Plastic Animation Paper (PAP) is a free animation software for PC, Mac, and Linux. Though its interface is outdated, the software is completely free to download and use. Beggars can’t be choosers, right? With PAP, you can create hand-drawn 2D animations, while seeing your edits in real time. Best Free 2D Animation Software for Mac: Pencil This is a simple and open source vector-based program that’s designed for the Mac OS X platform. It’s also available on Linux and Windows and it was originally created for producing digital comics.
Generally, making 2d or 3d stunning animations requires advanced software and extensive experience, which could be really difficult for those who are not so professional in video editing and production.
But don’t be discouraged if you are just a beginner, there is still likely to make a really good and unique animations without many professional skills.
Free 2d Drawing Animation Software
Actually, other than fthe software used by professional animation teams, there a number of desktop or online 2D animation makers in the market. With those tools, whether making animation is for your pleasure, for your work, or for your kids, you can handle that pretty well.
In the article, you can find 6 desktop 2D animation software and 4 online animation tools for beginners. Hopefully after reading this article you can get started with a tool that fits you and helps you make animation more easily.
6 Best 2D Animation Softwares for PC & Mac
2D animation software is advanced in vector art and is used to create unique animations, for motion capture, tweening and puppeting. You can make your images and vision come alive using the best powerful 2D animation makers.
1. Stop Motion Studio
Stop Motion Studio is undoubtedly one of the most popular software in the market. It has a unique style of creating quality and clear animated films simply by taking different objects such as soft clay items and dolls with joints while manipulating them. Manipulations and changes are then carefully photographed to act as a frame. This stop motion software is both available for PC and Mac.
Pros:
- Has a great starting off.
- It is free.
- Can easily make stop motion animation films with pictures.
Cons:
- Limited options .
- Has just basic features .
Plateform: Windows, Mac
2. Pencil 2D Animation
Pencil 2D animation is the easiest animation to use. It works flawlessly on Mac or Windows computers, perfect for beginners because of an interactive interface that is easy to understand and use. What’s more, it is lightweight, has a minimalistic design, features vector and raster workflows, runs on all platforms and is open-source software.
Pros:
- Easy to learn, use and navigate
- Comes with quality fluid animation
- Brings great animations to life
Cons:
- Its eraser tools is not fully optimized
- You will need an extra software to export videos
- It cannot handle complex animation
Plateform:Windows, Mac, Linux
Free Animation Software Download
3. Synfig Studio
Synfig Studio is a open-source 2D animation software that works efficiently on Windows, Linux and OSX. It delivers multiple players when you are creating content. You can use it when adding distortions, transformations and filters because of its functional and high-end bone system.
Pros:
- It is super affordable and powerful at same time
- It comes with exceptional plugin capabilities that enhances the quality of your animations
Cons:
- You need a strong computer for you to run it
- It can be hard to understand or use it
- Complex and continuous tasks can crash it
Plateform: Windows, Mac, Linux
4. Opentoonz Animator
Opentoonz is another open-source animation software designed for beginners. It can be used with plug-in effects that can seamlessly change image flair, it can distort details and add lights. Furthermore, it can correct the animation with losing frame, allows you to add extra colours to ensure your animation is more colourful and beautiful and is highly compatible with white and black, coloured without binarization scanning.
Pros:
- It is perfect for newbies
- Has a Google group to solve users's problems.
Cons:
Free 2d Animation Software For Beginners Mac
- Its UI design is old
- Creating new frames can take time
Plateform: Windows, Mac
5. Cartoon Animator 4
Cartoon Animator 4 is an exciting animation program that is easy to use. It is ideal and perfect for beginners and allows you to create animated characters from images, make lip-sync animation from audio. quality and cool animations. Moreover, it supports 4k resolution.
