animation programs?

i want to start doing some animation so i was wondering what are some good, easy to use/beginner animation programs?

Tags: animation, beginner, easy, help, programs

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Permalink Reply by Vincent Veidt on February 13, 2008 at 5:10am: If you have no experience, I'll recommend paper and pencil. It's important to build traditional skills before planting yourself in front of a computer. If you have a traditional background and feel ready to move to the digital world, I'll give you this advice; don't pay for software until you know you like it and know your dedication to the art and business of animation.

PS - When I was living in Portland, I new a few people who called themselves "hunters" or "hunterz" and I think you're one of them. Do Jake, Ryan, and Charlie ring any bells?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by hunter Pollock on February 15, 2008 at 12:29am: alright thanks. and i do no some people named jake and ryan, i can help more if u gave me a last name; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Vincent Veidt on February 15, 2008 at 12:39am: Ryan Demuth or deMuth; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by hunter Pollock on February 16, 2008 at 7:06pm: no sorry i dont know them; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Vincent Veidt on February 16, 2008 at 10:02pm: Alright, nevermind.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Monty Lawton on February 15, 2008 at 9:31pm: I am using Anime studio pro. It is about $200. I started doing cartoons around June of last year. It combines many of the aspects of Flash but with the benefit of using bones to tween the images. If you want to get good follow Denny Furlongs advice and read johnkblogspot every day.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Vincent Veidt on February 15, 2008 at 9:40pm: I wouldn't go as far as to recommend John K's blog. There's a lot of good information, but his personality is an acquired taste. It's better to stumble upon it on your own.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Monty Lawton on February 16, 2008 at 9:30pm: Sorry Denny,
I didn't mean to imply you recommended John K blog. But as a former instructor at Otis Art institute, I have found that the fundamentals of art, not just animation which I am new to, are hammered on all the time by John K. You can see the impprovement in people who work on his assignments. I often disagree with his opinions, but that is one of the qualities I find help student along in forming their own opinions. After 17 years away from being a student, I always recall my difficult professors, not the ones I became friends with. Sorry again for my lack of clarity, I felt your stressing fundamentals was the best advice and I wanted support that.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Vincent Veidt on February 16, 2008 at 10:04pm: I didn't mean to imply and implication, Monty, simply to present a warning to those accepting your good advice.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Capmconnundrum on February 16, 2008 at 1:06pm: Since we've received this message, I guess we can assume you already have a computer:^) Do you want to work on paper and bring it into the computer, or work directly on the computer? I like to start with paper and pencil, but then it needs to come into the computer. Here are some thoughts about starting on-the-cheap.

Even for the paper and pencil route you need and investment in time and/or money to get started. Drawings need to be made in registration with each other. You can buy an animation peg bar and some pre-punched paper, you can use 3-ring binder type paper and make a peg bar to hold the sheets in registration. Most people like to work on a surface with a light source underneath, or even just a piece of white plexiglass will do.

If you're like everyone else, you want to see it move...now! If you have a scanner, you can bring your pencil drawings into the computer, now, finally what you were asking about :^) If you have a scanner and photoshop, you can do rudimentary pencil tests with the animation window in PS. If you don't have a scanner, it might be more cost effective to try a relatively inexpensive program like anime studio pro or Toon boom Express, and do your drawing directly in the program. I use Toon Boom Studio, but it looks like Anime studio pro might have more bang for the buck than Toon Boom Express. Both are around $100.

Here's another thought in the pencil and paper department. If you have a video camera, there are a few shareware stop-motion programs out there like Framethief for the mac. You could use this for pencil testing and your next claymation epic.

Just some thoughts...; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by hunter Pollock on February 16, 2008 at 7:08pm: thanks; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tohoscope on April 24, 2009 at 3:59pm: The problem with Anime Studio is that it's designed for puppet animation. Which I suppose is ok if that's what you want or you're coming from doing 3D animation. Toon Boom can do puppet animation, but it works much better then Anime Studio for doing regular draw-one-frame-at-a-time animation. What kind of animation do you want to do?; ▶ Reply to This