Could you give a little info or tutorial on what tools are needed and how the actual building takes place.
Bart has been good to let me use allot of his and even tracked one down that looked similar to one I would like to build. My brother owns a start-up and had asked me to build something involving his trademark that he could use as a signature on his e-mails. The sad part is that I do some programming and I believe he thought I could just whip one out...I don't have a clue.
Icebreak, I use Gif Construction Set Pro as advised by Craig. I also use Photoshop to doctor the images.
Gif Construction Set is really easy to use. Just create the images you want to animate (sort of like how a stop motion film works *think claymation*) and then the "wizard" steps you through adding the pics in sequence, what speed you want it, and if you want it to loop or not.
I've always used Paint Shop Pro for graphic editing which includes Animation Shop for building Gifs.
A little more affordable combo than what Tree uses, but does much the same job.
Once you have the right software, the rest is easy.
Just download some shareware and have a go of it!