Jason van Gumster mostly makes stuff up. He writes, animates, and occasionally teaches, all using open source tools. He's run a small, independent animation studio, wrote Blender For Dummies and GIMP Bible, and continues to blurt out his experiences during a [sometimes] weekly podcast, the Open Source Creative Podcast. Adventures (and lies) at @monsterjavaguns.

Authored Content

Painting art on a computer screen

Access free, high-quality images from HDRI Haven

High dynamic range imaging (HDRI) is an expensive photography technique. HDRI Haven provides a community-powered gallery of freely available images.
Jason van Gumster 26 Nov 2020
Open Force superhero characters

Celebrating National Superhero Day with Tux, BSD, and more

Download a free desktop wallpaper image of the Open Force.
Jason van Gumster 28 Apr 2019 3 comments
Cheat sheet general image

Get the Inkscape cheat sheet for advanced graphics editing

Download our free Inkscape cheat sheet for quick use of this open source tool.
Jason van Gumster 09 Jan 2019
A daisy swirl

Learn the 37 most frequently used shortcuts in GIMP

Download this free, GIMP cheat sheet.
Jason van Gumster 25 Sep 2018 1 comment
Sky with clouds and grass

Getting started with openmediavault: A home NAS solution

This network-attached file server offers a solid array of features and is easy to install and configure.
Jason van Gumster 17 Sep 2018
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Contributed Content

Working from home at a laptop

Our favorite open source writing tools

Opensource.com correspondents share their favorite tools for churning out words.
Opensource.com (Red Hat) 13 Aug 2020 7 comments
Open Lego CAD

Create LEGO designs in Blender with this plugin

Convert your 3D digital models into LEGO designs with Bricker
Seth Kenlon (Red Hat) 03 Jul 2020 5 comments
Person in a field of dandelions

Announcing the Opensource.com Correspondent program

Top authors on Opensource.com have new levels of access, support, and exclusive opportunities.
Matthew Broberg (Red Hat) 25 Nov 2019 4 comments
Hot air balloons with Top Five text

Top 5: No-nos for JavaScript frameworks and Python coding, and more

In this week's Top 5, we highlight Python, JavaScript, and more.
Ben Cotton (Red Hat) 30 Jun 2017

Authored Comments

Commented on 7 Sep 2018
6 open source tools for writing a book
Another application worth the mention for ebooks is Calibre. It's billed as an ebook management program, but it's especially handy for conversions and previews.
Commented on 31 Aug 2018
6 places to host your git repository
Oooh. That's a handy looking little device. A tad expensive for my tastes, though. If I'm rolling my own, I'd personally lean towards using something I already have on hand.
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