Image creation software

Photopshop and Illustrator is probably the most popular grahic tools to use. Personally I use Flash and Gimp 2, but my experience in this field is nothing to brag about

For music I use FL studio, but any DAW or modern tracker would do fine, it depends on your peronal preference and experience with the given tool. Mac users usually go for Logic or Ableton, while Ableton, Cubase, Reason and FL Studio are popular choices for Windows.

I do all my artwork (except for pixel art which I us MMF's image editor for) in Lightwave 3D. I create 3D models of my objects, animate them, and export a bitmap image sequence. I then import the images into MMF and that gives me my objects.

For music, I don't have a music ear. I can't create my own. I buy royalty free music for use in my games, usually from Sound Ideas, and I also use the music that came with MMF over the years and any music people offer up on the forums for free use.

Graphicsgale is really affordable, and it's what I use for spritework. For lighting effects or other sorts of animation, I use After Effects and a couple of external plugins. I suppose it's a good solution for vector animation as well. There is also Anime Studio, which is a dedicated solution for vector animation, so you might find that more useful (After Effects' usage scope is broader). Anime Studio's rendering engine and interface are not very good or flexible, though. As for music, Logic Pro is really dynamic, and it's really easy to configure external audio engine libraries if you use them. It also comes with a bunch of content.

Quote from macca02

Paul: The idea of animating and then exporting to an image sequence is really what i'm after, so that sounds great. Is this possible in Anime studio aswell?

I don't use Anime Studio so I can't answer that question. Going the 3D route is a bit more complex but I find I can get better results easier in 3D then I can in 2D. Having said that, a few years ago I did have a vector based art program called Harvard Graphics 3.0 For DOS and found it very easy to create stuff with that so if you can find a vector based program somewhere it might be easier for you to pick up and learn.

If you want a 3D graphics program, then you should try Please login to see this link.. It lets you animate and then export an image sequence, though it could take a little getting used to.

Quote from macca02

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'm after something relatively simple, my biggest issue is I'm not very good at drawing unfortunately haha so i guess no software can really help! Going to try all that is mentioned. Currently downloading GIMP & Anime studio and will experiment with.
Paul: The idea of animating and then exporting to an image sequence is really what i'm after, so that sounds great. Is this possible in Anime studio aswell?

Yeah, I'm sure you can export a .png sequence from there. Of course, it might be hefty when importing to MMF. For some pre-rendered lighting effects I use, I've cut that down by exporting them as a gif sequence. If you stylise things well, you can get away with a low-colour limit.

Also, I'm not sure if someone's already mentioned Spriter. I've not used it yet, but it's made just to animate 2d characters from different body parts. I think there's even a way to import the bone animation and implement it yourself to manipulate active objects in real-time.

Adobe Fireworks is also a really good tool IMO, especially for quick prototyping.

I still use good ol' Macromedia Fireworks 8 for my GUI and some graphic needs. I designed Please login to see this link. entirely inside Macromedia Fireworks 8. I also hired one of my voice talents for not much expense to do the voice overs. I used some stock fx and some post-produced sounds/musics for the game.

Quote from happygreenfrog

If you want a 3D graphics program, then you should try Please login to see this link.. It lets you animate and then export an image sequence, though it could take a little getting used to.

Taking a little to get used to is an understatement when it comes to Blender That interface is awful compared to any other 3d program. I don't think it's even worth the time trying to figure it out (in my opinion of course).

Quote from Shawn

Taking a little to get used to is an understatement when it comes to Blender That interface is awful compared to any other 3d program. I don't think it's even worth the time trying to figure it out (in my opinion of course).

I've actually done pretty good with it. Want a sample render to prove it?

Quote from happygreenfrog

I've actually done pretty good with it. Want a sample render to prove it?

Just from curiosity, yes hehe

Quote

Paul: The idea of animating and then exporting to an image sequence is really what i'm after, so that sounds great. Is this possible in Anime studio aswell?

Yep. If you want to do bone animations with either vectors (which you can do within ASP itself) or raster (which you can import) in a simple yet quite-but-not-super-powerful program that's fast to work with, ASP is a great choice. However, I distrust SmithMicro, the company who acquired E Frontier who used to develop ASP. SmithMicro have adapted some insane sales model where getting a demo requires you to give the company their credit card information, and they'll charge you if you don't uninstall the demo in 30 days or something. When I found out, I had to cancel an ASP course I was going to hold at a school because it would be unreasonable for me to ask the students to get the demo.

I don't like when I want to recommend a product, but not the company that sells it. The same goes for Adobe too.

Quote from AftPeakTank

Just from curiosity, yes hehe

Okay. Last night I made something in case someone answered yes. It's simple, but it didn't take me very long to do it, either. The only texture(s) it uses are the generated ones. If I had more time then, I probably could have made it better, but whatever.

It's an orange:

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Like it?

Quote from happygreenfrog

Okay. Last night I made something in case someone answered yes. It's simple, but it didn't take me very long to do it, either. The only texture(s) it uses are the generated ones. If I had more time then, I probably could have made it better, but whatever.

It's an orange:

Please login to see this attachment.

Like it?

It is ok, doesn't look bad for 5 minutes work... Have you ever done something like Spaceship or something?

I've done a spaceship before. They aren't anywhere near the best things I've made though, so they won't show how good I am with Blender. I make you another render later today, though, if you want.

EDIT: I made this asteroid in a few minutes (I'd say around 5 minutes). Enjoy!

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Ah but of course, there is a software that used to be for proffesionals and now it is out for free. I can tell you, it is extremely powerful. I suggest to give it a look.

It is called Truespace... The bad thing is i can't seem to find their site... hmmmm

here is a link
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I'll stick with Blender, thanks. It might be too hard to adapt to another interface, considering how different Blender's interface is from other 3D modeling software (from what I've heard, anyway). Also, I have another render for you (last one for now). It's a tank:

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Microsoft now owns True Space.

Marv