Commitment to Open Source#

At the Digital Garage we feel that technology is the birthright of all humans, and should be accessible to all as such. We realize that nothing exists in a vacuum, and that any technological advancement is built on a foundation of individual and group efforts too numerous to count and too subtle to distinguish. It’s with this in mind that we fully embrace the open source ecosystem, so that our journey can help advance the journey of others, and we can fully credit those that have helped us on our path. We commit to using and teaching open-source software, integrating open-source hardware and releasing everything that we create under the GNU General Public License (GPLv3).

Open-Source Tools for Making#

Here is a list of open-source tools that we have at least some experience with and can offer some guidance on at the Garage. Don’t see something? Have a ton of experience with something on the list and want to help others? Let us know!

Software Name Function Proprietary Equivalent(s)
Inkscape Vector Graphics Adobe Illustrator
GIMP Raster Graphics Adobe Photoshop
Scribus Desktop Publishing Adobe InDesign
KdenLive Non-Linear Video Editing Adobe Premiere, iMovie
Synfig Animation Adobe Animate
Natron Motion Graphics Adobe AfterEffects
Blender 3d Modeling/Animation Maya
Audacity Audio Editing GarageBand
LMMS Digital Audio Workstation Ableton, Cubase
Godot Game Engine Unity
FreeCAD Parametric Modeling SolidWorks, Fusion360
KiCAD PCB Design EAGLE
Splash Projection Mapping MadMapper
QLC+ Show Controller qLab, Showmaster
LibreOffice Office Suite Microsoft Office
Hugo Website Generator Squarespace, Wix

Statement on AI#

Closely related to our stance on open-source, we do not believe any of the current companies offering services related to ‘Artificial Intelligence’ are behaving as good stewards of our creative commons, and as such we won’t incorporate AI-generated elements or the tools to use them into our programming. We’re ultimately excited about this technology and its potential in the right applications, and will continue to monitor this space for changes to its current climate, with the hope of revising this at a later date.