My daughter (aged 12) is a budding artist and wants to start computer animation. Any suggestions? Programs?

Answer 1

I would have her start with doing animated gifs as they are fairly simple and there is lots of free and inexpensive software she can use to create the animations. Once she has mastered or tired of doing gifs, then she can explore flash animations.

Answer 2

I'm amazed at some of the ridiculous answers people leave here. First off, you can pretty much ignore the answer that told you to go get the Adobe suite. Adobe doesn't have a computer animation package, although their tools are often used for compositing and retouching.

There are quite a few affordable 3d animation packages that are capable of creating some really nice results. Caligari Truespace, Bryce (mentioned previously) and Hash Animation Master.

The big ticket pro packages are pretty much, Maya, 3d Studio Max, Lightwave and Softimage.

There is also the exciting Blender product, which is an open source project that has a lot of people pretty excited.

With that said, the concepts of computer animation aren't easy to get started with. Depending on the package you start with, there are tutorials and additional materials you will be able to find, that can help your daughter learn. With that said, a basic foundation in the concepts might be the best place to start. Many people start with this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1562055593

Answer 3

The standards for computer animation are Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Premiere. Photoshop is raster-based, so it make images like paint does but with better accuracy and more features. Illustrator is vector-based, which means that everything is lines that are filled in with color. Premiere is movie editing software which can use video taken online, for a camcorder, or pieced together from pictures to make a movie. Sound can be imported.

For 3-d modeling, 3DS Max, LightWave, and Rhino are good places to start. They all provide animation features, but can be tricky to learn. These programs price $100 and up, but you can get demos from http://www.rhino3d.com , http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?id=5659302&siteID=123112 , and http://www.newtek.com

Photoshop is probably the easiest to learn. Another easy program is Paint Shop Pro. Both are about $100, but http://www.adobe.com and http://www.jasc.com have demos available for 30 day trials.

There are plenty of tutorials online ranging from beginners to professionals, and most of them are free to use.

If she's looking for something to start out with, I started making digital dolls which taught me about light sources, shading, and how to use some of the tools. http://www.thedollpalace.com/ is a good intro site. The bases, however, are nude but are drawn.

Another thing she can try is sketching on paper, going over the lines carefully using a black pen, then scanning it into the computer. She can then use Photoshop to clean up the pencil lines, color it in, and shade it. This is how most artists color their work to put it online. You can also get her a Wacom tablet (from $60-$1000) and she can use a pen and pressure to draw directly into the computer. Most computer artists use this method.

Good luck!

Answer 4

there are 2 options
1)let her go into science stream and then for computer engg.then she can do a master course in animation in a good college.this will ensure her a good pay and future.
2)let her directly go into field of animation,right form her colllege,so that she can do a master course in animation or graphics so that she will be an expert in animation.

Answer 5

An inexpensive flash program is swishmax which can be downloaded as a demo to try. It's 99.00 if you buy it from their website www.swishzone.com but it often is discounted for students at the academicsuperstore.com

Answer 6

If you can find it, try bryce. It's user friendly and very fun even for beginners. It's not exportable to anything else, though. So, if you want to make a game or little movie, then you have to only use bryce.

Answer 7

When she's a little older have her sleep with her boss, then she's sure to get a promotion and get a good job as an animator.

Answer 8

Apple MACS