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What is a good animation maker that i can use in my game? Preferably one that doesn't cost hundreds of dollars but I might ask for it on my birthday. What do you guys use?

anim8or. just search google to find it; it's free.
takes lotsa time to get used to, though.
currently I use Microsoft Office to create my pictures.

3D : anim8or
2D : paint
I think good or not is depend on our experience and creation...Just practice anytime, and you'll get that skill

Well, it depends on if you are doing 2d or 3d animation. I always recommend blender (http://www.blender.org) to everyone, as its the whole shabang(3d modeling, animating, game making), and its free. Steep learning curve, but so easy once you've learned the interface. And its free . I hear good things about anim8or but haven't used it.

For 2d I recommend Pencil 2d. It's like flash and allows you to make bitmap and vector animations. It also is free. You can scope it out at http://www.les-stooges.org/pascal/pencil/index.php?id=Home. Another open source animator with neat functions, and would make for a unique environment is movie sandbox (http://www.moviesandbox.com/. They've also developed a cheap 3d scanner(check out the milk scanner, its great). They've also developed real time lip syncing. Great stuff. I wish I had more time to experiment with it in GE.

Anyway, best of luck. Hope they work out for you.

Thanks a lot guys, this will help a lot.

Can you make your own 3D modles using anim80r?

Yup, its what I use, (wow, I didnt realize this much people actually used anim8or...) Anim8or is a 3D model and/or movie designing software and takes a while to get used to. (I still need to add the backgrounds)