Thank you for the kind words!

I believe I started with poser 3 myself, it was the most "user-friendly" 3D app at the time, though I dabbled with Maya and C4D (still use C4D for motion graphics and After Effects is my main tool.

Like you, I work freelance, AniMajik Productions is my company name since 1973 - yup, sort of dates me! Back then I cut real film and penciled, inked and painted my own cel animation and shot it frame by frame. Those were the days!. When I discovered the potential of digital animation and learned the software it was a dream come true - I could get projects done MUCH faster and without the cost of film. (Back in the '70s a 100' roll of 16mm color was about $40.00 to process, not counting the price of the film itself! and that was only a couple of minutes worth of film)

I am a trained and certified Avid (Media Composer) and FCP editor as well, so I had that advantage. I switched about a year ago to Premiere and found it much like the old FCP 6/7 so was fairly easy for me to pick up. I'm not crazy about the "cloud-based" software rentals either, but as long as clients keep paying me, I'll keep "renting" the tools I need. (I have the older 5.5 suite hanging around just in case)

I think a lot of people starting out in animation are just overwhelmed by the complexity of doing a movie or even a short film when they realize what is needed to produce it. I say start simple, but keep at it! You'll get better the more you practice it. (Like anything else). And my advice to animators (and editors/filmmakers) is story telling is the main objective. Start with a good idea and develop it - the rest will all follow.

-AniMajik

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