Easier way to make this kind of animation?

This version looks very choppy, but in this example all I need have is a rotating textured sphere, with 2 other spheres for the eyes. This particular animation could probably be just faked in 2D, but I may want to do some more complicated textures on the sphere.
The only tool I know how to use for graphics is Photoshop, and making that kind of animation is not very efficient. Is there a tool that could make this more streamlined? I know this is probably really easy with software for 3D animation like Blender, but those are usually a bit complicated. Should I just keep using Photoshop or is there a tool that could help me?

Photoshop does have 3D and animation support. You could easily do it there.

Photoshop does have 3D and animation support. You could easily do it there.

Full 3D support is only in Photoshop Extended, though.

I know this is probably really easy with software for 3D animation like Blender, but those are usually a bit complicated. Should I just keep using Photoshop or is there a tool that could help me?

From personal experience, Photoshop is really ill-suited for this kind of work. The alternative doesn't have to be real 3D software though. Ages ago I've dabbled into Anime Studio, a kind of cartoon animation software, and it was fairly easy to make fluid pseudo-3D motion with it. Now, I wouldn't recommend paying fifty bucks for just a single job, but freeware in this category could probably be worth looking into.

Quote from: LPChip on September 03, 2015, 12:45:30

Photoshop does have 3D and animation support. You could easily do it there.

Full 3D support is only in Photoshop Extended, though.

Ah, my bad. I did bought PS5 extended indeed, so all the features it has is like standard to me.

Maybe you can do this with GIMP, using the Filters -> Animation -> Spinning Globe function: you pick a flat image and it'll create the frames for a sphere wrapped with it. You can only select the number of frames and the max number of colours for the GIF. For the speed, when exporting the resulting animation as a GIF, you have to check As Animation and specify the duration of a frame in milliseconds.