UPDATE: Resources have now been compiled into an official Author Resources KnowledgeBase article. Feel free to add new suggestions here to this unofficial resources list.
This thread details essential third party resources for authors. Mostly it’s free / open source / creative commons. There’s one or two very popular / essential pay resources too.
Maybe this thread will become part of the Wiki one day… let’s see. In the meantime, can you think of some essential resources?
Below are the collected highlights from the rest of this thread…
Audio
Audiojungle - Videohive’s sister site. With permission from the author, use watermarked audio in your previews for free.
http://audiojungle.net
Audio Jungle Radio - The Audio Jungle Radio plays Audiojungle collections or search results as a playlist in the background, so you can continue to work while you search for that perfect track!
http://www.audiojungleradio.com
CCMixter
http://ccmixter.org
Incompetech
http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/index.html
Free sounds
http://www.freesound.org/
Typefaces
Font Squirrel - Only the best commercial use free fonts
http://www.fontsquirrel.com/
Lost Type - A nice collection of donationware fonts
http://losttype.com/browse/
Dafont.com - Thousands and thousands of free fonts of varying quality.
http://www.dafont.com
The League of Moveable Type - Several excellent, high quality typefaces
http://www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com/
Font Fabric - Several excellent, high quality typefaces
http://fontfabric.com/
MG Open - Videohive typeface
http://www.eaglefonts.com/mgopen-modata-ttf-95618.htm
Fontshop Free Fonts
http://www.fontshop.com/fontlist/staff_picks/free_fonts/ - quality typefaces from otherwise commercial font reseller.
Fonts Installed as Part of CS5
Which typefaces you can use, firm in the knowledge that your customers will have them too.
http://www.adobe.com/type/browser/fontinstall/cs5installedfonts.html
Fonts Installed with Windows 7
Which typefaces you can use, firm in the knowledge that Windows 7 users will have them too.
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/product.aspx?pid=161
Fonts Installed with Mac OSX
Which typefaces you can use, firm in the knowledget that Mac OSX users will have them too. Also included is information about crossover with Windows installed fonts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_typefaces_included_with_Mac_OS_X
Workflow
Expression universalizer - Make your After Expressions work in all language versions. Name your own price
http://aescripts.com/expressionuniversalizer/
BG Renderer - Render in the background while you continue to work in After Effects (and more). Indispensible. $14.99 basic / $34.99 pro - free trial
http://aescripts.com/bg-renderer/
Open Sesame - Backwards compatibility and more for After Effects. $49.99
http://aescripts.com/pt_opensesame/
iExpressions - Amazing expression stuff made easy. Modular - bundles available from $4.99 to $44.99
http://aescripts.com/iexpressions/
True Comp Duplicator - Duplicates the entire composition hierarchy. Name your own price.
http://aescripts.com/true-comp-duplicator/
3D Extruder - Automatically creates 3D extrusions with bevelling, shading and reflection. $34.99
http://aescripts.com/3d-extruder/
Color Scheme Designer - The very useful tool for every designer
http://colorschemedesigner.com/
Adobe Kuler - Color schemes
http://kuler.adobe.com/
Images
Photodune - Duh! Bit of a no brainer, this one. Photodune is a sister site to Videohive and although you need to pay a small amount to licence photos, the licensing deals are great for inclusion in previews.
http://photodune.net/
Morguefile - Masses of free to use photos.
http://morguefile.com
Wikimedia Commons - Creative commons and some classic out of copyright images.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Public Domain Pictures - pretty average free stock site. Actually, I’m sure this one can be replaced with something better. And anyway the licensing is pretty dubious.
http://publicdomainpictures.net/
bigfoto.com - Use their photos. The only condition - a link back to their site.
http://www.bigfoto.com/europe/london/
David Niblack - Use their photos. The only condition - a link back to their site.
http://imagebase.davidniblack.com
www.photos8.com
http://www.photos8.com/
flickr
http://flickr.com/
SXC
http://www.sxc.hu/ - Free stock photo site
Video
Blender Open Movie Project - Various great animated pieces created in Blender
http://www.blender.org/features-gallery/blender-open-projects/
Open Footage - Excellent timelapses / HDRI maps / panoramas
http://www.openfootage.net/
stockfootageforfree - If you need footages for preview in your project, here is a nice site offering couple of free stock videos.
http://www.stockfootageforfree.com/
Vimeo Free HD
"Vimeo Free HD":http://vimeo.com/groups/freehd/videos - Free HD clips. Some are a bit shaky but they’re free.
