The animation is not hard to create; they are easy to design when you have the right tools. Animation can be in the form of video clips, GIFs, and many other types. If you are learning to design animation or already an expert, the software is the major requirements. We see the animation daily, they are on cereal boxes, in cartoons, in advertisements and advanced animations are now in movies too. Stick figure animation also called pivot animation use pivot-joiners for connection; the drawings are represented frame by frame after another. Stick figure is the most common and oldest used animation. Various programs offer tools to make stick figures they can be coloured, semi-circles, dot, or line. There are many animation tools available online and free to download on multiple operating systems they all support stick figure animation and more 2D and 3D tools if you want to expand your expertise.
1. Stykz
- Create or extract animated GIF files using GIF Animator. Add raster (exif, bpg, bmp, tiff, png, jpeg) images to a list, set frame delay interval and create a animated GIF. Also select animated GIF files and display individual frames in designated folders.
- GIF Animator is Mac user's best choice for creating amazing animations, avatars, banners and userpics. With this app you can easily convert Video to GIF, or create GIF animation from set of images with a few clicks. Key features: Compiling animation from imported frames.
Stykz is an animator, free software which allows users to create stick-figure and sprite animation and save them in GIF format for web usage and AVI format. A multi-platform stick figure animation program that is frame-based and let the user work on individual frames for excellent animation. The program allows you to edit the animation directly on the stage, by holding particular modifier user can access extend mode which enables him to reach a line segment and move all linked line segments. The program consists of simple features like manipulating figures, working with animation, importing and exporting animation and edit them in Stykz, auto-save and auto-backup facility and more. The tools provided are simple, labelled, and easy to use. The GUI factor is significant in the animation software, so Stykz has given a lot of work in presenting a nice and clean interface.
2. Pivot
Animation Paper is one of the best animation software on the market right now and offers a variety of 2D animations for multiple uses. Compatible with Windows, Linux, and Mac, this software is useful for pro-animators, film-makers, students, and game developers.
Pivot animator short for Pivot is a free multi-platform stick figure and sprite amination creator. It provides a simple, easy to use interface designed according to the user perspective. The program offers a frame-by-frame animation principle that also includes a wide range of pre-designed sticks, so the user has an idea of design and layout. The figure is made by using lines and circles, with each line and circles a pivot point is used to connect them. The user interface is easy to navigate, and it has all the startup tools to design an essential figure and animation, user can import and export animation to editing in Pivot. The software is quick to install and contain many pre-designed pictures for editing purpose; the animations can be saved in GIF extension so the user can edit them in other software.
3. TISFAT
TISFAT is a free, open-source 2D-based keyframe animation software which offers editing and creating stick figure and sprite figure animations, and works on almost all platforms. User can create multiple animating on a single platform. The tools TSIFAT offers are easy to use and understand, although creating a single animation takes a lot of time. The feature includes 60 fps, uses tweening to smooth out keyframes, necessary and advance onion skin, intuitive interface and easy navigation, multilayer system, image support system, and highly packed stick edition. A slight factor of time-consuming and multilayer duplication makes the software hard to use.
4. Tupi
Tupi is a free animation software for Mac users and allows to create stick-figure and sprite figures. 2D animations which enable Mac users to experience an easy way to create animation. The software features include necessary tools for vector illustration that include rectangles, ellipses, lines, and polygons, reusing imported media assets, support for tweening position, scale, shear and rotation, raster images called bitmap, the choice to save finished animations to AVI, MPEG, SVG, GIF, etc. Tupi interface is comfortable for even an eight-year-old to make animation. The tools are laid out and labeled so the user can choose from the specific section; the instruments change according to the project category.
5. Pencil 2D
Pencil 2D is free, multi-platform 2D animation and graphic designing software. Most straightforward hand-drawn animation program that works flawlessly on Mac computers and works fine on Windows. It is an excellent platform for beginners, which includes a help and tutorial feature to learn and practice every tool. The interface is easy to understand, and interaction provides quick access to the user to the library where pre-designed figures are stored. The features include lightweight and minimalistic design that makes it very easy for starters to work with stick figures and animation, raster image and vector workflow with quick switching between them. The tools consist of layers, keyframe manipulation system, onion skinning, pressure sensitivity, and many more.
