What computer programs are non-professional CGI artists using to create such convincing effects?

I got modded @El_Cadejo! Big time! so I changed the question.

Blender is popular for modelling and animation. Look at this Blender demo reel or watch Tears of Steel to see what Blender can do.

Some also use GIMP (or it’s cousin, GIMPshop) for the stuff that those with more dollars than sense would use Photoshop for, like touching up models and such.

Between those two, I think you can see why I appreciate free software, and feel that the whole “paying for quality” argument is utter bullshit.

Personally, I haven’t gone too far into that end of things simply because I’m more autistic than artistic, so I leave that sort of thing to the more creatively-inclined.

Not sure on the first, but the second is a professional and has been doing stuff for a while.

From Wired, they list his tools of choice as well.

Horn, who has spent his days as an editor at Current TV since its launch in 2005 and also directs for San Francisco video shop Rehab, doesn’t have a beef against Trek, although he finds it contains more cheese than his favored Star Wars. He just likes to seamlessly mash up sci-fi legends.

He spent about 50 hours on his recent clip, he says, using Mocha for motion tracking, After Effects for compositing and Final Cut Pro for editing, sound design and mixing. He also raised the stakes by shooting in high definition with a Canon HG20.

Guy works at IGN now and made the video for them I guess.

The first one looks possible, i.e. without CGI. The engine/prop on that plane are powerful enough to pull the plane straight up so if properly managed it could be flown without one wing (it’s just very inefficient and… unusual).

Ooops, sorry definitely not real.

It was one of the few videos like that that fooled me, much to my embarrassment.