Best Animation Software 2024

You, the artist, have unparalleled access to a plethora of digital resources. If you can find an easy-to-use program with suitable artistic controls, animation software will give life to your ideas. You have options, my friend.

Which Animation Software Is Ideal?

When it comes to animation software, there isn't going to be a silver bullet. Just because one has more robust features and capabilities than the other doesn't imply the workspaces will be a good fit for your needs. Finding a program that works for you requires trial and error.

Keep in mind that some businesses have multiple animator options. For instance, Adobe's animation software is a suite that comprises a character animator, an effects application, and an animator for publishing on various platforms. How you see the world and what you hope to achieve determine everything.

An orange square with a woman's smiling face on it sits atop a bright background with diagonal stripes and soda cans. This art was created using Procreate.

Animated videos, commercials, and social media posts are all within your reach with the right animation software. This is an excerpt from Animation for Novices: Utilize Tyra Washington's Procreate to Incorporate Animation into Your Instagram Posts.

This app boasts itself as a full-fledged art studio, allowing you to draw, paint, illustrate, and even animate using your iPad. Take pleasure in your creative endeavors with this 2D and 3D animation program that is both easy to use and packed with features, perfect for both amateurs and experts.

Among Procreate's animation tools are time-lapse, a fun function, and color-coded skins, a useful utility. You may create professional-quality animated compositions and looping GIFs from as little as a sketch. To create animated GIFs for sharing on social media, some artists use it.

You may skip the monthly subscription and jump right into playing around with Procreate on your iPad.

An animated scene in Blender showing a green bird having fun on a swing set.

Blender

Blender Animation makes it easy to begin with a basic character project. Image taken from John Knowles's Into Animations: Blender 3D Essentials for Animators.

Look no farther than Blender if you're in search of free animation software. For both personal and business use, this open source platform is available for free to both novices and experts thanks to the global community of developers and maintainers.

Even while pros use it for successful animated productions, including "My Little Pony," this platform is great for beginners.

This comprehensive 3D animation program allows you to model, rig, animate, simulate, render, track motion, and edit. While studying 3D character animation, you can also bring in other items like textures.

Blender is free and compatible with Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.

Workspace in Adobe After Effects featuring an animated man against a basic blue backdrop, wearing short blonde hair, spectacles, and a black shirt.

An excellent project for beginners to tackle with After Effects is a basic self-animation. Chapter from Chris George's Intro to Adobe After Effects: Making Your Own Personal Animation.

Adobe 

Adobe After Effects, a component of Adobe Creative Cloud, is the de facto standard for making visual effects and managing motion graphics in the animation industry. The program's ability to facilitate the creation of animated figures, complicated motion, and integration with other software products makes it beneficial for both beginners and professionals.

When it comes to 2D and 3D animation, this platform is tops for Windows and Mac, but frame-by-frame animation isn't where it's at.

This animation program has a free trial period, but after that, a membership is required to continue using it.

Adobe Animate workspace showcasing color possibilities with a lion sketch in black and white, a nature scene in gentle blues and yellows, and a robotic figure in red and black.

For both static and moving images, Adobe Animate delivers fantastic tools for graphic designers. Siobhan Twomey's Graphic Design in Adobe Animate is seen in this still.

Adobe Animate, formerly Flash, is 2D animation software that allows users to create classic cartoons. A variety of methods can be employed, including frame-by-frame, hand-drawn, and puppet animation (which involves utilizing a character rig without the need to redo it). You can also choose to import a character created by another illustrator.

Animate

Animate is a monthly membership service that is offered by Adobe Creative Cloud. It is compatible with both Mac and Windows operating systems.

4D Cinema Workspace animating an umbrella while seeing the subject from different perspectives.

Making two-dimensional animations out of three-dimensional objects is possible with Cinema. Remaining from The Art of Manning Moore's 3D Object Integration with Live Action Film.

No other 3D animation program comes close to Cinema 4D when it comes to modeling, texturing, lighting, and visual effects. Despite its origins on the extinct Amiga platform, the software is now compatible with Windows and macOS.

