The animation course at the college I work for teaches Toon Boom for it's 2D portion of the program. There are 4 different versions of it ranging in price from $250 to $1,200
For 3D, Blender is hard to beat because it's free. A few folks on here use the program. There's a large user forum too.
Toon Boom
Blender

Mike

Thanks for the responses. I looked at Crazytalk Animator 2 and iClone 6 but they seem to be more for modeling and animation of people. I'm looking for something to turn cad like drawings of buildings etc. into animations. So far I'm looking at Sketchup pro as a possibility with Elements 3d for animating in After Effects. I'm open to any other suggestions. Thanks!

blender can do all that for free and so much more all in one package and do it well but it's a steep learning curve :)

@Marc S:

There are many applications that can meet your need for animating/demonstrating how equipment works. The key factor in selecting which to use is how real do you want the object simulation to look? For example, many car commercials these days use CAD models with very accurate reflections of the surrounding environment and high quality shadow generation, and use "high-end" software such as. Cinema 4D, Fusion, or AE + Element 3D. Though free, Blender can also do these things. If you can get away with less realism, then maybe HitFilm or some of the other applications that were previously mentioned would likely suffice.

Peter

Thanks for all the details. Very helpful. I'll look at them all.

I regularly use Cinema 4D for 3D modeling and animation. Once I got somewhat proficient, the stuff I can do is amazing. It's likely the wrong direction for your budget, however.

I'm simply chiming in to warn you that once you dip your toes into the 3D waters, be prepared to invest a lot of time not only learning a program but tweaking materials, lighting, thinking in 3D, and render settings, depending on how good you want a final render to look.

I've used Element 3D in After Effects; it's a heck of a lot easier than Cinema 4D, and not as mentally taxing as a full-blown 3D package. With E3D, however, you give up a lot of control. Maybe relevant to your needs is the requirement to animate a camera around buildings. Total PITA with E3D, like it wasn't designed for anything more than simple camera moves. Unbelievably easy and native in Cinema 4D. Wanna play, gotta pay.

I was a 3DStudio Max user almost 10 years ago and have tried Blender3D last year, yes, it is extremely difficult to master, even though you are already an expert for other 3D application before...

You need to focus one time on adapting to its' user interface and control.

@ vtxrocketeer

At this point Cinema 4D Prime would be something I would consider along with the others. My biggest concerns are ease of use, decent quality and being able to do what I want to do which is mostly corporate type animations for enhancing my productions. I'm curious what version you're using? I looked at the comparison but don't really understand the differences. Can any version do things like run moving water through a pipe? Or show a lake filling up?

I'll definitely use the trials before I make any decisions.

Thanks, Marc

Marc, I use C4D Broadcast, mainly for its inclusion of the extremely powerful Mograph module. If you visit Maxon's site, you can view a very detailed chart showing exactly what features each version adds, relative to Prime.

I have not modeled water and its animation, but I recall viewing a number of tutorials showing a variety of ways that it can be done in C4D. I don't think the ability to model flowing water was a function of C4D version, but rather of plugins, some free and some not.

If you go down this route, I highly recommend setting aside a week's worth of evenings to work through a C4D tutorial from Lynda.com. Others are available, of course, but this one got me up to speed quite easily.

I chose C4D for its intuitive interface and easier learning curve, relative to offerings from other developers, and a blinding diversity of third party plugins (many free). After upgrading through many versions (all Broadcast), I can say without hesitation that it's the most stable piece of software I have used. Ever. I think I caused it to crash twice in several years.

You'll be surprised, I think, at how quickly you can turn out something from C4D. Making it sparkle and pop takes time, but something right out of the box should put a smile on your face.

DAZ Studio is very easy to learn and can be used to create quite complex animation. BUT the content costs money unless you're able to model your own in Hexagon. Modelling realistically and then creating convincing animated scenes is a huge learning curve! Which is why DAZ sells lots of content and tuts!

The principles and layout of most 3D software is pretty much the the same but what makes DS worth trying is that it's free and the content is pretty cheap compared to other content providers. The DS Octane Render 2 plugin is close to completion and, if you have a relatively new and powerful NVidia card, it's possible to create very realistic scenes and animations. I think DS offers a more realistic look, especially of figures, than is possible in either Poser or iClone both of which I own.

Lightwave and MODO are a larger step up from those I've already mentioned and beyond that are Cinema4D and Autodesk products. VUE offers excellent terrain and environment software. ZBrush is probably the standard in modelling. My advice is to first try free and after gaining a little experience decide whether it's worth shelling out for the big guns. Alternatively, there are plenty of designers who'll be happy to turn your 3D ideas into reality for a fee.

Thanks I'll check it out.

As I look into this I realize I may have to farm out this first project and then learn one of these programs on the side as they seem incredibly powerful.

And, judging from the user gallery, apparently DAZ Studio is remarkably adept at generating, um, spicy content.