Luke

How do we get version 14?

Just a guess but it might make sense to put key frames in frames 2,3 or 4 and set the blades position accordingly.

Here's what I'm planning on doing. I will try and learn A:M myself as it will no doubt be a useful skill. Do I need to buy the A:M Paint too? Are there any other absolute necessities in terms of add-ins? I don't want to take advantage of animators by presenting it like I'm going to have some big budget and be able to hire animators for significant amounts work. I will work on getting a first episode written down. I'll try and have it be one requiring few characters. Heres what I know of the story plot for those of you that are interested. The stories take place in Tibet in the twelfth century or so. They are based on the accounts of a Tibetan Buddhist master. The initiative is being done by a Tibetan Buddhist temple in Toronto, Canada with myself as the project lead. Although they are supposed to be non-fiction the stories have large amounts of super human aspects in them. The main character is a young boy (aged 5?) who has advanced spiritual accomplishment such as flying and what not. The original text is written in Tibetan so some of it will be slow with translation and story selection. The target community is parents and families who are Buddhist. Profit is not the objective here but some kind of forum for teaching Buddhist children principles on being kind to others in a skillful way. There will be two versions produced, one in Tibetan and the other in English. But of course, none of this is concrete. Still just in the exploratory stage. But I do sincerely appreciate all the advice and input from all of you.

You all have given me a lot to think about. I started watching the video tutorials. I will watch them all through and proceed from there slowly. I will probably end up buying A:M anyway to try and play with it some. These animations will be made for elementary school age children. I know this demograph is exposed to a lot of high budget animation but I'm not trying to complete with them. Most of these kids will be watching it because their parents bought it and sat them down in front of the TV. So the best quality is not the most important factor. But it should all flow together and the story plot needs to be understood because they will have moral lessons in them and stuff. So, as far as finding animators... I guess there are plenty reading this forum, what kind of costs might I be looking at? Our budget would be limited and won't be able to afford to the best in the industry. Would I pay per character? About how much? I'm assuming they would be a lot faster than me so it might boil down to an hourly rate and I'm probably getting into specifics here. Maybe I should open a new thread describing our project in detail and soliciting bids. But I don't want to get ahead of myself as I don't have a set budget right now. Thanks again, Luke

This is not for profit. Although we will probably sell the DVDs it will be to a small community (compared to worldwide movie distribution). I will not personally benefit financially at all. My time contributions will all be charity. But I might pick up some valuable skills for the future. I'm not the creator of the actual story line as it is non-fiction but will probably be involved in shortening the longer written form in to a series of animations. The other thing is that my ability will probably improve over time so there would probably be a noticeable quality difference between the earlier and later animations. But nothing is going to be perfect.

Thanks for both the replies. There is no set deadline for the project but I don't want it to be the only thing I do in my spare time. I guess I expect to spend a year on it but I would hope that in a year I'd already completed an episode. That's the other factor, that I want to make a full series of cartoons which I understand might be difficult. I see how much time might goes into creating a single character or stage item but my hope is that once a character is created it can be reused and easily animated. But these cartoons will require a whole caste of characters. I also guess it really depends on the level of detail I put into them. So right now I'm wondering if A:M is where I should invest my time and energy. I really appreciate your feedback. Thanks again, Luke

Hi, I would like to make a series of children's cartoons based on religious principles. I have a very talented artist but who has no computer skills. I am a programmer with little natural artistic talent. I'm researching the feasibility right now. Can anyone provide me their opinion if I am being realistic with this and what kind of commitment I'm looking at? I have wanted to learned 3D animation for a while but have never been able to get the right software or spend enough time. I am proficient in Photoshop and Flash. Thanks, Luke