Swish is a low cost flash design solution for webmaster who want Flash animation on their sites can be deterred by the high cost of the premier Flash authoring programs.

On the other hand, some of the low-cost software solutions really don’t do very much. A program I’ve used for years, Swish, available for download at http://www.swishzone.com for about $50, is a real bargain. It offers a library of customizable special effects, including Transform, Squeeze, Alternate, Snake, Explode, 3D spin, Vortex, Wave, Typewriter, Fade In and Out, Slide and Blur. Whether you are aiming at complex animations or simple text banners, Swish is worth a try. Your animations can be exported as web-standard swf files. In spite of its low cost, this is a robust, well-designed authoring environment which will not aggravate you with crashes or inconsistent behavior. One benefit I’ve found to Swish versus other inexpensive Flash authoring programs is file size. You do not want your web-site visitors stalled, waiting for the bloated Flash files produced by some other low cost programs to load. I don’t have the most up-to-date version of Swish, SwishStudio, nor the higher-priced option, SwishMax, they are now offering. By my Swish 2.01 has been a trusty friend for years.

Wings 3D is a Free 3D Software with SL(TM) Support.

There are a few 3D modelers for free, but a small fast and easy to pick up Wings3D is a good choice for many to learn with and has a good plug-in available for Second Life(r) creators to take advantage of to make sculpt maps for uploading models to SL(TM) grid. The software is fast, works on many platforms and is free. It has less features than Blender but is a little faster to pick up and can cause less error for a beginning 3D modeler with it’s menu to start and mouse move plus click to stop the change. It is a simple tool set with cool features, such as magnets, and selection tools like loop select etc. as you would expect. It does render using Pov ray, so it is not just a basic modeler. Not the best at any task, but with it’s reduced set of tools and easier to understand and avoid errors make it good for Second Life builders. The free plug-in for SL(TM) can be found on the SecondLife.com’s forums. This will allow you to export a sculpt map that can be uploaded for amost unlimited and interesting shapes that reduce prim limits and look more real. Video’s on the net are available to help out as well as tutorials. Be sure to read the manual (as with most 3D programs) and remember there is a menu when you right click! Look down at the bottom left of the window for extra options to the present operation. The UI is different than blender (another popular software with sculpt map rendering support) but for me is a good choice for roughing out shapes and then I use the sculpt tool in Blender for get a more smoother or organic shape.

Photolighting is a great digital photo enhancer software. The cost is $39.95, and you can download a free 30 day trial. It performs many functions such as retrieving and organizing photos, but I find the photo editing feature extremely valuable and easy to use. I always have a problem with back lighting in photographs.

This software offers a one click fix for adding a flash, correcting backlighting, enhancing color, red eye correction, cloning, and more. When you compare the cost to Adobe Element or Photoshop, the $39.95 for this program is a very good deal.

A quick list of my favorite free Mac downloads.

• Last.fm – The best social music network, expand your music sense by receiving recommendations based on your music taste.
• Screenshot Plus Widget – I use this daily, several different functions of the standard screen grab built into osx.
• Amazon Album Art – Fast and easy and accurate way to update your iTunes album art, one album at a time.
• VLC Player – Who wants to fork over $40 for QT Pro? not me! VLC does it all! Cross-platform media player and streaming server
• Linotype Font Explorer – It’s like iTunes for your fonts! Sort group, manage, expand etc.
• Firefox Developer Toolbar – Great app for web developers, intuitive and handy for even the novice web developer.