Speaking as someone with 17 years' professional animation experience, I've seen a lot of people try to come up with newer, better, easier ways to do animation. I've tried most of them, because my workflow revolves around doing things in the fastest, easiest way possible.
What am I currently using? 3D Studio Max. (and Motionbuilder, and some high-end mocap technology, and a lot of outsourcing.)
Seriously, it's a hard problem. I'm not saying "don't try", but it's a hard problem.
It's by for the most interesting development for animation that I've seen for years. In about an hour I was able to produce 15 sec of reasonable good animation the first time I used it.
Their process is more akin to Photoshop than anything else as it's a destructive process rather than procedural.
What am I currently using? 3D Studio Max. (and Motionbuilder, and some high-end mocap technology, and a lot of outsourcing.)
Seriously, it's a hard problem. I'm not saying "don't try", but it's a hard problem.