Bekki Kirby

My daughter would really, really, really like to get her hands on some
animation software. She's been wanting this for a while, I'm ashamed to
admit... but I kept thinking my husband, the computer geek, would help her
find what she needs. He's not going to, apparently. Sooooo... I am rather
out of my element in this area and don't even know what features to look
for.
I don't think she wants to build her own games, although she liked the idea
of the Xbox game/software I recently read about, where kids can make 'rules'
and basically make their own game. We don't have an Xbox so we're waiting
for that to be released for Windows. What she mainly wants to do is make
movies. She's pretty computer-savvy, but it'd still be nice if the software
didn't require a degree. :-) Especially since I may be called upon to
help. Eeeek!

Any recommendations? Oh, she's almost-11, if that makes a difference.

Bekki

--
The true test of intelligence is not how much we know how to do, but how we
behave when we don't know what to do.
-John Holt

Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your
temper or your self-confidence.
-Robert Frost

Mother of four angels, two pirates, and one TBD
Kayla (10)
Hunter (b. 8/9/03, d. 8/22/03)
Jo (misc 1/15/04)
Jared (4)
Camelia (b. 12/16/07, d. 12/10/07)
Hope/Chance (misc 11/25/08)
Someone probably arriving 12/09


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Y_be_Norml

We are on the comic book guild list and I saved these 2 links when the topic came up. On the sites there are a few more versions and programs. I just can't decide which one , color or no color My have to get both to do what son want to do. We have not tied them they were recommend by members on the comic book guild.

http://my.smithmicro.com/win/manga/index.html<http://my.smithmicro.com/win/manga/index.html>
http://my.smithmicro.com/win/anime/index.html<http://my.smithmicro.com/win/anime/index.html>

Meredith

Here's one that's free:

http://www.alice.org/

A 3d programming environment for creating both movies and games. Its very straighforward to use.

---Meredith

Joyce Fetteroll

On Aug 18, 2009, at 7:18 PM, Y_be_Norml wrote:

On the sites there are a few more versions and programs. I just can't
decide which one , color or no color

> http://my.smithmicro.com/win/manga/index.html<http://
> my.smithmicro.com/win/manga/index.html>

I have this one. I really like it for comics pages.

The older versions were fussy with color and text, but CS Debut 4 has
color and text fully integrated so there's no choice to make.
(There's also the professional version but that's like $300.)

If you order it through Amazon, it's only $39 with free shipping.

(I'm sure they mentioned this on your list, though for anyone here, a
drawing tablet is *very* helpful. It's hard and frustrating to draw
with a mouse. Wacom is the industry standard. The Bamboo Fun tablet
is probably as much as any beginner needs. The drawing surface at
3.5x5 sounds tiny but it's what I've been using for several years and
the size is just fine.)

Joyce

amberlee_b

My son likes the Manga Studio software, it isn't really for creating games, but it is cool. It depends on what type of computer you have an how much $$ you have as well. Someone mentioned Alice already which is great to start with. My DH says for creating 3D models and animations, the big names have been Maya ("student" version, if I recall correctly starts at $200ish, unless they've dropped prices recently), caligari trueSpace, ... and one that is the most popular, whose name I can't, of course, remember right now. Oh Yeah, 3D Studio Max. They offer a free trial, but don't know what that includes. The full price is $3495.

Blender is a free, open source, 3D package. blender.org

Hope that helps.
Amberlee

--- In [email protected], "Y_be_Norml" <y_be_norml@...> wrote:
>
> We are on the comic book guild list and I saved these 2 links when the topic came up. On the sites there are a few more versions and programs. I just can't decide which one , color or no color My have to get both to do what son want to do. We have not tied them they were recommend by members on the comic book guild.
>
> http://my.smithmicro.com/win/manga/index.html<http://my.smithmicro.com/win/manga/index.html>
> http://my.smithmicro.com/win/anime/index.html<http://my.smithmicro.com/win/anime/index.html>
>

argwolff

Anyone have any direct experience with Animation-ish

http://www.toonboom.com/products/animationish/index.php

or other animation software that would be good for my 7 1/2YO, but if it would work for my almost 5YO, too, all the better.

I love the "-ish" book and video. And this looks good, but I can't find any reviews of it.

Thanks,
Angela Wolff
West Orange, NJ
(Joseph, 7; Hannah, 4 1/2; Miriam 2)

kerrydan2000

I haven't used Animation-ish, but the info on the website about it makes it look really interesting.

A while ago I downloaded Pencil 2D for our kids, it's open source so it's free.
http://www.pencil-animation.org/

cheers
Kerry



--- In [email protected], "argwolff" <argwolff@...> wrote:
>
> Anyone have any direct experience with Animation-ish
>
> http://www.toonboom.com/products/animationish/index.php
>
> or other animation software that would be good for my 7 1/2YO, but if it would work for my almost 5YO, too, all the better.
>
> I love the "-ish" book and video. And this looks good, but I can't find any reviews of it.
>
> Thanks,
> Angela Wolff
> West Orange, NJ
> (Joseph, 7; Hannah, 4 1/2; Miriam 2)
>

argwolff

Kerry, thanks so much for this!

I don't mind spending $60 on something I know the kids will really use, but if there's a free version they can play around with first ... awesome!

I downloaded the 15-day free trial of Animation-ish last night and played around with it. And just downloaded Pencil this morning. At first blush it looks like Pencil is exactly like the most advanced level of Animation-ish in function, just not as kid-friendly of an interface. I think Joseph might be able to work a little more independently on Animation-ish, but that's not usually his preferred method, anyway (-;

Looking forward to seeing what the kids think.

Thank you, thank you!
Angela