 3D: Open source (freeware) 3D modelling, animation, sequencer for windows/mac/linux/etc www.blender3d.org

UV Mapper: Freeware UV texture unwrapper for 3D models.

Plant Studio: Freeware creator plants and leaves. Expots to .OBJ format.

Image Editor Tools

*The Gimp: Open Source image editor that is just like photoshop www.gimp.org.

*Irfan View: Freeware image viewer supporting practically every format from .png to .mov. Find it at www.irfanview.com/

*Paint.Net: Similar to The Gimp but easier interface and it also loads much quicker. Supports layers and a whole range of effects. www.getpaint.net/index2.html

Visual FX Tools

*Voodoo Camera Tracker: Freeware camera tracking software. www.digilab.uni-hannover.de/download.html

*Terregen: Freeware landscape creator for making stunningly realistic landscapes. www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/

*Terranim: Freeware plugin for terregen that makes animations of created landscapes.

*Landformer: Freeware landscape map generator for use in Terregen

Win DV: Freeware tool for importing/exporting footage from DV camera to computer. windv.mourek.cz/

Super: Freeware video converter for conversion to avi/mpeg/wav/mp3/swf/ogg/mobile phone/etc and vice versa. www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

Audio Editor/Sequencer Tools

*Audacity: Open Source audio editor and recording audacity.sourceforge.net/

*Quartz Audio Master Freeware: Free version of audio/midi editor www.digitalsoundplanet.com/SoftwareHouse/Products/Audio_Master/Freeware/freeware.phtml

*VM midi keyboard: Freeware virtual desktop midi keyboard www.granucon.com/vmk.html

*Psychle: Freeware audio sampler/sequencer psycle.pastnotecut.org/download/files/docs/psyclemidi.html

*Audio Grabber: Freeware audio recorder/convertor/ripper. www.audiograbber.com-us.net/

Hammer Head Rhythm Studio: Freeware drum sequencer. Download available from DOWNLOAD.COM

Groove Drum Station DT-010: Freeware drum sequencer. www.d-lusion.com

Shittalker: Basic text to speech program. A bit dated now but still funny. www.unaesthetic.net

DVD Tools

EXPRESS BURN: Excellent, Freeware DVD/CD/BlueRay/HD DVD burn sotware that is 100% compatible with Windows Vista. Nice clean design and the best DVD burning program we've yet seen. Choose this instead of Final Burner! Download it here http://www.nch.com.au/burn

DVD Shrink:Excellent and versatile Freeware tool for copying DVD's and compressing them so that they can fit on a standard DVD-/+ disc. (NOTE: Copying a commercial copyright-protected DVD may be done for personal use only). www.dvdshrink.org/

Final Burner: A great Freeware CD/DVD burning program like Nero (the program - not the Roman emperor). Small download size (about 2mb) and with a user friendly interface. Recommended (Note for personal use only). http://www.protectedsoft.com/

Presentation Tools

*Open Office: Open Source equivalent to MS Office, but far superior. Can write direct to .pdf format. www.openoffice.org

*Wink: Freeware tool to create presentations in .swf (shockwave flash) or .exe (executable file) format. Records mouse movements and allows you to edit this into a tutorial demo. www.debugmode.com/wink/

*Cam Studio: Open Source screen-grab utility that records video/audio to .avi or.swf format. Pretty much similar to Wink except for the .avi capabilities. Very useful.
www.camstudio.org/

*Foxit PDF Reader: Freeware PDF reader and editor. Better that Adobe Reader. www.foxitsoftware.com

*PDF Xchange Viewer: Freeware PDF reader and editor. Again better than Adobe Reader. www.docu-track.com

Compression Tools

*7Zip: Open source compression software. Much better compression than winzip/win rar etc. Supports all compression formats. www.7-zip.org/

Web Browser Tools

*Mozilla Firefox: Open Source web browser. Far more secure and user friendly than Internet Explorer. www.mozilla.com/

Operating Systems

Linux Ubuntu: Open Source (ie: FREE) operating system that is updated every 6 months. Has received a lot of very good feedback and reviews and is considered to be more secure that Windows. Comes with software such as Open Office, etc. Can be downloaded from the site or you can apply to receive a copy by post for free! www.ubuntu.com/

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Good Commercial Software Products:

At Dwarfed Films we don't just use freeware. The following are some of the best commercial products out there. You might wonder why we haven't included Final Cut pro, Adobe After Effects, Avid or indeed the free learing edition Avid Free DV? Well the reason is that these programs get the job done without too much fuss and without wasting too much processing time and they are very stable (crashes are generally rare).

*Magix Movie Edit Pro: Video editor. Renders on the fly so gives fast playback when editing which is very important! Newer versions handle .png / .tga formats which is suitable for compositing. Trial Versions available but you would need broadband connection. www.magix.com

*Sony Vegas: Video editor. Fast, lots of FX and extras. Supports .png / .tga formats. Trial Versions available but you will need broadband connection to download.

*Deep Exploration : The best 3D model viewer. Made by Right Hemisphere. Also renders and exports to variety of formats. Very useful to find stuff on your hard drive when in a rush. Trial Versions available. File size approx 15mb. www.righthemisphere.com

Reaper: Audio editor (also includes video playback) with layout that would be familiar to users of Sony Vegas. Trial Versions available. File size approx 8mb

Freeware Websites

Major Geeks: Safe and secure freeware software arranged into various categories. Click here to visit site

Sourceforge: Directory of open Source projects with downloads. Not the best laid out site in the world but you can find programs of all types for all formats. Click here to visit the site

VST4FREE: Site offering free VST plugins for creating and editing music. Use the plugins alongside other free audio creation software such as Psycle or Reaper. Click here to visit the site

PC-Utilities: Website of the PC-Utilities magazine. You can directly download software in various categories. Click here to visit the site

Wikipedia: The Wiki list of Free/Open Source software. Click here to vist the site

FSF/UNESCO Free List: A list of freeware compiled by the UN. Click here to visit the site

Light Links: This is a bit strange but it's religious site offering freeware! You can ignore the christian preachy stuff and check out the free software links on the left hand side of the main page. Click here to visit the site



As always you can contact us here
Or you can leave a comment or any other links to free software that you think others might find useful.

NOTICE: Click here for the Updated 2011 List of Dwarfed Films' Essential Free Software.