[xp_erience]

I do regular artwork (cartooning, inking, drawing on paper/painting on canvas) and am self-taught (dont know the technical terms for things or the industry).

I am interested in getting into digital artwork -- and have a good amount of experience with Photoshop 5 and Illustrator.


I would truly like to get into the kinds of programs which allow me to make those cool moving cartoons on websites, which always look flawless. I dont even know what thats called. --- Additionally, i would love to be able to get into some 3D rendering, and anything that allows me to make short clips of moving 3D rendered objects.


If you could recommend programs for me, that would be great. I am interested in finding an appropriate PCI (not PCIe) graphics card to be able to handle these applications, as well.


If anyone knows any or some of the best programs for animation (hobby oriented) and 3D animation, as well as any popular apps.......... PLEASE LET ME KNOW, so i can start my in-depth research and move on to the next step of getting them. :-)


Thanks!


X

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Hello!

For the online animations, I believe you are looking at Flash animations. They are created with the program Macromedia Flash [http://www.macromedi...software/flash/] and has become basically the standard for delivery of small games and animations. The Flash plug-in for browsers is almost universally installed.

For doing 3D animations, I highly recommend the free open-source 3D modeling (and animation) program called Blender [http://www.blender.org. It is a great piece of software with a large and helpful community. Check out the gallery and some examples to see what is possible with this free program.

I hope that helps.

Cheers,
Tom

[gust0208]

Hello!

For the online animations, I believe you are looking at Flash animations. They are created with the program Macromedia Flash [http://www.macromedi...software/flash/] and has become basically the standard for delivery of small games and animations. The Flash plug-in for browsers is almost universally installed.

For doing 3D animations, I highly recommend the free open-source 3D modeling (and animation) program called Blender [http://www.blender.org. It is a great piece of software with a large and helpful community. Check out the gallery and some examples to see what is possible with this free program.

I hope that helps.

Cheers,
Tom

[starjax]

Tom answered the software side, so I'll take the hw. There isn't much in the way of pci that is still available that would be worth the money. do you have agp? if you do then there are plenty of options. if you don't have agp then it would be better to spend money on a new system.

what are your system specs.

[xp_erience]

Really, it wouldn't be worth the money, even if i only have the Intel GMA 900 thingy..? I hear this thing is terrible, and, as far as i could tell, i could do better..?

my system in detail

Compaq Presario SR1350NX
519J Pent 4 3.06 gHz
1 gig PC3200 ram (upgraded from 512),
---NO AGP---
---NO PCIe--
3 PCI slots

Thank you to Gusto for the advice (and reminder of "Flash" .. duh! .. as the name).

I would REALLY REALLY like it if someone could just recommend a decent -- i dont need or want to upgrade my system -- PCI graphics card. I'm trying to do this on a budget, as i am still paying back university loans. =P

I'm not asking for much.. just a recommendation or two, so i know what to look for. If you are feeling generous, maybe even some advice as to what kinds of cards work best for what situations (be it gaming or CAD -- i am looking for the CAD side of the spectrum).



I want a graphics card, not a new computer... i PROMISE you guys i will never buy another Compaq again, the salesman swore to me it would have an AGP port......... RIGHT!! -- i got it because it was on clearance and too good to pass up right as my ancient computer finally died.

Please, suggestions of real cards, so i can look into them, please..?

Thanks,


X

Edited by xp_erience, 09 August 2005 - 05:13 AM.

[starjax]

it took a while to find it... but this would do you nicely

this is a sapphire 64meg radeon 7000 video card, pci version from NewEgg.

[xp_erience]

Well, i definately couldn't beat the price!

But it seems to lack everything i heard to look for. 147mHz, and only 64mb..? Other than the price, what makes this a worthwhile card? Still, i will take it into consideration and do more research.

Is it that my system could not handle a card bigger than 64mb? Or is this plenty of power in this little card? When the specs say DirectX7, does that mean that directx7 is a requirement or that it can't handle anything that takes advantage of, say, directx9 3-d based features?

Just wondering.


Any other suggestions along the lines of something faster with greater memory? This does seem to be a good bargain, however, i'm possibly looking for more.

I know there is a ATI Radeon 9200 at 128mb, and its bigger brother at 256mb (the 9250??). How do these cards stack?

Take care,

X

Edited by xp_erience, 10 August 2005 - 06:03 AM.

[xp_erience]

Oh yeah.. i found these guys:


ATI Radeon 256 "100114-BK" link, and ATI Radeon 256 "100114-LB" link


Whats the difference between the two? BK and LB? One site indicates that LB might stand for lite box, but i dont understand what that would mean exactly. The difference in price is 50 cents.

And what about this Chaintech card..? Link Its PCI-EXPRESS but does it have a little brother for PCI only?




X

[starjax]

on the chaintek... not that I am aware of. I would go with the saphire lb. its a newer revision of the bk.

like I said I only spent just a quit few min. looking at new egg.

the longer you wait the harder its going to get to find them for PCI.