6. Toon Boom Animate Pro 3
Toon Boon is an award-winning software used to create stick-figure and animations; it works on almost all platforms. The software offers two tiers; animated 3 and animated Pro 3. As the name suggested that animation 3 is free and have limited features and an excellent platform for beginners to start creating animations. Both applications interface are not that easy to understand, the learning curve is steep, but with little time, it is a powerful tool in amination designing category. Toon Boom Animate Pro 3 features include Bone-Style Deform, true pencil, to draw and modify lines easily, Tool Presets Toolbar which allows the user to save presets for any tools and remembering its properties.
7. Blender
Blender is an OpenGL based software that provides tools for 2D, 3D animations, stick figure, and sprite figure animations. Free software which can run on almost all operating systems. It is a tool for professionals; beginners have not a pleasant experience because the interface is not very intuitive. This tool enables users to turn still images into 3D animation, and also offers a fast rigging too that allows users to convert 3D models into animated characters. the core functions of the program offers are automated walk-cycle along paths, an editor for character animation poses, non-linear animation for independent character movement and mirror functionality.
8. Bryce
Bryce is a multi-platform 3D modeling, rendering, and animation software. It allows stick and sprite figures animations and can save work in multiple extensions. The software combines exceptional power with an innovative user interface for comfortable usage. Software specifications involve improved light tab, sky lab improvement, improved instancing lab, render options movements, importing and exporting animations, and much more. It is free to download and has two versions; the pro version is not free and costs about $20. The software blends adequately with an inventive interface that is user-friendly. Bryce is less time consuming and offers more solution and autocorrect features; these features have made the program works perfectly with most of the other modeling programs in the category.
9. DAZ Studio
DAZ Studio is free software that offers 3D, stick figure animation. The software has a fast and friendly interface and contains a clear GUI to the user. A steep learning curve allows its users to gain more information in less time. The 3D factor is DAZ is the reason this software is more compatible with every operating system. The massive library consists of pre-designed animated figures which allow the user to create and edit an animation in less time. A key feature of DAZ includes NVIDIA Iray that is a photoreal render tool with similar items to help make HDR photos. Other features include 3D morphing, interactive tutorials that allows both beginner and expert users, GPU accelerated real-time rendering and many more.
10. Synfig Studio
Synfig Studio, a free multi-platform animations creator which offers 2D designing tools. It comes with a sharp learning curve due to its Avant-grade feature and amazing outcomes which rely on helping the user in becoming a professional animation designer. The user interface of the software is quite intuitive, which allows the user by separating the windows in categories like tools window, editing, navigator, and parameters window. Since most of the elements based on vectors and slabs developed are parametrically; therefore, only raster images will appear and not the inherent pixilation. Synfig Studio offers complete support for gradient routes, which allows the user to insert soft shading into the drawing without any effort and without need for sketching the animation on each frame separately.
11. Plastic Animation Paper
Plastic Animation Paper is a free stick figure and 2D animation designing software that support all operating systems. They provide their tutorials, so users don’t have to face any issues with the usage. The layout of the interface is easy to understand and provides guidelines. Its features include essential drawing tools, the ability to organize a workflow with a menu creating option, zooming and rotating a sheet, and many more. It allows the use of a pressure-sensitive Wacom pen that allows the user to create more accurate designs. Plastic Animation Paper has complete its features with onion skinning, light setup, layers, blue and red pen for planning and drafting scenes and poses.
12. Stickman & Elemento
Stickman & Elemento is an animation software in which the user can create and control cartoon character. It is a cross-platform software and free to download, although it will only work if the system has Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1. The free version has many tools, but the pro version has all those tools but has some difference in the interface and additional tools which makes the pro version standout. The user can use the software for more than animation and stick figure, easy to use with clean and clear GUI. Key features involve infinite curves for drawing, path tools, drag-drop items, combine the video clips, pivot stick figure 2.2.5 integration, GDI+, AntiGrain rendering with OpenGL acceleration, and many more.
Animated Videos have become one of the signature tools of marketers worldwide for telling a story and creating effective marketing campaigns for the future.
Best Free Animation Software
Depending on your purpose and skills, you can choose from different types of software available both offline and online, for professionals and amateur users, 2D, 3D, whiteboard or stop motion animation tool, etc.
Below are our picks for the best animation software for mac of 2019. For more background information, see a more detailed buying advice below the picks.
