My Favourite Software
Posted by on Saturday, November 26, 2011
A lot of people ask me what programs I recommend for various creative arts projects so I decided to share with you what my personal favourites are.
Writing
Final Draft tops my list without a doubt.
While it specialises in screenwriting, this program offers templates for manuscripts, plays, comic books, tv shows and more.
Industry standard layout is preset and you have access to scene and character reports, revision mode and almost anything else you need to get your written project off the ground.
Plus, the latest version offers collabowriter which allows you to work with another writer on the same project without having to constantly exchange updated copies of the work and you can chat to each other with it, too!
Again, Final Draft is not cheap but if you ask me, there is simply no replacing such a comprehensive program.
The fact that it's the industry standard software speaks for itself.
My other favourite (for Mac Users only) is Scrivener.
While it is limited to novel writing, it is great at providing users with exactly what they need to do just that.
I'm a new Scrivener user so that is all I will write but I recommend you check it out!
If you need a free alternative though, Celtx is a big contender to Final Draft if you simply can't afford it.
It offers a similar list of templates to Final Draft and layout is also preset.
You can create character profiles, a production schedule on the calendar, generate reports about your project and create a storyboard.
There are extra tools you can access for a small fee so if you're looking for something strong for minimal (or no) cost, Celtx is your program.
Photography
Photoshop and Lightroom are my top two by far.
Photoshop is the industry standard software but I find Lightroom much more user-friendly.
I only use Photoshop for those particularly fine details needing that little bit of extra control.
They are both Adobe programs and while they are certainly not cheap, they are well worth the professional quality results.
I would also recommend (if you need it), buying the Creative Suite software as I find I use different programs for different things.
Again though, this depends entirely on your individual needs as I dabble in a variety of areas outside of photography.
If you are only looking for a program which can do basic fixes on your images, I'd suggest Picasa 3.
Picasa is beautifully handy for those quick and easy projects which just need to be lightened or to have red eyes removed.
Having said that, Picasa does offer a wide variety of other tools including one to get rid of photo blemishes.
While the latter does a good job on most problem areas, I recommend Photoshop for more complicated blemishes and a more professional looking result.
Film Editing
Final Cut Pro. What more can I say?
It's the best in my opinion and the industry standard.
Unfortunately it is only available for Macs and not at all cheap...but well worth it for professional looking films.
If you are a PC user, I personally recommend Avid (also available for Mac).
The latest version is a big contender to Final Cut and, once you understand the lingo, is easy to use.
It gives professional looking results and, personally, would be happy to use it interchangeably with Final Cut Pro.
As for a free version, well there are plenty out there but I definitely it is worth spending the money on film editing software.
For casual at-home projects though, there is nothing wrong with Windows Live Movie Maker on a PC o iMovie on a Mac.
Nonetheless I do feel iMovie is the superior software as I found past version of Movie Maker crashed frequently (later versions seem to have fixed this issue).
So there's my list of favourites.
Again, these are my personal choices to suit my individual needs.
It's important you know what you're looking for and you research various products to ensure whatever you choose will do what you need it to and give you the results you need.
Get creative and have fun!
Writing
Final Draft tops my list without a doubt.
While it specialises in screenwriting, this program offers templates for manuscripts, plays, comic books, tv shows and more.
Industry standard layout is preset and you have access to scene and character reports, revision mode and almost anything else you need to get your written project off the ground.
Plus, the latest version offers collabowriter which allows you to work with another writer on the same project without having to constantly exchange updated copies of the work and you can chat to each other with it, too!
Again, Final Draft is not cheap but if you ask me, there is simply no replacing such a comprehensive program.
The fact that it's the industry standard software speaks for itself.
My other favourite (for Mac Users only) is Scrivener.
While it is limited to novel writing, it is great at providing users with exactly what they need to do just that.
I'm a new Scrivener user so that is all I will write but I recommend you check it out!
If you need a free alternative though, Celtx is a big contender to Final Draft if you simply can't afford it.
It offers a similar list of templates to Final Draft and layout is also preset.
You can create character profiles, a production schedule on the calendar, generate reports about your project and create a storyboard.
There are extra tools you can access for a small fee so if you're looking for something strong for minimal (or no) cost, Celtx is your program.
Photography
Photoshop and Lightroom are my top two by far.
Photoshop is the industry standard software but I find Lightroom much more user-friendly.
I only use Photoshop for those particularly fine details needing that little bit of extra control.
They are both Adobe programs and while they are certainly not cheap, they are well worth the professional quality results.
I would also recommend (if you need it), buying the Creative Suite software as I find I use different programs for different things.
Again though, this depends entirely on your individual needs as I dabble in a variety of areas outside of photography.
If you are only looking for a program which can do basic fixes on your images, I'd suggest Picasa 3.
Picasa is beautifully handy for those quick and easy projects which just need to be lightened or to have red eyes removed.
Having said that, Picasa does offer a wide variety of other tools including one to get rid of photo blemishes.
While the latter does a good job on most problem areas, I recommend Photoshop for more complicated blemishes and a more professional looking result.
Film Editing
Final Cut Pro. What more can I say?
It's the best in my opinion and the industry standard.
Unfortunately it is only available for Macs and not at all cheap...but well worth it for professional looking films.
If you are a PC user, I personally recommend Avid (also available for Mac).
The latest version is a big contender to Final Cut and, once you understand the lingo, is easy to use.
It gives professional looking results and, personally, would be happy to use it interchangeably with Final Cut Pro.
As for a free version, well there are plenty out there but I definitely it is worth spending the money on film editing software.
For casual at-home projects though, there is nothing wrong with Windows Live Movie Maker on a PC o iMovie on a Mac.
Nonetheless I do feel iMovie is the superior software as I found past version of Movie Maker crashed frequently (later versions seem to have fixed this issue).
So there's my list of favourites.
Again, these are my personal choices to suit my individual needs.
It's important you know what you're looking for and you research various products to ensure whatever you choose will do what you need it to and give you the results you need.
Get creative and have fun!
