Companies Around the World Are Offering Huge Discounts and Amazing Freebies to Help Us All During the COVID-19 Pandemic
We're gonna be honest with you: We are all living through difficult times. No matter where you are in the world, COVID-19 has likely had an impact on your life. Whether it's loss of work, school closures, or sheltering in place, we all have to adjust to a new—temporary—reality. First and foremost, we want to say that we're all in this together, and we are going to get through it. Lucky for us, our industry feels the same way.
With so many Motion Designers concerned about money, a number of companies have stepped up in a big way. From huge discounts to all-out freebies, these studios and businesses are sharing what they can to help make a frustrating situation a little more manageable. From design software to mental well-being, these are some of the best things we've found to get you through the next few months.
The Best Discounts and Freebies for Motion Design
MOTION ARRAY
Motion Array is a great place to share your work and get feedback, and they want to make sure you have the tools you need to stay active and creative, so they're offering three free months!
MOTION HATCH
Motion Hatch is an online hub for Motion Designers and Animators, and they are offering 150£ (it's like a $, but stained with tea instead of coffee) off of Motion Hatch's Mastermind Program (registration ends April 6th at midnight ET).
LOGIC PRO X
Logic Pro X is the name in sound design. If you're looking to turn your Mac into a professional recording studio, Apple is offering the software Free for three Months!
FINAL CUT PRO X
Final Cut has been an industry standard for video editing for years. Fast, intuitive, and fairly versatile, there's a reason it's been able to stand among giants like Avid and Adobe Premier. Just like Logic Pro X, Apple is offering Final Cut Pro X free for three months!
ORDINARY FOLK
Ordinary Folk, Vancouver's friendly neighborhood Motion Design studio, is giving away gridRig for free! Ordinary Folk hosts a nice handful of project files for you to download and tinker with while you've got time on your hands.
RED GIANT
Red Giant is an incredibly versatile studio that also makes tools, films, and training to enrich the community of filmmakers and motion designers. To help out, they are offering their monthly subscription free for Students and Teachers, and a lower price for everyone else.
INSYDIUM LTD
INSYDIUM LTD—the brain child of Mike Batchelor, Steve Pedler, and David O’Reilly—is offering 30% off the shop with the coupon code STAYHOME! Pick up X-Particles, or one of their amazing bundles.
DOMESTIKA
Domestika, a San Francisco-based community for Spanish-speaking creative designers, has discounted courses in a section titled #StayAtHome.
RAYS
Rays Render is discounted until April 16. Render a single frame or a movie on thousands of GPUs in parallel with a simple drag-and-drop browser.
THEFUTUR
TheFutur, and online business and design school, is offering 20% off their courses! Learn typography, graphic design, project planning, and some sweet business strats.
GRAYSCALEGORILLA
Grayscalegorilla, a good friend of SOM, is offering $150 off your first year of Greyscalegorilla Plus! Use the code LEARN3D during checkout.
LEARN SQUARED
Learn Squared is offering a free first lesson for EVERY COURSE through May 30th! Join over 10,000 students from around the world, all dedicated to improving their art.
MASTER CLASS
Master Class is known for high production value and A-list guest teachers (sounds a little familiar, but we're flattered when people imitate the best). To help out, they are offering a Buy-One-Share-One for annual memberships! It's the best place to hear Gordon Ramsey berate you for burning the fish!
SUBSTANCE
Substance just reset their 30 day demo, so even if you've used the demo in the past, you can get another 30 days for free!
OCTANE
Octane Render from OTOY Inc. is now an unlimited Free Demo. Keep in mind that it renders with watermarks and is limited to 1000x600 render resolution.
REDSHIFT
Redshift Render, by Maxon, is now an unlimited Free Demo. Like Octane, it will render with watermarks.
ARNOLD RENDER
Arnold Render, an advanced Monte Carlo ray tracing renderer, is available as a fully functional 30-day free trial. You will need to log in with an AutoDesk account, but check out this bad boy today!
CINEMA 4D
Cinema 4D is now available for a 14 day trial license, or you can go with C4D Lite for free with an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription!
MAXON
Just when you thought Maxon couldn't for any more, they are offering a free 180 Day Educational License for Students and Instructors.
ADOBE CREATIVE CLOUD
The Adobe Creative Cloud covers so many amazing products, we simply don't have the room to list them all! Check out the 7 Day Free Trial and get inspired!
ADOBE CONNECT
Adobe Connect offers a great way for teams to collaborate in real-time, which is pretty much essential these days. Check out their free 90-day trial.
BLENDER
Blender is a free open-source 3D powerhouse. Download the latest version for free and start creating today!
HOUDINI
Houdini was a world-famous magician. Houdini Apprentice is a free version of Houdini FX which can be used by students, artists and hobbyists to create personal non-commercial projects.
UNITY
Unity is an incredible free engine for games, design, and even engineering. Check it out, but remember that it is free for non-commercial projects only!
TOON BOOM
Toon Boom offers amazing 2D and Storyboarding software, and they want to do their part for the community. They are offering free software for teachers and students for a 30-day home license.
