Animation/graphics software for PC?

[lazyhour]

Hey y'all!

For a long time I've wanted to get into video animation. I can do video editing (Final Cut etc) and am a dab hand at Photoshop, but have no idea how to combine these skillz, and with what software. Googling is just making me more confused, so I wonder if anyone can offer me some pointers? What software do you use? Do you need different software to achieve different things? Here are some examples of the kinds of animation I'm interested in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK6gPI9woTM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J-WpgOzW9A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrZxw1Jb9vA

I think what I want is to combine stop-motion animation techniques with video processing and manipulation. At this stage I'm not especially interested in 3D animation.

Any ideas?

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Adobe After Effects should suit your needs. Plus, it's pretty easy to pick up if you already know Photoshop.

[olliebean]

Any alternatives that don't cost several hundred quid?

[syntaxerror]

Cartooners


http://www.myabandonware.com/game/cartooners-m7

[Jamie Oliver is fat]

Any alternatives that don't cost several hundred quid?

Adobe After Effects Piratebay edition?