Hi.
What's a good program to do 2D animations? I want something with more layers than MMF. I'd also appreciate it if there were features like boning and morphing something into another shape. I prefer something free, but I wouldn't mind paying more than $50 if it was really good.
But seriously, I usually use Photoshop for anything and everything involving 2D graphics. Bones and Morphing aren't features you typically see in free graphics programs tho I'm sure such programs exist (at a price). One technique I use tho to make extremely simple 3D models (in 3DS Max) with bones and IK, then render an animation that I draw over using Photoshop.
HF: I'm guessing that you're a student, so just buy the academic versions; the discounts are massive. Here where I'm from Studio MX is like $800 or something, but if you buy the student version (which is [quite literally] the same excelt for the splash screen which says "Academic" instead of "Professional") it's only $99.
Truth is if you want an animation suite with the features you mentioned (particularly bones) then it's not going to be really cheap, simply because it's quite complex to make code for bone structures that work well in all situations.
So check out your local university shop, cos you can get software worth a thousand dollars for literally just one hundred dollars, then if you're a member they'll give you a further 10% off (well, at least they do here in Australia).
Mike
"Now I guess we're... 'Path-E-Tech Management'" -Dilbert
For my animations (at least for small sprites) I just draw the frame outline in paint, and do my basic outlines in that. Then I copy them to PSP and do the details.
For larger sprites I'll just do the entire thing in PSP, because edges aren't so obvious and they tend to have fewer frames.
For 3D sprites, I recommend S3D if you're just a casual user. It's hard to do anything with complex movement, but it's extremely user-friendly and good for beginners at modelling.
Moho's good. It's got boning (lol) and keyframes and all that stuff you could only do in 3D before. I think I heard of it from one of the forums. Go do a search on google for it .
Though if you want that shape morphing thing, you could always get Flash. Shouldn't be too expensive if you can afford MMF.
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
BTW, how do you do animations with Photoshop? It doesn't seem to support all that framework very well.
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
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Mike 
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