As journalists in the IT / electronics creative sphere, we tend to be a little spoiled. Why? Because we have access in most cases to the crème de la crème of gadgets, gizmos and software with which to ply our craft for the simple reason that PR companies have a habit of schmoozing up to those they think can help the best to promote their products.

No names and therefore no pack drill, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that editors and senior journalists of say, video magazines, photography magazines or their ilk probably don’t have to rely on Windows Movie Maker or Windows Paint to edit video or images. And most likely photos are not taken by a $12 throw away Kodak either.

As a consequence, there can be a habit when writing, reviewing, creating tutorials and the like of forgetting the general public may not have access to these tools – a clever way of green screening in Photoshop CS2 may as well be plans for a Saturn rocket for many. Or a review of Cinema 4DXL the operations manual for a MRI machine.

So while admitting that Adobe, Sony, Newtek, Maxon and their peers may have the top end of the market sewn up with packages that can exceed thousands of dollars for even base versions, what hope is there for the occasional dabbler, hobbyist or newcomer?

Well lots really. As long as you up front accept one Big Thing. As per a previous missive in Hydrapinion, the best tools don’t necessarily make the best images or movies – it’s how they are used that counts.

And a large part of how they are used is based on how well you know the tools; it would be interesting to find out just how much day-to-day users of top end packages actually know of their software! I remember some years backing espousing the benefits of using Microsoft Word for outlining and was amazed at the number of people who a) didn’t know what that was and b) that Word had it is a core feature since version 2!
Back to the topic at hand however; what tools are available at reasonable cost that can be of benefit to creative type?

I am not going to going to go into full details of capabilities – that is your job to discover as many if not all of these packages have downloadable tryouts (or in the case of Sony, you can request a tryout CD of all their applications from the distributor at www.newmagic.com.au).

For others, Google is your new like, best friend. Instead, I’ll categorise them so you can have a look at what applications may suit your needs. Oh and in no way am I endorsing any of these as to their quality, ease of use, suitability or anything. Caveat Emptor

Video Editing

• AVID Free DV
• Sony Vegas Movie Studio+DVD
• Corel / Ulead Video Studio 11 Plus
• Pinnacle Studio 10
• Magix Movie Edit Pro
• Video Edit Magic
• Muvee autoProducer
• AVS Video Editor

DVD Authoring*

• HT DVD Authoring Studio
• Ulead / Corel DVD Movie Factory
• Super DVD Creator
• neoDVD
• DVD Creator

*Many video editing packages also support DVD authoring as a feature

• Image Editing
• Ulead PhotoImpact 12
• GFX Alchemy
• Magix Photo Clinic
• Adobe Photoshop Elements
• EyeBrowse
• PaintShop Pro

Audio Editing

• Blaze Media Pro
• Cool Audio Editor
• FlexiMusic Wave Editor
• SoundEdit Pro
• Acoustic Labs Audio Editor

Special Effects

• Pixelan Spicemaster
• Particle Illusion
• fxHome
• Shine
• Velvetmatter

3D Object Creation

• Ulead Cool 3d
• 3D Photo Builder Professional
• Now 3D
• Logo Creator

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but perhaps will assist part way for you to start investigating possibilities and finding applications that fit into your style of workflow. A good source of a more comprehensive list in each category is www.tucows.com.

PS: Many thanks for all the kind words of sympathy and support following my mention of VB the Dog in last week's Hyrdapinion. I appreciate it a lot and am considering the setting up of a VB the Dog Foundation to assist those who have dogs with curable problems, but simply cannot afford it and so the poor puppy has to be put down. Any ideas on this greatly appreciated!