XnView - Image Editor

This is a free open-source image editor that I have used for a long time.  It works on all the major platforms (Windows, Linux and Mac) and is very light weight consuming very little resources.  XnView will not replace Painter or Photoshop but can be used for quick editing, batch editing and converting along with many other features.

XnView can be download from http://www.xnview.com/en/

In this short tutorial I cover how I use XnView, which is mainly to browse and organize my images and copy / cut thumbnails from full page scans allowing me to keep what I like.

-Steve

Krita For Windows

After going through the hassle of adding a dual boot to my laptop and a virtual Linux machine with Virtual Box on my desktop just to try out Krita 2.4, I come across a Windows installer for Krita.

Blender 2.6.4 Test Builds

Blender Test Builds for 2.64 are out.  That means that 2.64 will be released soon.  Download the test builds and check out the list of new features HERE. 

-Steve

Blender 2.6.3a Update

The Blender Foundation released version 2.6.3a a few weeks back to corrected a few issues prior to the version 2.6.4 that should be out soon.  The Blender Foundation is keeping a greate pace with release dates being about every 10 weeks.  Blender can be found HERE.

-Steve

GIMP 2.8 Release

GIMP 2.8 was released recently and as usual I like to use the Partha.com builds   I haven't had a lot of time with the new build so let me know what you think.  The GIMP developers have been making good progress so I am looking forward to working with the newest release..

GIMP can be found HERE.

-Steve

Blender 2.6.2 Released

Blender Foundation has released version 2.6.2.  Blender is a professional grade CG suite and has come along way since their 2.4 version.  Even Lynda.com has created tutorials on Blender HERE.  What irony ...a commercial tutorial for an Open Source application.  Blender 2.6.2 change log and download can be found HERE.

-Steve

Digital Painting instead of Traditional Painting?

Why Digital Painting instead of Traditional Painting? I get asked this question a lot.  Of course neither is better than the other but for me there were many advantages starting with digital painting.

Blender VSE Part-3: How To Add Fade In-Out Effect

Part 3 of the Blender Video Sequence Editor (VSE) show how to animate the opacity of the image added in Part-2 to create a Fade In-Out effect.

Hope this helps,

-Steve

LINK: https://youtu.be/69KP-8Ezvao

Blender Offical Test Builds

Blender Test Builds are now featured on Blender.org and can be downloaded HERE.

GIMP 2.7.4 Wacom Support

GIMP 2.7.4 now has Wacom Support.  I have been working towards replacing Photoshop so I can run Linux full time.  But Photoshop is not easily replaced, but the the newest version of GIMP, which is 2.7.4 is getting better everyday and now the issue with no Wacom or tablet support has been fixed.