Anim8or Community

What?

Quoted for agreement.

What are you smokin', captaindrewi?  It's for a game!  Since when do games mimic what you might consider reality?  If anything, "peculiar" is the expected norm!  And as far as I can tell, despite your negative comments (unless you're truly being facetious), all of fromsoysauce's creations fit their intended use to a tee.

I suppose that would depend on your definition of "simple," since that's precisely one of the things for which Bullet was developed.  See here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet_%28software%29

No, I don't know of a physics engine.

Steve --- How about Bullet?  It's what LightWave uses...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet_%28software%29

Like anything else you animate in Anim8or, just key-in the frames where you want the morph(s) to appear or disappear.  Sample file attached.

By the way, did you know you can apply a "negative" morph, or a value of greater than 1?

Ensoniq5, that last image reminds me of an old Bruce Dern flick, Silent Running.

+1 Rendering Speed.

Right now, YOU actually have more control over that than Steve, since it's solely dependent on CPU speed.  There are some renderers, however, that can harness the blazing speed of graphics processors, but Anim8or ain't one of 'em, I'm afraid.

Steve ---
I don't know if you're a fan of Southpark, but I couldn't help but think of Mr. Mackey just then...

"Crashes are bad, mmmm-kay?  So don't do crashes, mmmm-kay?"

Don't be discouraged, everybody starts out that way.  Character and organic modeling isn't an easy skill to master.  It takes time.  On the other hand, a stick figure can be a character.  It all depends on what sort of detail you're after, and/or what sort of message you want to convey.

Getting more familiar with your tools, developing your understanding and mastery of what they do and how to use them to achieve the results you want is probably the first thing I'd suggest.

Yes, the eggplant is not a character, but there are many other things you can model which can help you improve your skills.  Look around your desk, around your room, outside your window, or take a look at some of the great models some of your fellow Anim8ors have created on these forums.  There's also a ton of information, examples, and tutorials available on the web.  Though many may not use Anim8or, the basic principles can help.