• Illustrious Productions began as a sketch on a coffee-stained napkin. Six friends with individual talents. Two hackers, a painter and a few players formed the base of the crew.

These are fast, strange times and we're working in fast strange ways. We're still holding down our "real" jobs and our school lives while pouring every other remaining second into running a business entirely on free software.

"Free software? With all the services you provide, how is that possible?"

Every piece of software we use is provided to us by the zealous tinkerings of the Free Software Movement. A tightly woven group of efforts from all over the planet form the foundations that move our company. Obviously it wasn't written specifically for us, but any special modifications we need we provide ourselves and then release those modifications to the rest of the movement. We test their software and they test and approve our additions. It's an illustrious relationship.

Our standard pieces include:

• The JACK Audio Connection Kit
• Ardour2
  • This is our DAW (digital audio workstation). It provides us an interface for multitrack editing with a virtually unlimited number of tracks and busses for plugging audio interfaces in as well as LST and LADSPA (the Linux equivalent to VST)
• The Blender / Inkscape / GIMP trifecta
  • This is our 3D animation / video production powerhouse. It incorporates a non-linear video editor, modeling workspace and a plethora of tools and plugins that make life easier for our painters.
• OpenOffice.org
  • This helps us get the boring administrative work handled without shelling out to Uncle Bill and the Big M.

Yep, there's no secrets. All the software's available for free on the net and there's plenty of books and documentation if you know where to look and who to ask.

The gauntlet has been thrown down, we're ready to play. Are you ready to come create with us?