Ive used several animation programs over the years (both 2D and 3D) with most giving reasonably acceptable results. Hippo goes beyond the norm with many added features. First, the installation was quick and smooth with a minimum of clicks. You are given a desktop icon, (always a plus), but no uninstall option (a negative).
The interface is clean and friendly; not a lot of clutter. The program comes with a dozen video tutorials and an equal amount of written tutorials all laid out for easy reading. A person will certainly not have any trouble learning this program. In addition to making animated gif files, you are also able to produce movies up to six minutes long. By using an additional program, such as Any Video Converter (there are other such programs on SnapFiles, as well) you can stitch together several six minute movies into a longer one.
Your finished movie animation is saved as an avi file, but using another program, say DVDVideoSoft Free (again, available on SnapFiles) you could convert it to the Flash format, if desired.
The program also offers several special effects, sounds and multiple scenes. In addition, Hippo gives a number of drawing tools to produce your own art work prior to inserting into your animation.
Personally, I found it easier to use an art program that I was more familiar with and importing the illustrations from my computer. There are numerous worthy features included in this program that I haven;t touched on here. Im extremely pleased with this program and highly recommend it.
Price: Free Trial ($50.00)
review details
- Interface
- Features
- Ease of use
- Value
- Recommend to a friend? Yes
- Posted Jan 12, 2013 for v2.2.4758