Pros:
- Comes with motion capture capabilities
- It has a large templates library
Cons:
- No drawing tools
- It is pricy
Platforms supported: Windows, Mac
6. Harmony
Harmony animator is a all in one 2D animator. It allows you to complete all your animation tasks from drawing to working on the final animation product. Therefore, you can work on several tasks including animation, artwork, adding sounds as well as production effects into an animation. Its features include a stabilizer for quality smooth lines, has 3, 4 and 5 point curved perspective lines and helps you to create cut out animation. Additionally, it allows you to integrate it with available software, offers 2D and 3D integration and you can simply import multilayer PSD and PSB files, bitmaps, PDF, illustrator and media files.
Pros:
- Has plenty of drawing tools
- Unlimited animation features
Cons:
- You can’t record audio in the program
- Available at a fee
Price: Free trial, $20 for Gold plan and $30 for Platinum plan
Platforms supported: macOS, Windows
4 Best Animation Makers Online for Beginners
Generally, when creating animations as a beginner, you will find online animation tools can be a great choice. Such tools often provide ready-made animation templates, enabling you to create your animation videos in a short time. Let's take a look at the 4 best online animated video tools.
1. Animaker
Animaker is an exceptional tool with an array of video templates for you to use. You can create your own animation video within a few minutes It is designed to help you create highly customizable video animation content for pleasure or business seamlessly.
Pros:
- Offers an array of animation templates for you to choose a style that suits your needs
- It is a reliable and trusted animation maker
- Auto lip-sync.
Cons:
- You may take time choosing a video style to use
2. Animatron
Animatron is an amazing software, great for marketing or trainning video. It allows you to create one of a kind explainer videos, HTML5 banners and whiteboard-style animation. It allows you to get the job done efficiently and within the shortest time possible including different presentations.
Pros:
- Hundreds of pre-animated assets to select from.
- Has great customer service
Cons:
- You have to save data as you work on your animations
- The interface is not highly interactive
3. PowToon
PowToon is equally an effective and reliable tool that helps you to create professional presentations, videos and animated content. If you want animations to showcase your business to your clients, this is the tool to use. It is cheap, compatible with different computers and has been integrated with top sites to provide quality content.
Pros:
- Has amazing templates
- Creates perfect animations in minutes
Cons:
- Editing can be confusing
- It can take time uploading videos and images to your timeline
4. Biteable
Biteable is a reliable online animation maker. You do not need a powerful computer to use the program. It is also an easy tool to use when you want to create informative and fun content. What’s more, you can share content with your friends and associates. It also allows you to customize content to your liking, add text and sounds to personalize the animation even further.
Pros:
- Highly customizable
- Huge selection of animated templates and footages.
Cons:
- A bit pricy.
Conclusion
Animation software desktop vs. animation maker online, how to choose?
Well, 2d animation software is a powerful tool that allows you to create animations of motion, based on a frame by frame basis. What’s more, you can create different animation models based on your needs.
However, animation maker online helps you to create animations using templates. With this tool, you can create videos with playful scenes for advertising or teaching on YouTube or other sites.
Therefore, choosing animation software or animation maker online depends on your needs. And which software do you tend to use to start animation? Or do you have other recommendations for 2D animation software? Leave your comment below!
Read Also:
- 8 Best YouTube Thumbnail Makers for Your Animated Video
- Top 8 Sound Effects Website to Find Fun Audio Effects for Animated Video
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Are you on plans to make 2D animation movies and looking for a suitable software for that? There is no dearth of animation software programs for animators but the thing is that not all such programs would be suitable for you. But not to worry as here we have come up with an extensive list of best 2D animation software programs and you can safely settle with any one of them.
Related:
Pencil2D
You are getting an open-source 2D animation software here which uses vector/bitmap drawing interface for producing convenient 2D graphics, drawings & animation. It caters to all major operating systems including Linux, Mac & Windows. The good news is that such an amazing software program is available complete free of charge.
Tupi
Tupi is a great 2D animation software which would be especially good for the beginner & young artists who are new to the animation world. The new version of the software has come up with some boosted improvements and these include- preference dialog, light/dark theme support, redo/undo of object transformation, refactoring of color palette etc.
The Tab
This is another most recommended name when it comes to reliable 2D animation software programs. The Tab is equipped to alter & manipulate lines as well as shapes easily & then the convert the drawings into vector images. It is compatible with PC & Mac and works on tablets too.
