The Doctor wrote:I'm still doing research on it. I almost made the decision to NOT buy it after reading some bad reviews....until I noticed that 80% of the bad reviews ALL LOOKED THE SAME and looked like they were posted by the same guy. Most other people praise it or point out a few problems that are present. Anyhow, still looking into it.
I think a lot of what makes people like and dislike is based on what they're used to. I have an animator friend who has used Lightwave forever. He is always checking out new software and I remember him being impressed with Hash's features for character animation. But people get in ruts...he was so used to how things are done in Lightwave and preferred certain elements it offered, so he never really used Hash (or anything else) that much. But for the price, I'd say Hash is a good buy.
I'm sure you realize that any artistic endeavor is work and when learning new software on top of that, it can be really frustrating (do you have any animating experience by the way? If not, you might want to take a course to help you learn the fundamentals). So, no matter what software you choose, it's still going to be hard work. Depending on how much money you have to throw around, you might take a look at Softimage's XSI base model ($500).
It's slightly more powerful all around, and if you get serious, you could upgrade to the mid range version.
http://www.softimage.com/products/default.aspx
Again, what you choose should reflect your level of comitment. If you just want to
see if you like animating, Hash is probably a good choice.
