2D Animation programs? (preferably free)

Questions, skill improvement, and respectful critique involving art assets.
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
Aviala
Miko-Class Veteran
Posts: 533
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 8:40 am
Completed: Your Royal Gayness, Love Bug, Lovingly Evil
Organization: Lizard Hazard Games
Tumblr: lizardhazardgames
itch: aviala
Location: Finland
Contact:

2D Animation programs? (preferably free)

#1 Post by Aviala »

I tried googling this but it didn't help much so I decided to ask here. What kind of 2D animation programs are there? Any good free ones?

I'm currently using monkeyjam and it basically has everything I need: the ability to import images, preview the animation before saving and changing the frames per second rate. The problem is that it lags A LOT when working with bigger images/longer animations. It's also annoying to use some functions, like duplicating frames.

I know about flash and photoshop but those are too expensive for me and I don't want to resort to piratism. Any ideas?

p.s. I wasn't sure where to post this so please move this if it's in the wrong place.

User avatar
Green Glasses Girl
Veteran
Posts: 367
Joined: Thu Jul 11, 2013 7:16 pm
Projects: Cavaliers & Carnivals
Tumblr: green-glasses
Contact:

Re: 2D Animation programs? (preferably free)

#2 Post by Green Glasses Girl »

There is Easytoon, although it's only in black and white with rough pixels. I've seen some cool animations made with it though.
Image

Honest Critique
Avatar art by akemicchi.

User avatar
Aviala
Miko-Class Veteran
Posts: 533
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 8:40 am
Completed: Your Royal Gayness, Love Bug, Lovingly Evil
Organization: Lizard Hazard Games
Tumblr: lizardhazardgames
itch: aviala
Location: Finland
Contact:

Re: 2D Animation programs? (preferably free)

#3 Post by Aviala »

Thanks, but I really need something I can import my digital drawings into. Pixel stuff looks really cool too but it's not what I'm looking for right now.

User avatar
anon2045
Regular
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2014 2:00 am
Location: U.S.
Contact:

Re: 2D Animation programs? (preferably free)

#4 Post by anon2045 »

Pencil is a free animation/drawing software for making traditional 2D animation using bitmap and vector graphics. There are versions for it in Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux.

Mayche
Newbie
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2014 3:41 pm
Contact:

Re: 2D Animation programs? (preferably free)

#5 Post by Mayche »

why don't you use gimp is totally free

http://www.gimp.org/

User avatar
Aviala
Miko-Class Veteran
Posts: 533
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 8:40 am
Completed: Your Royal Gayness, Love Bug, Lovingly Evil
Organization: Lizard Hazard Games
Tumblr: lizardhazardgames
itch: aviala
Location: Finland
Contact:

Re: 2D Animation programs? (preferably free)

#6 Post by Aviala »

Last time I checked gimp was an image manipulation software... Does it really have animation features? I know I can draw the frames in photoshop(cs2, so it doesnt support animation), but can gimp do more?

User avatar
Reikun
Miko-Class Veteran
Posts: 565
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2011 9:57 pm
Completed: Mnemonic Devices, Ciikos Bridge, Helena's Flowers, The Madness
Projects: Fox in the Hollyhocks
Organization: skyharborr
itch: skyharborr
Contact:

Re: 2D Animation programs? (preferably free)

#7 Post by Reikun »

GIMP has a function under Filter > Animation that allows playback of layers (to preview animation). You can change the timing of your layers by naming it with "(2000ms)" or something (haven't done it in a while).

> http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Simple_Animations/
> http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Advanced_Animations/

Do you just need a program to see how your animations will work before animating with ATL? Importing to a video editing program? Making gifs?
ImageImageImage

fastest way to contact me: DM @skyharborr on twitter

User avatar
Katy133
Miko-Class Veteran
Posts: 704
Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2013 1:21 pm
Completed: Eight Sweets, The Heart of Tales, [redacted] Life, Must Love Jaws, A Tune at the End of the World, Three Guys That Paint, The Journey of Ignorance, Portal 2.5.
Projects: The Butler Detective
Tumblr: katy-133
Deviantart: Katy133
Soundcloud: Katy133
itch: katy133
Location: Canada
Contact:

Re: 2D Animation programs? (preferably free)

#8 Post by Katy133 »

As an animator, I've been on the lookout for good 2D animation programs, but I can't recommend any free ones.

I can recommend ones that you can buy, however:
- Photoshop CS6 (Mainly a image-program, but also supports animation and basic tweening)
- After Effects (Good for cut-out animation with nested layers for the characters)
- Anime Studio Pro 8 (Again, good for cut-out animation. Also allows you to bone-rig a character, as well as hide/switch nested body parts)
- TV Paint (Good for hand-drawn, frame-by-frame animation)
ImageImage

My Website, which lists my visual novels.
Become a patron on my Patreon!

