Better 3D Animations:

Use 3dCrafter (or other programs) bones feature to make mechanical linkages to animate.

Below is a 5 Degrees of Freedom (5DOF) robotic arm similar to the arm that we are going to build in 3DCrafter. We will animate the arm and convert the animation into stereographic 3D. The last step will be to enable the Inverse Kinematics for each group, effectively locking the bones together so we can move one group and the others will follow within the joint limits that we set. If you want to see the starting 3DCrafter file, download the initial draft from Joints_08_10_2012_pm4.3DC (720 kB) There will be revisions as we proceed.

Just a note: I am by no means an expert at 3DCrafter. There are people much better at it than I am. There are numerous tutorials on YouTube, So search for 3DCrafter tutorials to get a head start on using the software. I will simply be providing a training application using 3DCrafter. Besides the freeware version, I will also be showing you some of the advantages of the $34.95 Plus Version and the $69.95 Pro Version. I have used some expensive 3D software that is only marginally better than 3DCrafter Pro for creating free running animations. Even interactive virtual reality software is now affordable in the $100 to $300 range.

I have no association with any of the software, but I do have a reputation for finding cost effective software to develop training. I don't like Bloatware! A word of warning, you can develop training using only freeware, but that could limit the quality of the product. You generally get what you pay for.

Here's the red - cyan anaglyph.