There are a number of companies with a vested in interest in selling you software for your animation needs. While this works out well for them, the consumer gets short-changed when it comes to pricing. It doesn’t have to be that way however, as there are many fantastic animation applications that you can get completely free! In case you were wondering, yes there is free animation software for Windows too. No matter what your goals and objectives for animation, we can help you find the best free software so you can get started today.
You don’t need to buy expensive animation software for Windows computers if you don’t want to. Even though these programs are fairly cheap, there are some great free options available.
Synfig Studio – Mac Software to Animate Video
Difficulty Level: Easy
Pro: You can create many layers once a time and sync audio for your animation.
Con: This one needs much time to learn, especially for beginners.
An open-source 2D animation software that works on Macs, Synfig Studio delivers multiple players while you are creating content. Whether you want to add geometric, filters, distortions, or transformations, it is all possible! And thanks to the high-end bone system, you can create cut out videos using bitmap images!
The thoughtful part is there are two download versions on the homepage: stable version and development version. If you want to enjoy a stable and smooth animation editing experience, choose the stable one. However, the development package gives you access to the use of the latest features.
For a novice, you can learn Synfig from step by step guide in Wikipedia and video tutorials. Four languages are available including English, Russian, Dutch, and French for a video course.
You can free download its latest version 1.3.11. The upcoming version is 1.4.
Features:
- It offers support for many layers within the animation.
- The program’s bone system means that you can easily create animations with bitmap images or vector artwork.
- It allows you to sync your creative work with any sound that you want. Has a full-featured audio editor.
Tupi – Free Animation Application for Mac Users
Difficulty Level: Middle
Pro: It supports vector illustrations. Besides, various formats are available.
Con: If you want to make 3D animation, it will fail. You can only make 2D effects.
A free software application for YouTube, Tupi will allow you to create 2D animations to your heart’s content. The tool was started by animators who wanted to create something that others could use.
It is an open-source tool, which means that users can make their tweaks to the program if they have some interesting ideas. The program works on both Windows and Mac. You need to use Tupi and Papagayo to make lip-sync animation with different mouth shapes.
It also offers a solution for schools with related features including academic license, technical support, and ads-free, so many schools choose to use this one to teach kids how to make an animation video.
Features:
- Support for vector illustrations. You can add rectangles, lines, polygons, and other shapes as you please. To fill areas, just use the paint bucket.
- You can import raster images using this program.
- You can export all your finished images into different file formats.
- Support for tweeting positions, scale, shear, and rotations.
DAZ Studio – Free Software for 3D Lovers
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Pro: You can make game animation for fun. It also supports GPU accelerated real-time rendering.
Con: It has a high demand for the device, but owns a steep learning curve.
Daz 3d is a powerful and completely free 3D creation tool that will let you create the short videos that you want. Whether you are using this for business or pleasure, you will find the program is very easy to understand. Within a day, you will be completely used to its interface.
3D effects are the core focus of DAZ Studio. You can build model, render, and pose animation within the skin texture level. It has a high requirement for the device. For Windows 64 bits, its recommended RAM is 3G.
Features:
- Options for 3D morphing, animation, and rendering.
- GPU accelerated real-time rendering, which delivers the best results.
- Interactive tutorials to help you become a better 3D artist.
- Everything you make is yours, royalty-free!
Animaker
Platforms: web browser-based
Animaker is a free animation software for beginners, with easy drag-and-drop functionality and an intuitive interface to match. There are six core types of videos you can make with Animaker:
- 2D
- Infographics
- Handcraft
- Whiteboard
- 2.5D
- Typography
Including full HD support, both horizontal and vertical video layouts, and pre-made graphics to choose from, you can create fun, animated videos in no time.
Audio features include text-to-speech, the option to add background music and sound effects, and voiceover. You can choose from Animaker’s library of sounds or upload your own tunes.
If you want to pay for the pro version, you can also get advanced features: in-app camera, multimove, curves, transition effects, and enter/exit effects. It’s like all those PowerPoint animations except cool and not so cheesy.
Krita
Krita is an open source Free animation tool which you can use on your Windows computer with ease. Its a good tool for those who are beginning their journey of animation. You can use this tool more effectively, if you are using a tablet or a touch screen PC , because hand drawing different shapes for different frames can be a bit difficult with mouse. It comes with pre included Vector and text and a lot of Brush styles which you can use in your animation projects.
Conclusion
It is a simple fact that animations can be very helpful for making beautiful and captivating websites. In the past, animating graphic files was a tedious process requiring skill, patience and expensive or proprietary animation software. However, times have changed. Nowadays, there happens to be a lot of free animation software out there.
With some animation software you have to pay, some are free. There is a choice of different software for all uses and needs. But if you want to get started with animation then these free animation software programs will allow you to get on your way.