[nicejobman!]

Is there any advice for starting on making animation? Is the best way just to pick a program and mess around with it or are classes necessary to learn the ins and outs of it?

[Ran King]

3d animation like with blender? the hardest part is making/getting model and textures. looking at a beginner tutorial would be a good start.

[nicejobman!]

What about simple 2d animations? I guess they would easier to mess around with, when you don't have to worry about messing up that extra third dimension right?

[lesserram]

I don't know if you mean 2-D or 3-D but any and all animation should be learned by getting the Animator's Kit books / dvds.That's like the animators bible. Not much new tech info to animate but more lessons on how to make things FEEL more fluid and have all around more character - and timing.

[Conquistadora]

It's all about practice. Any onion-skin program will work in teaching you the basics. Check out some Youtube tutorials or something.