Another thing I would like to tack on.

Whenever there is a successful transfiguration, the object always takes on the aspect of whatever it is turning into, including its instincts if it is alive. Therefore, any animation done through transfiguration must be limited to things that already exist. In other words you can't transfigure a rock into a vegetarian lion, because there is no such thing as a vegetarian lion or a vegetarian rock. But you can with partial transfiguration create a vegetarian lion with a herbivore transfigured partially into a lion.

With Charms however you can give it any personality you want and have more control over what it does. But it cannot act on whatever it is you did until you do the necessary charms for it to carry out its purpose. So you can charm a rock into thinking like a vegetarian lion, but until you place charms to allow locomotion and consumption it is only a rock that thinks.

What this means is that when in battle it would be wiser to use transfiguration-induced animation because it is the more expedient method. However, for business or in preparation of battle it would be best if charms-induced animation be used because a lot more can be done with it.