Guild of Writers

this one's pretty cool too ....

http://www.aniboom.com/video/316280/Our-Wonderful-Nature/

Hey, in case no one got the question the first time, I am signing up for an animation course and I would like to the best type of software programs for animation and graphical design to do on my computer. I also would like to know if there are any quality programs that would allow me to record, filter and edit sound for any animation project that I would love to do. Please, if there are any users with enough experience in this, tell me know.

There is a vast range of such programs, it depends on how you work and on your budget.

For example, most post-production sound professionals use Pro Tools, but it costs a lot and is about as user-friendly as Blender.

Ark
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6rtnk_ark_creation

You should've put a warning up for that video, funny, but disturbing

World Builder by Bruce Branit.
http://vimeo.com/3365942

This isn't an animation video like the others, in the way that it has no plotline at all- but it is animated CG and pretty cool, so I figured it would be okay to post here. The concert visuals for the Chemical Brothers recent tour were incredible: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6hxq_8IZKM. Awesome bit starts about 30 seconds in and starts again at about 2:00, if you can't stand the music (doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo, over and over again) .

Don't know if you guys saw the original short that prompted the full length "9" movie yet. (We watched these in class a few months back, everyone died inside a little bit from the sheer awesomeness)
Orig short: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL5kOCrXnZ8
Movie trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvvNMf18 ... re=related

Also, just to be awful: Bingo the Clown.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaiSh4gQ3TI
My apologies to anyone scared of clowns.

Oneironaut: Good one.

carmen wrote:Hey, in case no one got the question the first time, I am signing up for an animation course and I would like to the best type of software programs for animation and graphical design to do on my computer. I also would like to know if there are any quality programs that would allow me to record, filter and edit sound for any animation project that I would love to do. Please, if there are any users with enough experience in this, tell me know.

To start with, Carmen, you should see what programs they'll be teaching, if any. What portion of the field are you going into? 3Dsmax I think is more prevalent for games, while Maya's more common in film (forgive me, I haven't checked around on what's fallen in and out of favor over the past year.) XSI, SoftImage and the like you'll probably find more in film as well. Personally, I'd say Maya, but that's just me.

For editing, I'd say Nuke or Shake, but they'll run you more. Nuke has development on the project these days - Shake doesn't and is Mac only now. After Effects will cover all your editing and sound bases I believe (haven't used it, personally,) and it may be more reasonable in price than Nuke or Shake. Final Cut should also take care of editing needs.

Just stick with Photoshop or another graphics program of the like that you're comfortable with for the texturing. Also, Crazybump is wicked nice for normals, spec, bump, displacement and diffuse mapping. Unfortunately the guy moved past the free beta and it's licensed now (still, full feature 30 day demo, it's hot stuff.)

Another one done with blender:

Big Buck Bunny
http://www.bigbuckbunny.org/index.php/download/

Several video formats and resolutions available, direct streaming or *really* high-res.
Be sure to check out one of the high resolution downloads if your computer can play it - it looks just brilliant.

Maybe you already have seen it - it's not new, about a year old. But I did not remember any link to it in this forum, so I put one into this thread.

Enjoy.