This product is called “best 2d animation software for unity” because it is the best and most complete 2D animation toolset for the Unity game engine, which means that it gives the best performance when using it to build 2D games in Unity. This product is also called “best animation software free” because it’s totally free and doesn’t have any kind of feature limitations. It’s also called “best animation software for pc” because it works on desktops, and not only on mobile devices.
Animation Master: Best 2D Animation Software For Unity is the only animation software for Unity that supports both Windows and Mac, which is a plus for any Unity developer. It provides HD encoding for super fast performance and exports all of the most common image formats (png, gif, jpg, etc.) with just a few clicks. It also comes with common animations such as walking and jumping for you to import into your project.
Animation System Overview
Unity has a rich and sophisticated animation system (sometimes referred to as ‘Mecanim’). It provides:
- Easy workflow and setup of animations for all elements of Unity including objects, characters, and properties.
- Support for imported animation clips and animation created within Unity
- Humanoid animation
retargeting
– the ability to apply animations from one character model onto another. - Simplified workflow for aligning animation clips.
- Convenient preview of animation clips, transitions and interactions between them. This allows animators to work more independently of programmers, prototype and preview their animations before gameplay code is hooked in.
- Management of complex interactions between animations with a visual programming tool.
- Animating different body parts with different logic.
- Layering and masking features
Animation workflow
Unity’s animation system is based on the concept of Animation Clips
, which contain information about how certain objects should change their position, rotation, or other properties over time. Each clip can be thought of as a single linear recording. Animation clips from external sources are created by artists or animators with 3rd party tools such as Autodesk® 3ds Max® or Autodesk® Maya®, or come from motion capture studios or other sources.
Animation Clips are then organised into a structured flowchart-like system called an Animator Controller
. The Animator Controller acts as a “State Machine
” which keeps track of which clip should currently be playing, and when the animations should change or blend together.
A very simple Animator Controller might only contain one or two clips, for example to control a powerup spinning and bouncing, or to animate a door opening and closing at the correct time. A more advanced Animator Controller might contain dozens of humanoid animations for all the main character’s actions, and might blend between multiple clips at the same time to provide a fluid motion as the player moves around the scene
.
Unity’s Animation system also has numerous special features for handling humanoid characters which give you the ability to retarget humanoid animation from any source (for example: motion capture; the Asset Store; or some other third-party animation library) to your own character model, as well as adjusting muscle definitions
. These special features are enabled by Unity’s Avatar
system, where humanoid characters are mapped to a common internal format.
Each of these pieces – the Animation Clips, the Animator Controller, and the Avatar, are brought together on a GameObject
via the Animator Component
. This component has a reference to an Animator Controller, and (if required) the Avatar for this model. The Animator Controller, in turn, contains the references to the Animation Clips it uses.
The above diagram shows the following:
- Animation clips are imported from an external source or created within Unity. In this example, they are imported motion captured humanoid animations.
- The animation clips are placed and arranged in an Animator Controller. This shows a view of an Animator Controller in the Animator window
. The States (which may represent animations or nested sub-state machines) appear as nodes connected by lines. This Animator Controller exists as an asset in the Project window
. - The rigged character model (in this case, the astronaut “Astrella”) has a specific configuration of bones which are mapped to Unity’s common Avatar format. This mapping is stored as an Avatar asset as part of the imported character model, and also appears in the Project window as shown.
- When animating the character model, it has an Animator component attached. In the Inspector
view shown above, you can see the Animator Component which has both the Animator Controller and the Avatar assigned. The animator uses these together to animate the model. The Avatar reference is only necessary when animating a humanoid character. For other types of animation, only an Animator Controller is required.
Moho (Animion Software)
Operating system: Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
Description: Moho is a proprietary vector-based 2D animation software for animators. Moho has two different versions: Moho Debut and Moho Pro. The first one doesn’t have all the functions that the Pro version has, plus the Debut version is a bit more restricted in terms of possible length and image size. The features include drawing tools, smart bones, Photoshop files import, quad meshes, full 3D space and camera, lip-sync tools, and more. Moho is available in English, German, and Japanese language (and Spanish since version 9.2).
Synfig Studio
Operating system: Linux, Mac OS X, Windows
Description: Synfig Studio is an open-source, free timeline-based, and 2D vector graphics computer animation program. Synfig Studio is a real back-end and front-end application, that allows you to design your animation in front-end and render it in the backend at a later time even on another computer, without having to connect the graphical display.
Renderforest
Pros
- Various pricing plan for you to choose: free, $9.99/month, $24.99/month and more
- Used by authoritative media including BBC, Sony, and Bose
- Offer many icon resources to use
Cons
- You can’t visualize the final video on different device and size
Renderforest is an online animation maker that will let you create promotional content, fun animations, explainer videos, and much more.
Whether you want to create something that is 3D and CG realistic, or you want to come up with a fun 2D animation, this animated video maker will be very helpful to you.
Features:
- With around 200 video templates, you can start your video very easily.
- Cloud-based tools let you adjust scenes, modify the text, and create great animated content.
- There is an explainer video toolkit that small businesses will find very useful.
Conclusion
The Best Animation Software for Unity. It offers an easy to use character animation software that helps the user to create a 2D characters or objects and animate them with ease. No prior experience is required as the software enables you to learn easily. These Best Animation Software for Unity helps in easing yourself with complex rigging, animation and sequencing tasks by unleashing your creativity on canvas size of your choice.