Animation-rich visual content generates greater engagement on social media, so using the best animation software to produce animated visuals for social media posts is essential.
Choose from an extensive collection of premade templates with built-in graphics and characters for creating explainer videos and whiteboard animations quickly with this tool.
Adobe Animate
Adobe Animate is one of the most sophisticated animation programs available, suitable for professional animators as well as hobbyists alike. Though its learning curve may be steep, Adobe Animate works seamlessly within their Creative Cloud suite alongside programs like After Effects and Photoshop for optimal results.
It features traditional hand-drawn frame-by-frame animation as well as vector tweening and automatic lip sync for character voices, along with various tools to manipulate objects on screen, including paths for movement and morphing.
HTML5 Canvas, SVG and Flash/Adobe AIR file formats can all be handled by Adobe Edge Web Framework; uploads can also be easily made available on YouTube and Twitter. Adobe Stock graphics can also be purchased or watermarked when needed – there’s even an interactivity-enabling code snippet feature which requires specific knowledge to access.
Moho Pro
It features vector drawing tools and is compatible with pressure-sensitive tablets, with an extensive library of characters, backgrounds and animations to work with. Record and edit audio easily: record yourself or use prerecorded phrases from a library for lip sync; edit audio tracks directly within the program – even create animated sound effects!
Smart Bones, one of the industry’s premier rigging systems, enables users to rapidly rig characters with intuitive and simple controls – quickly moving and resizing characters instantly; copy and pasting skeletons between different characters; applying both forward and inverse geometry; adding pin bones for special control and more!
This software features a professional Timeline, Physics engine and editable motion graphs – similar to Toon Boom Harmony but at an accessible price point – making it a strong competitor to Toon Boom Harmony for animators looking for an efficient alternative to traditional animation techniques. Used worldwide by studios, agencies and OSCAR nominated films alike it offers an efficient solution. It is the perfect choice for animators wanting an efficient alternative solution!
Powtoon
Powtoon offers an easy and fast way to quickly create animations without needing to learn a complex program. With lots of templates to choose from and photos/video/text features for personalizing results, Powtoon is an invaluable tool for quickly making educational or marketing videos quickly.
This program allows users to create simple cartoons, infographics and 3D objects easily. There are even tools to doodle directly on the screen – making this an invaluable feature for teachers looking to demonstrate how something is done, or students requiring assistance with their studies.
This software boasts an expansive library of free media that helps users avoid costly royalty fees. Furthermore, it features templates and tools for creating more complex animations; however, some may find its subscription model too pricey compared to its rivals.
Stykz
Stykz is a free multi-platform stick figure animation program that enables you to easily create and manipulate vector figures for 2D animation. This tool makes an excellent alternative to Pivot Animator on both Mac and Windows computers.
Stykz stands apart from other animation programs by being frame-based, giving you control over individual frames of your animation to achieve perfection. Furthermore, its onionskins display previous and next frame images on screen so you can view how your animation flows together seamlessly. Furthermore, you can use Enter key to easily jump to new frame or figure creation.
Stykz provides you with tutorials and a detailed help file to assist in getting you up and running quickly, but its features may not be as extensive as those in other animation programs. However, all the functions necessary for simple animation creation such as moving figures around with pivoting, copy-pasting and pasting of copy/paste functions, stretching/distortion effects as well as layer arrangements are present here allowing for layer arrangements etc. Additionally, Stykz can export your animation as either an animated GIF, QuickTime/AVI movie or as sequence of PNG/JPEG images – depending on which format your animation ends up in.
