What software do you use on your computer, and what does it do/Do you like it/recommend it?
What software have you tried and disliked?
Here's mine:
photoshop cs3:
Mai waifu. I use it to draw my comic and make website templates, its uses are unlimited i recommend everyone who likes digital art get it.
Dreamweaver cs3:
For my website design class, has a built in ftp so i can upload the site right from my computer and not have to use outside ftp clients. I'm a n00b at it but by the end of the year i'll know the ropes. :P
Paint tool SAI:
A drawing program that packs a punch for its tiny file size. I recommend it to tablet owners as it's anti-aliased drawing is cool. Good for sketching and i use it to touch up my colored comics after i've done the technical parts in photoshop.
It's available in english btw.
Illustrator cs3:
I got the free trial thing off the site for this, the live trace is a very cool feature it's fun to mess with. It seems to have templates for mobile wallpapers, dvd menu's, etc.
Contribute cs3:
*o* free trial and i haven't used it but it's cool! i can update my website from my desktop with it, and it has built in coding buttons for inserting paypal buttons, links, new pages with no coding knowledge needed. so cool!
indesign/in copy:
I don't know why i downloaded the trials for these, i don't need them. :/ Maybe i'll make a magazine someday with them-most likely no.
Advanced system optimizer:
Coolio, it has everything you need to speed up you pc in one tiny program. Plus its spyware remover is very very good, catches stuff like tracking cookies that slow you down.
Winrar:
Look at and unzip .rar files with it, never had a file type i couldn't open. Also when zip files get broken i can repair them and view what's in it regardless. I recommend it.
bittorrent:
My torrent software, i like it since it's pretty basic, no knowledge needed to run it just click the downloads.
Itunes:
Meh, it's a music player. I got it with my ipod but i'm not to keen on it- anyone have a better one to recommend?
Norton:
Also meh, it's an antivirus software but it slows my pc down like crazy. It does keep viruses away at least, but anyone have a better anti-virus?
So those be mine. :)
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Comic Talk and General Discussion *
What software/programs do you have on your computer and why?
Starting with the stuff I got free from the people who give borderline retarded college students free things:
Adobe Premium Creative Thingummie which has Photoshop and Flash and a bunch of other stuff, some of which I may actually use. No Dreamweaver or Contribute though, which sucks.
Maya, for which the computer given to me can't actually use.
Stop Motion Pro 6, one of very few useful things.
Some things to help me deal with college which I don't need or want.
Toon Boom, which is better than Flash in all respects.
Microsoft Office, because I used Word once.
Sound Forge, which forges sound.
Internet Security Thing, which I'm not sure is actually working because it never bothers me with updates when I'm busy.
The stuff I actually paid for consists entirely of games so I won't go through those.
Freeware crap:
ZBrush Trial, which I never intend to buy because I have Maya.
Adventure Game Studio, which I used to knew how to use but have since forgotten.
Graphics Gale, which is a pixel art thing I plan to use to make graphics for AGS games, once I re-figure out how to use it.
Virtual PC, for playing The Neverhood and some other old games.
DosBox, for playing even older games.
VMDSound, entirely for Daggerfall, because it runs like shit on DosBox and Virtual PC.
DivX, for watching the obscure cartoon mentioned somewhere below.
Inform 7, which is for making text games.
Veoh TV Thing, which I downloaded simply so I could get hold of episodes of an obscure cartoon.
MSN, which I use for buying stuff online because I don't know anyone I'd like to be in contact with more than I have to.
WinRAR, for obvious reasons.
uTorrent, which I can no longer use at home because my internet provider have started spying on peoples downloads, and handing out disproportionate punishments for. I can't use it at college either because they block torrents. Basically useless to me now.
AoA Audio Thing, which I use for nicking computer game music to listen to.
Blah blah blah I have no life etc.
Hmm. Let's see…
- Ze GIMP, since I don't have Photoshop. I recommend it as a free image editor.
- Irfanview, which I never use and should probably delete
- Internet Security Thing (Just like Custard Trout! 8] )
- KeyScrambler (Counter-attack to keyloggers), which I recommend if you're paranoid
- 7-Zip (Extracts pretty much every type of compressed archive), I'd recommend it but everyone seems to have "winrar" already.
…yup.
Fun!
