For the most part, animation is not an expensive craft to pursue but it does come with some fairly pricey overheads when you’re first getting started out.

If you’re in animation school, chances are you’ve got access to all of the equipment and software you could possibly need. But if you’re interested in kitting out your home setup with animation software, the price tag can quickly rack up. Luckily, there are some free animation software alternatives which are good enough to see you through the majority of animation projects you’ll undertake.

Presenting…

May 24, 2019  Pencil2D is a free and open source 2D animation software which is designed to work on Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms. The most important features of animation are Flipping and Rolling because they allow you to view the “in-between” of two images and closely view a specific part of an animation.Pencil2D provides full support for these two features and you can access them easily.

Pencil

OS: Mac, Windows, Linux

When it comes to free and open-source 2D animation programs, Pencil is by far the most well-rounded and comes with a surprising number of features given that it comes with no charge.

Although it looks simple from the clean interface, it is packed with all the main tools you’ll find in some of the Pencil’s paid counterparts. It supports both vector and bitmap images, multiple layers and has its own in-built illustration tools (so you can either import graphics or create them right there and then before animating them).

Synfig Studios

OS: Mac, Windows, Linux

Right up there with Pencil, Synfig is very similar in design but arguably comes with a steeper learning curve; reason being, it throws in even more advanced features, and the results which can be achieved once you master them border on the professional level.

Stykz

OS: Mac, Windows, Linux

Given the above two open-source suites which offer an impressive level functionality, why are we featuring a simple stickman animation tool?

Simply put, Stykz has got a lot of use for anyone who likes to draft things out before getting down to fully-fledged artwork and animating. It’s completely free with no strings attached, works on any platform and can produce fluid .GIFs incredibly quickly (which will no doubt lead on to bigger things).

One particularly neat feature is that it also integrates with Pivot, another node-based (and free) animation tool.

CreaToon

Free Animation Software For Computer

OS: Windows

An entry-level animation program, CreaToon is cut-out based (all graphics are imported) that takes a lot of the headache out of creating cartoon-esque animation. While it isn’t quite as polished as some of the other names on this list, the real-time editing, auto in-frame filling and versatile file format support are real pulls.

Ajax Animator

OS: Windows, Mac, iPad

Not to be confused with the coding language, Ajax started life back in 2006 and was developed by a 6th grader as a replacement to Adobe’s expensive Flash MX. From such auspicious beginnings emerged a robust and fully functional animator that is well worth checking out despite its primitive look, especially if you’re an iPad user.

Blender

OS: Mac, Windows, Linux, FreeBSD

If you’ve heard of Blender, that’s because it’s one of the most widely-used free animation softwares still in active development (even professional animators and video game developers turn to it from time to time). Although it may take some time for beginners to get to grips with, those who manage to put even half the features Blender offers to use will be able to produce very impressive results.

Mac Animation Software For Beginners

Bryce

OS: Mac, Windows

Although it’s not strictly an animation suite, free terrain generation software (of decent quality) is hard to come by. Bryce has really stepped up to the plate in this department – as a terragen, it’s both as simple and as elaborate as you need it to be depending on the scale of your project and works seamlessly with most other modeling software.

Incidentally, Bryce is developed by DAZ 3D, who are also responsible for:

DAZ Studio

OS: Mac, Windows

This fantastic modeling and animation software wasn’t always free, but as of 2012, the professional version of DAZ is yours simply for signing up for a free registration account. The rendering engine is lightning fast, and the huge library of pre-created component content will have you creating in no time.

Clara.io

OS: Browser-based

Not only is Clara free, but it’s the only web-based one we can think of that is fully functional (and you don’t need any browser plugins to get it going). Not only does it feature a good system for polygonal modeling and skeletal/keyframe animation, but due to its 80,000+ user base there’s a strong community feel and plenty of people with which to chat shop.

