[Andy Ford]

Aharon Rabinowitz has tutorials on this. Under tutorials, look for him and his Creating a Flock of Birds tutorial (it’s a 2-parter). It will definitely get you started if you have your fly drawn.

[Andy Ford]

Yes, it’s just animating keyframes. You can get a realistic bouncing effect by changing the scale keyframes when the balls bounces down on the floor (or whatever) to make it shorter/fatter, etc. Rotation keyframes will make your ball look like its rolling (esp. if it’s not a solid color). And position keyframes tells it where to go.

Once you get keyframes, it’s pretty easy to do… I made this crappy animation in After Effects in about an hour of free time just to show a buddy simple techniques. There’s a lot wrong with this video, but see if the beginning of this video is what you’re trying to do and I can help you further if needed. http://www.digitasproductions.com/Colors.html

[Andy Ford]

…just to correct the above Mac/PC talk. Macs do use extensions. Just because you probably have them turned off or because the extensions (such as .dfont, .ttf, etc.) don’t show on all fonts doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t there. File association is integral to all operating systems. And I wouldn’t call a PC stupid. PCs have caught up/passed Macs in many areas and both operating systems still steal good features from each other. Use whatever is best for your situation at hand, but to have such a strong loyalty can hinder your abilities.