OStatic

Often, when I hear from OStatic readers, they express interest in open source graphics tools. Many of them already use some of the best tools, but there are actually many, many good, free resources in the open source arena for adding to your graphics arsenal. There are also free tutorial resources for getting started with them right away. Whether you want to produce a full-length animated movie, desktop publish good-looking graphical booklets, add a galactic brush set to GIMP (for effects like the one at left), work more efficiently with Flickr, or create eye-catching logos, check out our updated collection of 12 free graphics applications and resources here.

We've written before about Blender, the powerful open source 3D modeling, graphics and animation application, currently out in a much improved new version. Blender is in fact so powerful that it's been used to create very professional looking full-length animated movies.

The web, and the Blender.org site both abound with Blender tutorials, and the free online book Blender Basics is a good place to start learning the application, but Free Software Magazine alerted me to what may be the best free way to master Blender of all: Tufts University's Blender 3D Design online class.

Whether you do some blogging, operate an e-commerce site, or simply have moving pictures in the back of your mind to start working with, web-based video and animation should probably be on your radar. Many marketing departments are setting up their own video and animation studios for everything from product demonstrations to webinars, and an increasing number of companies such as Brightcove are helping to deliver and syndicate video on the web.