make an animated movie?

Question by theanswernator: make an animated movie?
How do you make an animated movie, kind of like Beowulf or Polar Express? What software is necessary? How much does motion capture stuff cost?

I want to make something like a 5 minute scene – the hill part of For Whom the Bell Tolls in this way.

Best answer:

Answer by Lisa B
The industry professionals use a Visual 3D program called Maya.
Since the program runs upwards of 3000 dollars, I wouldn’t suggest this for someone making a 5 minute film.
It would also cost you extra time, though it costs Major 2 hour films less time.
This is because you spend X number of hours creating your character, the details have to be immaculate, once you have created the subject you are then free to move it via a series of “Joints”. I.E. Legs, arms, ankles, neck, back everything will move with the click of a button once you’ve created your character, but the beowolf character I estimate would take one person 1000 hours to make using the program, after that it’s just clicks to move him and background changes.

If you want other special effects such as backgrounds ect. I would suggest something called Adobe After Effects, I’ve used it for a while and it works great for changing your sky or adding a castle or something in the background or replacing newer cars with older ones.
It’s a little harder to “animate with it” as you need to do it frame by frame.
Things like fireballs or faeries are super easy using this program.

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