CAVALRY
Calvary's animation software is now in free public beta. Sign up to check out the software and assist in the development!
MAYA
Maya by AutoDesk is an incredible tool for 3D modeling, animation, effects, and rendering. Try it free for a 1 month trial, and students get free software for 3 years!
CINEVERSITY
Cineversity has a number of great tutorials, and they are offering 30 Free Days for anyone who signs up for a MyMAXON account.
JOHN SWEENEY
John Sweeney, Art Director at Naughty Dog, is offering a free drawing course through his YouTube page. The first week is already up, so check it out!
CINE 81
Brazilian studio CINE 81 is offering a huge discount on their Film Pre-Production course for Portuguese Speakers.
The Best Discounts and Freebies for Mental Health and Wellness
REVTHINK
For the next month or so, RevThink’s Joel Pilger and Tim Thompson—along with expert voices like our good friend Marcel Ziul at STATE Design—are carving out a half hour every day to help creative business owners.
BALANCE APP
Balance App, a customized mediation program, is free for one year! In order to set it up, you will need to email them here: access@balanceapp.com
PELETON
Exercise is a fantastic way to burn off stress and calories. Peloton is launching Operation Get Ripped in Quarantine with a 90-day free trial for their app!
CALM
Calm, a meditation and relaxation app, is offering 16 Free Meditation Sequences through iTunes!
HUMBLE BUNDLE
Humble Bundle has put together an incredible collection of games and ebooks to help you keep your sanity and blow off some steam. For only $30, you get over a thousand dollars worth of content!
We Are a Community, and We Are Stronger Together
It can be really hard to find inspiration when you're dealing with stress. Remember to take time for some self-care, and don't kick yourself if the creative juices aren't flowing as fast as normal. When you're ready to jump back into it, we're here. School of Motion had a chance to host a virtual town hall with 600 motion designers to discuss how we are all coping with these changes.
If you are feeling stressed, remember that there is a community all around you. Reach out, ask for help, and be open to new ideas. You, your art, and your skills are needed, and we can't wait to see what you do next.
School of Motion Can't Resist Giving Away Shwag
Want more awesome information from the top-performing professionals in the industry? We've compiled answers to commonly asked questions from artists you may never get to meet in person and combined them in one freaking sweet book.
Dive into real-time 3D with our Unreal Engine beginner's course by Jonathan Winbush. Master importing assets, world-building, animation, and cinematic sequences to create stunning 3D renders in no time! Perfect for motion designers ready to level up.
Explore this Course ➔
Unlock the secrets of character design in this dynamic course! Explore shape language, anatomy rules, and motifs to craft animation-ready characters. Gain drawing tips, hacks, and Procreate mastery (or any drawing app). Ideal for artists seeking to elevate their craft.
Explore this Course ➔
Elevate your freelance motion design career with our guide to client success. Master a repeatable method for finding, contacting, and landing clients. Learn to identify prospects, nurture leads, and develop a thriving freelance philosophy amidst chaos.
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Rev up your editing skills with After Effects! Learn to use it for everyday needs and craft dynamic templates (Mogrts) for smarter teamwork. You'll master creating animated graphics, removing unwanted elements, tracking graphics, and making customizable templates.
Explore this Course ➔
Stand out with Demo Reel Dash! Learn to spotlight your best work and market your unique brand of magic. By the end, you'll have a brand new demo reel and a custom campaign to showcase yourself to an audience aligned with your career goals.
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Illuminate your 3D skills with Lights, Camera, Render! Dive deep into advanced Cinema 4D techniques with David Ariew. Master core cinematography skills, gain valuable assets, and learn tools and best practices to create stunning work that wows clients.
Explore this Course ➔
Master After Effects at your own pace with Jake Bartlett's beginner course. Perfect for video editors, you'll learn to create stylish animated graphics, remove unwanted elements, and track graphics into shots. By the end, you'll be equipped for everyday AE needs and more.
Explore this Course ➔
Revolutionize your Premiere workflow with customizable AE templates! Master creating dynamic Motion Graphics Templates (Mogrts) in After Effects to speed up your team's work. By the end, you'll craft easily-customizable templates for seamless use in Premiere Pro.
Explore this Course ➔
Not sure where to start?
If you’re a beginner, here are some great courses to help you get started:
After Effects Kickstart
Dive into the fundamentals of motion design with our most popular (and recently updated) After Effects course.
Photoshop + Illustrator Unleashed
Master the basics of Photoshop and Illustrator and gain invaluable insights in this introductory level course.
Design Kickstart
An introduction to the design principles behind all great work.
More Advanced?
If you’re a more advanced student looking to up your game, here are some great options:
Animation Bootcamp
Learn the art and principles of creating beautiful movements in Adobe After Effects.
Design Bootcamp
Learn to design for motion in this intermediate-level, project-based course.
Cinema 4D Basecamp
Learn Cinema 4D from the ground up in this exciting introductory C4D course.
Now is the time to learn the skills you need to advance in your motion design career:
