It turns out that I already have an Animaker account. So, I must not have been very happy with the program when I tried using it.
Since Cartoon Animator 5 wouldn't connect with the server, I was going to try out Vyond, but they never sent the activation email to my inbox!
WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE ACO? I have used mutliple programs in the past but for your requirements I think the software that suits you is Adobe Character Animator. This program automatizes many actions and give an excellent result, you can store both in your PC or the Adobe Cloud. The next one I recomend is Adobe Animator CC but this might be harder to animate the characters with and you might need to study the program to understand the tools. Toon Boom Harmony, this might be harder to use but with this one you can create your own storyboards and do multiple parts of the project. Finally, if the previously mentioned programs don't work for you, you can use PowToon which is a free software but is simpler and doesn't have may tools or Animaker too. I worked in the past with this Lenovo Thinkpad and the problem of the program not running might be the PC's specs. Because of that I would highly recommend on purchasing an 1tb or 2tb External Hard Drive Hdd because the storage is important when animating. The Intel processor is fine, it should be able to run the programs. However, the processor is not the only part that matters, having a Graphics Card and enough RAM on the PC is important too and I think that your PC only have Intel Integrated Graphics. 8GB RAM might not be enough considering that animating might use much RAM and you might not be able to open multiple programs while using the program. I would recommend getting a Nvidia Graphics Card too in the future and even consider to switch to Ryzen processor, a Ryzen 5 can work. I recommend to update the PC in the future if you have the possibility and budget, a tech professional could help you to build one. Hope that this advice can help you, have a wonderful day!
WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE XC? As to why you can't seem to get your program working? The specs needed to run Cartoon Animator are: Intel 7th Gen Core i5 Processors or higher 8GB RAM or higher Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 /Radeon HD 4890 or higher Video Memory: 2GB RAM or higher SSD, 10 GB free hard disk space for installation. I do not know the full specs of your Thinkpad, but I know they aren't very powerful laptops. They're not made for running intensive programs like creative software so that is a possible problem. If your laptop meets those qualifications, however, my only guess is that you may have to download a driver from the Cartoon Animator website. Unfortunately you will have to connect to the internet to run programs these days. Most programs must be connected to it in order to work. To (somewhat) answer your question: I would do more troubleshooting on Cartoon Animator to try and get it to run before buying another program. It's very possible you're missing a driver or need to update your hardware. However, there are many animating programs out there that you could try instead if that is truly the route you wish to go. Many applications have animating tools these days! Clip Studio Paint has an animating tool, though it isn't as sophisticated. The industry professional standard these days is a program called ToonBoom but you will have to buy an online subscription to it every month. It's fairly pricey, and if you're unfamiliar with animating, then Cartoon Animator might be your best choice until you grow more familiar with the medium. I hope that helped answer even a small part of your question. While I'm not so knowledgeable on hardware, I am on painting/animation software and digital downloads is unfortunately where we are in the industry; It's unavoidable. I wish you good luck!
GETTING STARTED WITH KRITA: Follow the menu headings… File > New… > Custom Document The Default settings for the File setup are: Width 2480 Pixels Height 3508 Pixels Resolution : 300.00 Pixels However, you might want to change this to: Width 1920 Pixels Height 1080 Pixels Resolution : 100.00 Pixels (which is good for if you are experimenting or trying things out, whereas 300, which is the industry standard, is demanding on your hardware) You can name any set of parameters that you intend to use over and over by means of "Save Image Size as:" and then pressing "Save." You will then be able to find them under the "Predefined" field. After this, press the "Create" button down at the bottom and slightly to the right. This will bring up you work space. Now you need to retrieve the animation time line by navigating to... Settings > Dockers > Animation Timeline (Any other tools or panel you need can also be retrieved in this manner.)
I just figured out how to make the characters in Animaker speak, so I'm going to review some videos on YouTube to learn more and see if it's at all possible to actually make Animaker videos the least bit interesting or engaging. Moreover, after watching the video below, I've decided I should give Adobe a second look...
From what I understand, there are three basic stages to producing an animated feature... STAGE 2 - PRODUCTION At this planning stage, where the animation starts coming together, animators: Design landscapes Make (possibly digital) models of characters Apply lighting effects Make characters move throughout the scene(s), positioning characters and objects for important frames, and (digitally) adding the frames between Render the film, which can involve rendering many "layers" using a computer process that can take hours for each frame when producing 3D animation