It works by capturing a series of frames through your webcam which you can arrange and export then upload to Youtube. Jell圜am is a simple stop-motion animation maker all you need to get going with this one is something as basic as a webcam. Whilst there is a fair amount of help about getting started with Synfig on their wiki, it can be quite overwhelming for a beginner and you really have to commit to learning one thing at a time here otherwise you’ll quickly be swamped with information. Thankfully, they’ve still managed to keep it updated and supported well. The team behind Synfig decided to go open source in 2005, up until then it had been an expensive bit of kit. This is usually a lengthy and repetitive task of generating frames between two images to give the appearance that the first image flows smoothly into the second image, helping to create the illusion of motion, but with Synfig, you’ve got no worries there. Synfig’s speciality is that it uses vector-based animation, automating the tweening process.
Blender is available for Windows, Mac OSX and GNU/Linux, although if you ever want to create something with of production grade quality, there are some pretty beefy computer specs to live up to… Synfig StudioĪnother free tool but this time the focus is firmly on 2D animation rather than 3D. It even boasts video editing and an impressive video game creation studio. This makes Blender a great first choice for 3D animation because it supports the entire process from start to finish. All of the usual suspects you would expect from an all-in-one tool such as modelling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking are present. This is a free and open source tool for 3D animation with more features than you can shake a stylus at. Beginner tools Blenderįirst up, there’s Blender.
Whether you want to try something for fun or you’re thinking animation is the way to go to give your company the strong image and message you’ve been looking for – join us this week as we run through some of the best software for producing your very own animation. You may have been perusing our rather glamorous portfolio and thought to yourself “I’d like to have a go at this animation gaffe.” Well we’re back this week with something slightly different that may be of interest to the budding animators out there such as yourself. The Best Tools For Producing Your Own Animation