Pricing: Daz Studio is one of the best free animation apps for PC. Platforms: Daz animation app for PC is available for Windows 7, 8, 10 & Vista (32 bit and 64 bit). It also supports Mac OS X 10.6 and above for 32 bit as well as Mac OS X 10.7 and above 64 bit. The pencil is easily the best free animation software for windows. Pencil lets you create traditional hand-drawn animation using both bitmap and vector graphics. Pencil2D is one of the simplest 2D hand-drawn animation programs available. Pencil works smoothly on Mac computers making it the best free animation software for Mac. The Future of Video Making starts here! A platform for beginners, non-designers & professionals to create Animation. And Live-Action videos for every moment of our life. Create your first Video. Animaker's helped over 10M people create awesome videos by themselves! And is trusted by some of the world's leading brands.
Everybody knows Pokemon, Popeye, Scooby Doo, Tom and Jerry, Flintstone, mickey mouse, bugs bunny. All these characters were a part of our childhood. And these characters were made by animation.
The animation is the process of making the illusion of motion and change. Animation can also be defined as an illusion of movement created by showing a series of still pictures in rapid succession. The animation is a process in which many things are integrated into the multimedia and gaming products — processes such as designing, drawing, making layouts and preparation of photographic sequences. Animation means exploiting still images, into something which looks to appear real and moving. The animation is the display of series of frames simultaneously. Animation can be as simple as making a gif to more complex animation like creating a character in a game.
The act of creating new art has been done for centuries such as drawing, painting, sculpting. Animation can be called as Modern Form of creating art. Animation lets artist or animator to explore the infinity of world in motion. This modern art form brings out the emotion and that feeling of existence through movement of a sequence of drawings, images. In animation, two objects are always related to each other.
Why is Animation Important?
Animation exists as something which is truly created by the artist and can be called as an artist-driven art form. Some of the greatest artists of the past hundred years have either worked in animation or have taken inspiration from animated art. An animation is an excellent form of communication. The animation does not have a fixed group of the audience; it is for the kids, it is for the old, it is for young people and also from grown-ups. Animation allows you to bring life to something which doesn’t exist in reality but in the brain. At times it becomes easier to related to animations than one can relate with actual humans. Animation is a powerful tool for sharing and promoting a variety of audiences and global issues. Right from educating young ones to discuss serious global issues like global warming, animations play an important part. Animation helps us in represent reality in a cartoon form, which makes it more impactful. The animation is a mixture of meaning, story, colors, creativity, and imagination.
So, let us get started and know about the software which helps in creating animated images and find which best free animation software available.
1. Pencil2D
Pencil2D is a free open source software that helps you create two dimensional (2D) animation without much struggle. The pencil is easily the best free animation software for windows. Pencil lets you create traditional hand-drawn animation using both bitmap and vector graphics. Pencil2D is one of the simplest 2D hand-drawn animation programs available. Pencil works smoothly on Mac computers making it the best free animation software for Mac. Pencil2D is ideal for beginners, as the commands are easy to understand and use and also the interface of Pencil is simple. Pencil allows the user to make something in a single layer as well as a multilayer. Pencil allows the user to paint and sketch. Pencil allows you to create and manipulate your animations by using its own feature-rich editor. When you use Pencil, you can easily determine the animation frame rate, sounds, image importing and exporting. Pencil allows the user to export your animated work as an FLV video file or an SWF movie.
2. CreaToon
CreaToon is a user-friendly and simple software which allows you to create 2D animations which are in fashion and add several special effects to the same. CreaToon is definitely a great animator tool which is designed for making cartoons in general. The user interface of CreaToon will take you back to 14th century, but it still is able to do complex tasks very easily. CreaToon has two menus on either side of the screen which allows the quick access of the tools which is used by the user for creating an animated character. CreaToon can set custom frame rate, in addition to adjustable heights and width settings.
3. Animation Paper
Animation Paper is one of the best free animation software available to use. Animation Paper is used to making uncomplicated animations. Animation Paper has some powerful tools, which helps the user to create amazing animations even if you don’t know much about animation. Animation Paper’s interface is quite simple and user-friendly. Animation Paper is pretty easy to work with. Animation Paper delivers the best result if it is used on a widescreen monitor. Animation Paper also gives some suggestions while you are animating.
