The paper toy network

Tools (Software)

As we have several people here that were asking about what software to use and stuff like that, I thought it might be nice to have a thread with links to software.

Now, we all know that it's possible to download software illegally and/or crack them. This thread is not for those links. This one is for FREE software, and/or shareware.

Here's my list:
The GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program)
GIMPshop (A version of The GIMP made to look as much as Photoshop as possible)
Inkscape Free Vector drawing program
DrawPlus 4 (DrawPlus 6 is $9.99. Same site)

Sketchup Really easy 3D program. Very basic.

Blender 3D program. Hardcore 3D.

Pepakura (Limited Shareware) Program to "unfold" 3D data into a paper model.

Feel free to add your own!

Tags: freeware, open source, software

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tephlon on February 11, 2008 at 4:18am: Same here, same here, I much prefer Photoshop over The Gimp, I just saw too many mentions of "MS Paint", so I thought I'd share some links. :-); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Matthijs Kamstra aka [mck] on February 12, 2008 at 1:21pm: It's funny: I read that people mostly use pixel programs (Gimp, Photoshop, MS Paint).
I only use vector program: Illustrator (Inkscape).; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dr.Shazam on February 12, 2008 at 3:21pm: I've found vector programs far more forgiving to the whole design process--granted the art is not my strong point on designs....but in the right hands, vector art can be more "urban" than pixel art usually is. Looking at some of the papertoys on my shelf, I'd say I gravitate to the vector based work. By appearance of their projects, I'd imagine that Shin Tanaka, Marshall Alexander, Brian Castleforte, Matt Hawkins, Big Chief, You (MCK), and others well represented here on Nice Papertoys prefer vector too.

I've been using Serif Draw Plus X2 since I don't have the money to fork over for Illustrator. I've been pretty happy with it too.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tephlon on February 12, 2008 at 4:54pm: I started out with Freehand, but I've since switched to illustrator. Inkscape looks cool. but I haven't really spent too much time with it.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Matthijs Kamstra aka [mck] on February 20, 2008 at 2:47pm: I love portable software so I had to share this with GIMP lovers:
http://portableapps.com/news/2008-02-19_-_gimp_portable_2.4.4_released

Portable means that you can take the program with you on a memory stick.
But the nice one about this GIMP portable, it has a GIMP Portable Photoshop Layout and GIMP Portable Background Window.

To see a screenshot visit this link.

I still prefer Photoshop but with these two extras it's looks more like Photoshop what would make the transition from one of the programs to another much easier!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by MR. MEATBALL on April 9, 2008 at 7:53am: do any of these 3d proggrams work with mac???; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tephlon on April 9, 2008 at 11:05am: Sketchup and Blender are available in PC and Mac version.

I've heard good things about Cheetah3D. but it's 150$. (About 100€ for the Europeans... :-) ); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by MR. MEATBALL on April 9, 2008 at 11:32am: thats whats up, thank you i'll try and down load them when i get home from work; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Matthijs Kamstra aka [mck] on December 29, 2008 at 11:04am: I came across this site with the title "Say Goodbye to Adobe Creative Suite"

It's a list of open source alternatives to the popular Adobe Creative Suite applications.
You should visit it but for the lazy internet user, and to complete the list made here, I will post the short list here:
(remember not all applications is very useful when you are creating papertoys, but it will show you that you don't have to get an illegal copy of Adobe Creative Suite)

Adobe Acrobat Reader ==> Sumatra PDF
Adobe Acrobat ==> PDFCreator
Adobe Photoshop ==> Paint.NET
Adobe Dreamweaver ==> Kompozer
Adobe Flash ==> Synfig
Adobe Illustrator ==> Inkscape
Adobe InDesign ==> Scribus
Adobe After Effects ==> Jahshaka
Adobe Premier Pro ==> VirtualDub
Adobe Encore DVD ==> DVD Styler
Adobe Soundbooth ==> Audacity

source:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/say-goodbye-to-adobe-creative-suite/; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dr.Shazam on December 29, 2008 at 12:26pm: Brilliant! Thanks for putting this up!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kazoomzoom on April 27, 2010 at 1:35pm: Yes! Great stuff! Some are new to me. Eager to check them out right now.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Matthijs Kamstra aka [mck] on December 29, 2008 at 2:23pm: After downloading the latest papertoy of Matt Hawkins, I asked myself why he chose to release snomoe in 3 pdf files?

It's possible to join two or more pdf files with Adobe Acrobat. I do it all the time: design in two different Illustrator files, export to pdf and join the two pdf files in Acrobat. The only downside is that it's commercial software.

So without even finding out why Matt uses 3 files I searched the internet for free/open source software to combine/merge/join two or more pdf files.

1. PDF Split and Merge: A free open source tool to split and merge pdf documents
This one will work on all platforms (Window, Mac, Linux), there are two versions but the basic version will be enough.
(read lifehacker.com and makeuseof.com for more info)

2. CombinePDFs
Works on Mac OS X 10.3.9 or newer.

3. PDFTools: PDFTools is a PDF management application. It can encrypt, decrypt, join, split, stamp, create and rearrange a PDF file.
Window only

4. PDFill pdf tools: PDFill PDF Tools are FREE PDF Toolbox to Merge, Split, Reorder, Encrypt, Decrypt, Rotate, Crop, Reformat, Header, Footer, Watermark, Images to PDF, PDF to Images, Form Fields Delete/Flatten/List, and PostScript to PDF.
Windows only

5. pdftkbuilder: If PDF is electronic paper, then pdftk is an electronic staple-remover, hole-punch, binder, secret-decoder-ring, and X-Ray-glasses.
I red that a lot of people used pdftk (pdf toolkit), that is a commandline tool for all platforms (Window, Mac, Linux). But commandline isn't for everybody, so pdftkbuilder is an gui (graphical user interface) for windows to make it somewhat easier.

6. Adolix Split & Merge PDF
it only does what it says: it splits/merges pdf files, windows only; ▶ Reply to This