Free Cartoon Animation Software
There are many cartoon animation programs available that offer free trial downloads. Here are three cartoon animation programs that are completely open-source, which means they are free for you to use. Though they vary in complexity, ease of use and features you will likely find one that best suits your animation needs.
You can also find a complete list of animation programs here (free and not free).
Pencil
Pencil Homepage | Download Pencil
Kudos to my friend Pat for pointing this one out. Pencil is an interesting application in that it allows for both vector and bitmap drawings. It's as if the drawing tools of Photoshop were combined with the powers of Flash. The application itself has been pared down to its most essential elements, meaning it's an excellent introductory animation software package.
Synfig
Synfig Homepage | Download Synfig
The creators of Synfig have ambitious goals of their software being used to create feature film quality animation. After watching an impressive demo it looks like they're not far away from their goal. Synfig can create complicated lighting and camera effects, it's up to you, the animator, to use them properly.
As of this writing, there is no Mac version due to technical issues.
CreaToon
CreaToon Homepage | Download CreaToon
Another PC-only animation program, CreaToon uses a cut-out animation process, similar to Toon Boom. The application itself seems a bit less polished, but the ability to use bitmap images within the program is useful.
Oh dear, so this has been my third late night trying to install synfig! Is there something I'm missing? I mean, am I SUPPOSED to download all these different things before I can use it or is there one giant .EXE which I can just download and run. At least on this attempt they had instructions on how to install it, but I got a third of the way through, and they started explaining it like I know exactly what they're talking about. I'm an Animator, not a computer technician! Did you have any problems putting it together Will? I'm annoyed I spent a part of my night installing god knows what, just to get lost in a river of computer babble.
@Matthewb, hmm, that is distressing. I only have access to the Mac at the moment, so I'm unable to install the PC version at all. Were you able to figure it out?
No not at all, I mean it looks like such an interesting program to use, everytime I attempt to put it together I really get my hopes up and then end up dissapointed. So is it quite simple to install on mac? I'm keen to get it, one day hopefully. (Of course by then it will probably be shareware ;)
Sadly, they removed the Mac version for download altogether. Presumably the bugs in the program were really nasty. I'm not sure yet when the Mac version will return.
Nice post, Will. I downloaded Pencil & started playing with it, haven't animated anything yet, but so far I must say I love the drawing tools. Very basic for sure, but the pencil tool has a wonderfully natural & sketchy feel when used on bitmap layers. It has a different function on vector layers, more like the stroke tool in TBS. It only draws invisible lines in vector layers but in bitmap ones it's a regular pencil. The color palette is basic for sure, but you can add custom colors to it & also save & import custom palettes, which is nice. My ultimate test is to see how easily I can go from this to TBS. I'm gonna try a simple test animation with it tonight, but so far it's well worth the price! Have you tried it yet? I got the impression that the mac version had a few more features than the pc version.
Well, I played with it a bit & it exports nicely as a series of PNG's into toonboom. Also exports to SWF stright from Pencil, but I think for all but the most basic of animations you'd want to bring it into TBS for camera moves & whatnot. Anyway, I have to say I'm thrilled with the drawing tools. As I said in my last comment the pencil tool feels really natural when drawing on a bitmap layer & it gives a nice sketchy look that I'm a big fan of. I did a short animation of an eye blinking, drawn with the pencil tool as a bitmap in Pencil, then imported the image sequence in to TBS & added color on a layer underneath the pencil. I think it came out looking really cool & I like the style a lot. I'm 100% sure I'll be doing more stuff like that in the near future. If you want to check it out I'll post it to my blog. Overall I'm pretty impressed with Pencil in the short time I've played with it.
Very cool Pat. Thank you for posting about your trials with it. I will have to play with the Mac version some more and see if I can compare it to your experiences. Here's the direct link to your post about Pencil.
This list is probably missing Plastic Animation Paper (PAP). Definetely worth giving it a try. Although the full version comes with a hefty price tag, there's a home version that's free. I've seen some work done with it, and wow, impressive. It's basically a light table. Do your colouring and compositing elsewhere. :P http://www.plasticanimationpaper.dk/
I have tried to install Creatoon but it does not work both with vista or Xp (I ahve used the unlock also)? Any thoughts?
@Daniele, I'm sorry, I only have a Mac to try these things on. Does the Creatoon FAQ page cover your issue?
No it does not help, the program does not run at all, it seems to be starting in the beginning but then it shuts down.
just downloaded creatoon and installed onto xp home sp2...once i ran the unlock it booted up okay..seems a bit buggy and fell over once already..still i'll have a play
I am interested in creating my own cartoon characters and am interested in the know how process of it can you help to provide some good hints on beginers software and professional software for creating carftoons and their animation with edting and mordern techniques many thks tony
I like this program
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