Wow, what a topic, and the breadth of possible responses! There are so many different ways to get into animation on the Mac that I probably won't be able to list them all, but here goes.
· If you want to go the long way, you can do stop motion animation i.e. Wallace and Grommit by taking photos and scanning them, taking digital photos, blah blah blah. You'd then have to arrange them into a movie, and I'm not sure what software does that. Of course, this method is time consuming and you have to have the patience to blah blah blah.
· Another method is 3D animation, like Shrek, Toy Story, Final Fantasy, etc. This method is also time consuming and very expensive, involving programs like Newtek's Lightwave 3D ($1250), Alias|Wavefront's Maya ($2000), or Maxon's Cinema 4D ($1700). If you can afford the upfront cost, this avenue is very fun and rewarding to put out a final product, though the learning curve for 3D modeling and animation is very steep.
· A third, cheaper option is a vector animation program like Flash MX. Flash is quickly becoming a standard for animation on the web, and you've probably seen it in use many, many times. Some good examples of Flash cartoons are located at
www.atomfilms.com. Flash is relatively easy to learn and it costs only $400, plus it makes small files that almost everyone can download and run easily.
I hope this helps. There are many routes to take to make your own animations, plus you can add sound effects and music. I suggest you look around online and investigate these different tactics. I hope you send me a link to anything you create!