What is the best free animation software for beginners?

The traditional Indian “Puppet Show” played with mere strings and hand movements was a work of skillful performers. Nobody had thought then that those colorful puppet characters would someday become a household name when they are transformed into their new Avatars like Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse.

Inside the animation studios, the imaginations were tweaked to produce some incredible animation movies like Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar, Nemo, Toy Story,.etc,and later with them joined the gaming industry.

The pool of animation enthusiasts is expanding, and they are tapping on each and every technique to enhance their skills. There are some best animation tools the beginners can use to march their journey towards a flourishing career.

The animations are segmented into the following categories

1. 2D animation
2. 3D animation
3. Stop motion
4. Cel animation
5. Paint-on-glass animation

Out of all these 5 categories, the 2D, 3D, and stop motion animation are commonly used. For beginners, the following free and open-source tools are perfect to kick-start their career in the animation field.

List of free and open-source animation software

1) Blender

Blender includes production ready camera and object tracking. The tool enables you to import raw footage, track the footage, mask areas, and see the camera movements live in your 3D scene. It eliminates the need to switch between the programs. The tool is used for numerous short films, TV series, advertisements, and feature films now.

2) Synfig Studio

Synfig Studio is an open-source and free 2D animation software for macOS, Windows, and Linux operating systems. It offers some advanced features like vector tweening, layers and filtering,bone system for complex editing of bitmap images, etc. It’s majorly a 2D animation software but can add that minor 3D aesthetic to your animation. For beginners, the tool’s community forum can act as a learning guide as it provides a large library of documentation and video courses in multiple languages.

3) Pencil 2D

Pencil 2D is a simple tool with an easy-to-use interface. It makes this tool perfect for beginners. Pencil2D offers a number of features to make animation easy. The tool can seamlessly switch between raster and vector files.

4) OpenToonz

It is a mid-level 2D animation software for both beginners and experts. It is laced with a long list of features used for both commercial and non-commercial use. A new SDK developed by Dwango a plug-in effect for image processing and adding special effects.

5) Maefloresta Tupitube

Tupitube has a simplistic design and very easy to use UI for beginners. It also has a virtual assist feature to help with the animation process. The tool has all the basic features and was initially built for children to express their creativity. Tupitube can help create a range of animation features using advanced functions such as Rotoscoping and Stop-Motion animation.

6) GIMP

GIMP or GNU Image Manipulation Program has all features a software tool like Adobe Photoshop provides. Though it is a simple tool, it allows frame-by-frame editing and composition. GIMP provides many customization options and 3rd party plugins.

7) Krita

Krita recently released its latest version, "Krita 3.0". It enables you to do proper frame-by-frame animation, more layer actions, all sorts of playback speeds, onion skinning, on top of all of Krita’s existing paint tools. It is one of the most advanced painting and brushing software on the internet. The dockers and panels can be moved and customized for your specific workflow. The release of the newer version brings a complete makeover for the tool and is worth trying.

8) Adobe Animate

Adobe animate is supported by Adobe Sensei AI that turns any art into an animated character through your webcam. By using your webcam and microphone, Character Animator matches your expressions — from syncing lips to tracking eyes — to animate in real-time. The movements of characters can be saved as buttons, so they’re easier to remember than key commands. It integrates seamlessly with other Adobe apps like Premiere Pro and After Effects.

There are also premium versions of animation tools that are loaded with more advanced features like advanced vector/bitmap drawing technology, advanced masking option, work on one or multiple frames at a time, and so on. As the beginners would progress in their careers and will work on high-end projects, they may need this premium animation software.

List of premium animation software

1. Moho (Anime Studio) - Free trial available, ( $69.99 -$399.99)
2. DigiCel FlipBook - Free version with a watermark ( $19.99 -$199.99)
3. Stop Motion Studio - ( $1.99- $9.99 depending on O.S)
4. Cartoon Animator 4 - Free trial available, ( $99 -$199)
5. Adobe Character Animator- Free trial available, ( $19.99 -$52.99)
6. Toon Boom Harmony- Free trial available (€41 -€400)

In the present time, web animation holds huge importance for business. And if you have understood it and decided to start a career as an animation designer, well, you need something to start with. Hence here is the list of best free animation for software for beginners. 

• Adobe Character Animator

Adobe Character Animator is one of the newest products in the Adobe family. It is a powerful tool allows users to create animated cartoon characters in real-time quickly and very easily. The software is very easy and simple to use. It has included a program to detect your facial expressions and voice to animate the character’s face. In addition, it also has pre-defined triggers and functions that help users to make the character walk, hold objects, and make gestures.

• Stop Motion Studio

Another perfect app for beginners who want to try their hands in video editing. This software helps users to create amazing 4K stop-motion animations. With Stop Motion Studio, the output can be mixed with 2D style drawings painted directly onto the image. The frame-by-frame editor includes some handy features that allow designers to create amazing output.

• Cartoon Animator 4

This software is ideal for the level of users. Cartoon Animator 4 allows users to create custom 2D characters. They have a huge database to choose the character. You can also import PSD character templates in this software. Users can make a static image move with the help of different motion templates in the library. The software even have 3D motions. Cartoon Animator 4 includes different features and options including support audio lip-synching, facial detection, rigging tool, and much more.

So, these are some highly-recommended free animation software for beginners. I hope you’ve found it informational. 

I recommend checking out Animation Desk by Kdan Mobile - it has all the tools you need to create lively animation on your tablet, PC or even your phone. This software comes with full customization and adjustability you need for when you’re just starting out, and it allows you to change up your brushes, color, FPS (frames per second), frame management, and some of the professional-level tools include video rotoscoping, onion skin, and you can also work with up to three layers at once. This is a good software that’s not too difficult to learn and exporting your animation in different formats and to different platforms is quick and easy.