Top 10 Best 2D Animation Software in 2020:(Free/Paid)
2D Animation is the art of creating motion in a two-dimensional space. This includes Characters and backgrounds which are created either by drawn by hand or created on the Computer Software’s. It is widely used for creating animated movies, cartoons, marketing videos, advertisements, educational materials, games, and so much more.
We ranked the best 2D animation software for beginners and professionals available in the market. If you plan to start the animation world or just plan to move another animation software, you certainly will find the best one that fits your needs on our list.
1. Adobe Animate
Adobe Animate is a 2D Animation Software developed by Adobe Systems. This software is used to create vector graphics and animation for TV programs, online videos, websites, web applications and video games. The resulting animations can be published in HTML5, WebGL, SVG, SWF and Adobe AIR formats. Globally, this Adobe Animate program is used by a vast group of animation studios and professionals for their cartoon series, fun games and other media ideas. This software is powerful and offers a wide range of options that can make the learning process a little bit easier.
Features:
- Vector brushes with basic options like size, color and smoothness.
- Virtual realistic Camera for easy stimulation of camera movement.
- Audio synchronization for your animation.
- Powerful animation tools for web and mobile content games and ads.
- Revised timeline controls for multiple frames edition.
Platform:
Windows, macOS
Price:
$19.99/month – Annual Subscription
$29.99/month – Monthly Subscription
Also Check here about Adobe Animate software in detail.
2. Moho (Anime Studio) Pro
Moho is a Vector-based 2D animation Software. This software is available in two different packages. One is the Moho Debut, which is targeted towards the beginner user for simple animation. Another one is the Moho Pro version for high-end 2D animation with all the features for professional animators. This is the all-in-one animation tool for professionals and digital artists. Moho Pro offers powerful vector animation tools, bone-rigging system, improved 3D object support and more for a simplified and more efficient workflow.
Features:
- Enhanced Bitmap freehand drawing tools.
- Smart bones technology.
- Editable motion graphs with Bézier handles.
- Tweening of all layer, vector shapes and bone animation.
- Onionskins have been enhanced with frame-by-frame control.
- Material editing options and toon shading controls for 3D objects.
Platform:
Windows, OS X
Price:
Moho Debut 13: $59.99/year
Moho Pro 13 : $399.99/year
3. Toon Boom Harmony
Toon Boom Harmony is the Industry leading production animation software. The amount of tools and options available in Harmony makes it one of the best 2D animation software. This Software may take to learn for beginners, but it is worth using. There are other available features such as camera angles, post-production special effects, and vector drawing. It also has an incredible lip-syncing feature to match the voice with the animations.
Features:
- Revolutionary vector/bitmap drawing technology – Brush Engine
- 2D and 3D integration to make professional animation
- Cut-out animation tools & Traditional paperless animation.
- Add special effects, camera angles and composite
- Create 2D animation for Games – Export to Game Engine
- Import multilayer PSD and PSB files, Illustrator, PDF, bitmaps and audio.
Platform:
Windows, macOS
Price:
Harmony Essentials: $150/year
Harmony Advanced : $385/year
Harmony Premium : $730/year
4. Synfig Studio:
Synfig Studio is an open source, free 2D animation software that is available in two versions for its users. One is a stable version and another is a development version. The stable version has all the finalized features which is available for animators. The development version provides a good opportunity to the advanced users to test out the newly added features. This 2D animation software is suitable for beginners to learn and animate, since it is totally free.
Features:
- Powerful tools for vector tweening.
- 50+ Layers to create artwork and animation of any complexity.
- Full-featured bone system for Cutout style animation.
- Advanced controls through mathematical expressions
- Audio layer for Lip Synchronization and music addition.
Platform:
Windows, OS X, Linux
Price:
Free
Free
5. Opentoonz
Opentoonz is another open source, free 2D animation software for creating powerful animations. Opentoonz allows the animator to edit the source code to add specific features for their animation. The software GUI was outdated during launch day, but now it is updated by community developers for better user interface.
Features:
- Ability to change picture styles.
- Possible to animate scanned hand drawings – GTS Scanning tool.
- SDK tool for adding effects.
- Users can modify source code freely.
- Compatible with the TWAIN standards.
Platform:
Windows, OS X
Price:
Free
Free
6. Cartoon Animator
Cartoon Animator is 2D animation software designed for both beginners and professionals. You can turn bitmap and vector images to animated characters for beautiful animations. This software provides a good opportunity to capture facial expression and body motion through webcam and iphone. This software also works with photoshop design tools and wacom tablets for artwork.
Features:
- Generate lip-sync animation from audio
- 2D Character rigging and bone tools
- Smart IK motion editing
- Motion capture for 2D animation
- Light and Shades effect layers
- 3D parallax scenes
Platform:
Windows, Mac
Price:
Cartoon Animator Pro : $99
Cartoon Animator Pipeline : $199
7. Celaction 2D
CelAction2D is professional 2D animation software for making films, TV series and commercials. This software is best choice for many leading animators for their high quality and high volume production. This software has 60+ effects to make animations visually rich and more dynamic with very little effort. Workplace can be customized easily to handle the complex animation projects.
Features:
- Easy to learn & fast to use
- Handles massively complex projects with thousands of layers
- Use vectors or bitmaps or both simultaneously
- Multiplane camera features
- Create a palette from 16 million colors
Platform:
Windows
Price:
Celaction 2D Studio Edition : $1350
Celaction 2D Professional Edition : $1599
8. Pencil 2D
Pencil2D is an open source and free 2D animation software for traditional frame by frame style animation. This program uses minimal design workspace that helps to beginners to start with. You can easily learn the software from online tutorials and manuals available on its official website. This free software runs on all platforms like Windows, macOS, Linux and FreeBSD.
Features:
- Minimal design and easy to use.
- Allow to use paint, ink and sketch anywhere.
- Improved drawing tools for quick brush sizing.
- Multi platform compatibility.
- Available in 12 languages.
Platform:
Windows, macOS, Linux
Price:
Free
Free
9. Tubitube
This is the free and open source software allows you to create frame by frame animation and also cutout style animation. The simple workspace in this software makes it easy for beginners and even children to learn. This 2D animation software is suitable to create simple and fun videos for education and social publish.
Features:
- Allows to import image sequence.
- Ability to add static and dynamic background images.
- Simple position, color, scale, shear and opacity tweening.
- Free downloadable android app or Smartphone.
Platform:
Windows, macOS, Linux, Android app
Price:
Free
Free
10. Stop Motion Studio
This animation software allows you to create beautiful stop motion animations using frame by frame editor. The grid and onion skin tools in this software helps to position the animated objects very easily and precisely. This software has different painting tools that help you to create drawings in foreground and background layers. It’s come with image editor to change the composition, adjust color levels and apply amazing effects to the captured pictures.
Features:
- Automatic or full manual control of camera settings.
- Change of background screen using chroma keying or green screen.
- Magic eraser helps to make disappear unwanted objects.
- Lot of sound effects and music clips available ready to use.
Platform:
Windows, macOS, Android app, iPhone, iPad
Price:
$9.99 for Windows and macOS
$4.99 for Android app, iPhone, iPad
We hope that, you will know the list of 2D animation software available in the industry. I recommend Synfig Studio animation software for beginners to learn animation without cost. Or you can go with Adobe Animate CC software with medium budget for creating beautiful and powerful animations. There are a lot of online tutorials available to create quick learning curve. Finally, you can select the best 2D animation software that fits your needs considering your experience and budget.
Have a nice day!
