#software recs

[saltedbruises]

What software or sites does everyone use for making/editing gifs these days? I've been hunting for an easier way to adjust levels and contrast...

[kyokosasagawa]

Obsidian.md - A software recommendation for Fanfic Writers

Hi everyone! So I know a lot of people like Notion and google docs and all that jazz, but I'd like to recommend new-ish software that would work really good for fanfiction writers and world-builders.

It's called Obsidian and it is great!

(ID: a screenshot depicting Obsidian.md's functionality on both mobile and desktop. It looks like a writing software that has multiple folders and note taking functions, along with a graph.)

Reasons why I recommend it:

It's entirely file-based, meaning that all your content stays on your computer, or even in your cloud storage if you choose to put it in that dropbox folder. This also means that you do not have to rely on the internet for accessing your fanfics. It's also super duper fast!

There are multiple community themes and plugins to make it more accessible, aesthetically pleasing, and overall easier to use. If markdown intimidates you, why not just right click and choose the bold button? There's a plugin for that. If you're coming from Notion---there's a plugin to make it more akin to Notion, too. Want it to look like a word processor? Surprise, there's a plugin for a toolbar that will appear at the top of your screen, akin to Word or Google Ddocs.

There's a very intricate mindmapping function that lets you incorporate notes. For example, if you want to put an entire note into a mindmap that upon clicking would let you open up a new page, that's a thing it does. It's called "Canvas!" and it comes with Obsidian.

There's a Daily Note function that you can use to make whatever template you want appear upon opening the software, or upon clicking a button. For example, if you want to get into a daily morning journal habit, it'll work great.

All of this is free!!!!!

I really recommend giving it a shot!! It's my favorite software I use on a daily basis for things that involve writing. I'm currently using it for art notes, fanfiction, journals, goal setting, so forth. It's very easy to use despite how it looks at first!

[aikainkauna]

Drive-by software rec for bad PDFs with two-page scans

If you hoard ebooks as much as yours truly does (Mercury bless archive.org and libgen.io), I’m sure that you, too, will have come across badly scanned books, where they’ve just scanned the whole two-page spread as one page. And we all know what a pain in the arse it is to try and read those two-pages-at-a-time spreads even on the desktop screen, let alone mobile devices, right? And all the methods to split these books into one-page-at-a-time layouts seem incredibly bloody complicated and time-consuming and/or the software that does it for you costs big bucks. Annoying, isn’t it? Well, I’ve *finally* found freeware that will split those spreads for you--have a look at Briss (yes, I kind of groaned at the name, too).

https://sourceforge.net/projects/briss/

I swear I’m not working for these guys; it really does do the job pretty neatly. Although it’s still not an excuse for the book uploaders to do those horrid two-or even four-page spreads on one page--they should be doing this before uploading, not us:P

[disarutmeedrai]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.infinitycow.eplay

If it doesn't have multi-queue support like Musicolet, I'm not interested.

[xo-meow]

Just thought I’d share!

For anyone that does reaction videos, compilations, edits, etc. 4K Downloader is an amazing tool!!

I’ve been using the free version for a couple years now and it has been amazing! I rarely have problems with it, and even when I do, it’s usually an easy fix.

One of my favorite features is that you can preset certain settings. So say you’re downloading videos for an edit and you want them all at the best quality offered. With 4K, you can preset the download quality to “Best Quality” and it’ll download your videos in the best quality available.

You can even download full playlists! The free version only allows you to download up to 25 videos at a time, but doing 25 at once compared to 25 individually is still a lot better.

Be sure to keep the software updated though, as I’ve run into a few problems when I didn’t have the software updated.

To get the software just go to this link:

https://www.4kdownload.com/products/product-videodownloader?r=free_license

It’s completely free. The premium version is pretty cheap though. It’s a one-time payment of $15. 

Like any software it’s not perfect, but it’s pretty damn good for being free.

[buckyscurvylover]

Message for my Nonny

I saw your last ask. Take your time, but there are a bunch of free options to ensure that your computer is relatively safe from viruses etc. If you (or anyone else) want some links with my recommendations for various antivirus and anti malware software, just send me an ask. :-)

[dhrachth]

Video editing software?

I just want to make some basic tutorial style Youtube vids.  Nothing fancy.  I’ve been using Movie Maker and it does most of what I want.  But there are some really irritating things, like how it doesn’t let you anchor narration to specific segments of video and if you need to fix something early on in the vid it will screw up everything that’s already right afterwards.

What is a not too expensive, easy to use alternative?  For Windows 7 or 10.