I found this today (Actually, I found a magazine page I had ripped out of a magazine ages ago that mentioned this, so I looked it up.
The Yak Java applet - free kit that allows you to create buttons and animations. It supports sound and up to 100 images per animation. It's supposed to be pretty simple, fast and light-weight. I haven't tried it out, but it sounds like it might just come in handy. (And I'm linking to it here so I can find it again - and I tossed the magazine page out)
Have any of you used the Yak? What do you think?