Hello. I know the following question might not seem directly related to filmmaking, but I thought I'd ask it here since many members of this web site are tech/computer savvy and generally very helpful: Where/how might I obtain flash animation software for free or at a very cheap price?

Thanks.

-horseradish.

Unless you're doing computer games or something, there are a lot of programs that animate and are better plus cheaper, at lease in my personal opinion. I'm not familiar with laws or anything, but I think downloading it free is illegal.


Plastic Paper Animation (PAP): http://plasticanimationpaper.com/

Toon Boom Studio: http://toonboom.com/products/toonBoomStudio/?WT.mc_id=e_homepage_pdt_TBS
Toon Boom also help animate some famous shows floating around here: I believe Family Guy is one of them (although, of course, if you add your talent in Toon Boom it will of course come out better animation then Family Guy)

Anime Studio Pro 5 (or Moho. I personally don't like Anime Studio, it's too "bouncy" for me): http://my.smithmicro.com/mac/graphics.html

Digicell(flipbook): http://www.flipbookpro.com/index.htm

Add all these up, and these are pretty much the general cost of Flash itself.

I hope this helps a bit!

Nice job DeeJay!

One addition is Blender.

http://www.blender.org/Download/

I've got a guy who does my animation for me, as I don't have the patience, so I can't offer much more that that!

Chris

Cool. Thanks guys. Just one thing, though: would you say that the latest version of adobe flash allows for more creative latitude than its alternatives? In other words, would a professional animator find adobe flash the most accommodating out of all available animation programs?
Oh yeah, and what are your opinions on how different versions of flash- particularly CS3- compare to one another?

Thanks.

-horseradish.

It all depends on what kind of animation you want to do... but of those listed, I know that Toon Boom Studio is pretty darn powerful, and has been/is used on several large projects (including several TV shows I believe)