Software Resources

Which Animation software should I be using?

There are a lot of options for animation software out there. There is no one perfect software or necessarily a best animation software. The best one is the one that fits your project's needs.

Your goals are often what you need to weigh things against. If you're looking at strictly what's being used in-studio right now in order to make yourself more desirable for a studio position.

Toonboom, TV-Paint, Adobe Animate, and now a rising amount of Moho are what are used most in western studios for 2D, while things like ClipStudio Paint are a dominant force in eastern productions.

When it comes to your own animation or self-started indie productions you can use anything you like as you have not invested thousands of dollars in setting up your animation pipeline like the big studios have.

While all animation software provides the same basic functions there are some things to consider when choosing what's best for you.

  • Platforms: What kind of operating system does it run on?
  • Learning curve: How difficult it is to onboard?
  • Types Supported: What Kind of Animaiton is it made for?
  • Pros: What Can it do well?
  • Cons: What are the downsides?
  • Cost: How many of your eddies is it going to cost you?

Toonboom Harmony -Here

Great Tutorials: Drawn Sean, Onion Skin, Zebirdbrain

  • Platforms: Windows, MacOS, *very specific Linux*
  • Types supported: 2D Rigged, Frame by Frame, limited 3D
  • Learning Curve: High
  • Pros: Dynamic and professional Rigging tools, Node based tools and Compositing suite included.
  • Cons: For frame by frame the brushes can feel a little limited when compared to bitmap animation software.
  • Cost: $$$

Ink's Note - There is a reason this is the gold standard at most western studios. This is a software that provides start to end animation needs. Short of an editing and audio suite an entire production can be done within this software alone.
However, I do not recommend this as your first animation software. Its increasing prices make the software really not a great option for new artists. While this is one of the most powerful 2D Animation softwares it's likely an over investment initially since you will be unlikely to use enough of its features to justify the cost.
Save it for when you are close to entering the Industry skill level and then learn via the trial

Moho Studio - Here

Great Tutorials: Moho Offical, Dani Abram, Mcory Buck, Zebirdbrain

  • Platforms: Windows, MacOS
  • Types supported: 2D Rigged, Limited Frame by Frame
  • Learning curve: Medium
  • Pros:The most intuitive 2D Rigging tools on the market, Ability to build smart bone controllers that make their rigs very enjoyable to use.
  • Cons: Bitmap based Frame by Frame only. 360 rotations are workable but not as good as competitors. Lua Scripting language
  • Cost:$

Ink's Note - Moho is not only a single payment option, it's one of the best 2D rigging softwares on the market. Very intuitive compared to others but also with a high skill ceiling for professionals. Its one time price and it often being on sale a few times a year make it such a good investment. It has been gaining some ground on the professional use side and I look forward to seeing more professional adaptation to our industry.

However, I do see a few faults with its 360 rigs not having as smooth rotations but this might be able to be negated by some scripting. The reason I put its scripting into the cons is not its capability. It is because most others use more common languages like Java and Python. So it makes it harder to fit into an existing pipeline since you have to redo a lot of your existing scripts to integrate it. If you are starting from 0 then it's no issue at all. It's almost a prefect choice for a starting 2d rigged studio

CelAction2D - Here

Great Tutorials: CelAction Offical, Beth Harvey,

  • Platforms: Windows
  • Types supported: 2D Rigged
  • Learning Curve: Low
  • Pros: Animation reuse tools are among the best. Easily added to the rig and application can be simply added to the whole rig or even restricted to individual parts.
  • Cons: No drawing tools
  • Cost: $$

Ink's Note- As one of the few who have used this in a production in North America my perspectives on this are a bit niche. Initially we ran into issues on how it performed to our usual workflows but the company was highly supportive and helped push development to support our needs at turnaround unexpected from other software. It is now faster and much more in tune to how we work.

It's animation reuse tools are fantastic for any long form series that makes it a serious contender and definitely helped support shows like Bluey in their success. The biggest downside is that you do need to do your art in another software. It works great in conjunction with things like adobe animate but that does mean that you do need a second software to make it useful. There is also a smaller knowlage base available for this one as its not as widely used globally.

Adobe Animate

Great Tutorials: Alex Grigg, Siskavard, RubberRoss,

  • Platforms: Windows, MacOS
  • Types supported: 2D Rigged, Frame By Frame
  • Learning Curve: Low
  • Pros: Lots of tutorials available, Vector based art simple breakout styled rigging, Linked pallet is now added.
  • Cons: While the rigging works it is a very old style of rigging and has its limitations, Adobe.
  • Cost:$

Ink's Note- This used to be the digital staple of the 2010's. It's inexpensive and works well. Shows like MLP, TTG have been great examples of what the average flash show can look like, but even shows you don't expect like Lower Decks can show you how far you can push the quality you can produce. The downside is how we as artists are looking to escape the adobe domination in our industries

Blender - Here

Great Tutorials (2D): Bryson Mcbee, Kdsketch, Wabi, Evanto tuts,

  • Platforms: Windows, MacOS, Linux
  • Types supported: 3D, Frame by Frame, limited 2D rigged
  • Learning Curve: Medium to High
  • Pros: Can handle all your 3D needs and 2D frame by frame tools are growing fast. So many tutorials are available to do pretty much everything you can think of. Now even has compositing and video editing suites added.
  • Cons: The interface can be a LOT for new people to get used to. It comes with a higher learning curve because of it. Some of the brush options are a bit limited compared to competition.
  • Cost: FREE!

Ink's Note- This is a spectacular software. While it has a bit of a harder interface to learn, it is by far the most versatile animation software available. When you also factor in that its completely free it's by far an excellent choice.

Krita - Here

Great Tutorials: Kdsketch, Jesse J Jones,

  • Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, ChromeOS, and Haiku
  • Types supported: Frame by Frame
  • Learning Curve: Low
  • Pros: Has the majority of drawing tools that come with paid alternatives. Also works great in conjunction with other software that lack their own illustration tools.
  • Cons:
  • Cost: Free!

ClipStudio Paint EX - Here

Great Tutorials: Modern Day James, Jesse J Jones, Manu Mercurial, Aaron @ Chipflake,

  • Platforms: Windows, MacOS, iPadOS, iOS, Android, ChromeOS
  • Types supported: Frame by Frame
  • Learning Curve: Medium
  • Pros: Vector layers,
  • Cons: Odd interface if you have used many western style software already.
  • Cost: $$

Ink's Note- This is the eastern standard for animation and it's not hard to see why. Simply a 2D powerhouse capable of meeting all illustration and 2D animation needs. It does have a bit of a learning curve as its animation interface is less standard than most western counterparts. Once you get used to it its great. Remember you must buy the EX version if you want to use it for animation. Pro limits you to a total of 24frames. (not 24fps, 24 frames in scene length total) Watch for sales! They do massive discounts mutiple times a year.

Tahoma2D - Here

  • Platforms: Windows, MacOS, Linux
  • Types supported: 2D Rigged, Frame by Frame
  • Learning curve: Low
  • Pros: Built on top of opentooz but with better 2D rigging support. Functions similar to Adobe Animate.
  • Cons: Lacks features compared to moho and toonboom
  • Cost: FREE!

      • Ink's Note- I will admit I have limited experience with this one myself but friends like CrownePrince, have done some great videos adopting the software from scratch that have shown a lot of its impressive abilities. Hard to beat the price of free for a 2D rig animation software