Computer animation

[Hedgehogsonic16 0]

Hey guys, I'm new to this wonderful group, was pointed here to ask for some help. I've found a good amount of music on YouTube by this very talented young man that goes by DJ TWITCH (DJTWITCHMUSIC) and it somehow inspired me to make a few animation projects. However, my major isn't in Digital Media/Animation, it's actually Computer Management. I'd like to find a good program that is free or pretty cheap that cando good animations along with good backgrounds (stage, concert, club, etc.), good variety of characters (Sonic characters and a huge load of ponies), and changeable weather conditions (if possible). The computer I'm wanting to do this on probably shouldn't try as it has a 64-bit intel Pentium dual core processor with Win7 as OS (preference), and it's a Dell inspire. As far as how much memory (RAM) is left, not exactly sure, same goes for the hard drive. Any one of you have an idea to point me to? Thank you and I appreciate it.

If anyone wants to become friends, you can find me on Facebook, I'm Son Hedge (profile pic is Rainbow Dash). You can also check out my few projects on YouTube, my user name is HedgehogSonic16, profile pic is Pinkie Pie. Thanks guys.

[PickMeup 16]

You should probably give a link to your youtube. Also the next stable version of Synfig coming this month will have all the features you need and its free and open source under GPL

http://morevnaproject.org/2013/04/10/character-template-released/

http://morevnaproject.org/2013/02/25/delays-papagayos-and-character-templates/

 

http://www.synfig.org/cms/

[Hedgehogsonic16 0]

Yeah, sorry about that. I was on my iPod when I posted that, still am on iPod. I'll get on that when I get a chance. Thank you for those links, hopefully they'll work right on my PC, it's a bit laggy and slow even after being cleaned out. I'm having half a mind of putting in a 4TB hard drive in it for storage and call it a day. Lol

[Gay Bird 421]

I use adobe Flash to animate and illustrator to draw. Most community resources are in flash, and it's what they use on the actual show. With the student discount, I could have gotten it for 200$,but I also wanted after effects and premiere, which are also very useful for making animations. The cs6 production suite was 450 for me. This is all really big budget stuff though, so don't get what you don't need. You could always use inscape or even draw stuff within flash. Also, hit film standard is a great alternative to both after effects and premiere, since it's only 150 for both composting and editing. Also, I've head that toon boom Is a good Alternative to flash if you're on a tighter budget. Also, if you can afford to, get a tablet to help you draw. I don't have one so I can't recommend any, but they are extremely useful.

[Hedgehogsonic16 0]

Only tablet I have is an iPod touch, can't really do anything with it as far as apps as I owe iTunes $40. I'll check out the softwares once I get done with my finals, it's kind of stressful and hectic as of now. Thank you for the tips.

 

Btw, my Facebook is: https://m.facebook.com/son.hedge1?id=100002291794097&_rdr

My YouTube is:

http://m.youtube.com/user/HedgehogSonic16?feature=guide

I do hope that's the correct link, let me know if it isn't. Thank you for the responses, I'm sorry I haven't responded in a long time.