Investigating which is the best animation software for boosting profits? Check out this selection of animation software including some of the most popular and preferred products on the market, as well as lesser-known but still very good animation tools available today.

In this post about best animation software for boosting profits, you will find premium, free and open-source products, as well as online tools for animating.

No matter if you are just making your first steps in animating, search for an alternative to the software you are using right now or want to experiment with a completely different type of animation (e.g. traditional frame-by-frame, Flash-style animations, stop motions, 2D and 3D animations, etc.), this post will help you sort out your options. Let’s begin!

• Which is the Easiest Animation Software?
• How do I make an Animated Video Faster?
• How long does it take to Animate a 5 Minute Video?
• How fast do Animators Draw?
• What is the Best FPS for Animation?
• How do I choose the best frame rate for my video?

Which is the Easiest Animation Software?

A selection of the best animation software available on the market right now and preferred by all levels of users. These products are armed with rich arrays of functions and tools that will allow you to create powerful animation projects. Each of these software products come with subscription plans or as one-time purchases with free trials or free versions included.

Read Also: Using Skills In 3D Animation To Make Money As A Digital Graphics Artist

If you are a complete beginner, don’t worry – all of these programs come with tons of tutorials to start with!

1. Adobe Character Animator

Being one of the newest additions in the Adobe family, Adobe Character Animator is a powerful tool that allows you to animate cartoon characters in real time very easily and fast. The software works very simply. You plug in your mic and cam. Then import a character specifically prepared for animation in Adobe Character Animator (called a puppet). The program detects your facial expressions and voice in order to animate the character’s face. By using pre-defined triggers and functions, you make the character walk, make gestures, hold objects, and more.

Features:

• automatic lipsyncing and animation of facial features like mouth, eyes, eyebrows;
• support of real-time animation and live streaming;
• in-app template puppets;
• streamline recording and editing;
• scene snapshots which act like onion-skinning;
• walk cycles, behaviors, breathing, blinking and other animation options;
• replays, magnets, and more functions.
• Perfect for online education, game streaming, live chat and more.

Pricing plans:

• Free trial – 7 days
• Creative Cloud All Apps – $52.99/month billed annually
• Students and teachers – $19.99/month billed annually
• Business – from $33.99/month billed annually

2. Cartoon Animator 4

Cartoon Animator 4 is software for all levels of users – suitable for beginners as well as professionals who want to create engaging high-quality animations.

The software allows you to create custom 2D characters, choose characters from the huge database, and import PSD character templates.  You can easily make any static image move by applying different motion templates provided in the library, even 3D motions.

The software also comes with a bone rigging tool, supports audio lip-syncing, facial detection, and many more simple and advanced features, depending on the edition you are using. Pretty much, Cartoon Animator 4 allows you to have full control over your 2D characters and create a professional animation.

Features:

• 4K video support;
• library of pre-made character templates and motion templates;
• tools for creating 2D characters including rigging and bone tools;
• tools for animating characters including elastic and bouncy curve editing, facial free form deformation, audio lip-syncing;
• tools for creating talking heads and employing them on any character;
• easy to import PSD files as character templates, and export to PSD for graphic editing;
• live facial motion capture – from any angle;
• head driven body movements;
• up to 360 degrees head-turning;
• supports many popular images and video formats;
• plus many more advanced animation features.

Pricing:

• Pro Edition – $99
• Pipeline Edition – $199
• Special bundle discounts
• Free trial – 30 days

3. Stop Motion Studio

An app perfect for beginners in video making. Stop Motion Studio will help you create amazing 4K stop-motion animations that can easily be mixed with 2D style drawings painted directly onto the image.

With the frame-by-frame editor enriched with super handy features, you have a powerful and affordable app for your device. Stop Motion Studio can be installed on iPhone, iPad, macOS, Android, and Windows, and you can easily open the same project on different devices.

Features:

• 4K ultra HD videos;
• runs on iPhone, iPad, macOS, Android, and Windows;
• manual or automatic control of the focus, exposure, ISO, white balance
• DSLR camera support;
• green screen option and background library;
• import of images, audio, video files;
• frame-by-frame view and easy editing;
• grid and onion skinning options;
• connect a remote camera as a second device;
• paint tools, sound effects, magic eraser, and more handy tools.

Pricing:

• for iOS – $4.99
• for Mac – $9.99
• for Android – $4.99
• for Windows – $1.99

4. DigiCel FlipBook

Considered as one of the easiest 2D animation software on the market, DigiCel FlipBook allows you to create traditional frame-by-frame animation. You can draw directly onto the software or scan your paper drawings – it’s completely up to your personal preferences! The software also allows you to create stop motion animations if that’s the type of animation you are looking for. Boosted with very useful features, DigiCel FlipBook is a powerful and easy-to-understand tool for traditional 2D animation.

Features:

• shoot and scan your drawings or draw right into the software;
• lipsync support;
• work on one or multiple frames at a time;
• pan, zoom, rotate, blur, dissolve;
• import/export functions, and more;
• runs on macOS and Windows.

Pricing:

• Free version with a watermark
• FlipBook Lite:  $19.99*
• FlipBook Studio:  $69.99*
• FlipBook Pro:  $169.99*
• FlipBook ProHD:  $199.99*

5. Moho (Anime Studio) Debut & Moho (Anime Studio) Pro

hile Moho (Anime Studio) Debut is aimed for beginners, even for kids, it includes powerful features that allow you to realize your vision into an animation. The revolutionary tools are combined with an easy-to-understand interface. Once you get the hang of it, you can try the Pro version which is quite more pricy, in fact, but it comes with powerful features that will help you create professional animations.

Features for the Debut version:

• available for Windows and macOS with online or offline activation;
• multilingual support: English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese (Simplified), and Japanese;
• advanced freehand tools;
• advanced bone rigging, plus pin bones;
• tablet support with pen pressure support;
• animated effects for layers and shapes;
• easy to edit and animate brushes;
• support for images and layered PSD;
• keyframe options: additive cycle, stagger, bounce, elastic;
• advanced masking options, auto freeze tool and more.

Features for the Pro version:

• all features included in the Debut version;
• advanced bone rigging system, plus Physics engine, Dynamic bones, and Smart bones to control complex movements;
• smart wrap for images and vectors;
• frame by frame capabilities;
• vector tools with bezier handles, plus accurate SVG, AI, and EPS import;
• 4k video export, vector export;
• realistic motion blur;
• easy control of multiple layers and channels, and even more.

Pricing for Debut Version:

• $69.99
• Free trial: 30 days.

Pricing for Pro Version:

• $399.99
• Free trial: 30 days.

6. Toon Boom Harmony

Professional software for animation used by beginners as well as very experienced animators. Toon Boom Harmony is a product with which you can create any kind of animation, be it traditional drawn animation, Flash-style cut-out animation, particle effects, a combination of 2D and 3D animations, and more. The popular software offers advanced tools and features for drawing, rigging, animation and pretty much, all that is required from animation software.

Features:

• runs on Windows and macOS;
• advanced vector/bitmap drawing technology;
• advanced palettes and painting tools providing effective control over texture and color;
• a toolset for traditional frame-by-frame animation;
• integrating 3D elements with 2D characters;
• special effects including volume and lighting effects to characters with auto toning;
• different camera angles and control over the composition;
• cut-out animation with master controllers;
• integration with other software: multilayer PSD and PSB files, Illustrator, PDF, bitmaps, audio;
• easy export to game engines.

Pricing:

• Harmony Essentials: EUR €400/purchase or EUR €16 / month (when billed annually)
• Harmony Advanced: EUR €1,030/purchase or EUR €41 / month (when billed annually)
• Harmony Premium: EUR €2,085/purchase or EUR €78 / month (when billed annually)
• Free trial: 21 days.

A selection of free animation software for beginners and not only! These completely free software products allow coding gurus from around the globe to contribute and enrich them with even more powerful features. The listed software options are some of the best ones to start learning animating. The suggestions include software for 3D animation, software for traditional 2D frame-by-frame animation, as well as software for Flash-style animations.

7. Blender

Blender is a cross-platform free 3D creation suite offering a powerful arsenal of tools. By using Blender, you can create animations, video games, renders, models, and more 3D based projects. The software is open source and developed by many contributors from around the world. The feature-rich 3D suite software is suitable for beginners, as well as advanced users.

Features:

• available for Windows, macOS, and Linux;
• a built-in path-tracer engine that includes a real-time viewport preview, CPU & GPU rendering, PBR shaders & HDR lighting support, VR rendering support;
• advanced modeling, sculpting, and UV tools;
• advanced rigging and animation tools;
• powerful visual effects: auto and manual tracking, camera reconstruction, real-time preview of your tracked footage and 3D scene, and more;
• drawing in 2D mode оnto the 3D viewport;
• full animation support including onion skinning, layers and colors for stroke and fill, sculpt brush strokes, and more;

8. Pencil2D

If you are into traditional hand-drawn animation, then maybe Pencil 2D is a great software to start your animation project. This free software lets you use both raster and vector graphics and you can switch easily between the two types of artwork. Pencil 2D is a cross-platform tool and lets you focus on animating even when you are on the go. Since the software is completely free and open source, users can have access to the source code and add features.

Features:

• runs on Windows, Mac OSX, Linux & Free BSD
• supports raster and vector images;
• includes various handy tools;
• includes distortion and light effects;
• import/export as a GIF is available;

9. Synfig Studio

Very easy for those of you who have worked with Flash and are looking for a similar animation software instead of a frame-by-frame animation software. Synfig is based on vectors and allows you full control on editing the vector artwork in the animation. You also have advanced control on your characters, as well as the option to create character puppets.

Luckily, Synfig is 100% free and you can use it on Windows, Linux, and Mac. Since the software is open-source, you also have the option to access the source code.

Features:

• full-control vector editing which allows automatic calculation of frames;
• a variety of over 50 layer types including geometric, gradients, filters, distortions, transformations, etc.;
• control over your character by using a bone system and complex deformations;
• advanced controls for creating character puppets and other dynamic structures.

10. Animaker

Animaker is an online tool for animation that offers plans for all kinds of users – from beginners to enterprises. Each version comes loaded with features and assets to help users create amazing animated videos in a diversity of styles. With Animaker, you can create 2D and 2.5D videos, animated infographic videos, handcraft videos, whiteboard videos, typography animations, and more.

Features:

• 6 styles of videos: 2D, 2.5D, infographics, handcraft, whiteboard, typography;
• horizontal and vertical video layouts;
• full HD video support;
• animated infographic maker with over 100 charts, 1000 icons, and 3000 maps;
• advanced features for animation such as record, multimove, curve, camera in and out, transition effects, enter/exit effects;
• a deck feature allowing you to use the animation as a video or an animated presentation;
• audio features: text-to-speech, background music tracks, sound effects, voice recording, plus the option to import your custom sounds;
• a library of pre-designed templates.

Pricing plans:

• Free
• Personal – $12 per month billed annually
• Startup – $19 per month billed annually
• Business – $39 per month billed annually
• Enterprise – $99 per month billed annually

How do I make an Animated Video Faster?

Cartoon videos have always attracted people young and old. From the earliest Disney classics to the animated shows aired on Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, the adventures of comic characters grab our attention. We identify with these simplified figures that hint to real people. Somehow, our brain fills the blanks left by the creators.

Even in the professional world, the power of cartoons is known: many companies and organizations use animated cartoon videos to communicate, explain or tell stories to their target audiences. 

In the early Disney days, creating cartoons was a timely and strenuous process. It required a fine amount of detail, skill and above else, money. Fast forward to today, and well, creating cartoon videos has never been so simple. Many online video creation tools come with a library of cartoon figures in different styles and allow you to make animated stories in very easy ways.

Here are few simple steps to help you create an animated cartoon video yourself!

Step 1: Use a powerful animation maker

If you’re aiming to make a great animated video, you might as well use a powerful animation making tool. Check out Moovly: an animated video creation tool that is entirely cloud-based. That means you don’t have to download any software, all you need is a web browser and an active internet connection.

So why should you use Moovly to create your animated video?

For starters, unlike many of the other animation makers out there, Moovly has a Free version available. You can sign up to get started creating your animated videos right away. Moovly has many unique graphical libraries and includes over 1 million free images, sounds, and videos you can use in your animations. And if you still don’t find what you’re looking for, you can browse an additional 75 million media objects and purchase images or stock videos at the lowest industry prices.

Step 2: Choose a template for your animated video

Not everyone has the time to create an animated scene from scratch. That’s why Moovly has a range of animated templates that you can use and fully customize for your purposes. But wait, there’s more. As a Moovly user, you also have access to a range of pre-animated “clips”: small scenes created with objects from the many Moovly libraries in different styles.

Pick the clips you like, put them in a sequence and modify their content to fit your story. You can change anything you want in these clips: colors, illustrations, text, sounds, music, size, timing, animation effects…

Moovly has many more templates available in many different video styles. If the predesigned templates or clips are not what you’re looking for, you can always start from a blank canvas and build scenes the way you like them. You have full freedom to compose your content in any style, using the millions of graphical and media objects in the Moovly libraries. Just drag and drop them from the chosen library to the video stage.

Step 3: Animate and synchronize

Moovly’s interface is simple and intuitive. Once you have dropped an object on the stage, it also appears in the timeline below. Here you can easily shift, shorten or lengthen the appearance of your object, so you can decide when it appears and disappears in your video. This way, you can easily synchronize objects with each other or with sound, music or voice.

This timeline is also where you will apply animations to every cartoon image, photo or illustration you are using: decide how it appears, how it moves, rotates or resizes, and how it disappears. You have a choice of many animation effects for every object you’re using: fly, fade, bounce, wipe, wedge, pop, slide, flow, move, zoom…

If you like hand-based, whiteboard style animations, you can apply hands to drag, shift, present, write or draw your objects on the video canvas. Choose between hands of different types and colors: black or white, male or female…

Step 4: Add a music track or voice-over

An audio track that accompanies your animated video increases the attention of your audience. Choosing the right song or music can have a significant impact on the success of your video. Is your cartoon video sad? Or is it a happy one? You want to choose a piece of music that reflects and sets the mood.

Also think about supporting sounds for your video: an explosion, a ticking clock, an applause or a whoosh sound for a motion can really bring your video to a higher level. Just make sure the timing of these sounds is perfectly aligned with what you see!

As a general tip, try out a few different tracks before choosing one for your cartoon video. Make sure that you are using royalty-free music. The last thing you want to be involved in is a legal battle. That’s why we added the Storyblocks library, with more than 100,000 royalty-free – and free – music and soundtracks for you to use without worrying about copyrights or intellectual property.

Step 5: Publish, share and download your animated video

Once you have created your video, it’s time to show it to your audience! With Moovly, you can easily download, publish and share your finished animations. From Moovly, you can directly publish your video creations on YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook or the Moovly Gallery. Or download your video in the highest HD quality for playback on your computer, tablet or television screen – whatever you like!

How long does it take to Animate a 5 Minute Video?

So, you’re interested in producing an animation video for your company, but you’ve heard they take oh so long and are expensive to produce. You haven’t heard wrong. However, it isn’t so simple. Creating an explainer video is no simple feat. It takes huge amounts of effort and patience to come up with a high-quality explainer video.

1. Type of video

By now you must know that there is no single type of animated explainer video. We have 2D, 3D, and motion graphics animated explainer video to name a few.

Creating a 3D explainer video will significantly take longer than creating and 2D explainer video.

2. Skillset

This one is pretty straightforward. Higher the skillset, the lesser the time is taken to create animated explainer videos. It also depends on how many animators are working on the same project together.

3. Company

Most companies can take 2-4 months to create a simple video, others can take a couple of weeks! It depends on the workforce and workflow they have. Maybe they are a very popular company already invested in a few projects?

It all boils down to these factors. Although a typical 5-minute 2D animation video can take 2-5 months to produce. The average time to produce a 60-90 second explainer video is 6 weeks. 

What is the time distribution across the stages? Let’s take a look.

1. Writing the Script

Since most companies opt for hiring a professional scriptwriter to write their script, it can take anywhere from 3-7 days to finalize the script.
This is because of the communication, revision, and feedback time it takes between the writer and the company. 

2. Storyboard

This is where the animator creates the outline, or a comic strip, for the explainer video. It contains camera stills and is almost like a review of the future explainer video.
Since it’s very important, a significant amount of time must be allotted to it as the whole explainer video rides on it. If not done right, revisions will be required which will definitely prove to be time costly. A minimum of 1-2 weeks time is dedicated to making the storyboard, free of any imperfections. 

3. Character and graphic design

This stage can take anywhere between 5 days to 12 days, depending on the complexity and skill od the design and animator respectively. 
Since this is where the vision comes to life, a lot of thought is put into the making of it! 

4. Animation

Again, one of the most tricky and hard part! This is where you need to focus on making the characters and other animations look real and humane. Depending on the frames per second, it can take anywhere between 5 to 15 days to get the animation running smoothly.

5. Music and sound effects

Finally, the last part of creating an explainer video! In this staged, the animator will compile the voiceover, music and other sound effects to make the explainer video as engaging as possible!

Balancing and syncing the whole process can take 1-3 days to complete.

So there you have it! The time distribution of a standard 60-90 seconds video! Your video could be produced in 2 weeks or 2 months, it all depends on how much you’re willing to spend, the Video Animation Company and the type of the video!

How fast do Animators Draw?

Well, depends on the production company, but hand drawn animation often takes a production line of more than one person. One artist would work on the poses. These are usually sketched quickly. Another artist(s) would do the in-betweens, and others would do the coloring. This is all happening while other artists work on the backgrounds. Very rarely it is the work of only one artist. It could well take several days before you see a fully finished frame.

What is the Best FPS for Animation?

As you get started with video, you may hear intimidating, super-technical terms like frame rate. What is frame rate and why does it matter?

Remember those cool little flipbooks where a pad of paper had an image on every page, and when you flipped through the pages quickly, the image would appear to animate and move?

This is essentially how video works. Whether digital or old-school film, video is a series of still images that, when viewed in order at a certain speed, give the appearance of motion.

Frame rate is the speed at which those images are shown, or how fast you “flip” through the book and it’s usually expressed as “frames per second,” or FPS. Each image represents a frame, so if a video is captured and played back at 24fps, that means each second of video shows 24 distinct still images.

The speed at which they’re shown tricks your brain into perceiving smooth motion.

Frame rate greatly impacts the style and viewing experience of a video. Different frame rates yield different viewing experiences, and choosing a frame rate often means choosing between things such as how realistic you want your video to look, or whether or not you plan to use techniques such as slow motion or motion blur effects.

For example, movies are usually displayed at 24fps, since this frame rate is similar to how we see the world, and creates a very cinematic look. Video that’s broadcast live or video with a lot of motion, such as a sporting event or video game recording, will often have a higher frame rate, as there’s a lot happening at once and a higher frame rate keeps the motion smooth and the details crisp.

On the other hand, people who create animated GIFs will often sacrifice detail for a smaller file size and choose a low frame rate.

How do I choose the best frame rate for my video?

First of all, there is no best frame rate. As I pointed out above, different frame rates yield different results, so to choose the best one means going with the option that best fits what you’re trying to create.

Even though frame rate is a pretty straightforward concept, there’s a fair amount of controversy around which rates provide the best viewing experience, and there’s research that builds the case for just about any frame rate. Controversy aside, here are four things you need to keep in mind when choosing a frame rate.

Style/Realism

The frame rate of a video greatly impacts the look and feel of a video, which in turn determines how realistic the video appears. This concept is tied directly to how we naturally see the world.

When we see motion, such as a person throwing a ball or a car driving by, we naturally see a certain amount of motion blur. Ideally, the frame rate you choose will mimic this motion blur, keeping the experience as realistic as possible. If you choose a frame rate that’s too high, things will start to look unnatural and the video will suffer from what’s called the “soap opera effect.”

Essentially, the video actually shows too much detail, which makes the video look unnatural. On the other hand, if you choose a frame rate that’s too low, the video will start to look choppy and will provide a poor experience. To help figure out which frame rate is best for you, let’s look at a few common options and how they’re used.

24fps

This is the standard for movies and TV shows, and it was determined to be the minimum speed needed to capture video while still maintaining realistic motion. Even if a film is shot at a higher frame rate, it’s often produced and displayed at 24fps. Most feature films and TV shows are shot and viewed at 24 fps.

30fps

This has been the standard for television since the early days, and is still widely used despite producers moving toward a more cinematic 24fps. Videos with a lot of motion, such as sports, will often benefit from the extra frames per second.

The reasons for using 30fps is strangely complicated and it mainly has to do with television and electricity standards set a long time ago. If you want learn more, check out this article on frame rate and jump down to the section titled “modern video standards.”

60+fps

Anything higher than 30fps is mainly used to create slow-motion video or to record video game footage.

Motion

The next key variable to take into consideration when choosing a frame rate is the amount of motion in your video. This one’s pretty straightforward. If you have a lot of motion in your video, you’ll probably want to capture at a higher frame rate.

Read Also: How to Earn a Living Online as a Digital Designer

This doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll want to produce at a higher frame rate, but capturing at a higher frame rate ensures a higher level of detail for the amount of motion captured. The higher frame rate also allows for more flexibility when editing. To help you decide what’s best for you, here are a few common options.

24fps – as stated above, this is the minimum speed needed to capture video while still maintaining realistic motion. If you capture a really busy scene at 24fps, you’ll see a lot of motion blur.

30fps – with six more frames a second than 24fps, you’ll see more detail during scenes with high motion, however, the motion will start to look a little unnatural and suffer from the “soap opera effect.”

60+fps – anything higher than 30fps is usually reserved for recording busy scenes with a lot of motion, such as video games, athletics or anything you want to show in slow motion. Video gamers record at this rate because there’s a lot happening on their screen at once and more frames equal more detail. Sports are often recorded at a high frame rate so they can be slowed down to show replays, while still maintaining crisp, clear video.