The following is a simple experiment I did to get an idea of how current tools can be used to create simple animations. I chose five animations that I thought someone might want to slap together quickly to explain some point to another person. A rationale for each example is given later.
The only data I collected was the time it took me to complete each animation. I was not sure what I was looking for before I did this experiment, or I would have taken more careful data concerning the time it took me to complete various steps in the design process. Since I do not have this data, I will instead include a rough overview of the design process for each example, giving my own opinions about which parts took the most time.
I will attempt to evaluate options for our own system in my following comments. The time to complete each task, however, is not very useful for evaluating our options. This is mostly because I am a neat freak and have to exert extra effort to keep myself from fiddling with things to make them look nice. I would find it very difficult to say what percentage of my time was spent getting the animations to look ACCEPTABLE and how much was spent getting them to look PRETTY. Such measures are so subjective, anyway. But the comments should be helpful.
You will need the current version of Macromedia Shockwave to see the animations.
Director - 1 hr. 52 min.
Flash 2 - 2 hr. 55 min.