Best 2d animation software for a student

[womball]

I am looking for a really in depth 2d animation program which allows me to create fluid animations quickly. So far I have been looking at TAB 2.0, Mirage, and Toon Boom Studio. I don't think Flash would work, since it seems limited for traditional 2d animation. Any suggestions which would probably be the best for a student? I don't have that muich money to spend on multiple programs, because I still have to get zbrush and maya 7.0 unlimited, and a wacom board.

[Terro]

I'm a flash user myself but if I had to switch and cost was an issue I would go Toon Boom, plus he EyE mentioned in one of his other posts that this month Toon Boom studio comes with a free tablet.

[Terro]

Heres the link to the Toon Boom Thread I was talking about. http://www.animationforum.net/forum/showthread.php?t=241&page=1&pp=10

[womball]

i think i can get toon boom for about 150 from journeyed, and a wacom 6x8 intous 2's at Newegg.com for 150. Not to bad I think. One of the guys who made Mirage works at my school I think, so I could ask if I coudl get it even cheapper than 300 bucks.

[NOOB!]

well great,but please remember those sites are for educational versions,and are not meant to be for commercial use,not sure bout the wacom though lol.

[TheEYE]

Flash is every bit as good as any of the other programs you have mentioned. (Animation Wise). ToonBoom will give you some added versatility when it comes to camera work, but its learning curve is alot higher then flash's.
The Tab I cant really comment on. I was looking at it last week, and the only person I know who owns a copy is Adam Phillips.... he won a copy through TGSNT last year... however he hasnt recieved it yet so he couldnt give me his thoughts and impressions! :eek:
We have some Mirage users here on this board I think? Maybe they can give you some ideas regarding it.

Personally I think your best bet is Flash for the simple fact that there is a huge supply of us that know the program inside and out that can help you out with any issues you may have.

Considering you plan on doing the hand drawn thing primarily I would also suggest looking at CTP Pro. (http://www.cratersoftware.com/ctp_pro.html ). Its a pretty good animation program as well for traditionalists....It's main drawback is the fact that very few people use it so finding information regarding it is tough. However if you go that route I can help you along with it! ;)

Retas is another package you can look at... but its damn pricey! :eek:

[womball]

Flash uses vectors, that might cause slowdown on my laptop. I have one hell of a laptop, the sager NP 4750, but still not sure how it can handle vectors. Is toon boom and mirage vector based? I heard flash only outputs at 256 colors, which is not enough for me, I need 16 bit at least. And most flash has the same sort of look animation wise, eh. Unless they have ways around it, the closer I can get to a traditional look the better. And having built in lip sync tools, sound tools, coloring, clean up, dope sheets, onion skinning and more woudl be a plus. Mirage has this cool feature which allows you to scan in all your work and it automatically cleans it up for you and layers each frame for you.

[NOOB!]

flash does export at 16 bit,the new flash 8 has new filters that can make ur work look less *flashy*

toonboom is vector based,mirage isn't,mirage has realistic pencils tools though.

i would recomment just downloading the trial version of each,thats what they are there for after all.

[womball]

whoa flash 8 pro is 250 on journeyed. does it have all the animation features I was asking about?

[NOOB!]

whoa flash 8 pro is 250 on journeyed. does it have all the animation features I was asking about?

lol, again,go to macromedia.com and get the trial,thats the only way your gunna find out if it has everything you need. :D

[TheEYE]

Flash isnt limited to 16 bit colors at all. Flash ships with a standard websafe 216 palette, but you can use any colors you wish. As a matter of fact you can buy additional color pallettes for Flash based on ChromaColours original animation cel paint series (Check em out here (http://chromacolour.com)). Those will give you over 2000 colors to choose from. They rock, and Im not just saying that because I made them! :p
As well, dont sweat the vector art man. I use a laptop as well (Toshiba Sattelite Pro series) and have never had an issue with vector work.

From what you have written I would seriously reccomend taking a close look at the link I gave for CTP Pro. Its entirely "traditional based", using dope sheets etc. As well its created for scanning in your original artwork, and works using raster instead of vector technology. I use it and really enjoy it for what it does... personally I just wish it was vector instead of raster based! :rolleyes:

Flash is still the way to go for you though imo... Flash based animation doesnt have to look "flashy", it all depends on the artist creating the animation! :cool:

[womball]

Can you output to movies? I don't want to just be able to scan though, so that rules the CTP out, seems rather expensive too. I have to see if flash has bulit in lip sync tools.

[TheEYE]

Flash can output to swf, avi, or quicktime. Flash doesnt have lip sync tools built in.
CTP Pro can have drawing done directly in the program workspace, its not just for scanned work. However its all Raster based, so you need to do a helluva lot of redrawing of every damn frame... no reusable symbols here! :eek:

Just for the simple fact that Flash has an extensive user base, is easy to learn, and offers excellent resources I would suggest you go for Flash. ;)