We hope that students and fans of the digital arts will find the links below useful!
(Please contact us if you find any broken links, on this page or anywhere else on the site.
Dartmouth College is not in any way responsible for the content of the websites we link to.)
Digital Arts
at Dartmouth College
Our YouTube Channel
Check out animations from previous classes of Dartmouth modelers and animators.
(Also available in the toolbar at the bottom of this page)
Animation Blog
A blog that collects cream-of-the-crop free-to-watch animations from all over the world.
The 11-second Club
A website that hosts a competition open to all animators, and keeps an archive of the results.
The Digipen Institute
Short student films plus behind-the-scenes interviews.
Ringling College of Design
Short and highly polished student films, the result of a year's focused labor.
Character Design Blog
Behind-the-scenes looks at the character design process, for well-known and obscure titles alike.
Recommended by none other than Tara Albanese '11, Mistress of Modeling, who cites this four-part post series in particular: 1 2 3 4
Autodesk
Autodesk provides fully functional, free downloads of all its software for students. That's a lot of downloads! Try Mudbox and 3DSMax in addition to Maya. The only catch is that there's a popup dialog box every time you save.
Sculptris
Although ZBrush developer Pixologic isn't quite as generous with free copies of its killer app, it has made Sculptris, a "Lite"-type version of ZBrush still in alpha, free for download. Lots of fun!
Blender
Blender is a "free, open-source 3D content creation suite" that has proven itself capable of rivaling commercial 3D packages in the quality of its output. The UI takes some getting used to though.
Creative Crash
A vast collection of Maya-compatible models, character rigs, and tools. Free registration required for downloads.
Turbo Squid
Another large repository of Maya models and rigs.
Renderosity
Limited number of free models compatible with Maya, but worth a glance.
Although a simple search engine can grab many texture images, you'll probably have more luck finding textures that tile well and are legally free to use on the following sites.
NOCTUA Graphics
Click on "Download" then on "Textures" to get to the good stuff.
accustudio
Also has backdrop textures here.
CG Textures
Although they offer premium membership, their free daily allotment should suit most needs.
Image * After
Lots of hi-res goodies. Click on the "textures" drop-down to see the categories.
Mayang's Free Textures
Scroll down for the more tileable textures.
Mega-Tex Studios
The "PNG Textures" (with transparency maps) are a unique feature of this site.
3D Total
Particularly good for reference images.
Autodesk's The Area
The official companion site to the Autodesk line of graphics applications. Textures, shaders, plugins available to registered users.
Soundgator
Easily accessible database of free sound effects.
Freesound.org
Free, quality audio of all types!
Sound Jay
A nicely categorized set of high-quality SFX
Flash Kit SoundFX
Lots of free sounds, particularly interface sounds. Geared towards Flash developers.
FindSounds
The Google of SFX files.
AudioMicro
Extensive collection of sound effects; free sign-up required.
Our Jobs & Internships page
Whenever we get wind of a good opportunity we'll post it on our site.
Our alumni profiles
Make personal connections with our Digital Arts alumni.
LinkedIn group for 2D & 3D animators
Simply hopping with discussions, demo reels, and job offers.
CreativeHeads.net
A job board specific to the digital-arts-related industries.
Dartmouth College
The homepage of the greatest liberal arts university in the world! (/self-call)
Digital Musics at Dartmouth
The Music Department has a stellar Masters program in Digital Musics.
Dartmouth Theater
Our collaborations with the Theater Department are certainly not the only interesting things you'll find here!
Dartmouth Studio Art
Check out the awesome work coming out of the Studio Art Department.
Tiltfactor Lab
Game design for social change? It's possible at Dartmouth's Tiltfactor Lab.
Hacker Club
Your friendly neighborhood hax0rz craft all kinds of cool programs. (And their site design is scrumptious!)
Jones Media Center
With software tutorials, media editing workstations, equipment loans and free video rentals, JMC is the ultimate partner in the practice of digital arts.
Dartmouth Animation
Students taking classes in the Film & Media Studies Department have produced some very neat work (particularly 2D animations) over the years. Take a look at their YouTube Channel, Vimeo Profile, and Facebook Page for the latest videos and news.