wanting to learn animation

[ed21x]

granted I have absolutely no experience in something like this, and do not expect to make anything near the quality of the examples mentioned, I'd like to know what programs/software packages are out there that I can buy for under $500.

I figured now's a good time to make good use of my extra money, seeing as how college is on break right now, so no tuition = extra money from work =P

oh btw, my programming experience is limited to Scheme, Java, Cobalt, HPVee, C++, matlab 😀. and I only know how to use photoshop in terms of drawing stuff.

 

[ed21x]

oh crap! I emailed a friend of mine at the SF art institute, and he suggested 3d Studio Max. A google search revealed system requirements enough to stress out even the most tech-saavy Anandtech'er...

another dream ruined 🙁

 

[Mik3y]

to run that type of program where you need super quality, you would be required to run a workstation type system, like dual opterons and such.

 

[KristopherKubicki]

Thats not true at all.

First of all 3D Studio (and Maya) are free for those who download the educational version. Your work gets watermarked but hey if youre learning who cares?

Second, hardware moves so fast that its optimized on so many platforms and hardware types. I used to work at the illinois art institutes so i have some knowledge in this feild 🙂

Kristopher

 

[CeilingHoles]

I'm very interested in learning 3D animation. Do you have a link to the educational version of 3d studio? Thanks!

 

[Polishwonder74]

Last time I was screwing around up at Barnes & Nobles, I was picking through the game programming books and I noticed there are a TON of books on how to use all those 3D animation programs. I took note of them 'cause when I finally get out of college, I wanna try my hand at that stuff, too.

 

[Mik3y]

same here 🙂

 

[OffTopic1]

Try traditional animation if you are looking to do it cheaply. A stack of paper, pens/pencils, light box, a cheap digital camera, 2 house hold tungsten lamp, and a set of vice (can use a cheap scaner inplace of camera, but that take more time).

 

[ed21x]

Originally posted by: CeilingHoles
I'm very interested in learning 3D animation. Do you have a link to the educational version of 3d studio? Thanks!

yeah, if anyone has any information on this, that would be much appreciated. The Berkeley Student store enjoys charging far above retail price even with the advertised student discount included. Perhaps there would be a developer conference going on sometime in California?