User avatar
feathersnake
Regular
Posts: 104
Joined: Fri Apr 13, 2012 8:05 pm
Completed: A Rose by Any Other Name
Projects: Color, You've Got Mail!
Organization: Olfix Productions
Tumblr: olfix
Deviantart: olfix
Contact:

Re: 2D Animation programs? (preferably free)

#9 Post by feathersnake »

anon2045 wrote:Pencil is a free animation/drawing software for making traditional 2D animation using bitmap and vector graphics. There are versions for it in Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux.
Actually, the original Pencil stopped updating its development after a while. The good news is someone else picked it back up! So I recommend looking at the new version here if you want to try it out: http://www.pencil2d.org/

If you're willing to wait a bit or get by with Gimp or Pencil until it's ready, there's also Krita, which will be getting an animation branch soon thanks to the funding they've gotten for it: https://krita.org/

It'll be a while, since the animation aspect is still in development, but as far as I can tell it'll be worth the wait.

Good luck!

*edit* Reikun is totally right with Gimp. I use Gimp to make .gifs and test animations. Gimp also has some kind of animation package called Gimp Gap that I haven't messed with much. It might be worth taking a look at, but unfortunately I don't know much about it or if it is outdated by now. /edit
Olfix Productions:
Tumblr | itch.io
Complete Projects:
A Rose by Any Other Name
In-progress:
Color | You've Got Mail!

User avatar
truefaiterman
Veteran
Posts: 388
Joined: Fri May 03, 2013 6:22 pm
Completed: EVOLVEd: Echoes of the Codex War. [ASH] The Seeds of Destruction
Projects: One Night of [SNOW], Stained with Magic
Deviantart: truefaiterman
Location: Spain, and without bullfighting!
Contact:

Re: 2D Animation programs? (preferably free)

#10 Post by truefaiterman »

I'm taking a look at ToonBoom Animate, which seems to be like a mix between Adobe Flash and TVPaint, and looks promising. You may be interested, but it's not a free program.
Artist and voice actor, trying to actually write stuff.

Image



ArtStation portfolio
Youtube channel

Recent finished projects:

Image Image

User avatar
Artcadia
Newbie
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jun 15, 2015 9:12 pm
Contact:

Re: 2D Animation programs? (preferably free)

#11 Post by Artcadia »

I always found the program live 2d to be interesting it's kinda like 3d and vector animation yet not, it has been used in some Japanese Visual Novels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrLnF7CQ8Ac
http://www.live2d.com/en
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW6Yrxnn5dM
It has some interesting licensing http://www.live2d.com/en/products/cubism_sdk appears it might allow some free use in indy work depending on scale of project.

For traditional 2d animation there are some free options the closet to anime studio would probably be synfig.http://www.synfig.org/cms/ lol what I would like to find is a freeware program that creates easy multiplane camera effect's https://youtu.be/kN-eCBAOw60 without complexity of blender etc.

Pamelatibb07
Newbie
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2017 7:10 am
Location: US
Contact:

Re: 2D Animation programs? (preferably free)

#12 Post by Pamelatibb07 »

Aviala wrote:I tried googling this but it didn't help much so I decided to ask here. What kind of 2D animation programs are there? Any good free ones?

I'm currently using monkeyjam and it basically has everything I need: the ability to import images, preview the animation before saving and changing the frames per second rate. The problem is that it lags A LOT when working with bigger images/longer animations. It's also annoying to use some functions, like duplicating frames.

I know about flash and photoshop but those are too expensive for me and I don't want to resort to piratism. Any ideas?

p.s. I wasn't sure where to post this so please move this if it's in the wrong place.
If you think to create a good or better 2D animation software, you need a good software. But, if you think about cost and freely available software, you don't access some features that really create your animation video amazing. You have see the difference between 2D vs 3D animation.

Image

For free software, you can try TOON BOOM. I have use this software for long time. It's features are cool and makes a really amazing 2D animation video.

User avatar
Scribbles
Miko-Class Veteran
Posts: 636
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2016 4:15 pm
Completed: Pinewood Island, As We Know It
Projects: In Blood
Organization: Jaime Scribbles Games
Deviantart: breakfastdoodles
itch: scribbles
Location: Ohio
Contact:

Re: 2D Animation programs? (preferably free)

#13 Post by Scribbles »

opentoonz - I think it's an open source 2d animating software, I have it but haven't used it yet. might have to google around, I downloaded it from a link that ppl were sharing on twitter when it came out
Image - Image -Image

User avatar
susssu
Newbie
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Apr 02, 2016 1:17 am
Deviantart: meimei-kaiten
Contact:

Re: 2D Animation programs? (preferably free)

#14 Post by susssu »

Synfig studio (http://synfig.org/) is also free and open source. You can try it, if you like. Here are some animations I did with it: https://www.artstation.com/artist/urmzoomn/albums/57994.

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Majestic-12 [Bot]