Whether you're a seasoned veteran or just starting out, this application has you covered with its extensive features and user-friendly design. Animating 3D objects inside live-action footage or even making 3D animation appear 2D is something you can learn to do.

Try out the platform with a free download and then commit to a monthly membership to keep working.

Adobe Maya

Workspace in Autodesk Maya that adds texture to an animated skeleton character, displaying both the full character and a close-up of a single bone.

Animated items, like hair, clothing, and bones, can have lifelike textures added with Autodesk Maya. Maya for Beginners continues: Designed by Lucas Ridley.

Top 3D animation software, Autodesk Maya, is used by Disney and other top animation studios. Through the use of modeling, simulation, and motion graphics, one may generate data visualizations, lifelike characters, and astonishing effects.

Maya makes it exciting to think bigger. For massive battle scenes and expansive vistas, animators adore it. Simultaneously, it enables you to zero in on the finer points of animating the cloth, water, and hair's texture and movement.

While professionals tend to use Maya, it is compatible with Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, so even a newbie can use it. The free trial is just to get you started; after that, a monthly subscription is required to keep working, and that subscription is a little more expensive than many other animation software platforms.

Harmony-Toon Boom

Flourishing golden numbers in the sky and cheerful creatures of all sizes and hues fill this whimsical midnight cartoon picture.

If you're looking for a way to add depth to your two-dimensional work, Toon Boom Harmony is a great choice. This is a screenshot from Diane Shaher's Animation 101: Mastering the Fundamentals in Toon Boom Harmony.

Toon Boom Harmony is the software that the pros use. You can see it in shows like The Simpsons, Family Guy, SpongeBob SquarePants, and countless more. You can use this 2D animation program to rig and clean up animations, as well as create animations from scratch.

You can do it all with Toon Boom Harmony, an animation program that handles everything from preliminary sketches to finished renderings. As an example, you can control the way air interacts with textured surfaces and the muscles of your characters throughout the process. If you want to get a feel for animation fundamentals, this is the program for you.

You may try it out for free on either Windows or Mac OS X before committing to a monthly payment plan.

Animation in Krita

Green, black, and white text reading "First Animation in Krita" appears next to an animated young dancer in the Krita workspace.

The free and easy-to-learn Krita Animation is perfect for amateur animators. Make some basic characters to begin with. Animated still by Munkaa from their First Animation in Krita.

Free and open source, Krita Animation takes great pride in being an easy-to-use animation program. The platform's user-friendly design makes it ideal for novices, and the flexibility of the style and workflow allows you to build exactly as you want.

Drawing tools, layer management, and complete color control are all features of the 2D animation program Krita. You can also find tutorials to help you switch from other platforms, as well as import texture and brush packs created by other artists.

Even better for first-time animation projects, Krita doesn't require trials or a monthly subscription.

The Magic of Houdini

Five dynamic effect samples in Houdini's workspace, ranging from multicolored particles and smoke to gray smoke, fire, and explosion.

Ethereal visual effects such as clouds, water, explosions, and smoke can be animated with Houdini. The following is an excerpt from Nexttut's Houdini for Absolute Beginners.

Houdini Animation, another application utilized by Disney, distinguishes itself through distinctive workflow frameworks. Houdini is great for professionals because of these characteristics, but even beginners will have no trouble using it.

A real-time animation is generated using the procedural workflow. With this, you can more easily create realistic simulations of materials with complex textures and details, such as fire, hair, water, smoke, clothes, fur, and more, all in real time. As a result, the results are breathtakingly accurate.

Every step you take in a node-based workflow is recorded. After that, you can reorganize and tweak the nodes to make them more efficient, save money, and be flexible.

While students and hobbyists can use Houdini Animate for free, professional users must pay for access to more powerful versions.

Select Your Animation Studio

There seems to be no shortage of animation software systems that provide a free trial. Get a feel for which ones perform best with your workflow and creative objectives before committing to a membership if you're just starting out. Some of these even work with each other to provide you even more creative freedom, so there's no rule that says you have to use just one.

Never forget that the whole point of animation is to have fun and be whimsical. When you feel like you can't take it anymore, go back to your initial concept and the delight it offers you. Keep the animation software simple so it can support that goal.