In a former life I was a filmmaker. It just so happened I was still a technology geek, so the best part of the film, for me, were the effects (and the story, natch). Up until a few years ago it would cost you tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to do things that today might cost a few hundred bucks. Gotta love Moore's Law. What I want to show you is a bunch of free (or cheap) software that will give you many of the tools used by special effects houses. As usual, you will have to know how to use these tools— no griping about interfaces or workflow. Remember what Yoda said, "Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try."

And one caveat: I'm not talking hardware. Apps like Cinelerra will run on puny systems (like 1 Ghz P4's), but your mileage will vary. So be forewarned: this ain't Engadget or hack-a-day, so nevermind the bollocks, here come the apps you'll need. Go build the biggest, baddest box you can find to make your Lucas dreams come true.

Actually, if you can swing it, you might want to consider getting a few machines, so you can use the right tool for the job:

• One dual-AMD hopped-up Linux box running Cinelerra. Add a RAID 5 array for a video editing system, and CMS, and 3d
• One high-end Wintel box for audio, editing text, browsing (research), image editing, accounting, and 3d work
• One Mac mini for quickie video editing (iMovie), music production (GarageBand), CMS, 3d, DVD burning (iLife comes with the Mac, remember?)

Also, it's nice to have graphics tablets, DV cameras, some homebuilt film gear.

Enough about hardware, here's the software to get you going...