The Papertoy 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!

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Alex Gwynne on April 28, 2010 at 4:15am

Thats what you would think but...... Once you know powerpoints secrets there is no end to what you can do. If I can get some screen recording program I'll make a toy from start to end on powerpoint and fil it all to show you. :D

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Permalink Reply by hadzry on April 28, 2010 at 4:59pm

what AG trying to tell us is he is a GENIUSSS!!!...
cool toys but using powerpoint.. what else. :D

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Permalink Reply by Mike P on April 27, 2010 at 4:10pm

your gonna have to do a tutorial, because this continues to amaze me...

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Permalink Reply by Mike P on April 27, 2010 at 4:16pm

I've been using Metasequoia for awhile now, but, being that its in Japanese and with the limited tutorials out there, I'm switching over to blender.
I also use gIMP and Photoshop, although I'm much more comfortable using gimp. But, gimp doesn't work well, with pen pressure sensitivity...or at least I haven't figured out how to make it work optimally.
I also recently started using CutePDF to make multi-paged PDFs, because Photoshop Elements only allows 1 page PDFs.
Other than that, sketchbook in hand.
I also wanted an alternative to Adobe Illustrator, but haven't found a good one.

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Permalink Reply by Dillon Johnson on April 27, 2010 at 4:39pm

You're forgetting Aviary. It's a free online program full of tools. here

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Permalink Reply by Matthijs Kamstra aka [mck] on July 26, 2010 at 1:49am

Time to add something new to this list: the online image editors

if you don't have software on your computer to edit image like Photoshop or Illustrator there are a lot of (free) alternatives online

just check these lists out of online image editors
http://aext.net/2010/02/online-professional-image-editors-and-drawi...
http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2009/05/11/19-impressive-online-imag...
http://mashable.com/2008/11/13/online-image-editors-2/
http://www.visual-blast.com/online-tools/powerfull-list-of-28-onlin...

I haven't tried them all, but here a small list of what I think are good alternatives
The stuff I have checked out:

No registration
Possible to create and not only adjust images
Tools to create with more than basic tools

Flash/Flex based photo editors:
you need a flash plugin to use these editors (about 95% of the internet users have this plugin, so probably not a problem)

Pixl (very simular to Photoshop)
http://www.pixlr.com/editor/

Sumopaint (very simular to Photoshop)
http://www.sumopaint.com/app/

Splash up (simular to Photoshop)
http://www.splashup.com/splashup/

Phoenix (lite version of Photoshop)
http://aviary.com/online/image-editor?lang=en

Flash based vector editor:
Vector editors are hard to find and I can only find 1 online version

Raven (a "lite" version of Illustrator)
http://aviary.com/online/vector-editor?lang=en

so I added another alternative which is not online:

SVG-edit (not online, but a Firefox add-ons)
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/14186/

Html based photo editor:
if you don't have flash installed, or someone (an evil administrator) is blocking the flash plugin you can use the html version.
You probably need a "new" browser (Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari) ( which if you are under the control of an evil admin is a fat chance)

Cloud canvas ("lite" version of Photoshop)
http://www.cloud-canvas.com/cloudcanvas.php

Sketchpad ("lite" version of Photoshop)
http://mugtug.com/sketchpad/

darkroom (photo adjustment)
http://mugtug.com/darkroom/

hope this helps