Become more efficient: Free or nearly free app's & websites to help us do our jobs...
polycounter lvl 20
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...
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SlickRun LINK
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...
- Mention why its useful
- Mention if its free or what its cost is (over $100 applications need-not-be-posted)
- Link to its website
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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
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.
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
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
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.
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.
Replies
Space age normal maps from the future. $100 for personal licenses.
FileBox Extender LINK
Nice little app to tweak a few basic windows ui things, very usefull.
Xnormal LINK
Xnormal, bitches. Use it, its fucking free and awesome.
allsnap - makes regular windows snap and align like PS.. works with max windows as well. - LINK
Useful for those times that CGTextures.com doesn't have what you're looking for.
COLOURLovers: http://www.colourlovers.com/
Great place to find a good palette.
Color Schemer: http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html
Another good place to throw some color ideas around.
I think area did something like this recently, but I still use this one exclusively.
Someone recommended this over in technical forums and it can basically be used as a free version of Polycruncher. I.e. generate lowpoly models from hipoly ones. It probably has a lot of other functions I don't know about.
A free image viewer program. Cycle through directories of images with spacebar/backspace. Opens nearly anything and it's nicely lightweight. I use it all the time to crop bits of screengrabs to save out. Image browser and batch converter are useful, too.
UltraMon: www.ultramon.com
$40. Extends the taskbar across multiple monitors, adds buttons at the top of windows so you can shunt windows from one monitor to the other or span them. Also handles wallpapers for dual monitors.
TextureDesk: www.spectralogue.com/texturedesk
Free 3D tiling texture viewer. Does exactly what it says on the tin. Pretty handy. The parent website has a half-decent free texture resource, too.
True Launch Bar: www.truelaunchbar.com
$19. It's a replacement for your quicklaunch bar that's customiseable, with submenus and tons of little options. There's a whole host of useless options like weather reports, but the core menu stuff and a few other bits and pieces is nifty. Saves quicklaunch taking up half your taskbar.
Awesome small windows app that allows you to quickly travel between your folders and 'favorite' them for quick access, amongst other stuff. helped me out a bunch.
http://www.crimsoneditor.com/
My replacement for Notepad when I need to edit script files. I use it mainly for it's tabs, "find in files" search, and because unlike Notepad it shows line numbers.
CKRename
Edit, link was no longer working. Google name for download.
Rename lots of files at once.
XNView
http://www.xnview.com/
I use Irfanview as my image browser, but this has some cool features Irfanview lacks. For instance, it can take animation frames and compile them in order on a single sprite sheet.
http://launchy.net/
alt-space and type. win.
Roadkill UV Tool:
http://www.pullin-shapes.co.uk/page8.htm
uv stuff pelt map style in seconds, reliable and handy
I use Trillian for my chatting needs while I work. I generally don't chat much while I work, but when I do, trillian has features that make it really easy and simple. You can connect to AIM, ICQ, MSN, IRC, and Yahoo (no Gchat though, the only downside). It doesn't use many resources, and the interface is very minimalistic (after a couple preference tweaks). You can shunt chat windows around and dock them into different group windows, easily copy and paste info, transfer files, and generally keep your chatting as unobtrusive and simple as possible, so you don't have to stop what you're doing just to send someone hello.jpg. You can also download skins for it that customize the interface and make it even simpler. (other features I find really useful: flexible timestamp options, global messenger settings, chat logging, spam bot filtering)
Also, can I get a sticky on this thread? what what
OpenOffice: Open Source Office Software: Opens MSOFFICE files
yeah I'm going to second pidgin as well, granted I haven't used trillian in quite a while, I still prefer Pidgin, very minimalistic and connects to everything.
http://www.acmebrick.com/md/index.htm
Great little program for laying down a base image of bricks and then building up your texture from there after in PS. Possible to set amount of rows of bricks, change mortar colour and brick style.
Some great little apps here people, cheers.
http://www.blacksunsoftware.com/xfonter.html
it's now impossible for me to search for the right font in anything else
oh and Photomatix : http://www.hdrsoft.com/
which is ace, but not a work thing
http://www.miranda-im.org
Portable enough to not require installation, so you could IM whoever from a usb stick with this very lightweight (it works nice on 486) program.
Synergy
http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/
Great for using your second computer with, turns it into a desktop which you can move your mosue and keyboard over onto and back
BlenAw forget it you know what it is.
yes i've tried, but i'm not going to try too hard - i've got one, and it's ace
http://majorgeeks.com/Ghost-It_d1128.html
Lets you make a window stay in front of all others, make it invisible, and make it unselectable. Very handy if you are using ref for something but don't have a second screen available or want to make your programs window smaller.
