Software to make animated videos?
 

I'm looking to make a few animated videos, like a software demo or commercial. Right now Im using M$ Powerpoint and its a daunting and irritating task.

I heard Flash was good for this, but is there something easier/better to use for a noob?

Aren't all videos, by definition, animated?

yes, you are correct :upsidedow

however, Im looking for a better and more professional way to make intro & product videos outside of PowerPoint. they do animate but instead of going from slide to slide or having images appear, I'm looking for something more cartoon and fully animated

Most of animations you see on the web are created in Flash and After Effects. They're relatively easy to learn but difficult to master. If you're looking to make something that is actually cool and people will want to watch, you'll probably be better off hiring someone. Or spend 6 months of doing nothing but learning how to animate in AE.

Flash for sure but if you are in a hurry you better hire someone or go through a whole book and learn. But then you would only learn the basics.

If you have an example, link it here and I'll tell you what program was used to make it.

you mean .gif out of a video?

You can do some fairly good animation in much easier products than Flash. Are you doing animation of characters ? Can you be more specific ?

something like this for example


link: https://youtube.com/watch?v=idfI1JhSP7E


edit:
or even something like this

There are guys on Fiver who will do that kind of animaion pretty cheap. I get short videos through fiver all the time. For something this detailed and long you could try oDesk.

Otherwise even though it's not necessarily designed for the purpose, Check out Toon Boom Animate which has a shorter flatter learning curve than flash.

Try browsing this site : http://beta.toonboom.com/

They offer large amount of products - all of them allowing to do animation. One of them are basic, others for more advanced needs. It all depends on your experience. I'm still reading the documentation of Toon Boom Animate - they use some of these products there to make some of the movies on Cartoon Network. Check out the menus - you will probably find what you need.

That CLAD commercial was actually done in powerpoint. Its really pretty simple if you have powerpoint down well. 5vr guys will charge you like $10-$20 for that.:2 cents:

$5 on fiverr

edit: I've seen much better than that on fiverr but you get the idea. I'm sure it'd be cheaper in terms of time and effort to get someone off one of the outsourcing sites to create a video for you.

Nah. The addresses I sent you on previous post cannot offer that kind of effects.
That seems to me like some 3D products like : Maya, 3D Studio Max or Poser. There are a lot of them around.... and then in addition some work with Adobe After Effects....
In all the ways that's not job done with one product only.

I hit up a few people on 5er but no real response. I need to spend some time scripting out exactly how its to look as I'm sure it wont take them very long.

I had someone I found online want to charge me $600 for a 2:40 video. I messed around in PPT enough to have something half ass but really want a more "professional" video to post on our site and youtube.

As I said, for something longer and more complicated than what's on Fiverr try oDesk. I've contracted out some videos there and never been disappointed.

Ill hit them up, appreciate the help :thumbsup

check out videohive.net they have some awesome stuff for adobe after effects

The first one is After Effects and Cinema 4D. (The 3D portions could be Max or Maya as well, but my guess is Cinema). Something like that will cost you $1 to $2K (for someone in the US to do it). I have no idea what outsourcers in India will charge for that.

The second one is all After Effects with some stock footage mixed in. $500 range, give or take a couple hundred.

Thanks for everyone that participated in this great business thread.

After Effects is expensive but it's really not that difficult to make cool videos like that after following a few tutorials.

Gamer kids on youtube are using After Effects for crazy shit and they are like 13.