Any suggestions? I need a 3d animation software package
 

I am looking to at a good animation software package to accompany my video editing software. I am about to purchase Adobe CS3 for video editing and I have no clue as far as animation goes.

I am a complete novice when it comes to animation so I am looking for something that hasn't got a very steep learning curve, yet offers good flexibility.

Someone suggested TrueSpace 7.0 to me but I don't know much about it and looking at the price I doubt its effectiveness.

I would like hear what you think about TrueSpace and any other suggestions would be very welcome. Also, being a novice, I would like to get a software package which has tons of tutorials available for it.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you in advance

Cinema 4D is a nice easy to use program.

Lightwave is great but can be a little complex.

3D Studio Max is my favorite but it is complex and very expensive. There are a lot of tutorials and free plugins and stuff out there so that does help a little bit.

Blender is free but it is very complex. It does have a lot of training material out there if you look. There are even Blender magazines you can download with great information.

Maya I haven't used in years but it is some great software or at least it was. It is also pretty complex.

Thanks Thomas for pointing me in the right direction. Much appreciated.

I would still like to hear from somebody who has worked in TrueSpace 7 (or earlier versions) and what their opinion of the product is.

I think the price point for this product is about $500 which isn't too bad but if I have to spend more I am willing to do so. As long as I am getting good value for my money.

I've used a few applications over the past several years.
Cinema4D, Maya, Electric Image, 3dMax ... even Bryce & Blender.

I'd HIGHLY recommend Cinema4D. Especially for use with an Adobe suite and, since you'll be new to 3D, it has one of the easiest user interfaces of the major apps.

The big thing to note about C4D is that it has a lot of built-in integration with After Effects that make it very powerful and fast to use as you bring yourself up to speed.

Most important, approach 3D as a long term effort. It's entirely different that editing or 2D compositing. It WILL take some time to get your head around a lot of new concepts, tools and vocabulary. Most applications will have good "getting started" guides that will have you creating "cool stuff" rather quickly, but it will take time and practice before you'll reach a point to where you can get just what you want out of a project.

If you do choose the C4D route, check out cineveristy.com and PixelCorps for EXTENSIVE online training, learning tools and forums loaded with help.

Hope this helps.
Good luck!

Thanks Nick. And thank you for the website links. Much appreciated and a great help.

I like the part of your response where you say that it Cinema4D flows nicely with Adobe software. As I am an Adobe user this is very important to me. After reading the comments on this thread and checking out the website, I am leaning heavily towards this package.
The next logical step is for me to download a demo version. Total download of just under 200mb.

It has not been mentioned but I think that Carrara also deserves your attention. Carrara has beautiful landscape generation, easy UI and very powerful features and it's very reasonably priced. See http://www.daz3d.com