What is an excellent(easy to use) animation program?

[Star]

I seriously want to get into the animation scene, but I don't know which program is best for that...I've tried using Flash before but I just found that to not be all that great. Of course, this was years ago and may have changed over time so I don't know. I want to get into animating to make a promo for CJ(may be a pipe dream but I'm gonna try!), make lil shorts, and etc. What would y'all recommend? Thank you!

[Chutzpar]

I've heard good things about Toon Boom Studio (it's actually aimed at students, for one thing), other than that, I got nothin'. I haven't done *any* animation myself, so I can't really give you any educated help! ;c
It's still pretty expensive though, about $200.

I'm not sure if it's as easy to get hold of as Flash, if you know what I mean.

[The_Doom-ed_one]

With the right knowledge, Flash is actually pretty good software and allows you to export a small variety of file types.

Adobe After Effects seems to have animation support as well, because I've seen some pretty high quality animations coming from people who used the CS (Creative Suite) series. I haven't used After Effects all that much, so I can't really tell you much else. Be warned, though, it's expensive.

If you want to go a cheaper route, you could always make a .gif image making each picture frame by frame and then using it in simple movie software. This process is a little more complicated and I would recommend using cell shaded characters with limited colors otherwise you'll get some nasty looking results with things like dithering and odd colors. On top of that, this technique is just plain cheap, and it shows, so I wouldn't recommend it if you are serious about animating.

[Proton]

There's Pencil, an open source program that is good for making traditional looking pieces. Free.

There's EasyToon, a black and white pixel animation program. Free.

There's Anime Studio, which doesn't actually advertise anime itself, just general animation (looks more like it's mainly cell animation than anything). $50 - 200 dollars



But honestly, Flash is literally the best. Toon Boom is considered almost as good (or better to some people).



But you could just try the traditional way.

Tracing paper, light tables, etc.

[dg-master]

flash 8 ,no wait... is hard? for u?

[Rakia]

I've used Flash and Pencil.
Both pretty good, depending on what you go for.
Mentioned previously, I've wanted ToonBoom Studio for a while, but have never had the chance to try it.
So maybe if you don't mind spending cash, idk.

[Proton]

flash 8 ,no wait... is hard? for u?

I've tried using Flash before but I just found that to not be all that great. Of course, this was years ago and may have changed over time so I don't know.

[Star]

Oh man, you guys are awesome! Thank y'all so much!

My money trees haven't been growing so I'm gonna try to stick with Pencil or find out some way to get the other programs free.Or just save up money for Toon Boom if it's actually that good. I heard alot of good things about it and saw some videos of its features. I definitely want to make professional like animations, but I know that won't happen over night so I'll be working on that. Thank you guys once again!