Welcome to your one-stop online source for FREE and low-cost resources for creating exciting multimedia content! The links below have been compiled as a resource directory for teachers, trainers, and developers. It is a work in progress--one that we hope will continue to evolve as we find new links and tools to add. We also welcome suggestions and contributions from our visitors. Please feel free to
share your favorite resources so we can add them to the site. Have fun!.
Open Office
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Totally free open-source office suite from
Sun Microsystems, complete with word processing, spreadsheet,
presentation, drawing, and database applications. Create and
open documents created in Microsoft Office. Save your documents as
HTML and PDF files as well. |
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Easy Office Premium |
Inexpensive ($50) office suite, compatible
with Microsoft Office suite, features include PDF conversion,
anti-virus software, and email and contact management applications.
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Portable Open Office |
A compact version of the Open Office Suite
from Sun Microsystems. Designed for portable USB drives,
Portable Open Office is a handy tool for people on the go.
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PortableApps.Com |
Download lots of free applications designed
specifically for use on portable USB drives. Take your files
and your programs with you for added convenience and
security!
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PhotoPlus |
Currently you can download a completely free,
fully-functional version of PhotoPlus 6. PhotoPlus 6 features an
export optimizer, editable text, image slicing and image maps,
selection tools, smart shapes, third-party plug-in support, red-eye
removal tool, and photo enhancement tools. PhotoPlus 6 works on
Windows 95, 98, 98 SE, 2000, NT4, and XP.
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DrawPlus |
Free Graphic Design and Vector Drawing
Software. The award-winning DrawPlus 4 is the user-friendly drawing
program that opens up a whole new creative world. With its amazing
combination of powerful functionality, simplicity and professional
quality output, this free drawing software will give you the results
you want – fast!
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IrfanView |
IrfanView is a very fast, small, compact and
innovative freeware application (for non-commercial use) graphic
viewer/editor for Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003.
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The Gimp |
GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation
Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software for
such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image
authoring. It works on many operating systems, in many languages.
GIMP is a popular open-source image editor originally developed for
Unix/Linux. Often lauded as the "free Photoshop," it does have an
interface and features similar to Photoshop. Because it's
volunteer-developed beta software, stability and frequency of
updates could be an issue; however, many happy users report using
GIMP for Windows without significant problems.
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Camtasia Studio
$179 Educational
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Screen Recording & Presentation software.
Teaching and demonstrating visually is much more powerful than using
words alone. But, getting the right group of people together for a
training or demonstration can be expensive and inconvenient.
Camtasia Studio lets you easily create compelling training and
presentations for Web and CD-ROM delivery, and you can do it without
ever leaving your office. It is the only product versatile enough to
record live PowerPoint presentations, personalized technical
training sessions, and rich software demonstrations.
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Cam Studio |
CamStudio records activity
from your screen and audio from a microphone into AVI video files
and can also convert the AVIs into Streaming Flash videos (SWFs)
using its built-in SWF Producer.
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TAKSI |
Video Capture/Screen Capture for 3D Graphics.
Taksi is a utility that allows you to take screenshots and record
video clips of your favorite games and other 3D-graphics
applications. Very similar to Camtasia, but does not capture
audio.
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WebPlus |
Whether you’re looking to create a website to
promote your club, hobby or business or you just want to find out
how you can put your favorite holiday photos online, WebPlus 6 is
exactly what you need. Explore the endless possibilities of
designing eye-catching web pages when you download this free web
design superstar!
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Open Source as Alternative (osalt) |
Find open source software alternatives to
well-known commercial software. This site is a good source for
finding free applications that can take the place of expensive
commercial products. A convenient directory allows visitors to
choose from software categories such as business, communications,
graphic applications, multimedia and audio, and web development.
Products for multiple operating systems are listed, with many Mac
and Linux-based programs in addition to Windows versions.
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Source Forge |
SourceForge.net is the world's largest Open
Source software development web site, hosting more than 100,000
projects and over 1,000,000 registered users with a centralized
resource for managing projects, issues, communications, and code.
SourceForge.net has the largest repository of Open Source code and
applications available on the Internet, and hosts more Open Source
development products than any other site or network worldwide. |
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Google Image Search |
Use the power of Google to search for image
files based on several parameters. Refine your search by image
size, file type, and color. Three levels of content filtering
are also available.
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CoolText.Com |
Cool Text is a free graphics generator for
web pages and anywhere else you need an impressive logo without a
lot of work. Simply choose what kind of image you would like. Then
fill out a form and you'll have your own image created on the fly.
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FlamingText.Com |
At FlamingText you can create cool, custom
images for FREE to use on your website or in your e-mail.
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3D Textmaker |
It's an online 3D text banner creation tool.
This unique tool is completely online -- nothing to download or
install. Better yet, it's free!