Part1. Whiteboard Animation Tools
Part2. 2D Animation Tools
Part3. 3D Animation Tools
Part4. Stop Motion Animation Tools
Part5. Motion Graphics Software
How to Choose the Right Animation Software for Mac
Part1. Whiteboard Animation Tools
#1. Best Whiteboard Animation Software for Mac: VideoScribe by Sparkol
This program is produced by Sparkol and it remains one of the best whiteboard animation software programs for both Mac and PC. You can also use it on a number of mobile devices including devices that run android. There are elements of the program that works through the cloud making it very simple to upload and edit video wherever you might be.
Gif Animation software, free download
Videoscribe works quite intuitively for building business presentations, TED talk style videos, tutorials, creative marketing solutions and more. What is produced out of this program looks hand-drawn and extremely professional for any type of marketing campaign. The best part is that you can use many of these tools to create these effects with very little animation knowledge.
Even children enjoy using this program because of its ease of use. There is a full library of stock images, animation and more as well as an extensive voiceover soundtrack that can be used with the solutions here.
The yearly and monthly subscription also ensures that there is a flexible use for the program. It also comes with a seven-day free trial with features to try before you buy.
#2. Best Free Animation Software for Mac: PowToon
This is a fantastic online presentation maker for academic use, presentations and infographics.
The program is completely free to use and has a number of animation effects on board that can make anything exported out of the program seem extremely professional.
The free templates available in the program as well as the quality of the animations that are presented within the platform make it a true favorite amongst many brands.
A number of major companies now almost exclusively trust their creative tools to Powtoon and it can be used almost anywhere where there is an Internet connection with mass compatibility.
As a fully cloud-based system there’s no use for installation or downloads to take full advantage of it. Its available for free use on any Macintosh computer as long as you are willing to use the watermark.
Part2. 2D Animation Tools
#3. Best 2D Animation Software for Mac: Toon Boom Harmony
This is a program that actually deserves some surprising recognition. The company has partnered with major film companies like Warner brothers, Disney, and Nickelodeon and it’s currently one of the best and most powerful 2-D animation suites for commercial use.
With the use of this program you can build anything from traditional animation all the way to amazing drawing tools that can produce the future of 3-D animation. The 3-D cameras and integration available in this platform can provide fundamental solutions for drawing, rendering and building beautiful projects.
There are tools and tasks available here that can suit small hobby animators all the way up to professional uses. The premium version delivers the top tool professional solutions that you might expect at of any major animation suite. The essentials level of the harmony program is designed more for hobbyists and it delivers a scaled down version of some of their more high and customization techniques.
Toon Boom not only remains one of the best 2-D animation programs for mac but it is a regular fixture in the animation world today.
#4. Runner-up, Best 2D Animation Software for Mac: Adobe Animate
Adobe is one of the successors to perhaps one of the most popular 2-D animation software is available. At the core of Animate are the flash tools that have been working to create high-quality animations since the early days of the Internet. Today the program uses vector-based publishing to produce intuitive and inexpensive animation results.
Although it may not have all of the professional animation tools that you would find in some major production suites, it’s possible to get very professional looking results.
#5. Best Free 2D Animation Software for Mac: Pencil
This is a simple and open source vector-based program that’s designed for the Mac OS X platform. It’s also available on Linux and Windows and it was originally created for producing digital comics. The platform allows animators to use the basic hand-drawn techniques that were experimented with long in the past. Pencil is an ideal program for beginners that don’t want to invest in expensive license for a program. It can teach the basic principles of animation and with a timeline feature it’s possible to add new layers to arrange fun effects.
This is one of the best programs for beginners and sketching characters as well as setting keyframes can all be done using the pen tool, fill tool and the vector layers tool. The interface on this is actually based off of some of the original Adobe flash platform’s and it produces some good quality graphics even on a tablet device. Perhaps one of the best parts of using this program is that it automatically exports everything in.FLV which gives it mass compatibility with a number of online sources. The videos that you export here will be easy to embed or upload in video sharing sources and more.
Part3. 3D Animation Tools
#6. Best 3D Animation Software for Mac: Maya
Autodesk Maya remains one of the best 3-D modeling software programs that’s designed for Mac, Windows and Linux. The program itself has migrated many of the tools away from Autodesk Mud and now has features that you would normally find in several different pieces of software for creating highly detailed 3-D models. Autodesk Maya is a 3-D modeling software that is designed mostly for professional artists but with the templates that are available for download and the massive amount of tutorials online, it is possible to see quite a difference with this software when you are working with it over time.
