Best Animation & 3D
Anime Studio Pro 11 is perfect for professionals looking for a more efficient alternative to traditional animation.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"You'll also save yourself a lot of time in learning because this one is by far, one of the easiest programs for me to understand and use. You will still have to spend some time learning how to work it, but I highly doubt you'll need to enroll yourself in a college class to understand it."
"Great Software, but have trouble running it on Win 10..."
"I only bought the Debut version because it was cheaper and I wanted to learn Anime Studio's original selling point it's bone feature. I recommend this version over the Debut version of Anime Studio 11 because you will find more tutorials for the bone feature and a webinar for the frame by frame feature."
"The included Tutorial and User Manuals (pdf format) are good and can be accessed in Anime Studio from the help menu."
"Excellent software with great tutorials on their youtube channel."
Record audio, add sound effects and use automatic lip syncing to get fast results.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I bought this to give as a gift, so I can't say anything about it, however, I hear that the giftee loves it!"
"It is a pretty fun program, you can make your own cartoons and more."
"Fast Delivery, great software was a gift for my grandson who wants to learn to program."
"This product has worked out great for my son starting out with design."
Create cartoons and animations from start to finish. While it is very affordable, this entry-level animation software program is also very powerful. Use Bone Tools to Quickly Animate Your Characters A unique bone-rigging toolset allows you to create a skeleton that can be easily manipulated to animate characters, simple drawings, or objects in your animation. Character Wizard Quickly design ready-to-animate characters using the built-in Character Wizard. Select preset, dial-in body proportions, and choose from dozens of predesigned 2D components such as hands, feet, mouths, eyes, noses, and heads. Beginner's Mode Start animating right away by choosing Beginner's Mode. Easily edit characters, scale, rotate, pan, zoom in and out of the canvas with simple finger gestures. More focus is dedicated to your drawings with live Freehand previews. Edit Multiple Layers Simultaneously Select multiple layers, including layers of different types, and apply changes to multiple layers at the same time. Saving you time from having to check manually! System Requirements Windows: Windows 7, 8, 8.1 or newer 1.3 GHz Pentium 4 or newer, Athlon 64 or newer 2 GB RAM recommended 700 MB free hard drive space minimum OpenGL enabled GPU recommended 1024x768 display (1280x800 recommended) DVD-ROM drive (physical version only) Internet connection for product activation recommended Windows Internet Explorer 9 or newer. Macintosh: Macintosh OS X 10.8, 10.9 or newer 64-bit OS required 1.3 GHz Intel Processor or newer 2 GB RAM recommended 700 MB free hard drive space minimum 1024x768 display (1280x800 recommended) DVD-ROM drive (physical version only) Internet connection for product activation recommended. Multiple Document Support Anime Studio now allows you to open more than one document at a time, and switch from one to another in a tabbed interface. Edit Multiple Layers Simultaneously Select multiple layers, including layers of different types, and apply changes to multiple layers at the same time.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I'm not suggesting that you will be able to put out Disney quality animation the first week you use it but you will find that many of the task associated with animation are much easier with this program. There is a lot of difference between using the product with just the mouse or using a tablet, and if you don't have one I would suggest buying even a cheap tablet to use with this program."
"While I was initially excited about this product, it really wasnt worth the money to buy a cheaper anime product."
"Great value."
"I really like this product and there are plenty of tutorial videos made by the company and fellow users to make learning the software easier."
"I liked the software but there are free software at the same level like Krita."
"Great to start learning how to animate."
"It's a really good animation software."
"Some people apparently want to be able to make a cartoon in five or six clicks of a mouse - although it is a probably as close as you can come to it! Help is limited to online support boards which only have answers to complex esoteric things and are not designed for people starting. So the company that makes/sells this, Smith Micro... leave a lot to be desired in support."