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Gif.Com |
Lots of free clipart, coloring pages,
banners, backgrounds, fonts, icons, lines, worksheets, and
wallpaper. |
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Awesome Clip Art for Educators |
Lots of free clipart, nicely organized by
subject. There are also plenty of links to other sites with
similar resources. |
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Teachers' Domain |
Multimedia resources for the classroom and
professional development
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MERLOT |
MERLOT is a free and open resource designed
primarily for faculty and students of higher education. Links to
online learning materials are collected here along with annotations
such as peer reviews and assignments.
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Apple Learning Interchange |
The new Apple Learning Interchange (ALI) is a
set of free resources for educators that provides a single access
point to find media and ideas for classroom activities produced by
their peers, by Apple, and by Apple content affiliates like NASA,
The Smithsonian, and the George Lucas Educational Foundation.
Educators can connect with each other through simple searching,
messaging, iChat and collaborative publication tools, and they can
submit projects as simple as classroom snapshots or as complex as
multi-page abstracts for assessment, enhancement, and peer review.
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Wisc-Online |
The Wisconsin Online Resource Center is a
digital library of Web-based learning resources called “learning
objects.” The digital library of objects has been developed
primarily by faculty from the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS)
and produced by multimedia technicians who create the learning
objects for the online environment. At present, 343 WTCS faculty
members have authored learning objects. The Wisc-Online digital
library contains 2,106 objects that are accessible to all WTCS
faculty at no cost and with copyright clearance for use in any WTCS
classroom or online application. Other colleges, universities, and
consortia from throughout the United States and around the world use
the library with permission. Current use of the learning object
repository exceeds 20,000 hits per day. Learning objects are
designed and developed by a team of instructional designers,
editors, technicians, and student interns.
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FREE |
FREE -
Federal Resources
for Educational Excellence
FREE makes it easier to find teaching and learning resources from
the federal government. More than 1,500 federally supported
teaching and learning resources are included from dozens of federal
agencies. New sites are added regularly.
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Google Video Search
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Google has released a Beta version of a video
search engine. It's still a new product, so it isn't as
thorough as some of the other Google searches. Even so, it is
growing steadily as users add their own video content.
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Windows Movie Maker |
Windows Movie Maker 2.1 makes home movies
amazingly fun. With Movie Maker 2.1, you can create, edit, and share
your home movies right on your computer. Build your movie with a few
simple drag-and-drops. Delete bad shots and include only the best
scenes. Then share your movie via the Web, e-mail, or CD. Best
of all, it's probably already installed on your Windows-based PC!
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vixy.net |
This site has an
online Flash Video (FLV)Converter that will allow users to convert a
Flash Video / FLV file (YouTube's videos,etc) to MPEG4 (AVI/MOV/MP4/MP3/3GP)
file online. It is using a compressed domain transcoder technology.
It converts FLV to MPEG4 faster and less lossy than a typical
transcoder.
When you submit an url, it will download and convert to the video
format. Then you can download the converted file.
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Microsoft® Agent |
Microsoft® Agent is a software
technology that enables an enriched form of user interaction that
can make using and learning to use a computer, easier and more
natural. With the Microsoft Agent set of software services,
developers can easily enhance the user interface of their
applications and Web pages with interactive personalities in the
form of animated characters. These characters can move freely within
the computer display, speak aloud (and by displaying text onscreen),
and even listen for spoken voice commands. When used effectively
with a conversational interface approach, Microsoft Agent can be a
powerful extension and enhancement of the existing interactive
modalities of the Microsoft Windows® interface.
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Vox Proxy |
This application utilizes
Microsoft® Agent technology in a user-friendly format that allows
the user to easily add interactive animated characters into
PowerPoint presentations. Over 30 characters are included in
the full version of the software, which retails for just under $200.
Educational Pricing is available for qualified primary and secondary
schools as well as degree-granting colleges and universities.
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Presenter's University |
Information and
resources for presenters and instructors. Make yourself a better presenter
with these free tips, PowerPoint templates, clip art, sound files, and other
digital resources.
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Presenters' Resource |
Download free
PowerPoint templates, get ideas for better communication and more.
Find links to online reference and research tools. If you’re a
traveling presenter or an educator, there are additional sections
just for you.
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Presentations.Com |
The online home of
Presentations Magazine, a comprehensive presenter's resource
providing instant access to up-to-date information on technology and
techniques for effective communication. Here you'll find articles on
industry trends, new-product reviews, best presentation practices
and how-to's. Access association information, an events calendar and
links to other resource sites, plus the interactive Buyers Guide, to
help you locate a presentation-product manufacturer or dealer near
you.
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Presenters Online |
From Epson, this
site is "devoted to comprehensive multimedia presentation
knowledge." Free membership provides access to template downloads
and more.
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Utah Education Network |
These links provide
access to Web sites with resources educators can use in multimedia
presentations such as those created with Microsoft PowerPoint, Corel
Presentations and Apple Keynote. Please follow the guidelines for
copyright and usage that are provided at each Web site. Always use
caution when downloading or saving files from the Internet. |