#7. Runner-up, Best Free 3D Animation Software for Mac: Blender
Blender is a program that is designed with open source technology for 3-D modeling and it’s made mostly for beginners that want the option to learn how to play and get comfortable with reading modeling on their Mac computer. This open-source program does feature many of the basic features that you can expect to find including rigging, animation, architectural support and even the option to create full games. The philosophy that’s behind it allows for the inclusion of many different templates and it is very well suited to use by a number of creators. Blender remains some of the best 3-D modeling software for creative artists with its completely free use.
Part4. Stop Motion Animation Tools
#8. Best for Making Stop Motion Videos: Dragonframe
Dragonframe remains one of the best stop motion software solutions for mac today. It’s one of the top choices for many of the world’s largest studios like Laika and Aardman. It can produce high-quality masterpieces in stop motion animation and it is a perfectly suited set of professional tools. The program allows for easy capture of a number of precise movements and you can also compose in light various angles using the camera controls on board. Editing images as well as performing advanced image review techniques can all be done through the program as well.
The process of inserting and editing audio can be done according to a characters needs and based off of the animation that you want to create. The advantage to using some of the precise movements and controls in this program is that you can have a wide array of improvements at your fingertips for professional products.
#9. Runner-up: Stop Motion in Movavi Video Editor
We selected this is our runner up because with this program there’s no need to pay for a dedicated piece of stop motion software. This is an open source piece of technology that delivers a full-featured video editor that suitable for many beginners.
The program itself is perfect for getting all of the features that are often teased in many full license software programs. Because it’s open source there are also a number of templates that can make it easy to use. The full-featured video editor is excellent for its features and for the newest features that are being added by the community regularly to keep up with the stop motion technology of today.
Part5. Motion Graphics Software
#10. Best Motion Graphic Animation Software for Mac: After Effects
With a number of motion graphic animation software programs available for Mac, after effects sets itself apart.
Adobe After Effects is truly one of the most masterful programs for any motion graphic artist. Of course many of the features of aftereffects can be found in other Adobe programs, but there is no other piece of software that can be so versatile for the creation of motion graphics. The way to the menus are set up and the way that the program behaves makes it an intuitive leap for 3-D modeling and 2.5 D animation.
The whole goal of aftereffects is to help you produce almost any type of animation that you may want without having to involve 3-D modeling. After effects remains one of the primary pieces of software for motion graphic work in storyboards, motion comics and more. There are elements in this program that are close to Photoshop and illustrator but they have been optimized for the purpose of creating motion graphics here.
How to Choose the Right Animation Software for Mac
When it comes down to choosing the program that you may want to purchase a license for or download on your computer, you need to be very focused into the types of animation that you are looking for and what you need out of any program. The first thing you need to understand is the various styles and techniques for animation and what you might want out of a program:
2d animation
This is the traditional style of animation that comes from the idea of cell shading or digital cell shading. In the past animators would draw images on transparent pieces of paper and then later than one frame at a time to create motion. Today drawings can be rendered and layered on top of one another using a digital timeline and computer vector animations.
3d animation
This is a completely new and different way to look at traditional animation that requires understanding the basic principles of composition, movement and 3-D modeling. Creating 3-D graphics can involve scanning objects or even piecing together various 3-D models to create characters, share complex ideas and then animate all of the items along a storyboard.
Motion graphics
A motion graphic is considered to be one of the newest forms of animation. These motion graphics are fairly common in items like banner ads, short comics and more. Usually these types of graphics are designed for commercial purposes.
Free Gif Animation Software For Mac Version
Stop motion
Stop motion involves taking photos of an object and manipulating it ever so slightly to eventually produce a storyboard of motion. Completing and repeating this process over and over eventually gives the full allusion of movement. This is a very time-consuming process that often involves manipulating objects slowly over hours of movement to create just a few seconds of animation.
Presentation or whiteboard style
This is a popular style of animation that has taken off over the past few years. The online marketing videos that are produced and the specific programs that have been created for building whiteboard videos are proving that this is a format that truly keeps people engaged and remains a trend for school projects, business presentations and more.
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