X Stock Video - Some nice HD footage for free and check the LINKS-tab for some more.
http://xstockvideo.com/
Digital Juice - VideoTraxx HD - The most frequently used video for previews on Videohive. Set1 $249. Set 2 $169.
http://www.digitaljuice.com/products/product_lines.asp?plid=13
Textures
Mayang Textures
http://mayang.com/textures/ - Masses of free textures
Urban Dirty
http://urbandirty.com/ - Grunge textures
Lost and Taken
http://lostandtaken.com/ - Grunge textures
CG Textures
http://www.cgtextures.com/ - 3D textures
Design Elements
40 Free vector and Photoshop brushes - Free vectors and PS brushes.
http://blog.qbrushes.net/25-free-vector-icons-and-graphics-for-commercial-use/
Commercial Software
Adobe After Effects - Obviously!
http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects.html
Cinema 4D - 3D everything
http://www.maxon.net/
Adobe Creative Cloud - A new way to licence Adobe software
http://www.adobe.com/products/creativecloud.html
Free Software
After Effects trial - 1 month free trial version
https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=after_effects
Cinema 4D demo - 42 day free trial version
http://www.maxon.net/en/downloads/demo-version/demoform-nl-add/choose/cinema-4d-demos.html
Blender - Free 3D software
http://www.blender.org/
Free Plug-ins
Cinema 4D plug-in for After Effects - Import C4D .aec format into After Effects
http://www.maxon.net/downloads/updates/plugins.html
Commercial Plug-ins
Trapcode Particular - fast and effective pseudo-3D particle generator $399
http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/products/all/trapcode-particular/
Trapcode Form - fast and effective thingummy for making kind of… well… Trapcode Formy stuff. $199
http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/products/all/trapcode-form/
Video Copilot Optical Flares - highly controllable lens flare plug-in $125
http://www.videocopilot.net/products/opticalflares/
Reelsmart Motion Blur - Must have tool for post-application of motion blur to 3D and other renders. $89.95 / $149.95 (pro version)
http://www.revisionfx.com/products/rsmb/
Videohive / Envato
Brian’s uploading 101 video for new authors…
http://tumblog.videohive.net/post/358305706/in-this-video-brian-explains-some-of-the-basics
Copyright
http://wiki.envato.com/category/selling/copyright-selling/
Free File of the Month
"Submit your file for Free File of the Month here!":http://www.formspring.com/forms/?618060-pwoYpvH12g (note: you only need to upload it once. After that it remains in a holding bank for the future.)
What resources you can and can’t include in your files
"wiki link":http://wiki.envato.com/selling/tips-selling/what-images-videos-illustrations-or-music-can-i-use-in-my-items/
“wiki videohive basics”:http://wiki.envato.com/tag/videohive-basics/
Envato Logo
"Envato logo - vector":http://sharealogo.com/internet/envato-vector-logo-download/
“Envato logo - PNG”:http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/3766/envatologo.png
"Envato logo with text - PNG":http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/4770/envatok.png
All market place logos
"Download zip":http://envato.s3.amazonaws.com/wiki/EnvatoMarketplace_Logos.zip - almost all market place logos in PSD and Vector EPS versions: graphicriver, videohive, themeforest, activeden, audioungle, 3docean, codecanyon and envato.
Miscellaneous
Motion Graphic Design Census 2010 Results - An extremely useful census of work practices and rates in the motion graphic design industry.
http://motiongraphicdesigncensus.org/2011/01/motion-graphic-design-census-results/
Region of Interest - Todd Kopriva’s Blog about what’s current in the world of After Effects.
Todds’ part of the After Effects technical support team at Adobe, foucssing on “one-to-many” support. In other words, helping people out on various blogs and forums. You’ll even catch him on the Videohive forums from time to time!
http://blogs.adobe.com/toddkopriva/
After Effects Feature Request / Bug Report - Page where you can log feature requests and bugs. The feature requests all get read, although you probably won’t hear directly back about it. This is how you get involved in the development of your favourite program.
https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform
Add your own in a reply to this thread.... other users have submitted loads more great links. By the way, I'm formatting all the posts in a certain way, for ease of reference.
The best links will be copied into this post.
-f.
