I am going to introduce some free/open-source softwares that currently reserving places in my desktop menu bar. "Open-source" literally means that the softwares are free of charge to users, allowing public to modify, improve and further develop the program, in some way, while maintaining integrity of the original developer.
There are a lot of open-source softwares available, with variety of functions and features. However, I am going to introduce only a few that related to design:
Remember, they are totally free, yet most of them could produce results that are comparable to commercial softwares which normally sold more than few hundreds or even thousands dollar.
(3D modeling, able to share some similarities with Autodesk AutoCAD, 3ds Max)
2) Inkscape - http://inkscape.org/
(vector graphics design, similar to Adobe Illustrator)
(image-editting, similar to Adobe Photoshop)
(3D modeling, animation, rendering, similar to Autodesk 3ds Max, Maya, etc )
(rendering and photo-realistic effect, similar to VRay, Indigo) I will show the feature later
These 5 softwares are compatible with all platforms - Windows, Linux and Mac OS.
For the time being, I managed to learn up Google SketchUp and use it more frequently. I am currently venturing into Kerkythea and planning to learn Blender in near future.
So, Google SketchUp is a powerful tool that means a lot to me. Needless to say, I have been using this program for some times and I can confidently claim that I am at least an intermediate user now. There is actually a "full version" for this - SketchUp Pro, which features even more functions. But i think SketchUp under the flagship of Google is sufficient for non-industry users. The current SketchUp version 8 offers some add-on new features. Users can work closely with Google Earth and Building Maker.
I personally like SketchUp the most due to its simplicity. We can easily manipulate our designs/model by downloading additional third-party plugins. There are lots of powerful features from SketchUp. It is impossible for me to say it all out now. By the way, if any of my friends is interested to learn up this program from me, I am willing to tutor.
Below are some images I designed for my school club tasks. What I want to show is that the program not only creates models/buildings (like what I have been doing), I also use it to design posters, logo and other kinds of designs as well. I do not use other image-editing software.
Below is an image showing the model I created in SketchUp, afterwards I rendered it in Kerkythea. This was only my very first attempt using this program. I shall talk about this program in future when I am able to master it.
I really think these free open-source softwares are excellent and worth to share. For a layman and hobbyist like me, I don't have to purchase other costly commercial softwares.
A big credit to the open-source softwares' developers.
.