i was just wondering.. is this a good program to use to make a 3d animated film.. like 5 mins long.. in my media class were supposed to be makin movies with camera's n stuff.. but the techer said i could make a 3d animation one.. if i knew how......so anyways, i just wanna know if i should use this program to make it.

Yes, it is, but you need time and patience. It took three years to make Shrek 1, and that was 90 minutes. So theoretically, if you want THAT quality, you can work out how long it will take you to make 5 mins. I have made 5 and 15 minute films at lower quality and they weren't Shrek, but they weren't bad either. All depends how much time you have, how fast you learn, and what computer you have.

i have about a month to do this.. i learn stuff fast... wat u mean by computer... p4 2.4ghz.. 256ddr ram.. geforce 4?

Assuming you've already learned the basics, animation time depends heavily on the ratio of meaningful action to mechanical or repetitive stuff. It takes me about one week to produce one minute of meaningful or "plotted" action. But if I use various mechanical tricks (such as Python and MIDI) I can produce an unlimited amount of musically controlled action, without any real plot or meaning, in a couple of days.

To do a simple animation, like a plane flying, a car driving along a road, is also very quick. Doing something complicated like a fight scene from the Matrix could take weeks. Also bits of animation can be repeated from different veiwpoints. Someone walking down the road is boring if filmed from one camera, but with a 3D program you can have various cameras and cut between them, giving more "movement" to your film.

Basically what we're telling you is that if you're looking for a quick and easy fix for your assignment, you'll be beatter off getting your friends together and filming a 5 minute short that you've written and filmed in real life. This is not a Quick Fix, nor a way to cheat the system. It takes a lot more planning than breaking out the video cam and filming your buddies messin' around.

I'll echo the previous comments. I've made short films with a video camera, and I've made short animations drawing by hand and posing plasticene models, and I've never yet finished a proper animated scene using Poser despite having spent about as long as on the others working on scenes. Motion sequences for a single figure are easy enough, but full scenes are a level (or more) of complexity beyond that. Admittedly, with Poser I'm working alone and with most of the others I was working as part of a team. I'd still suggest that unless you're already familiar with how to use the software, have the props, characters and scenes ready to use, and have a storyboard ready to go that's suited to the program, you'll be better off using real actors.

*Erm... 'the others' meaning the other types of filming/animation I'd done, not 'the others' as in the other people responding, in case that wasn't clear!

As a computer games animator with 15 years experience... I'll tell you to film it. Learning the software at the same time that you are using it, under a deadlined project, is like making a game while they are still building the engine. Not fun. Not productive. 3D software is incredibly complicated to master, and unless you have already worked with 3D graphics, you will spend more time trying to put clothes on your model and lights set up and a shadow in the proper place than you'd believe possible... all this before you even start animating. Once you add a second person to the scene, it gets even worse. These are meshes. Real people don't stick their hair through their bodies or their hands through their comrades. With film and real people you already know that their clothes will stay on and drape naturally if they should sit down. You know that the sun will shine and cast a shadow. You know that if the wind is blowing, then hair and clothes will billow. If you aren't worried about the mechanics of posing them, they might even act naturally. You can concentrate upon the story. That IS what a movie is all about. The story. Not the whiz-bang effects. Not the fancy-pants CGI work. The story. Since you are taking a media class, you have probably already been taught about script-writing and story-boarding. Doing good preparation will save time later. You will waste less film and have more to show for it. Instead of spending weeks learning software that you might never use again, polish up the story and make it interesting. If you had a semester, I'd give different advice... but with only a month? Go with the camera! Carolly

"Real people don't stick ... their hands through their comrades." I suppose that is one nice thing about most people, lol.

"Real people don't stick ... their hands through their comrades." I dunno... I try to stick my hand through EVERYone I meet. You just get the know them SO much better! ;)

Lol, that's why I said "most" people, because I knew there were people like you around. mmmmm..... How to make a thread drift OT, by Numanoid. A new bestseller in the marketplace, lol.

Yeah, thread drift is usually my specialty. Harrumph! However, I remember the first time I tried to pose two people kissing romantically in 3D (fairytale ending... just a sweet gentle kiss). I knew that his legs had to go through her dress (Anton's 18th century clothing on both of them... that is a w-i-d-e skirt), but getting his hand to barely touch her arm was an exercise. IIRC, she was holding an fan with her other hand, so was jabbing him in the wrong places too until I got things untangled. At least it was a still image! If the project had gone through, I'd have had to animate them dancing together, and it would have been obvious that his legs were going through the skirt. :sigh: There are times when it is faster to reach for a pencil. Carolly