Free Software: Bryce 5.5 for Mac & Windows

You gotta love free stuff, right? Well, it's not Free Friday yet, but this one is too good to sit on. Bryce is an application you use to create 3-D landscapes and more. From the product download page description:

Create breathtaking realistic 3D landscapes and animations with DAZ 3D Bryce 5.5. The easy user interface simplifies the design process for a novice or the seasoned professional. Start out building or importing a landscape as impressive as the Grand Canyon. Populate it with buildings, people or any other object you create or from the extensive DAZ 3D library. The Light Lab provides you robust control over your sunsets, moonlight nights or high-noon ambiance. Tree Lab allows you to plant your landscape like the gardens of Versailles. You'll have to register your copy of Bryce 5.5 on the publishers web-site to gain access to your free Bryce serial number.

It turns out that that Daz 3-D, the company that makes Bryce, is touting version 6 now, so what better way to get folks interested in maybe upgrading to v6 than by offering v5.5 for free? Niiice. It's available for Mac and Windows platforms off the downloads.com website.

Search link for Bryce 5.5 on Downloads.com

Once you get a copy of Bryce (it is a longish download depending on your connection speed; my T1 took almost 30 minutes), launch the app, and then it will ask you for your license code. You obtain a free code by going to the Daz3D site and creating a Daz account for free.

Daz3D webpage to obtain free serial number for Bryce 5.5

Not bad...this product retailed for about $80 when it was out on the market new...enjoy!

iTunes Plug-In: DockArt

Here's a little Friday fun in honor of the upcoming weekend. I got tipped to this via the TUAW. It's a plug-in to use with iTunes called DockArt, and it does something pretty cool when you install it. It simply displays the album cover art (if you have it) of the iTunes track currently playing in your dock. Pretty sweet, huh? Oh, and it's free. Gotta have, now.

System requirements listed for the plugin are: iTunes 4.1 or higher, and QuickTime 6.4 or higher. Apparently, the latest version available does work with the latest release of iTunes, 7.1

DockArt

What's New in iTunes 7.1

Apple released an update to iTunes for all users yesterday, bringing folks up to iTunes 7.1. New features were promised in this release such as full-screen Cover Flow (album art) and support for AppleTV. There is a good article on the update on the iLounge site (for everything iPod).

Instant Expert: Secrets & Features of iTunes 7.1

"Essential" Mac Apps

Every now and then, a Mac fan comes up with a list of essential, "must-have" applications that all true Macolytes should have on their systems. I'm sure the same goes for the Windows crew as well, but you'd have to check their blogs to be sure. In any case, a good app-list came up on a blog, and a lot of folks commented on the list, but then the list stayed stagnant, and some of the app pages disappeared. That's where Peter Baer Galvin stepped in, on his Peter Baer Galvin's Blog:

Mac Specialist posted a great list of essential Mac OS X Applications here, and it caused lots of discussion on the topic. Unfortunately they never revised the list based on this input and now it takes quite a lot of effort to navigate through the list and all the comments. I thought I’d take a run at creating a new “consensus” list starting from theirs and adding all of the other input.

And so he did. I believe I have even posted a Mac app list here at least once, but if you want a great list of goodies to potentially use on your Mac, I'd take a gander at the list he's put together.

"Consensus" "Essential" Mac OS X Applications

Mac App A Day: Free Mac Software Thru December!

Yes, you heard correctly. In order to bring more publicity to Mac software developers, the Mac App A Day website is going to be releasing a new Mac app for free each night starting December 1st and continuing throughout the month, plus one more on New Year's Day. These will either be entirely free, or will have a trial period that has been greatly extended. The biggest problem will be remembering to visit the site each day! No titles have been announced, so we'll all find out together. Can I get a w00t w00t for free stuff?

Mac App A Day