4. Synfig Studio
Synfig Studio is another open source software which works on all platforms – Windows, Mac and Linux. Synfig Studio is quite complicated and needs to be learned thoroughly to be an expert. Once you master its advanced grade feature, it will give amazing results. The interface of Synfig Studio is divided into four parts – tools window, editing window, navigator window, and parameters window. Once you get familiar with all the four parts, you will be able to create amazing and quality cartoons and animations. Synfig Studio is based on the vector and bitmap technique. Synfig Studio allows you to synchronize created animation with any sound of your choice as It has a full-featured audio editor.
5. Stykz
Stykz is a free software which you can download and use it to create animations and import into other applications. Stykz works on all leading operating systems – Windows, Linux and Mac. Stykz offers plenty of handy tools which can be used to create wonderful animations. Stykz has a user-friendly interface. However, Stykz is limited to basic animations, when compared to other animation software. Stykz is great for any 2D animations which are simple and uses fewer tools. Stykz is famous for its stick figure animations. Stykz is the first cross-platform stick figure animation software which allows the user to develop, edit and preview your animation. Stykz allows you to work on each frame which results in perfect finishing.
6. Blender
Blender is an open-source 3D animation creation website. Blender is the best free animation software for 3D animation. Blender is used by many people from different fields for a different purpose. Blender supports 3D pipeline which includes modeling, rigging, animation, simulations, rendering, composition and motion tracking. Blender also offers video editing and game creation. Blender offers animations and VFX features which are better than any other free animation software.
7. Bryce Pro
Bryce is not like your traditional animation software; it is something which will help you to create your own terrestrial model. Bryce is user-friendly 3D landscaping and animation software. Bryce is free of cost and works on all the platform. Bryce allows you to add special features like wildlife, nature, human beings and many such things in your 3D Drawing. Along with this, Bryce also allows the user to make landscapes, stones, mountains, rocks, water, clouds and many more things which will make it more real.
8. Daz 3D Studio
Daz 3d is another powerful 3D animation software which is complete. Daz allows you to create small videos and animations that you want to create. Daz is user-friendly and also offers rich features and functionalities which is of great help when you animate. Daz studio is for amateurs as well as professionals. The design engine in Daz 3D is very fast which helps in getting the desired results very quickly. Daz 3D has a massive library that contains a pre-developed component which will help you to develop animations without any fuss.
9. Clara.io
Clara.io is a full-featured cloud-based 3D modeling, animation and rendering software tool that runs in your web browser. Clara.io does not require any plugins to function. Clara.io also has a great arrangement of polygonal modeling and skeletal animation, which boasts of a user base of over 80,000. Clara.io has a modern interface which allows the user to undo/redo, drag/drop and is responsive workflow. Clara.io is a cross-platform tool which works on almost all the browsers an operating system. Clara.io also allows the editing by multiple users simultaneously.
10. Terragen
Terragen is a free program that you can download on the Windows platform. Terragen is the perfect software which allows you to create 3D animations and environments that you wish to create. Terragen allows you to import real-world data sets and create the most realistic visualizations possible. Terragen allows you to control weather, landscapes, rivers, sun, stars and everything else which you can think of. Terragen allows photo-realistic clouds and ozone simulations. Rendering in the latest version is twice as fast as the previous version of the programs.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we would like to say that in the world of computers, graphics software are used to create effects which help to express your imagination via animations. Animation brings fantasies to life. Animation can also be called as one powerful tool which can be used as a platform to share ideas and abstracts. Animation helps to explore and develop ideas to implement them in reality.
In this article, we have mentioned some software which can be used to create 2D / 3D animations on different platforms. We have mentioned some best free animation software that will help you to animate and create videos or games which you have always thought of. There are some very powerful tools with a lot of features which will help in giving the best results. Some of the software is providing a lot of features without asking for any price in return.
We started out movie watching journey with animated movies and those movies play a very vital role in our upbringing. There are people who still love to watch animations even though they are now working in huge corporations. Watching animated movies is as fun as making them with various programs, tools, and animation softwares. If you are one of the newbies in this field and want to explore animation, then you can go for any of the below listed Best Free Animation Software For Beginners.
Best Free Animation Software For Beginners Complete List Updated
Contents
- Best Free Animation Software For Beginners Complete List Updated
1. Adobe Flash:
You must have heard about Adobe Flash if you have interest in animation and stuff. Also, goes by the name “Macromedia Flash” and “Shockwave Flash”, this is one of the best free animation software for beginners. This multimedia system supports various platforms like Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, Mac OS and Linux.
