The best I can suggest (maybe others here can do better) is tell him to YouTube tutorials. There are ton of videos specifically on how animation software works

The best I can suggest (maybe others here can do better) is tell him to YouTube tutorials. There are ton of videos specifically on how animation software works and he can start there (similar to how phototshop tutorials or final cut tutorial works). I'm not familiar with all the animated software used but Maya and 3DStudio comes to mind. For example: http://usa.autodesk.com/maya/ http://usa.autodesk.com/maya/