Thread: 3D Intro Animation Software

I know a little about it. I'm a graphic designer, and I have a few friends who are animators or animation students. The animation software my friends use is 3DS Max, but it is not an easy software to use. Very powerful and it can do anything you can imagine, but it's very complex... you would have to get a book on it, study it, and watch lots of tutorials. Same thing with Maya. Also keep in mind that 3D animations take a long time to do. Depending on how complex the 3D objects are, you have to construct them, "unwrap" them, rig them, set up the animation frames, and finally render it. You also need a fairly powerful computer that can handle all of these tasks.

I don't know about Cinema, never heard of it. Adobe After Effects is not a software for creating 3D animations, it is a video editing and effects tool. Once an animation is complete or a video is shot, it can be brought into After Effects to add things like fade in/out, create illusions, insert other things where there's a green screen, and create other special effects. It's possible to create simple 3D objects in Adobe Illustrator or Flash if you're already familiar with them, then export it into After Effects, if you don't want to deal with having to learn professional 3D software. Look up "Lynda" tutorials, they are very helpful. You can also find a butt load of them for free on YouTube.