External Tutorials
This page contains lists of external tutorials that represent all the software/applications, equipment, and coding languages supported by the University of Lethbridge Library. The term “external tutorials” refers to learning materials that have been created by sources not found within the University of Lethbridge Library. If you have any questions or concerns about any of the learning materials we have provided, please email project.sandbox@uleth.ca. We are happy to help with any support that may be required.
3D
- Adobe Dimension - 3D Rendering and design software. Best used for creating product mockups and 3D scenes using premade 3D assets.
- Autodesk Fusion 360 - Free 3D modelling and rendering software. Best used for models that need to be 3D printed.
- Autodesk Tinkercad - Free and easy to use online 3D modelling software. Best used for the creation of simple 3D models, experimentation with Arduinos/simple electronic circuits, and for learning 3D.
- Blender - Open source advanced 3D software used for animation, rendering and 3D modelling/texturing/lighting. Best used for the creation of game assets, 3D animated videos, or organic 3D objects (e.g., people, animals, trees, etc.).
Audio
- Adobe Audition - Professional-grade audio workstation. Best used for the creation, editing, and mixing of podcasts, sound effects, and audio tracks from video.
- Audacity - Open source multi-track audio editor and recording software. Best used for recording and editing podcasts, music, and sound effects.
- GarageBand - Music creation studio. Best used for the creation of music through audio recordings, midi instruments, music loops, and digital mixers.
Extended Reality
- Meta Spark Studio - Free and easy to use augmented reality (AR) software. Best used for creating AR experiences such as scavenger hunts, quizzes, storytelling, and more. The Metaverse - Augmented Reality app will need to be downloaded on mobile devices to view and share AR experiences.
Gaming
- Godot Engine - Open source game engine software. Best used if you are a beginner with game engines and are interested in creating either 2D or 3D games.
- Twine - Open source nonlinear storytelling software. Best used for creating interactive stories that can be shared online. Can be modified with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
- Unity - Professional grade game engine software. Best used for getting exposure to professional grade software while still learning to create games. Free for both student and professional use so long as revenue or funding is less that $100K over the last 12 months.
- Unreal Engine - Professional grade game engine software. Best used if you are wanting to create video games with enhanced graphics. Free for use unless your game makes over $1 million USD at which point a 5% royalty fee is applied.
Images/Documents
- Adobe Express - Free online all-in-one design application. Best used for individuals looking for a professional grade version of Canva. Adobe Express can be used to create images, simple videos, and websites in addition to providing quick design tasks such as file conversions, resizing dimensions, and creating QR codes.
- Adobe Illustrator - Professional-grade vector graphic editor software. Best used for digital drawing and creating graphics that need to be scaled (e.g., logos).
- Adobe InCopy - Word-processor for copywriters and editors. Best used for editing content that will be brought into InDesign.
- Adobe InDesign - Professional-grade publishing and page layout software. Best used for creating book layouts, digital magazines, and eBooks.
- Adobe Lightroom - Professional-grade photo editing software. Best used for making edits to photographs including but not limited to contrast, brightness, curves, and colour.
- Adobe Photoshop - Professional-grade raster graphics editor software. Best used for image manipulation, editing, and retouching.
- Camera Basics - This section is meant to enhance knowledge about camera usage.
- Canva - Free online all-in-one design application. Best used for individuals looking for an easy to use and intuitive all-in-one design option. Canva can be used to create images, simple videos, and multi-page documents.
- GIMP - Open source raster graphics editor software. Best used for image manipulation/editing, image file format conversion, and for those looking for a free version of Adobe Photoshop.
- Inkscape - Open source vector graphic editor software. Best used for digital drawing, creating graphics that need to be scaled (e.g., logos), and for those looking for a free version of Adobe Illustrator.
Programming
- Arduino IDE (Coding Required) - Open source text editor for Arduino microcontrollers. Best used for writing and uploading code to Arduino-based hardware as well as reading data collected by them.
- MySQL (Coding Required) - Open source relational database management system.
- Ozoblockly - Free block-based visual programming language software for Ozobots. Best used for programming Ozobots and learning the fundamentals of programming languages. Can also be used with Python.
- PHP (Coding Required) - General purpose scripting language. Best used for creating dynamic content, session tracking, and communicating with a database.
- Programming Basics - This section is meant to provide introductory concepts and vocabulary for a variety of programming/coding languages.
- Python (Coding Required) - Open source integrated development and learning environment as well as Python implementation software. Best used for writing and executing code written with the Python coding language.
- Python Documentation
- Introductory Tutorials [Beginner]
- Python Tutorials and Libraries [Intermediate]
- PyPI (Index of Python Libraries)
- Pyperclip (Copy and Paste through Python)
- Object Oriented Programming Tutorial (Classes and Objects)
- Tkinter Tutorial (Graphical User Interface)
- Arcade Tutorial (Game Development)
- Pandas Tutorial (Data Analysis)
- Matplotlib Tutorials (Visualization/Plotting)
- Dash Tutorial (Data Applications)
- Numpy Tutorial (Scientific Computing)
- OpenCV Tutorials (Computer Vision)
- Scratch - Free online block-based visual programming language application. Best used for creating digital stories, games, animations, and learning the fundamentals of programming languages.
Video
- Adobe After Effects - Professional-grade motion graphics, visual effects, and compositor software. Best used for creating animations and adding effects to video.
- Adobe Animate - Professional-grade vector graphic animation software. Best used for the creation of animations for cartoons, games, banners, and the web.
- Adobe Character Animator - Professional-grade digital puppet software. Best used for the creation or real-time animations that utilize webcam-based motion capture to animate a digital puppet.
- Adobe Media Encoder - Encoding engine for exporting a variety of file types. Best used for exporting projects from Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Audition, and Adobe Character Animator in the background of the computer.
- Adobe Premiere Pro - Professional-grade non-linear video editing software. Best used for editing, colour grading, adding titles, manipulating sound for video, and working with other Adobe software.
- Adobe Premiere Rush - Simplified video editing app. Best used for creating quick videos used for online spaces.
- DaVinci Resolve - Free professional grade video editing software. Best used for editing, colour grading, adding titles, and manipulating sound for video.
- Handbrake - Open source video transcoder software. Best used for converting video file formats. For example, converting a video with an AVI file format into an MP4.
- iMovie - Apple-based simplified video editing software. Best used for creating basics edits to videos within an Apple operating system.
- Insta360 Studio 2020 - This program is a video editor that is used to edit the content captured by Insta360 cameras. It provides basic functionality for editing and splicing video clips.
- OBS Studio - Open source video streaming and recording software. Best used for the creation of streams and recordings by mixing multiple sources such as desktop screens, webcams, and USB microphones.
- OpenShot Video Editor - Open source video editing software. Best used for a simplified video editing experience without paywalls.
Web
- Adobe Dreamweaver (Coding Required) - Website creation software. Best used for the creation of websites through the visualization of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and more.
- Adobe XD - Vector-based interface design tool. Best used for the creation of interface prototypes and wireframes.
- CSS (Coding Required) - Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a coding language used to modify the look of websites.
- HTML (Coding Required) - Hyper Text Markup language (HTML) is used for creating webpages. HTML creates the structure that a website is built upon.
- JavaScript (Coding Required) - Programming language that is used for adding interactivity and features to the web.
- Wix - Free online website builder. Best used for easily creating websites without the use of coding languages.