In this part of the book, we first cover graphics, starting with digital photography and raster images. The Gnu Image Manipulation Program (Gimp) was designed to allow users to work with such images. It is somewhat comparable to Adobe Photoshop but has gone beyond this program in many places. Next, we review Inkscape, a drawing and illustration program. Finally, we cover Dia, a diagram editor.

Next, we move on to multimedia, starting with audio. The Audacity audio editor is considered one of the best in the world and has won several awards. After audio, we cover video editing. Computers have finally become powerful enough to do real-time video editing, although the technology is still in the early stages of development. The OpenShot video editor is one of the better ones available, so you’ll learn how to use it to create a YouTube video.

Finally, if you still use DVDs, you can learn about the DVDStyler program. This program lets you easily create nice-looking DVD images suitable for burning or distributing as an ISO image.

As computer technology advances, the quality of free software advances as well. With older technologies such as still pictures and audio, free software is as good if not better than its commercial counterparts. With newer video-editing technology, it may not be as good as the commercial stuff yet, but it’s almost there and catching up fast. Either way, you can find many excellent, free, open source tools to use in your daily work.