animation
Al,
Is your son's platform Mac or PC? Is your budget $200 or $3000? Is 8 bit color
sufficient or is 24 bit necessary? Is the end result to be played back on
computer or output to video tape? Animation programs basically break down into
2D and 3D programs. The more realistic you want, the more (in general) you
should lean toward a 3D program. But 3D programs are not programs you "draw"
in, in the usual sense of the word. Animator Studio (an offspring of Animator
Pro & due out soon) will probably set the new low end standard in 2D animation
on the PC (by low end, you can probably buy it for 400-500$). A slew of 3D
programs have recently come out on the PC market (Truespace, Imagine, Animation
Master, and very soon now, Lightwave). These are in the 400-1000 range. 3D
Studio is the standard bearer on the PC, outstanding, but pricey at around
$2500 (although a full time student can pick it up for $995). All generally
require a good paint program as well, since the original images are made here
(Photoshop and Painter are two standards). Your son has probably been exposed
to several programs at school & should have a pretty good idea of what he
wants. Answering the initial questions I posed will at least narrow the field a
little. As recently as two years ago the choices were fairly restricted. Not so
any more.
Andrew