Software choices
Many people have asked about software and hardware for creating 2-D animations. Many think that FLASH is the best choice. For a non-artist, this may be the case. As an animator and cartoonist, however, I find that FLASH is seriously lacking in tools and workflow to accommodate any projects. Even though many of my cartoons are output in FLASH format, I never even use the software. In my mind, the first choice for those who want to begin to animate is very clear: Toon Boom Studio. When I started using Studio, I was totally blown away. It was created to accommodate the traditional style of film animation. I find it unique in its ability to encourage creativity. I would never want to be a creator of animation software. There is an almost magical interface that must occur between the user and the machine so the tool is helping, rather than hindering. One of the first animation programs for the PC came out in 1989 and was Autodesk Animator. It was crude, with a resolution of 320x200, but was...