2D Animation

[mimse]

Check this out!!!

Win Plastic Animation Paper: Broadcast at The 10 Second Club

The 10 Second Club and Plastic Animation Paper have teamed up to give the winner of the April 2004 competition a free copy of thier incredible 2D software for drawing 'traditional' animation, PAP:Broadcast.

The winner is voted by all the animators in true democratic fashion and they will be walking away with one of the most respected 2D animation packages on the market, worth over $USD600 !

 

[ekuska]

Ive done a lot of traditional animation stuff, and by that I mean pencil and paper, and nothing else. I would storyboard your music 'short' first, by just illustrating panels of certain key moments/images you would like to go with your song. A lot of problems can be worked out that way, rather than just jumping in and animating.
Once you are happy with your boards, shoot them with your home video camera and sync them up with your music. (Many computer programs such as final cut pro, I movie, flash, can help you do this). See if the images still hold up the way you intended. From there you can make a pretty good estimate on time/money/animation needed to do your project. Regardless of what animation platform (computer/hand drawn/claymation) you end up going with, you will need to do these storyboards to save yourself a lot of headaches.
Good luck!

 

[zoetrope]

my 2 cents

I used to work in traditional cel animation for several years, worked on a fairy tale series and even a Captain Crunch commercial, then got some (brief) experience with doing it on computer (using Flash, etc.). I have to second what ekuska says about story boarding. No matter what type of animation you're doing, cel, sand, computer, clay, it all comes down to obsessive planning, especially if you are trying to synch the sound and image. You also should know that although software can help take some of the drudgery out of animation, it is still a very time consuming endeavor. You better be in love with your project from the start (or be getting paid) or things tend to grind to a halt.

I know none of this answers your question but I couldn't resist putting in my 2 cents.