– GIMP and PhotoShop 6 (I know, I'm so behind the times there)
– OpenOffice (which I use when I'm not drooling over Google Docs)
– TextPad (a charming HTML editor - how I love thee, TextPad)
– WinSCP (for maintaining my non-Duck website)
Um, that's really about it unless you wanna count AIM, Fable, and Nethack. Wow, I didn't realize how few programs are on this compy. At work, there are piles more programs, of course. In my spare time, I've been playing with Google SketchUp which is fun, but I suck at it =]
–For the music stuff, I still use Windows Media (I can make it pink!) but I kinda feel like I'm in the dark ages when it comes to media players. I was never a fan of iTunes. A lot of my friends swear by WinAmp, though. *shrug*
–Also, for the virus checker, I have slow-as-molasses Norton too - but I also run through with AdAware and SpyBot to get all the stuff that Norton misses ^.^
Well, for One…for all you guys stuck with Norton…bleeah… I suggest you try Avast 8-) It is a Czechloslovokian anti-virus program and it works fantastic. Its also pretty much free!!!! My local wi-fi service provider recommended it to me (she's also my daughter…) and I have been very happy with it!
I used Poser–which is a three-dee modeling program ($250) but you can down load DAZ3D Studio (from DAZ 3D) for free and get many of the best features. Bloodbound the comic is wholly DAZ3D Studio generated.
I have Photoshop, but haven't a clue how to use it–and I prefer MSPaint–can you believe it?!? About the only thing Paint won't do it vector graphics–but Poser has this unique and secret bit called 'Smart Cloth' I can overlay a photo or image on a bit of 'Smart Cloth' and then resize, stretch, rotate, deform or whatever I want and get the picture I want. Just a neat trick.
I have Bryce 5 for 3D Backgrounds and would like to get Bryce 6–but too pricey.
I wish I had and knew how to use Maya–but if I haven't time to play with Photoshop, I expect Maya is out of the question.
I also have Frontpage for my website design work.
Pretty utilitarian here–just the necessaries.
Photoshop CS2 - Coloring and effects.
Jasc Animation Shop 3 - For basic and easy animations. Combine it with Photoshop and it becomes the ultimate spriting machine.
Winamp - Music.
MSN Messenger - IM.
Steam - Games.
OpenCanvas - Drawing.
Blender - 3D. But damn me if I ever get time for it.
Azeurus - Torrenter. Don't use it much anymore, since everything I want to have probably won't run at convenient rate on my PC.
Firefox - For sites IE slaps me in the face with. Other than that it's got no practical use until IE decides to slap me in the face with internet connection again.
AhnLab V3 2008 - Some antivirus/spyware made by some Asian. So far it managed to keep my PC alive.
I liked this thread when it had 8 other replies that weren't erasedMe too… :(
It tasted like pirates.
Amanda: PS 6? whhhhaaa! Jebus gal, that's creaky. :)
Though I started with 4 or 5 or something… I can't even remember which now. I'm thinking of buying CS3… if they make it cheaper because CS4 is out.
Winamp version 2 is my fave media program for MP3s.
Oh, it's going to be a lengthy list, methinks.
Advanced System Optimizer - For cleaning up the system when it's waving a white flag.
Art Rage 2.5 - Paint program with a focus on traditional tools and techniques. Mainly use it to draw lineart with a 'cartoonish' feel, as well as a few other things.
Audacity - Cut, manipulate and convert audio files. As well as record sound.
AVG 8.0 - For some reason, I prefer it above most other virus protections.
Boxen - Easy and quick way to create comic panels. Because I'm lazy like that.
Daemon Tools - For running and reading the images of my backed-up CD's.
DivX Web Player - Because some websites prefer using a slightly more fancy player for media streaming.
Dizzler - Online media streamer.
Drunk Duck Alerter - Ho ho ho. Guess what I use that one for.
Fraps - For recording things right off the screen.
GCFScape - Digging around in the data of Valve games.
Gimp 2.4 - Raster image editor, for the things my copy of Photoshop won't do.
Inkscape - Vector image editor.
Magic ISO Maker - Easy CD backuping.
Mozilla Firefox - Never really liked Internet Explorer.
Nero Toolkit - Plenty of management tools for creating and writing CD's and DVD's.
Open Office - Didn't want to bother with the hassle of obtaining extra Microsoft Office license for a single computer. Besides, I like GNU-Licensed stuff.
Photoshop Elements 5.0 - Not the newest version of Photoshop, but it works well. Shipped with my Wacom tablet, and grown fond of it since then.