DrawPlus
The new version of DrawPlus has come up with improved features like B-Splines that enables the user to draw lines & manipulate curves on his digital canvas easier than ever. The software assures higher line accuracy as well and the latest hairline option of the software ensures all precision that you need while dealing with intricate lines & designs.
CrazyTalk Animator
CrazyTalk Animator offers a novel approach to conventional 2D animation drawing with its innovative tools that enable one to apply the cutting edge 3D motions in 2D characters. You will have latest editing tools here that freely edit the 2D motions & can view them from just any angle in one single click.
DigiCel FlipBook
If you are looking for an easy software for 2D animation, DigiCel FlipBook is the name for you. It will do just everything to let you come up with amazing animated movies. In fact, the software was designed by the animators themselves for the animators & the program is a favorite of major professional animators.
2D Animation Software for Various Platforms
Today you have a versatile gallery of 2D animation software applications for various platforms. The one you take to should suit your system’s OS as otherwise it won’t work for you. Not every such software applications would work for all operating systems and there are some software applications that only work for specific OS.
Free Windows 2D Animation Software – Animation Paper
If you are looking for a highly efficient 2D animation software for professional and experienced animators, Animation Paper is the software for you. It’s powerful & fast as well as comes with a very simple & intuitive interface. In fact, it’s always fun to work with this highly rated 2D animation software.
When you are looking for free Windows 2D animation software, Plastic Animation Paper can be the name for you. It’s one of the best in the market and comes with several useful features like- color insert in drawing, frame rate setting, zooming feature, drawing area etc. It supports various image & video formats.
Free Android 2D Animation Software – Visviva Animation Player
If you are asking for Free Android 2D Animation software, Visviva Animation Player would be a good option for you. The software is able to create 2D & 3D graphic animations for the multimedia presentations, screensavers, games & many other forms of entertainment & instructional applications. It’s simple and very convenient to use.
Free Mac 2D Animation Software – Synfig
What about a good Free Mac 2D Animation software? Well, you can opt for Synfig here which is an open-source vector-based animation software and would be great if you are looking for Flash-animation. It comes with a standard interface so it won’t take much time for you to deploy Synfig for your animated fantasies.
Most Popular 2D Animation Software for 2016 – PowToon
This is one of the best 2D animation software programs in the market today as it has been duly perfected for fluid storytelling & creating Flash movies & presentations. If you have not created motion in your presentation ever, don’t worry, PowToon always assures a convenient use for its users.
If you want to know about most popular 2D animation software for 2016, PowToon is the name. It will create awesome animated presentations which you can easily combine with music, embedded videos or narration. It comes with a wide range of templates and is available in both free and paid versions to choose from.
What is 2D Animation Software?
The 2D animation software programs help to create animation presentations and movies with few clicks of a mouse. These software programs allow the aspiring animators to draw, color as well as animate the desired creations for amazing interactive presentations.
The best ones in the market will even help you with Flash animation. The other features that you will find in the animation software are scene transition facility, ability to put text & word balloons in the project, add sound effects or your own voice narration, sound editing and so on.
Besides, the best ones can help with lip-syncing that will make your characters mouth the dialogues easily as we find in great animation movies.
How to Install 2D Animation Software?
To install 2D animation software, first, you will need to download the chosen software. Every software comes with an executable file. However, make sure to check the software’s compatibility with system’s operating system before you download. As the download completes, you will get the installation link followed by the needed installation instructions.
Benefits of 2D Animation Software
Those who have grown up watching animated movies, secretly have this wish to make their own animated presentations one day. But all cannot attend art schools and not everybody gets a chance to assist at famous animation studios.
The 2D animation software applications come up as a blessing here since these are modeled to help you in creating animation presentations easily just from the comfort of your home. These software applications will do everything to turn your animation project into a reality and the best ones in the market are even used by pro designers & elite animation studios.
The leading 2D animation software programs allow the users to import several files & save the project in various file formats. Your chosen software must support various image and video versions. These software applications are quite easy to use and not always you would have to be a tech geek to operate them.