Animated Videos

[Spearball]

Im not too sure if this goes here but here it goes.....

My question is how can i make an animated movie. For example take the introduction of blizzards movie of world of warcraft when u first start the game. Any software i can use, how is it done? Is it done in the same way that the animated videos like the movie happy feet for instance?

Thanks guys :)

Edit:Here is the example i am talking about ...

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-3068835855122853996&q=world+of+warcraft+intro&total=847&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1

[Paleo Pete]

Software - The Gimp can handle animation I'm pretty sure, Google for it. It's a nice free graphics program that works quite well, I'm using it on Windows and Linux. Other software can do the job as well, google for keywords like "animation software" and see what you come up with. I just looked at my Gimp menus and found an entire section of video options, so it should handle animation.

The way it's done is tedious, but basically the same way cartoons have been done by Disney and Warner Brothers for 50 years or more. (Bugs Bunny, Roadrunner, Daffy Duck etc)

How it's done-

You start with a picture, let's assume a man walking is the intent. Then add another one exactly the same with a slight difference, say one foot lifted slightly. Add another exactly the same, but with the foot lifted slightly more and slightly in front of its last position. Repeat ad nauseum until you have a cartoon guy walking down the street. You would also want to pay attention to the arm motion, arms tend to swing along with the legs moving as the guy walks. Then the head would need to bob up and down slightly, or turn as he looks around...it can get tedious...and the background should move along as if he were passing it all by.

Usually to get smooth motion you'll need at least 30 frames per second, each picture discussed above is referred to as a frame. The more frames per second, the smoother the motion will be.

This is a very brief and general desription, I won't go into detail because it would quickly eat up a lot of space and I don't know much about it either, just the basics.

One thing you might think about, try a simple, small, icon sized animation or three first to get the hang of it. Keep it short. a smilie face blinking its eyes and waving might be a good starter project. For two seconds of smooth animation that would be 60 pictures...I didn't start with computers by building a brand new machine, I started by swapping out a card here and there, working my way up to full builds and major troubleshooting. The same applies here.