PlayXpert In-Game Platform - Bringing the web browser, media player and messenger with me inside the games.
Python 2.5 - Had a few applications in the past requiring a Python runtime environment.
Rocket Dock - Yay for a slightly fancier desktop.
Source SDK - Development Kit for the Source Engine, although I'm no developer myself.
Spybot S&D - Works for snapping the spyware out of the system.
Steam - For accessing the Steam Community network and managing games.
Windows Live Messenger - IM Application
Windows Media Player - There are a lot of other media players out there, but this is the media player for me.
WinRAR Arciver - Honestly, I cannot remember last time I downloaded a .ZIP archive, and my default Windows archiver doesn't agree with .RAR archives.
Not everything, just the more often used stuff.
ArcSoft Photostudio: Basic photo editing software, miles ahead of paint but miles behind photoshop.
Audacity: I play bass, and I use this to record and edit my music from time to time.
Blender: 3d model maker. I use this primarily for animations, rigging, rendering and exporting into source games.
Dell Media Experience: Dvd player software for dell computers, it's not the best but works well.
GCF Scape: I need it to dig through Valve files as I make 3d models and use the files as reference or viewing.
GiMP: Use this one to create my comics now, it's also useful for making animated Gifs.
Inkscape: I create vector graphics occasionally.
iTunes: I have an iPod Nano, better than most of my other programs.
Mozilla Firefox: Use this every day, wouldn't be able to live without it.
Project 64: I miss Nintendo 64 so much, all I ever play on this though is Super Smash Bros. 64
Python: I need it for Blender to run scripts properly
SonicStage: Music player for those with Sony mp3 players. I think it's Sony.
Steam: Can't have valve games without it.
uTorrent: Damned if I use this, probably 3 full downloads ever.
VTFedit: For creating valve texture files out of image files.
Windows Live Messenger: Ever wondered what happened to MSN messenger? This is it.
Wings 3d: Simple 3d model maker, a godsend for someone who has basic understanding of harder programs, and who like making low poly models. Do most of my modeling in here.
Zbrush trial: 26 days left. Basically 3d sculpting, needed it for making normal maps for a 3d modeling competition. If I can ever get money to buy it I will.
Ok, for art I use only Photoshop 7.All the scanning, editing, lettering, coloring, making templates for pages etc. is done on it.
Aaand basically that's the only important program. that and the Calculator, haha.
And Total Commander, Winamp, Trillian, Opera, and couple of other things.
My most used programs:
Mircografx picture publisher– This is basically the grandfather of photoshop. Before photoshop existed at all, this was THE program to get if you wanted an advanced picture editing program that had it all… special effects, etc. although now it's very old and is basically abodonware, so you can download it for free on the net now if you should happen to find a copy.
oh, and it can actually play videos too if you choose to open avi files on this thing. it's good for copying frames individually into a different program, such as Jasc Animation-shop.
the downside of this program:
1)it's very wonky with layers. it has built in support for layers and such, but you can't directly edit or move the layers themselves. In fact you'd have to look hard in all the controls and the menus to even realize the layering system exists at all.
2)you can't really install plug-ins, because it doesn't support plug-ins. so no custom filters and special effects for this like with photoshop. to compease for this though, they do have a very nice list of filters,effects and such built in.
why I use it: well, photoshop sometimes takes up too much memory, and lags my PC to hell. And at times, it'll even randomly shut down. So the Mircografx is a great alternative because it has most of the tools that photoshop has. it doesn't have EVERYTHING that photoshop has, but beggars can't be choosers. plus, it only takes up a tiny amount of memory!
Painter– I use this for some shading and coloring in more softer brushes that other programs sometimes just don't have. I also use this for layer work/drawing when photoshop's on the Fritz, since how Mircografix isn't good with layers.
Jasc Animation-shop– I use this for making gifs. in fact I use this for most of my avatars, animated or not. because I have to tell you, it's very good for resizing avatars to required sizes for certain forums, etc. and the effects you can do on this thing isn't too bad, for both animated and non-animated purposes.
"FLV to AVI MPEG WMV 3GP MP4 iPod Converter"– yes, that's the name of the actual program. basically what it says.. it can basically covert ANYTHING into other formats for many purposes. got trouble reading certain codecs on something? no problem, just covert the mpg into an Dix format avi or some shit. need something to play on your ipod? no problem… you get the idea.