Best Children's Art & Creativity Software
Creating stop-motion animation not only encourages the development of story-telling, it also provides an opportunity for kids to use the PC as a movie productions tool. Honestech Stopmotion Studio 4.0 can create output in WMV, MPEG1, MPEG2 and high definition MPEG video resolution up to 1920 x 1080 (requires DSLR camera, HD webcam or HD camcorder). Great Features Capture images using webcam, camcorder and DSLR cameras. Use the Full Storyboard tool to see a larger view of your captured frames, and re-arrange the order of the frames with your mouse via drag and drop. Various Enhancements The new DSLR camera support allows you to create stunning 1080p HD video using Canon/Nikon DSLR cameras with Live View support. The storyboard allows users to view the frames in sequence for easy editing, and users can add on screen text, subtitles, sound effect, voice, and background music. DSLR Camera Support - Create stunning 1080p HD video using Canon/Nikon DSLR cameras with Live View support.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"That said, it is probably the best product you can get for the money, with all sorts of useful features and easy enough for a nine-year-old to use (with some adult guidance in lieu of the written instructions)."
"Worked fairly good-Easy to understand-Limited functionality."
"Very easy to use good software for a beginner."
"There are no controls over sound and it's really easy to lay in sound tracks or load sound files, but I'd suggest recording outside the program for full control in something like Audacity... then loading in your sound files."
"My only previous experience in making such a film comes from an interactive museum exhibit over a decade ago. You can also use a DSLR camera if you want good image quality (I didn’t test that ability). Onionskin: Onionskin superimposes the previous frame on top of your current camera view so that you can position your frame perfectly – you can control the level of transparency. Others: You can add still-frame photographs or images, title scene or ending credit scene, and you can also adjust contrast or apply image filters (like black & white)."
"If you already have a webcam set up, it will appear in Stopmotion Studio as a Camera Device in the dropdown menu as an option. Key drawing lets you sketch over the View Screen, so you can mark the position(s) of your character(s) in the next frame. There are also special effects you can play around with, like green screen, which allows you to change the background (your backyard, for example) after production. You can also get really artistic and use the drawing and painting tools to add other elements (like gunsmoke, flare, and laser beam)."
Best Illustration
CLIP STUDIO PAINT PRO, The #1 Comic & Manga Software Worldwide, is the most efficient and advanced all-in-one solution for drawing, laying out, illustrating and publishing manga and comics. Designed specifically for illustrating manga and comic art, specialized features provide a complete solution all in one program. Frame-by-frame animation - features include adjustable timeline, onion skinning display and light table for creating seamless transitions.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I found that drawing in paint tool sai is still far smoother than doing so in this program, and coloring, and shading, and etc. I still haven't figured out how to zoom in on the model but you can click and drag to move or rotate parts of the "doll" to get a pose you need. Well their website has you covered with a literal BUTTLOAD of individual and brush sets taht you can easily install into the program."
"Update 1 month later : I keep finding more and more reasons to love this program, its half the price of SAI but arguably stronger engine, there's so much power packed in this application, even if you don't use it, it's very easy to get into and fiddle with to learn the controls. If you are on the fence on finding an application for your digital drawing needs, this is a tough one to pass up on, I think most people who digital paint shy away from this thinking its only for manga, the brush engine and customization available in this application will more than cover your doodly needs!.I've only scratched the surface of what it has to offer from what I read and see on online tutorials, yet offers so much with the standard tools available from the get go."
"The learning curve is easy and if you get stuck there are many tutorials."
"No more awkward lines! Still easy to use, Has extra features that Sai tool did not have, and plethora of resources made by other users that adds expandability of the tool! If you are looking for a good paint tool that doesn't break your bank or cause awkward sensation while drawing, Clip studio paint is worth a try."
