-Paint programs
Paint Shop Pro Trial
http://www.jasc.com/download_4.asp? The trial of the legendary PSP. It's like a dictator. Powerful and 'very' mean. It takes a bit (actually, a lot) of getting used to, but it can do pretty much anything you want.
Adobe Photoshop Trial
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/;j...ILBLMOAVDJBIIV1 It's Photoshop. What more can be said? It's slightly more versatile than PSP, but almost twice as disagreeable. You'll find yourself wanting to kill yourself when you first start using it. But the results it makes really do look great.
GIMP
http://www.gimp.org/ The one and only program in this entire thread that is NOT a trial. It's an actual freeware program. A nice little addition to anyone's collection of software.
Macromedia Fireworks Trial
http://www.macromedia.com/software/fireworks/ Of all the programs you can download, this is my favorite. It's much more user friendly than all the others, and can do most of the spiffy looking things you want. If you'd like to do more than you can with MSPaint, but don't want to spend days learning a paint program, try this one.
-Gif Animators
Animagic Trial
http://tucows.mundofree.com/adnload/662_29384.html The full version of Animagic comes with the full version of Photoshop, I believe. I never actually used this program, so I wouldn't know. I hear it's good, though. A lot of people use it.
Animation Shop Trial
http://www.jasc.com/download_4.asp? Another animator I've never used. I've only heard about it from other people. I wish I could say more, but I don't know much else...
CoffeeCup Gif Animator Trial
http://tucows.mundofree.com/preview/2806.html Haven't used this one, either. Heard it's nice and user friendly. And who can say no to such a snazzy name?
Gif Construction Set Professional Trial
http://www.mindworkshop.com/alchemy/gifcon.html It's a trial version, yes... but there's a catch. The trial never actually expires. This is the gif animator I use to make Kurobei. I highly recommend it. It has never steered me wrong. It's the only graphics program other than Paint that I use on a regular basis. If you ever need 'any' help with it, I'll be able to help you.
Ulead Gif Animator
http://www.ulead.com/ga/trial.htm Another popular one. I just downloaded it and played around with it. It seems nice and simple enough.
unfreez
http://www.whitsoftdev.com/unfreez/ The only freeware gif animator. Free to download, and never expires. That alone might make it worth using.
-Flash Animators
Macromedia Flash Trial
http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/ A nice flash program. Simple enough to learn with a little effort, and produces great results. It's the best you'll get for free.
3D Flash Animator
http://www.3dfa.com/v4_download.htm This one has something interesting 3D object and text effects but I'm completely baffled at how to make an animation with it. It might take some effort to learn. You're probably best off creating the animation itself in another program, and just using this one for the effects.
Swish 2
http://www.swishzone.com/index.php?area=downloads&product=v2 As far as I can tell, this one looks pretty good. Simple and fairly user friendly. It's worth trying out
