what software

[cleofus1]

is commcerically available and personably viable to do basic animation on a intel based computer?

does anyone have any idea what you could use?

and even more important...what would it cost?

[democracyindanger]

1. flash

I think there's an opensource program that creates flash files, but I don't know what it is. Otherwise, Flash is your best bet. macromedia.com

[SlackJawedYokel]

2. What sort of animation?

For online?
For video games?
Simple?
Complex?
3D, 2D?

Macromedia Flash MX 2004 is the industry standard for online 2D animation. It is what is used to create .swf files you see embedded in webpages(right click on them and they'll say something like "Settings/About Macromedia 7")
The academic version will run about $100, commercial version is $500.

3D software is, in general, even more expensive and more complex than Flash.
Though there are workarounds... shareware like Blender and the Maya/3D Max demo's are definitely an alternative.

Be more specific about your intentions and I can point you in the right direction.

Cletus

[cleofus1]

3. like could i make her sing?

[SlackJawedYokel]

4. Absolutely

Flash would probably be the quickest, most effective way of doing that.

It comes with a built-in audio synching capability which makes life much, much easier.
There are Flash lip-synch tutorials on the web if you wanna google.

The equivalent 3d alternative would be Poser with Mimic.

Good luck.

Cletus

[4_Legs_Good]

5. I played around a little with "Flipbook"

when I was working on a project. It seems to be (from what I could find) the most analagous to traditional hand drawn animation.

It's expensive, though - $1,000, I think, which is too much to spend for just a hobby.

david