I use this to extract color schemes from concept art to share with the team as Photoshop swatches. Also loads up nice images from Flickr, which usually do well as inspiration.
Photoshop Freebies LINK
I get my custom texturing brushes here when I can't be arsed to make my own.
TopStyle Lite 3 LINK
Nice tool for mocking up CSS style sheets. With tags classified into standards and browsers, and has a realtime preview window. You need this if you are working on your portfolio site.
Meebo LINK
Multi IM protocols in a straightforward web-based interface. Chat windows and IM list can be broken out into their own windows. Great if you haven't got admin rights on your work computer, or just don't want to install chat software. Its missing IRC though.
I can only second things that are already in this thread, sadly. Filebox extender, irfanview/xnview, pidgin, err... I'm forgetting so many things. Cgtextures and imageafter....
Xnormal, ofcourse! Launchy, too.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/powertoys/Xppowertoys.mspx
Some semi-usefull other tidbits in there that I never tried
I saw realVNC mentioned in here a few times to use. Please be very careful using this application and serving your desktop out to the net. RealVNC is a fantastic application and I use it to get back to my desktops at work a lot. However, sharing it over some sort of unsecure connection (SSH, VPN...something) is not the best idea. If you are going to use it, either set up a VPN connection with OpenVPN Link: http://openvpn.net/
OR
Create an SSH tunnel from one machine to another. http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/21/how-to-ssh-tunnels-for-secure-network-access/
Mind you, this is only if you plan on sharing across the internet. If you are doing this on a LAN with no access to the net or behind a firewall of some sort, you should be OK.
While I am posting... let's add some Mac apps as well.
Adium: LINK: http://www.adiumx.com/ A fantastic free multi-protocol instant messenger client.
Quicksilver: LINK(s): http://blacktree.com/?quicksilver http://docs.blacktree.com/quicksilver/what_is_quicksilver
Growl: LINK(s): http://growl.info/ http://growl.info/about.php
I'm sure I will come up with more later.
Solution: http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/
(@Danr) AMP Font viewer: imo, better than your app. It's super clean and can be customized extensively.
TGA Thumbnails in windows explorer
WhyReboot: a nice program that lets you know what changes will occur upon a reboot. most times a reboot is not needed even though a program says you need to reboot after installing an item. Not really applicable to poly pushing, but just a general useful tool to have around.
Thumbplug TGA - View TGA and TIF files as thumbnails instead of scratching your head trying to remember the name - free! link
7zip - Opens more than Winrar but less overheads - free! link
Steinberg Wavelab Lite - Some nice filters for sound effect production - free! link
Xilsoft Audio Converter - Converts all audio formats from one type to another £13.03GBP + P&P link
Edit - shotgun : I missed that you beat me to it, still maybe it's worth mentioning twice?
It's replaced notepad for me in just about any text-editing tasks. Has a handy context-menu addition to open any file with it, too.
Also use many apps already mentioned. Launchy, Directfolders, 7Zip, Pigdin, Thumbplug, Ghostit, Ultramon, Openoffice...
A few more, for the PC.
Pearl Crescent Page Saver(Firefox extension)
http://pearlcrescent.com/products/pagesaver/
Lets you save screenshots of web pages as PNG in one click.
PicLens(Firefox extension)
http://www.cooliris.com/
Already quite famous ... but now compatible with a second monitor, and doe not exit anymore when the focus is somewhere else. Meaning one can now paint with in PS with PicLens still open.
Post-it Notes
http://www.3m.com/us/office/postit/digital/digital_notes.html
The original!
Colored icons
I use diy icons and folder icons to easily differentiate my stuff. Simple and easy!
Alt+Printscreen
Captures only the active window.
vTools for Photoshop
http://home.insightbb.com/~jamestaylor/
I use it only for the QuickSaveTga scripts.
Paint Tool SAI 50$
http://www.systemax.jp/en/sai/
Yum
ArtRage 25$
http://www.ambientdesign.com/
Yum with oils
EasyPHP
http://www.easyphp.org/index.php
Install all the programs needed to run a local PHP+MySQL server on a local computer. I use it to test my website before going online.
