Anyone who likes to work with graphics will at one time or another find compositing software useful. Luckily, FOSS has several of the best in Blender and Natron.
Get a quick overview of Natron, cross-platform open source digital compositing software in this new YouTube video.
Natron creates visual effects in the same style as the commercial software called Nuke. You can acquire skills at using Nuke (which presumably transfer to Natron) via a seven hour Lynda.com course – Nuke Essential Training.
Many public library systems are now offering free access to Lynda.com training for all library card holders. Here in the Washington DC-area the Prince Georges Memorial Library System (Maryland) and the DC Public Libraries offers free access to Lynda.com training.
Inquire to see if your own public library system offers Lynda.com access. You can also purchase access from Lynda.com for $25 per month — which is a very affordable price for such high quality training.
Also, did you notice how you can pay for commercial training from the people who produce Natron? If the software is free and high quality, then it definitely makes sense for a school district, college, public library or makerspace to pay for some training.
Wouldn’t it be neat to have contests to see who can create the best multimedia content using Natron? If that’s something of interest, please get in touch with me at pshapiro@his.com . I have some ideas on how to make that happen.
For the past 10 years, Phil has been working at a public library in the Washington D.C.-area, helping youth and adults use the 28 public Linux stations the library offers seven days a week. He also writes for MAKE magazine, Opensource.com and TechSoup Libraries. Suggest videos by contacting Phil on Twitter or at pshapiro@his.com.
