Everyone dreams of creating a film at home, but now, in the era of Y2K it's easier than ever before to use a personal computer to create animated material.

Putting Together the Hardware
First, a decision must be made as to the computer to be used. Putting together a system that's affordable and powerful is pretty easy, and a system can be assembled fairly inexpensively these days. Even your current desktop system might be used to run animation software. The new Intel-based machines are surprisingly powerful enough to handle the demands of current animation software. A typical or average configuration can include a 450 MHz Pentium II (PII) processor, 250 MBs of ram and a 9 gigabyte hard drive. That set-up will handle most production requirements. The new Apple computers are fairly quick as well. Used SGIs (extending up to the O2 model) bought off the web are also a possibility, in order to keep prices at around US $1,000.

After the machine is set-up, an operating system must be chosen. The probable choices are Windows NT and IRIX, a form of UNIX on the SGI. (Note: You need Windows NT in order to run the popular production software packages, as most don't run on Windows `98.) Apple has its own operating system on their machines. Keep in mind the cost of upgrading or maintaining your chosen operating system. To keep things current it costs approximately $700 a year on the SGI vs. $100 a year for an NT.

For peripherals, I recommend a drawing tablet. Doug Sayre, an animator who's been freelancing from home creating animation for television shows in Lightwave, recommends a good monitor (19" or more) and back-up system, such as Jaz, Exabyte, CD-Writable, or Zip.

Choosing Software
Then a package on which to concentrate must be chosen. Lightwave is a possible choice of software, as are Hash Animation Master, 3DStudio and Truespace 3D. Softimage 3D and Maya are used extensively in the industry, as are Houdini and Renderman, so research the packages on the web and decide which to learn. Each package has advantages. Lightwave is easy to use, but Hash Animation Master has a rich set of tools for character modeling and animation and is very inexpensive at a regular price of approximately $200. Truespace has some great modeling tools as well. Softimage 3D is well known for character animation. Maya is also gaining a reputation as a good particles tool and expressive character package. Houdini is known for its procedural animation approach (one uses abstract modules in order to create animation) and great Renderman interface. Moreover, Renderman is known to be the highest-quality renderer in the industry.

The disadvantages the packages have are: Lightwave has basic polygon modeling and the character animation is not as developed; Maya's renderer isn't as good as some other renderers; Houdini is more oriented to people who program and isn't very intuitive for traditional animation; and Renderman is very programming intensive.

Educational package prices are affordable and if you are a student, you should definitely take advantage of this. Many high-end packages offer student discounts that greatly reduce the cost of using a professional package. Maya and Softimage can be obtained by a full-time student at a tenth of their off-the-shelf prices through special student programs by the vendors. Maya is priced at $500 for the complete version of software, and the student has the option to purchase the permanent license at half price after one year. The unlimited version is priced at $750. Softimage is priced at $995 for a student license that can be upgraded to the current version as long as the student is enrolled full-time. The version reverts to a game version permanent license after the student finishes classes. Lightwave is offered at $895 for the student version.

Making the Most of Your Skills
Concentrate on learning the package you choose thoroughly and translating your skills as a traditional artist to the computer realm. If you animate traditionally, learn the tools to let you keyframe and pose a critter, and the animation curve tools that let you create timing and pacing. Traditional animators, once they make the transition, will find a wealth of tools for creating expressive key poses of their characters. If you come from a video background utilize your skills in lighting and camera set-up. If you illustrate or sculpt, translate your aptitude for creating detailed imagery and characters. A background in computer graphics concepts is also very useful.