Araneae
http://www.ornj.net/araneae/
Simple text editor, web oriented
PSPad
http://www.pspad.com/
Simple text editor, code oriented
Ergotron swivel arm 160$, yeah I know.
http://www.ergotron.com/Products/DeskMounts/tabid/71/ctl/Product/mid/396/PRDID/11/language/en-US/default.aspx
Frees up desk space and makes heavy screens manageable (Cintiq)
Skip the Facebook Drama
http://www.facebook.com/inbox/
Takes you straight to your real friend's message, without having to witness the rampant stupidity of your virtual friends updates and picture comments!
No Internet at home
Getting stuff done (except today!)
Foxit PDF reader
http://foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php
Waaaay faster and more reliable than Acrobat.
Ever have two documents/code snippets that you wanted to look at side by side? This program lets you do just that and it will highlight where things are different. Saved me a ton of time while working as a programmer.
Well, this is kind of strange, I actually downloaded it before you posted and was waiting a bit to try it out before suggesting it, but I guess I don't have to now...
...also works with comparing and syncing folders, comparing images per pixel, plus has a ton of customize-ability.
amazing thread!
http://www.flexbeta.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=8028
Allows the converting of many different types of file for free online, pretty simple and fast.
http://www.zamzar.com/
For making sprite strips from a series of single images, instantly.
OSX:
Fluke: play FLAC files in iTunes.
I use Faststone Image Viewer: (but xnView is nice too)
http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm
It helps to listen to music while you work:
http://www.mediamonkey.com/
Easy to create PDFs: (which I view with Foxit)
http://www.primopdf.com/
I second 7zip. Why do people still use WinRar?
http://www.7-zip.org/
Free normal map helper, comes in handy for small normal map edits. Comes with documentation on how to use. Don't overlook the power of using it with "overlay" blend modes in Photoshop.
Interestingly the one program that is on top of my favourite list and have it open all times is a file manager >> Total Commander. (http://www.ghisler.com/index.htm) First, you can customize the shit out of it, hide all the junk/icons and have a nice clean UI. Then set colors for different file extensions, move super fast with hotkeys, quickly find a file in the directory by typing the first letters, multirename, and million other things Windows Explorer cant do or only can do slower. (learn the hotkeys tho) TC>WE
Also, it`s not a program but a Windows feature: hybernation mode. I use this assigned to my switch off button. This one saves the current state and when you turn you PC back on the next day all the programs, browser windows will be there just like you left it the previous day. Ohh and it takes like 15 seconds to load *everything*. :poly122:
"is a teaching and learning tool for medical professionals, students and anyone who is interested in skeletal anatomy. It is based on the integrated human 3D skeleton model with the highest level of detail presently available. BoneLab is a free program for Windows XP."
I hope it works on Vista as well, for those of us who use it.
Haven't tried it yet, but seems like a great tool!
DirectX Diagnostic Tool:
Go to the "Start" menu in windows and "Run" type in "dxdiag" click ok, this will give you allot of info on the divers and hardware your computer has you can save it off as a text document.
cpuz:
Gathers and shows you info on what your computer has in it hardware wise in great detail. For example:things like what type,speed,brand of RAM/memory your computer has in each memory slot.
http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
Speed Fan:
Monitors voltages, fan speeds, and temperatures in different parts of your computer with hardware monitor chips, also tells you if your hard drives are doing well and not going to die soon.
-DISCLAIMER-
If you don't know what things are in the application do Not change the settings, bad things will happen, you can overclock your computer/tune it with this program.
http://www.download.com/SpeedFan/3000-2094_4-10067444.html
Spybot:
Detects and removes a multitude of adware files/ aka spyware.
http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-amp-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10122137.html
Avast:
The best Anti virus program I know of.
http://anti-virus-solution.com/avast2/indexicc.asp
If you're into photography and would like to see a quick DRI out of a series of images, try http://www.fdrtools.com/front_e.php FDR Tools - not always the very best but it's acceptable and comes with some handy tools
http://ehiti.de/katmouse/
Fantastic (default on Macs right?)
Always On Top Maker
http://www.fadsoft.net/AlwaysOnTopMaker.htm
Sometimes has its uses. Does what it says.
Taskbar Shuffle
http://www.freewebs.com/nerdcave/taskbarshuffle.htm
Drag taskbar items to rearrange them, do the same for the system tray. Optionally enables middle-clicking a taskbar item to close it, which becomes habitually intuitive.
TabScroller for Firefox
http://www.krickelkrackel.de/tabscroller/tabscroller.htm
'Basic mode' is enough; lets you quickly scroll through tabs by holding right-click within any page.
(a bit like the wacom menu but better)