You can easily design various interactive animations and make your own animation clips through the smooth user interface of Adobe Flash.
2. Adobe Photoshop:
Yet another Adobe creation has landed in the list of the best free animation software for beginners! Master your 2D animation skills through this amazing photo altering software which is compatible with Windows as well as iOS platform. From editing large pics to labyrinthine small digital ones, now you can do them all with just a few clicks and drags.
3. Creatoon:
With one of the best user interfaces among all the good free animation softwares, Creatoon is a very instinctive animation softwares. Its quick access menu bar and easily customizable drawing tool make it a favorite among animators.
It is a very easy to use animator that allows the user to segregate various animation elements in slabs and then edit them.
4. Toon Boom:
It is a Canadian free animation software that is over two decades old. It can be used to create animation videos and can also be used as a storyboarding software for movies and games. Winner of Primetime Emmy Award, this software is used in over 130 countries to make animated movies and videos.
Top notch production houses like Cartoon Network and Warner Brothers use this software to develop striking animations.
5. Blender:
Blend away your real-time scenes into animation graphics through this amazing free animation software. You can create amazing 3D animations through this application. It supports Linux. Mac and Windows operating systems.
This software is quite an advanced one and beginners might feel it to be too steep. But gradually you will learn to use its wide range of tools and video modification techniques.
6. Anime Studio:
This amazing 2D animation software is one of the best free animation software for beginners. Many professional animators use this software to make amazing animated videos and movies. It has traditional animation techniques along with new video modifying tools in it.
Optimized vector drawing tools, layered photoshop support, auto lip syncing are some of its notable features that make it a popular choice among animators.
7. Daz Studio:
The Daz Studio is one of the most advanced animation softwares of the present generation. With a user-friendly interface and numerous pre-developed component matter, you can easily create animated videos through Daz Studio.
Some of its noteworthy features are Bloom Filters, NVIDIA Iray Draw-style, Viewport, NVIDIA Iray Uber Shader, NVIDIA Material Definition Language, Light Category Support etc.
8. LightWave:
Animation Apps For Mac Free Download
Developed by New Tek, LightWave is a 3D computer graphics software. It supports both polygon modeling and subdivision surfaces. It can be used to render both animatic and static 3D images.
It has been used in top-notch Hollywood movies like Titanic, 300, Star Wars movies, Sin City etc. what makes Lightwave stand out of the crowd is its ray tracing, global illumination, and network rendering.
9. Maya:
Maya can easily be listed among the best free animation softwares. It is well known for its huge collection of lighting and shading effects. You also have the choice to integrate it with third-party softwares. It is compatible with Mac and Windows systems.
Though it is way better than most of the other animation softwares listed here, it comes for a pocket pinch. But its features will certainly make it worth the money spent on it.
10. 3D Studio Max:
From the creators of Maya, Autodesk, the 3D Studio Max has industry level video editing and animation effects. Animators prefer Maya for animated movies and 3D Studio Max for creating video games.
Though it is very expensive, it is one of the most efficient and high-tech animation softwares in the market.
11. TV Paint:
If you are a new entrant into the world of animation, then you should stick to the basic animation softwares rather than advanced one. TV Paint’s animation tools result in old-school Disney type animation. The hand-drawn animation style of the software makes it a preferable choice for beginners.
TV Paint is like an underdog in the market of animation software. You might be thinking, that where does an old-school animation software stand in the market. But it has actually been used to make various animated short movies like Adam and Dog, Raintown, Junkyard etc.
12. Adobe After Effects:
Yet another Adobe product has landed on the list of the best free animation softwares for beginners! The latest version of the software was released just 4 months ago which included Lumetri Scopes, Effect Input Layer Options, Camera-shake deblur, multiple GPU optimizations. Adobe keeps updating its softwares to keep its position intact in the top spot. It can also support third-party plugins and can render 3D effects.
Animation Software Download Mac
We hope you liked our collection of animation softwares. Though all of them might not be idle for the beginners, yet they are some of the best ones in the market. Start from Adobe products if you are a beginner and then move onto Maya and 3D Studio Max kind of animation softwares.
Animation Apps Free Download
Feel free to comment if you want us to add anything to the list of the best free animation softwares for beginners.