Best CAD
Consider Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan or Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC to get the latest updates, and ensure that the software works with raw files from the newest cameras.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"There are four new features that are intended to convince version 5 users to upgrade: -Better performance. -Facial recognition. -Panorama merge. -HDR merge. I suspect what people care most about are Panorama and HDR. Here's the good news about these features: The output file for both the HDR and Panorama merge is Adobe DNG (RAW) so you can continue to modify the photo as a RAW film in Lightroom. Every program I've used for HDR and Panorama can only output a JPEG or TIFF even when they can accept a RAW files as an input (and of course, it's a major pain to have to convert your RAW files to TIFF or JPEG for programs that cannot accept RAW). Despite the lack of controls for HDR and Panoramic merge, there's a huge plus to having these features built into Lightroom and having the output file kept in RAW. But if you want the ability to control the process than the upgrade may not be worth it for you at this time (especially if you want that surreal look to your HDR images)."
"Like several other one-star reviewers I could not find the serial number to install the software, even after over an hour of browsing the Adobe www site and going in circles that always led to having me look on the box or the DVD sleeve."
"I was on the verge of purchasing the Lightroom 6 standalone product when I discovered the following: Adobe is in the process of moving its products to a subscription-only based business model."
Best Home Design
![Sweet Home 3D [Download]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81mqySxP8uL._SS600_.png)
Sweet Home 3D is aimed at people who wants to design their interior quickly, whether they are moving or they just want to redesign their existing home. View the changes in the plan simultaneously in a 3D view, in which you can navigate either from an aerial view point, or from a virtual visitor view point. PC Minimum System Requirements: PC Recommended System Requirements: Processor: Intel Core RAM: 1 GB Hard Disk: 280 MB Video Card: Any Supported OS: Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP. Customize colors and texture of furniture, walls, floors and ceilings.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I say it is freeware because you can go to their home website and download the exact same program and furniture collections for free, but you have to download each and install the program and import the collections. By buying it through Amazon, you get the program and all available furniture collections packaged into one installation program and you provide the developers with a little cash for their efforts. If you can't find an item of furniture or a door or window you need, you can install the free Sketchup Make program, search the Sketchup 3D Warehouse and import any 3D model, or draw your own in Sketchup (steep learning curve, but worth it)."
"This software is not only VERY affordable but easy to use for ALL."
"Before purchasing this though, I played with a few free download program from various vendors ranging in price from $60-$200. I would not expect to use program to turn plans directly over to a builder, but it will save you thousands in architectural fees by laying out your own floor-plan first."
"This includes what we normally think of as furniture (tables, chairs, beds), and also doors, windows, staircases, appliances, cabinets, fixtures, tools and so on.). After a few hours of trial-and-error practice, I was able to produce respectable concept drawings (to show to a contractor) for a home addition, and for separate woodworking workshop and garden tractor garage buildings. The program author lives in Europe, so an American user may notice a few quirks."
Best Photography
Platform: PC/Mac Disc. Consider Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan or Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC to get the latest updates, and ensure that the software works with raw files from the newest cameras.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Like several other one-star reviewers I could not find the serial number to install the software, even after over an hour of browsing the Adobe www site and going in circles that always led to having me look on the box or the DVD sleeve."
"There are four new features that are intended to convince version 5 users to upgrade: -Better performance. -Facial recognition. -Panorama merge. -HDR merge. I suspect what people care most about are Panorama and HDR. Here's the good news about these features: The output file for both the HDR and Panorama merge is Adobe DNG (RAW) so you can continue to modify the photo as a RAW film in Lightroom. Every program I've used for HDR and Panorama can only output a JPEG or TIFF even when they can accept a RAW files as an input (and of course, it's a major pain to have to convert your RAW files to TIFF or JPEG for programs that cannot accept RAW). Despite the lack of controls for HDR and Panoramic merge, there's a huge plus to having these features built into Lightroom and having the output file kept in RAW. But if you want the ability to control the process than the upgrade may not be worth it for you at this time (especially if you want that surreal look to your HDR images)."
"I was on the verge of purchasing the Lightroom 6 standalone product when I discovered the following: Adobe is in the process of moving its products to a subscription-only based business model."
