i have an avi file for a character animation and im not sure how to break it up into frames that i can load in as sprites to make a view for animation
Could try converting it to flc, then using 'Quick Import FLC Frames'
http://www.radgametools.com/ to download conversion tools.
you could load it up in a program called virtualdub, and then export each frame as an image.
Animation Shop, which comes with Paint Shop Pro 5 and above can load AVI files, and will allow you to export all of or selected frames as seperate image files, or will even export the frames to Paint Shop Pro