I actually find it very useful for when I need to edit videos or some such. it can actually even covert flash movies into actual video formats too. and it can reverse that too. :P
using this is a little tricky though. you have to keep a window open of your actual folders and files, and then drag the desired file into the converter window. then it'll read it, and be ready to covert it then.
Paint.net–Ms paint on steroids. useful for some pixel work, I suppose.
Windows live messenger–shit loads of friends on there. so I basically use this EVERYDAY.
Dix player–for the videos that my windows media player snubs because of certain codecs that it can't play.
vlc media player– for all those lovely foreign videos that comes with sublities add-on that other players can't play at all.
hyper-cam– good for recording things on my pc… whenever it be playing an game, playing IMVU, etc. basically for the sole purpose of making gifs.
utorrent– I basically love it loads for downloading things though bitttorent, etc.
comodo–my firewall. completely free, and very excellent to use. it also has an built in anti-virus program which scans for suspicious activity, etc. it's been good to me so far.
there's more, but I got too lazy to continue my list…
adobe photoshop elements 6.0–it's useless to someone like me. i used to use some program that came with my digital camera. but i lost the disc, crashed the computer it was on. and bought photoshop. it's too not advanced enough for what i want
azereus vuze–because it's the fastest way to satisfy my anime obsessions.
internet explorer–because firefox sucks
AVG 8.0–because norton crashed previous computer. by not blocking viruses.
Let's see…
Web Design Premium CS3 (Yay, student licensing prices)
-Photoshop CS3 Extended: I use for just about everything drawing related
-Illustrator CS3: Haven't quite found the perfect place for this yet
-Flash CS3: For the flash components of my page
-Fireworks CS3: Banner creation/optimization
-Dreamweaver CS3: I was a notepad person, but it makes previewing alot easier
-Contribute CS3: Seems like something that would work better with multiple people. Plus I can't have it connect to the Duck.
-Acrobat 9 Pro: Always have to PDF stuff
-Office 2007: A necessity
-SAS: Gotta ensure my Master's degree is worth something
Adobe CS3 Design suite (bought with a student discount) - I really just got it because I thought I was going to major in graphic design. I changed my mind because I suck at it. I still use it for my design class and fun. It covers pretty much everything, (Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver and Bridge)
GIMP - I actually use this a bit more than Photoshop. It's just more fun for me, since it's constantly changing.
Inkscape - I use this a LOT more than Illustrator. Yeah, I just love the way it works, and the fact that It's format can be read in newer browsers.
Blender 3D - I suck at it, but I can do some cool stuff if I put in the time and effort. It's an amazing bit of freeware.
Paint.NET - don't really like it that much, but the interface is pretty.
Xara Xtreme - I'm not so great at this program, but its rendering speeds blaze ahead of inkscape and illustrator's.
Stepmania - Only for the most serious of artists.
OpenOffice.org - A free replacement for the necessity posted above me. (Not an equivalent, mind you)
Audacity - Cool program, except that I don't really edit audio files much.
RecordMyDesktop - Screen recording program that I use use when I'm in ubuntu.
Artweaver - Painting progam. It's cool, I just don't use it much.
Paint.NET Effects and Inking(most of the time)
LimewireI use this to download Anime theme songs
Fire FoxAwsome Internet Browser
OpenOffice.org WriterThis is what I use to write my FanFics
Paint(Re-named to "Creativity Center")Well I use this to doodle and edit some pics,I also shrink my comic pages
RobloxA really fun online game, Graphics aren't the best but it still kills time.
SNES emulatorSuper Nintendo emulator I use to play Earthbound,Supersonicman,Zelda:Link to the Past,and Super Mario RPG
Basic Google EarthI usually use the flight simulator
Is Limewire illegal?
Photoshop 7.0
I really don't like any of the Cs versions,and 7.0 has just what i need
Gimp
If photoshop Fails me
Azureus
For torrents … i used to have shareza but i didn't work well for my
OpenOffice.org Writer
I hate Word … openoffice is more stable than word and so are the other office programs
Trilian
I hate the fact that i have to upgrade to a new Windows everytime i have to install a new messenger, trillian has multiple account support for msn,yahoo Aim and icq, and the interface is just better in any aspect.
Firefox
The standard …
Google Chrome
If firefox fails …
Opera
if chrome fails …
Vlc
Once … there was a multimedia player named Winamp … it got corrupted …
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