Did you know you can use home computers to create a variety of digital goods? In fact, most home computers today are powerful enough to create almost anything you can think of. This can be from the artistic, to informative, to the more utilitarian. I’ve compiled a shortlist of what I think are the most interesting yet important things you can create on your home computer.
You can create them for the artistic pursuit, or perhaps you have bigger dreams when developing these skills. It doesn’t matter. Your home computer can unlock a creative world for you if it’s something you’re willing to invest the time into learning and possibly the money for tools or education.
1. Create digital art
Today, several free and paid drawing apps allow you to create digital art depending on the device you wish to draw on. Some free options are GIMP2, Krita, and MediBang Paint for a home computer. The paid versions available include the likes of Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, and Clip Studio Paint.
The benefits of the paid software include faster tool response time, bug fixes, and faster, regular new features. There are tons of resources for each of these free and paid software tools, especially for beginners. So you should be able to learn how to use them on your own at your own pace or, you could invest in a course to springboard your skills.
2. Create digital video
To create a digital video, you need to have a recording device. This could be a dedicated camera or just the camera in your phone. Even the camera on your laptop may be sufficient, depending on what you’re trying to create. Once you’ve captured your video, you’ll want to be able to edit it.
You’ll want to be able to remove dead air, mistakes, or unusable portions while adding in intros, outros, and special effects like overlays. The free tools available for this are DiVinci Resolve, OpenShot, and Avidemux. If you have a Mac, you already have iMovie included with your OS. Some of the more popular paid tools are Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, and Vegas Pro.
You’ll get better functionality, updates, and a more polished interface with a paid app similar to the art tools. However, people still create effective videos using free tools.
3. Create digital audio
Because digital audio ranges from podcasts to music, it can be created using a recording device or through recording software. If you want to record a podcast, you could use the microphone on your laptop or phone or purchase one that gives you a higher quality recording.
If you want to record music from an instrument, you may need to invest in a digital mixer with an output to connect the audio to your computer. From there, you could use software such as Adobe Audition, Apple Logic Pro X, or Audacity to capture the audio and make edits. A popular option for Mac is Garage Band simply because it’s included on the Mac OS and works quite well for what it is.
If instead, you would like to create music using digital audio workstation software, you could try apps like Ableton Live, Image-Line FL Studio, or Apple Logic Pro. But, of course, there are many others and free versions as well. What they let you do is create electronic music or music mixes with added sounds. It’s a blank canvas, though, so anything you can dream up, you can make it a reality.
4. Create a website design
Did you know the design of a website is often independent of the code written for it? By that, I mean someone trained in digital graphic design, user experience design, and user interface design uses software tools to create the design artistically. After it has been created and is approved, it gets implemented by those on the software team.
If this interests you, there is a free web app called Figma that will continue to grow in popularity. Before that, designers had to pay for Adobe XD or Sketch for Mac computers. At the moment, Figma and Sketch are two of the biggest players in this space.
5. Create a website
Creating a website may seem daunting, but these days it’s straightforward. WordPress dominates a large portion of the web because it makes creating websites without programming possible. There really aren’t any excuses why you couldn’t learn how to do this. The number of free and paid themes that you can customize allows you to make nearly anything you want.
On top of that, added functionality in the form of plugins is also possible. Other providers such as Wix or Squarespace allow you to create a website using their proprietary editors quickly. If you want to set up an e-commerce site, Shopify has a ready-made solution that can get you selling in a short period of time.
6. Create a physical design
Perhaps you’re more mechanically inclined, and you would like to create a design that you can print off and build with your hands? In that case, you need a 2D or 3D drafting application. On the free side, there are apps like TinkerCAD, LibreCAD, or QCAD.
If you have the budget to pay for a CAD app, my favorites are OnShape, AutoDesk Inventor, or Solidworks. You’ll need to have deep pockets, though. Most paid-for 3D CAD applications are used by businesses to design their product lines, so the software vendors expect to get a higher price per user.
You’ll be impressed, though. The workflow and capability in modern mechanical CAD programs are incredible.
7. Create a design for a 3D printer
Did you know that you can create your own designs for a 3D printer? You can create nearly anything using free 3D CAD programs like TinkerCAD, 3D Builder, or 3D Crafter. Once you’ve completed your design, you can export it to an STL file and pass it to your 3D printer for fabrication.
If you’re interested in paying for your CAD application, it can be quite expensive, just like in number six, because you’re effectively looking at the same software. In the past, I used to use OnShape for this, and it worked great, but the monthly fee adds up quickly. It was cheaper than it is today, but I eventually canceled my subscription.
After you make your own designs, you can share them with the world on Thingiverse.
8. Create merchandise graphics and logos
Have you ever heard of people making a living online by designing merchandise graphics and logos? To do this, you can use paid programs like Adobe Illustrator or PlaceIt.
Alternatively, you can use one of the free options like Canva, which has a free and a paid version. Even though the free version of Canva has some limits, you can still use it to make designs for T-Shirts, mugs, and other items. Common items sold from print-on-demand outlets.
The process is rather simple. You create your designs, upload them to the print-on-demand site, and you can start making money from your creations. To set up an account with Canva is free, so why not set one up today?
9. Create a written work
Are you a literary genius waiting to be discovered? Perhaps you have some knowledge that you would like to share with the world? You can get started writing on your home computer using a simple word processor. Of course, most everyone has heard about Microsoft Word, but there are free alternatives that are just as capable.
Applications such as Google Docs, Open Office, or Libre Office. Perhaps you would like to publish directly to the web? Get started by setting up a blog to share your thoughts, ideas, and wisdom with the world. Even browsing online forums for interesting questions you can answer can be an outlet for creative writing.
10. Create a software program
You may feel that creating software is a pretty big leap but entirely possible if you have the patience to learn how to do it. A large number of the tools are free, and so is much of the knowledge. It’s entirely possible to teach yourself how to code. If you need some direction, you can always find a course on Coursera or Udemy to push you forward quicker.
There are also free coding courses available from Codecademy, freeCodeCamp, or edX. Don’t be shy about searching for more. There are tons of them, and more are popping up all the time. If you feel like you need something more concrete, you can always enroll in a computer science program offered by your local college or online to earn a degree.