Animation techniques? (neostream example)

[kassios]

Ok this is a general question-discussion.
I am curious about the neostream (http://www.neostream.com ) animation techniques. What tools do you hypothesize they used? Maybe swift 3D, plasma (or 3DMax)?
What’s the knowledge path in learning to create such special effects (playing with camera angles, producing cinematic animations, etc)? Imagination is important, but this quality of work doesn’t come from developers starting from scratch. Any books, sites, tutorials specializing in similar effects?

[jadedchron]

well i'm thinkin swift3d for the rock stuff.. of course. the other stuff can be simply hand drawn using vectors. as far as the knowledge path.. being artistic plays a big role.. they're/he's obviously design oriented as much as developer oriented. plus if i'm not mistaken it's made by an asian(s). they can make a peel from an orange do something cool! hehe but that's just my positive stereotype.

but in any account it's design oriented so i would check out animation books.. key timing.. those sort of things. if you're looking for director standpoints.. on dramatic camera angles and such a film major friend of mine suggested "the filmmakers handbook". like you said imagination is the big kahuna