Sandbox

Free resources

This page links to free resources. These include Web hosting services, software, sounds, video clips, animations and images. Create movies, animations, audio and games on your desktop. Produce your own blogs, wikis and podcasts.

Don’t have a computer? No worries. A copy of Audacity is installed on the computer in recording studio in the Learning Commons (Media 1). More tools to come later.

When you are finished, there are free hosting services to provide a world-wide audience for your work. Some of these include: GCast, Ourmedia, Podbeam and Slideshare and, of course, You Tube. If you are into podcasting, add your audio files to one of the top services like iTunes, FeedBurner or Podcast Alley.

If you can't afford your own copy of Word, Excel or Photoshop, this page includes links to free software that can do the same job (see below).

The tools on this page allow you to be as creative and productive as you want to be without worrying about the bottom line.

Machinima

Machinima is using game engines to create short films or full-length movies. A set of how-to tutorials is available from Machinima 101 at Machinima.com.

Popfly

Build mashups, create gadgets and games or design interactive Web pages: all without writing a line of code. Try it out for yourself. It's from Microsoft, but don't let that deter you.

Free software

Can't afford MS Office? Try Open Office. It includes Writer, Calc, Impress, Base, Draw and Math (a maths equation editor). Google Docs is a free, Web-based with a word processor, spreadsheet and presentations application.

Need a free version of Photoshop? Try GIMP.

Tucows

45,000 freeware, shareware and demo software titles.

Do you widget?

Widgets are chunks of code that you can paste into your Web page, blog or personal profile. There are thousands of free widgets available.

Start blogging!

Get a blog instantly! Click here. Other blog options are Blogger or LiveJournal. Try Wikispace or Ning.

Fancy yourself as a 3D artist?

Free packages include Blender, K-3D, Google SketchUp, EarthSculptor, 3D Canvas. Free 3D engines for creating games and 3D environments include Panda3D , Ogre and Crystal Space. Free models are at 3D Warehouse or 3DXtras.com.