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[Iulian81]

Hi! I might be interested in learning 3d animation graphics... Should I learn Anim8tor or other  such programs... maybe others are better... and who are they?

[TheRetroZombie]

Well Anim8or isn't the best but in my opinion its the best for beginners. What I think what you should do is once you finally mastered a 3D program you move on to the next. Watch this video for some advice: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/04/07/bbtv-tyson-ibele-21y.html

[mak]

hay zombie thats a cool link. wish i had seen it years ago. i think emphases should be made on start slow. John Lassiter once said in answer to advice to new animators is to remember technology will always change but the basics wont.

[rellik420]

anim8or is a great program. its missing alot of things. but the user interface is top notch. and that lets you move around quickly and easily. anim8or is great for learning how to model. theres alot to learn in each field of modeling and animation. unfortunatly (and ironically) i dont think its the best program to learn animation. if it had IK i think it would be a great learning tool.

as for other programs... i think blender is a total package and its free. but there are alot more programs out there. most of them have free trials so you should really try them all and see what suites you the best.

[Alpha2]

While anim8or has one of the easiest to understand user interfaces the problem is that it's a hobby program and it's not going to teach you how other programs work. You get used to the quirks in an8 and feel like you're looking at an alien language when it comes to another 3d program. Don't get me wrong It's a great program if you can stand the small bugs and things that havent been implemented but if you going to use it only use it for anim8or related projects and stick to programs like blender, maya and 3dstudio max if you want to learn professional animation. They're harder to understand but if you ever plan to make a living with this stuff rather than just having fun the others are what you should be using.

[siragin]

Alpha2:

While anim8or has one of the easiest to understand user interfaces the problem is that it's a hobby program and it's not going to teach you how other programs work.

I have to disagree with you about that last part of that statement. Sure Anim8or doesn't have all the the special bells and wisels that professional 3d programs have like IK, some type of physicis, and special modeling tools such as boolean, shrink wrap, deformers, etc...
But the modeling interface is all too familar with other 3d programs like maya and 3ds max. I use maya now, and when i first opened it up I saw all of these menu options that I had no clue what they did or how to use them. But when I saw the left side tool bar in maya, the first thing that came to mind was, hey that looks just like anim8or.

With that aside, after using anim8or for about a year and a half before I got maya, I already knew the basics of what I wanted to do in maya, which is model a desent character. After the model is done you can move on to special effects and fancy rendering. If you want to talk about programs that looks alien compared to professional 3D programs, take a look at Blender. Blender is a great program as well, and it can do all the things that professional programs can do. But Blender relies to much on key board shortcuts, rather than menu items, and you have to look really hard to find the menu that you are looking for, if it even exist. Like there is no move tool in blender. You have to right mouse click and hold to move what you want to move. Professional 3D packages like maya and 3Ds Max don't do that.

[johnar]

 I agree with siragin. (but don't know why you would want to model in maya. Anim8ors modelling system is great)

  Anim8ors simplicity and similarity to other 3d modelling and animation programs make it  an ideal program for introducing newbies to the ins and outs of whats involved in the art. But also, is powerfull enough to be used proffesionally. (depending on what it is that you want to do).

 I know that, personally, if it wasn't how it is, i probly would never hav had the time or the patience to learn this stuff from scratch, if i had to start with a program like maya or 3dmax.

My 2 cents. Anim8or rocks!. 

[onespirit5777]

I agree that Anim8or is the best program out there for beginners. I found Blender and Anim8or about the same time. I went with Anim8or, but now after working with it for a few years and art was introduced, Blender makes more sense. I model in Anim8or and do most of my animation in Blender.

If your just making stills, Anim8or is a hard program to beat - I still get better renders out of Anim8or using the art side compared to Blender and Yafaray; maybe it's because I'm still learning the other two.

[ADSohr]

Anim8or is also very computer friendly.

i can't get into Blender because my computer can't handle it, but the computer can do even the hardest operation in Anim8or with no problems or skipping.

[kreator]

I just stick with anim8or for modelling, and Carrara for all the rest!

[ENSONIQ5]

I just stick with anim8or for modelling, and Carrara for all the rest!

I'm with you mate, I do exactly the same thing.  Unless it's a basic geometric shape, in which case Carrara's weird parametric modeller works ok... kinda.

IMO Anim8or is a great place to start modelling, and in particular animating, due to its simplicity.  It lacks a load of features commonly available on $$$ packages, its interface is a bit weird, and its render speed is reminiscent of continental drift, but it does have some nice animation workflow features and its modeller is great.  For a freely available package it is difficult to beat as a platform on which to learn the basics, and also as a handy tool in the more advanced animators kit.

[Alpha2]

When learning Maya, I found it very intuitive at first. Coming from a background of things like photoshop, illustrator and flash. But before using it or Max for that matter I tried AN8 and even with the entire manual for it printed out (it big enough to be a weapon) it took years to fully understand how it's set it up in comparison to those programs that I started understanding the first day (and I'm STILL struggling with the user interface even on my best days). Like I said once you figure it out you can use it to do many things but when you have to click like 3 or 4 buttons to do simple things it becomes a really inefficient. Also considering that the language and interaction used for some features differ in comparison to some of the professional programs it's only going to add to confusion when going from one to the other. (for existence I dont think the word vertice is used ANYwhere in the program).

I don't deny that the basics of modeling a figure (extruding, faces, edges, polygons, etc) dont change I agree but when you cant figure out on one program how to do the same in another there's a disconnection in learning that stems from the difference in the interface and become compounded by the lack of features. You might sculpt a fully photo real human in AN8, but you can't take that to a job interview with a company where they use the professional programs because when they ask you how long it took to do, it'll be irrelevant because you're not versed enough to do it in the program they're using. Sure if there were companies out there that used it for a professional tool it would be a useful skill to have but the lack of updates on a regular basis would keep most companies from relying on it. That's why I refer to it as a hobbyist program.

[johnar]

Thats cool m8.  I come from a 20 year backgrond of alcohol, drugs and computer illiteracy, and admire your abilty to understand the more advanced progams so easilly.  

[ENSONIQ5]

Thats cool m8.  I come from a 20 year backgrond of alcohol, drugs and computer illiteracy, and admire your abilty to understand the more advanced progams so easilly. 

HA HA !  Best response this year!!  100% with you!!