You might have heard someone speak about the best animation software, but you might still be wondering what they mean by that. There are now various definitions for the term. The best free animation software is the one that is the most unproblematic both in terms of functionality and cost. The best animation software can also refer to software that delivers professional results during production or to software that has received the highest recommendations from experts.
Animation is the method used to bring an object or figure to life by giving it the illusion of movement. This process includes three basic elements: drawings or models, visible changes over time and the employment of stop motion photography. Although animation can be achieved using manual work methods, technological advancements have resulted in specialized software to make this possible. Here are our review about best software for animation free
Autodesk Maya
Use on: Windows, Mac OS, Linux
Best for: Everyone, beginner to pro
Many beginner animators want to know: What animation software does Disney use? Well, look no further—while Disney artists use a variety of animation software, one of the most popular choices is Autodesk Maya. (If your question, on the other hand, is “What animation software does Pixar use?” it’s a proprietary software that’s not available to animators outside of the company.)
For many professional animators and animation studios, Autodesk Maya is the industry standard. This 3D animation software is ideal for character creation, modeling, simulation, motion graphics, and more. It’s been used to create animation for movies including “Finding Nemo,” “Monsters, Inc.,” and “Avatar.”
After a free trial, pricing begins at $122 per month (for a three-year license), although monthly plans are also available. If you’re a current student, you may be able to access Autodesk Maya for free.
Blender
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux
Use Blender if you’re looking for the best video animation software for pro editors and creators. The free open-source 3D animation tool supports the “modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking, video editing, and 2D animation pipeline.” The platform is a public project, and creatives from all over the world contribute to its ongoing maintenance.
Let’s talk features.
- Rendering: Cycles is Blender’s ray-trace based production render engine, FreeStyle is an edge- and line-based non-photorealistic (NPR) rendering engine, and real-time feedback speeds up the editing process.
- Modeling: Blender’s modeling tools include sculpting, retopology, modeling, curves, and more to help with editing models.
- Sculpting: Digital sculpting tools flexible for each stage of the digital production pipeline.
- Animation and rigging: These tools include a character animation pose editor, Non Linear Animation (NLA) for independent movements, IK forward/inverse kinematics for fast poses, and sound synchronization.
- Grease pencil: Draw directly in 3D and combine 2D/3D art.
- VFX: From camera and object motion tracking to masking and compositing, there are lots of fixes you can make in post-prod.
- Simulation: Create simulations for fog, smoke, rain, fire, liquid, and more.
- Pipeline: Choose from a long list of import/export options.
- Video editing: A built-in video editor allows for basic actions like video cuts and splicing and more complex tasks like video masking or color grading.
Yeah, that’s a lot. Blender is a comprehensive tool. And it’s all free.
KeyShot
Image courtesy of KeyShot
KeyShot is a fast and user-friendly 3D rendering software with animation capabilities. This tool allows users to go from a simple model to a stunning visual in minutes. KeyShot is a completely free animation software.
KeyShot has a number of features to support animation and 3D rendering, including but not limited to:
- 2D animation and 3D animation
- HDRI lighting that allows you to light and adjust your scene as needed
- Camera control that enables users to simulate real-world camera behavior
- Dynamic texture mapping to simulate the real-world appearance of a landscape
- Focused caustics to ensure objects are properly lighted
What users like
“It’s fast and most of the results come [out] pretty good. And today they can do animation and VR in KeyShot, [which] makes the software even more powerful than ever.”
— Keyshot review by a user in higher education
What users dislike
“The animation configuration could be easier and also give more options of possible movements.”
— Keyshot review by Julia C.
Recommendations to others considering the product
“Try it, it is very easy. I do like the animation tool, which you can [use to] make an animation rendering very easy and quick.”
— Keyshot review by Chen W.
Powtoon
Features:
- It is an excellent free animation software for beginners.
- Powtoon is an online software for animation.
- Powtoon was founded in 2012.
- Currently, over 30 million people across the world use Powtoon for the purpose of animation.
- An animated video can be created on Powtoon in just 20 minutes.
- So far about 80 million Powtoon videos have been created and shared worldwide.
- The video resolution offered by the free version of Powtoon is pretty standard.
- The free version allows limited access to the Powtoon image library.
- You get to create videos that are up to 3 minutes long even with the free version.
- Powtoon provides a video exporting option to various platforms like Facebook, Youtube, or any website.
- You can choose from a wide range of sizes and aspect ratios.
Pros:
- Beginners can easily use it with the help of several ready-made templates.
- The process of adding characters to the slides for the purpose of the animation is pretty smooth.
Cons:
- Powtoon’s free animation programs have characters that are really simplistic which are not suitable for high quality videos.
Adobe Character Animator
Adobe Character Animator is a powerful tool that allows you to animate a character in seconds. Firstly, the software is easy to use. It also comes in handy for beginners that would like to make intuitive 2D cartoon characters and live animations. After importing art from Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, or start with built-in templates (called a puppet), turn your microphone and webcam on. Then, the application matches your expressions from lip-syncing to eye-tracking to animate in real-time. After that, your performance can bring the character to life.
Image by Adobe.com
Main Features of Adobe Character Animator
- The timeline search filter helps track items. Besides, you can hide or isolate tracks, create groups for better organization.
- Control your puppet using your webcam, microphone, as well as mouse.
- Built-in triggers and functions make the character move, react, hold objects, and so on.
- Lip sync is more accurate thanks to improved Adobe Sensei machine learning.
- Ground detection makes your character jump, dance, as well as bend more naturally.
- Easily integrate with other Adobe applications, for example, to export a scene or puppet.
Price
Individuals plan costs $69.72/month/all apps.
The business plan starts at $50.50/month.
Students and Teachers plan costs S$26.30/month the first year and S$39.46/month after that.
Schools and Universities plan costs $51.99/month/all apps and $22.27/month/single app.
Synfig Studio
Features:
- Synfig Studios is a 2d animation software for Mac, Windows, and Linux computers. Further, it is open-source software.
- You can do vector tweening with this free animation software for beginners. This means that you can change the shape of your vector artwork to anything you want.
- There are over 50 layers such as geometric, gradients, filters, distortions, transformations, fractals, and others that you can use for animation.
- You get to use a featureful system of bones for cutting out animations with the help of bitmap images and also govern your vector artwork.
- You can add complex deformation to your bitmap artwork by using an extra Skeleton Distortion layer.
- Synfig allows you to add dynamic structures or character puppets by linking parameters of various layers either through mathematical expressions or directly.
Pros:
- Best part of Synfig is that it is open source and accessible to audiences of all kinds.
- Attractive 2d presentations can be made with a limited number of resources and tools.
- There is no effect on results in case of a change in resolution.
Cons:
- Sometimes the interface of Synfig shuts on its own and also slows down a bit.
- Installing it in 32bit programs can be difficult.
Conclusion:
Animation is a broad term in visual effects industry, covering a wide range of digital processes. It still remains a primary tool for filmmakers to create/enhance any non-live action project. Although computer generated animation is widely used in feature films, it is also used in many other forms such as television series, music videos, product commercials and video games. In the following blog post we have listed some of the best animation software free which you can use to create stunning animated effects in your work.