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Become more efficient: Free or nearly free app's & websites to help us do our jobs...

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polycounter lvl 19
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adam polycounter lvl 19
Hey hey,

So I thought it would be fun to start a thread and list software you guys use that's free, or fairly cheap (<$100 please), that makes you more efficient when pushing polys or pixels.

Some guidelines...

  1. Mention why its useful
  2. Mention if its free or what its cost is (over $100 applications need-not-be-posted)
  3. Link to its website
I'll start..

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SlickRun LINK
I use this software multiple times a day. Sorry, I use a portion of this software, called "Jot", several times a day.

SlickRun itself is an application that is always open which you type the name of the software in to you wish to run (Re: type "phot" and photoshop will open). I don't use this portion of its software, though.

I use "Jot". Jot is a note taking application within SlickRun. It's basically a super quick way to make notes without the hassle of saving & opening random notepad files or however you make take notes. You simply hit a key (in my case, Windows-J) and the QuickJot window pops up. You make your notes, and hit the key again to make it disappear. It'll be saved there until you delete it.

I use it whenever I need to copy down RGB values, shader parameters, XYZ coordinates, etc.
DropBox LINK
You've likely heard me talk about it more than once on these forums but I really do live by, or is it work by?, this piece of software. It allows me to easily transfer files between home & work. So if I want to bring my work home with me, or vice-versa, I simply save my work to a predetermined folder on my local drive and it sync's it between all my connected computers. It also has revision control.

It's currently in Beta, which is free, so you can sign up on the link I posted and use it freely now, or pay when it comes out of beta.

I posted a lot about it here, which you should read :)
CGTextures.com LINK
I'm certain most environment artists have used this website at some point in their career, but just in case here it is. In my opinion, its the best resource for high-res photographs of a wide range of material types and objects (Better than Mayang & Merlin if you ask me). I use this website almost exclusively.

It's insanely accessible, easy to use, and the search function rocks.

I recommend you rock an account on that site so you can break away from the measily $15mb/day limit for non-account useage. If you supply it with some pictures you'll even land yourself a free acount with an increased daily bandwidth limit.

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