Research Guides: Digital Media (DGME): Software and Media

Software

Software from CSM

Microsoft Software

All staff and students have access to Microsoft Software. You are required to log in through OneLogin. If you click in OneLogin you will be redirected to OneLogin SMCCD page. Microsoft 365 suite includes apps like Visio, Stream, Sharepoint, or PowerPages.

Adobe Software

All staff and students have access to Adobe Software. You are required to log in to Adobe. Use your respective SMCCD credentials to sign in. If you click on Adobe, you will be redirected to the respective webpage.

Free and Open Source Software

Inkscape
Inkscape is a Free and open source vector graphics editor for GNU/Linux, Windows and macOS. It offers a rich set of features and is widely used for both artistic and technical illustrations such as cartoons, clip art, logos, typography, diagramming and flowcharting.
Krita
Krita is a full-featured free digital painting studio for artists who want to create professional work from start to end. It offers support for colorspaces other than RGB, like CMYK, support for HDR painting, painting assistants, and a perspective grid.
Blender
Blender is a free and open-source cross-platform 3D creation suite. With Blender, you can create 3D visualizations such as still images, 3D animations and VFX shots. You can also edit videos.
GIMP
GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.
Darktable
Darktable is an open source photography workflow application and raw developer. A virtual lighttable and darkroom for photographers. It manages digital negatives in a database, lets creators view them through a zoomable lighttable and enables them to develop raw images and enhance them.
Canva
Online design and visual communication platform that provides a graphic design platform with tools for creating social media graphics, presentations, promotional merchandise, videos, and Web sites. The platform uses a drag-and-drop interface intended to simplify the design process. Canva operates on a freemium model, but many tools and assets are free.
Audacity
Audacity is the world’s most popular free software for recording and editing audio. It is an easy-to-use, multi-track audio editor and recorder for Windows, macOS, GNU/Linux and other operating systems.
OBS Studio
OBS Studio is free and open-source, cross-platform screencasting and live streaming app. It provides real-time capture, scene composition, recording, encoding, and broadcasting via Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), HLS, SRT, RIST or WebRTC.
DataBasic
DataBasic is a suite of easy-to-use web tools for beginners that introduce concepts of working with data. These simple tools make it easy to work with data in fun ways, so you can learn how to find great stories to tell.
-WordCounter analyzes your text and tells you the most common words and phrases.
-WTFcsv tells you WTF is going on with your .csv file.
-SameDiff compares two or more text files and tells you how similar or different they are.
-ConnectTheDots shows you how your data is connected by analyzing it as a network.

Royalty Free or Public Domain Media

Pixabay
On Pixabay, you can obtain quality images free of copyrights. This is the best place to begin your photo search. It also includes vector and other types of graphics.
Artstor on JSTOR: Working with images
JSTOR guide to support using and teaching with images available in the database.
Wikmedia Commons
Media file repository offering public domain and freely licensed educational content, such as images, sound, and video clips, in various languages. Launched on September 7, 2004, it serves as a central repository for Wikimedia Foundation projects, allowing media files to be embedded across all projects without separate uploads. With over 109 million files, Wikimedia Commons is freely accessible to everyone, enabling users to copy, use, and modify content under specified licensing terms.
Flickr
After running a search, select "License" -> Creative Commons" (change from the default "any license")
MorgueFile
Public domain, high resolution images on various topics.
Pexels
Pexels provides high-quality and completely free stock photos licensed under the Pexels license. All photos are nicely tagged, searchable, and easily discovered through our discover pages.

Wikimedia Commons
Media file repository offering public domain and freely licensed educational content, such as images, sound, and video clips, in various languages. Launched on September 7, 2004, it serves as a central repository for Wikimedia Foundation projects, allowing media files to be embedded across all projects without separate uploads. With over 109 million files, Wikimedia Commons is freely accessible to everyone, enabling users to copy, use, and modify content under specified licensing terms.
Pexels
Pexels provides high-quality and completely free stock photos licensed under the Pexels license. All photos are nicely tagged, searchable, and easily discovered through our discover pages.
Videezy
Videezy is a platform that offers a vast collection of high-quality stock video footage and video templates. It’s a community where videographers and creatives can share and download free and paid video clips. The site features a wide range of content, including HD and 4K resolution videos, aerial footage, and After Effects templates
Videvo
Platform that provides a wide range of free and premium stock video footage, motion graphics, and audio assets. It offers over 3 million clips, including HD and 4K videos, as well as royalty-free music and sound effects. Videvo’s content is available under various licenses, including Creative Commons and royalty-free, making it versatile for both personal and commercial use.

Wikimedia Commons
Media file repository offering public domain and freely licensed educational content, such as images, sound, and video clips, in various languages. Launched on September 7, 2004, it serves as a central repository for Wikimedia Foundation projects, allowing media files to be embedded across all projects without separate uploads. With over 109 million files, Wikimedia Commons is freely accessible to everyone, enabling users to copy, use, and modify content under specified licensing terms
Audionautix
Audionautix is a platform created by Jason Shaw that offers a wide range of royalty-free music. All the music on Audionautix is composed and produced by Shaw himself and is available for free download and use, even for commercial purposes, as long as proper credit is given. It is possible to search by mood, genre or tempo.
Free Music Archive (FMA)
Free Music Archive (FMA) offers free access to open licensed, original music by independent artists around the world. Tracks on FMA are featured in countless videos, podcasts, films, games, apps, commercials, documentaries, and more. Remember to note the specific CC license on each track for proper usage and attribution.
Free Sound
Freesound aims to create a huge collaborative database of audio snippets, samples, recordings, and all sorts of bleeps, ... released under Creative Commons licenses that allow their reuse. Freesound provides new and interesting ways of accessing these samples.
Musopen
Non-profit focused on improving access and exposure to music by creating free resources and educational materials. We provide recordings, sheet music, and textbooks to the public for free, without copyright restrictions. Put simply, our mission is to set music free.