In article .com,
Robin wrote:
My son, 12yo, is showing an interest in, and some talent for, computer
animation. Like a lot of kids, he enjoys comic strips and classic
comics and also draws his own comics (his writing is better than his
artwork). He's also familiar with a lot of styles of cartoons, from
Rocky & Bullwinkle and Wallace & Gromit up to popular kids' cartoons
(though we do limit TV watching). He astounded me recently by using
PowerPoint (which happens to be loaded on his computer, a Win98
hand-me-down) to create a several-minute-long, reasonably complex
animation. I know PowerPoint isn't the right tool for the job, but I
don't know what is. I'd like to get him some software suitable for
beginners that will introduce him to principles of animation and give
him the tools to do some fun stuff. It would have to be something
that's been around a few years, so it would work on his computer, but
then I'd also be happy to get something used. I just don't know what to
look for. Something designed to teach animation techniques would be
perfect. It would be great if it were directed to kids, but I'm not
looking for one of those branded software packages that let you insert,
say, Disney characters into pre-designed backgrounds.

If he is doing animations with PowerPoint, you may want to skip over
the idea of kid tools and just go with a regular tool. Macromedia
Flash would be my recommendation in this regard, if you can find an
older version around that will run on the Win98 box. Macromedia has
trial downloads that you can use for 30 days, but I don't know if they
provide earlier versions, and the most recent version is unlikely to
work on Win98. But it at least gives you a starting point for a
search.

Flash isn't a program that will teach him how to draw, but it will
allow him to create some nifty computer animations. Because a lot of
webpage animation is done using Flash there are a lot of books and
help tutorials around for it.

If you can't find a version that will run on your computer, you might
try and see if there is an organization that is willing to lend
computer time in exchange for doing some web animation work. Many
community groups would love to have a website with computer animation
on it, and at 12 with some skills this is something that he could
likely do quite well given your description of him.

Carol Hulls