Know of any great free or open source drawing animation software/tools which we’re missing? Do help the animation community out by leaving your suggestions in the comments below. And, if you’re interested in learning more about 3D animation and visual effects, check out NYFA’s 3D Animation & VFX School to begin your journey.

Here you can get the best free 3D and 2D animation software for windows free and you can also use these free animation software for beginners and also use for cartoon animation, free 3d cartoon movie making, etc. It can work smoothly on windows 7,8,8.1,10 and Redstone.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a newbie or a professional animator, you will always try to find a free animation software for windows to make great animations. There are many free animation software available on the market today, but most of them only give very limited functionality when it comes to user experience. These free animation software are best suited for students who are trying to learn animation.

Contents

• 1 List of Top Best Free Animation Software for Windows PC:
  • 1.5 5. Stykz

List of Top Best Free Animation Software for Windows PC:

If you’re an animator with great full ideas and abstract creativity, then you try the free animation software which we are going to mention below. This animation software is quite effective and rich in tools that will help you to create better animations in less time. Let us see a few free animation software titles below.

1. Pencil

The pencil is a great free animation software which is best known for its 2D animation capabilities. It’s an open-source project and offers many stunning features for free. It allows you to turn your creativity into digital animations. The pencil comes with one of the easiest yet functional tools which are extremely simple. It also offers you some advanced features and tools which are only seen in professional software.

It also supports vector images which are the easiest to work with. Furthermore, it comes with its own feature-rich illustration editor which will help you to create or manipulate graphics while you’re making an animation. You can easily determine the animation frame rate, sounds, image importing/exporting, changing colors and hue settings. You can export your animation work as an FLV video file or an SWF movie.

2. Creatoon

Creatoon is definitely a great animator tool that is designed for making cartoons in general. It supports many tools that will help you to easily create 2D animations, and you can add custom special effects on them. Despite so featuring rich, it still lacks up in the user interface department. The user interface for this software is quite outdated, but it still holds up to complex tasks easily.

It has a working menu located on each side of the working canvas for quick access to tools. You can also disable or enable it depending on your taste. Creatoon has the ability to set up custom frame rates along with adjustable height and width settings. You can also select the file format of the project and export files.

3. Plastic Animation Paper

It’s another free animation software which offers to make uncomplicated animations. Plastic Animation Paper has some powerful set of tools that will help you to create beautiful animations even if you don’t have much experience with animation. The user interface is quite simple and self-explanatory.

This software is for those professionals who need a quick solution and tools while they are working. The software is quite easy to work with and delivers its best if you use it on a widescreen monitor. Furthermore, it also supports rough sketching and onion sketching while you’re animating. You will also get some real-time suggestions cum walkthroughs while you’re animating.

4. Synfig Studio

Synfig Studio is another open-source free animation software. It can create 2D animations, and it’s quite close to Pencil which we mentioned at the top of this list. The major difference between the two is that Synfig is quite complicated and needs some learning curve to it. It supports many premium features and tools which results in amazing professionals like animation clips. You will be able to create great animation videos after learning it for a little bit.

Unlike any other free 2D animation software, Synfig Studio has a professional working space. It has four separate floating for editor, navigator, tools, and parameters which helps you to ease the workflow. Once you get easy with the tools and the working area, you will be able to speed up your animation creating game. You can easily create super quality cartoons, movies or animations based on vector and bitmap images. Since it uses vector graphics, the changes of pixelation are quite low, and only appears if you use a roaster image for your animation projects.

5. Stykz

It’s completely free of cost software which can help anyone to make animations. It does have any special learning curve to it and also supports major platforms like windows, mac, and Linux. There aren’t any hidden charges, and the software is quite easy as compared to others which we discussed above.

However, Stykz is quite a basic animation software and only capable of limited features but its quite user-friendly and easy to use. It’s great for any kind of 2D animations which are not complex in nature. It supports many features but its most famous for its stick-figure animations.

From Editor’s Desk

So, guys, these were the top 5 free animation software that you can download today and start your animation journey. Let us know which one of these you like the most.