[Looper]

Hi All,

Being new here, this may not be the place to post these, but I'm sure that if not - the administrators will find the proper place.

That said, I Thought I would contribute a few things to the community right off the bat. These are just a few of the software programs that I use on my desktop for 3D, and other  work. Some are very small, but useful programs for 3D work - or making Avatars. Best of all, is that most - if not all - are FREE or have an OPENGL Source - with a GNU Public License.

I won't go into a lot of detail, because you can read about the software on their websites. Try 'em out and see what you think.

Main other progs I use, are Poser, DAZ 3D, and Blender  



MAT Pose Edit

http://koti.mbnet.fi/~ilaripih/MPEHome/

Propviewer - for viewing and savin .OBJ files

http://www.sharecg.com/v/38800/Poser/Prop-Viewer-3

Dynamic Hair Viewer and Convertor - Grow it - cut it - save it!

http://www.sharecg.com/v/27296/Software-and-Tools/Dynamic-hair-converter

Wings 3D - Great 3D Scultpting Software

http://www.wings3d.com/

UV Mapper

http://www.uvmapper.com/

P3dO is a 3D viewer, Image viewer & File manager - has batch utility for changing .rsr files to .png - but that's just the tip of the iceberg!

http://www.senosoft.com/

BV Hacker - Used to clean-up .BVH Motion files to meet guidelines of various websites, like second Life. (BVH Files are what makes your avatars alive. Tons of free ones on the net. You can change FPS, Bone Joint configuratins etc.

http://davedub.co.uk/bvhacker/help.html

Audacity - A Free Digital Audio Editor - rivals even the most expensive editors - Make and save WAV, MP3, Ogg sound files - etc

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

QAvimator - For Animating Second Life Avitars - but can be used for others as well - Makes avm and bvh Files

http://www.qavimator.org/

CyberExtruder - AV Maker - use a photo to create an avatar head - put anyone in cyberspace. It's a cool prog - but you can only make AV's though - and not save them. You can purchase a license for X number of heads created. But It is slick as greased needles though! And fun to play with!

http://www.cyberextruder.com/

CrayTalk6 and iClone Can both be located at reallusion.com. Both have free eval downloads. I especially like the CrazyTalk6 - and bought the Pro version. Lets you take a photo or 2D AV picture, and turn it into a 3D Avatar with lipsync. eye, and other motion. You can even do animals - like your family dog or cat. It is probably one of the coolest and easiest pieces of software that I have found.

http://www.reallusion.com/

Blender is the free open source 3D content creation suite, available for all major operating systems under the GNU General Public License. It does about everything the most expensive programs do - including animation. Learning curve is steep - but has excellent documentation. Available as both 32 and 64-bit versions available.

http://www.blender.org/

And last but not least, is a VERY cool text reader that is good for trying out TTS voices. It is the only one I have found that let's you change voices on the fly, and works with both SAPI4 AND SAPI5 voices. Previously I have had problems because I run VISTA on a 64-bit platform. A lot of the TTS engines bog on my machine - but NOT with this software. It's called Balabolka.... And it rocks! You can also save any spoken text file to .WAV - .WMA - .OGG - MP3 for portable players.

http://www.cross-plus-a.com/balabolka.htm

...And that's about it for now. There are a lot of other good programs available out there for little or nothing. BTW - I am in NO way affiliated with any of these. Also - they work GREAT on my machine. Dunno about yours, but with others I have talked to - no one has any problems either.

If anyone else has any favorite ones, post them here!

~Looper!

[Looper]

Almost Forgot - two very important pieces of software - especially for any other coders out there. Even if you only use them for viewing scripts of many kinds - like Hap Files or HAL's various script files. To me - these are indispensible.


Notepad++ - Fantastic code editor - or just a plain sub for notepad!

http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm

Crimson Editor - same as above - but I tend to like the above better. Both are a good choice for coders or just people wanting to look at code scripts without altering them or changing their format when you aren't looking.

http://download.cnet.com/Crimson-Editor/3000-2352_4-10031858.html?tag=mncol

~Looper!

[Freddy]

Excellent list Looper 

At first I thought about putting this in the Graphics board, but there's a few non graphics things in there too - I will think on this a while - maybe a new board would be a good idea - something like 'Software we use' - sort of like a recommended products repository....

I use both Crimson Editor and Notepad++ too and agree they are among the best and for free are an excellent option.

There's some great graphics programs in there too which I have used myself and would also recommend.

[Data]

Nice usefull post Loop. thanks.

Freddy I think your idea for a ‘Software we use' thread is a great one.

I vote yes     

[lrh9]

I program in Python. It is a great language overall and even if you intend to implement your projects using different languages it is an excellent prototyping language.

http://www.python.org/

I know you have a web browser if you're reading this, but I find Mozilla Firefox to be an excellent browser.

Search their add on database using the keywords "save session". They have an excellent add on that can save the tabs and windows you have open and then restore them on one click.

This is great if you are doing research but need to exit your browser for some reason.

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/personal.html

I too have thought software and programming sections would be useful. I just figured that it would be difficult to keep them relevant to a.i.

I'll leave it to Freddy, who is much wiser than I am in site administration.

[Art]

Some of you might also consider Lua

http://www.lua.org/about.html

[aarenlainey]

Verbot
With Verbot you can have hours of fun and be more productive too! The verbot interface has a skinnable pretty face you can really talk to. They can spell out their sentences and speak to you with a nice sounding voice through your speakers. You can use high quality sounding voices with them such as professional products like AT&A Natural Voice and others. Hold a complete conversation with your PC.