Skip to main content

Synfig Studio: Professional 2D Animation Software for Free

Synfig Studio is intended to be professional 2D animation software and is available to download for free. It has been around for quite some time now and seems to have had a fairly checkered history in terms of development, as noted in TildeHash's blog last year, Potential for Free Animation Software dead? Not overly surprising for free, open source software.

However the program keeps getting updated with release 0.63.05 being made available on the 9th April 2012. There are versions available for Mac, Windows and Linux.

I've had previous versions of Synfig installed on my computer for some time and, I'm going to confess, I've never used it. So, even though I've just installed the latest version, don't expect a review.

The reason being, I fire this software up and it just looks like hard work to learn. Which is not the same as being hard to learn. It's just going to take quite some time and quite a few tutorials to get myself up to speed to the point where I could do a proper review.

Synfig Studio Interface.

For now I just wanted to make you aware that this software is out there for free - for all you would be animators dreaming of the day you can afford something like Adobe Flash (CS5) or ToonBoom Animation Studio - this looks like a good alternative if you're really serious about 2D animation.

Synfig is both Vector and Bitmap based and from the it's 2012 demo reel embeded below, I'd say, looks to have amazing potential.



One thing to note is that Synfig is not intended as a complete animation studio. You will need to export your animations into video editing software to add audio etc. From what I've read it doesn't support true flash exports (so you won't be using this to make props for your GoAnimations). However, if you have a graphics tablet, Synfig will support it, including pressure sensitivity.

If you want to graduate from using MS Paint and Windows Movie Maker (which seems to be a popular combination for many beginner animators) Synfig is definitely a giant leap forward. It could take your animations from looking obviously amateur to very professional looking indeed.

I do hope to learn this software in the future. When I do, expect to see a detailed review.
Topics:

Comments

  1. fotoclippingJuly 17, 2012 at 3:26:00 PM GMT+9:30

    thanks to share for the nice blog ........

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownOctober 29, 2012 at 9:50:00 PM GMT+10:30

    hi i dont know where i can download full version of 3d or 2d sofware can anybody help me plz??? im only 17 ireally like to make animation :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TET (David Arandle)October 30, 2012 at 4:10:00 PM GMT+10:30

      Why don't you try clicking the links in the article above to download Synfig Studio for free. Or if you'd rather free 3D animation software try Blender.

      Delete
  3. UnknownSeptember 27, 2013 at 7:24:00 AM GMT+9:30

    i really love to make animation but lacking softwares , where can i download some 2D and 3D animation softwares

    ReplyDelete
  4. 2D AnimationNovember 5, 2014 at 5:01:00 PM GMT+10:30

    2D animation focuses on creating storyboards and backgrounds in two-dimensional environments.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Graphic Design CoursesAugust 16, 2018 at 11:44:00 PM GMT+9:30

    Excellent blog for new comers in this field.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Peter FloydOctober 21, 2018 at 4:32:00 PM GMT+10:30

    Awesome

    ReplyDelete
  7. Peter FloydJanuary 1, 2019 at 3:28:00 AM GMT+10:30

    nice

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

This blog is monitored by a real human. Generic or unrelated spam comments with links to sites of dubious relativity may be DELETED.

I welcome, read, and respond to genuine comments relating to each post. If your comment isn't that save me some time by not posting it.

Popular posts from this blog

Inochi2D - Free Open Source 2D VTuber Avatar Rigging and Puppeteering Software (Part 1)

Inochi2D Creator - Free Open Source VTuber Software. If you've been looking for a way to live perform as a 2D cartoon avatar on camera, whether it be for a live stream or for pre-recorded content like educational videos, then VTuber software is a low cost (or even no cost) option worth looking into. In my previous post, How to Become a VTuber - 2D and 3D Software for Creating and Controlling Your Avatar , I took a brief look at the relatively new but completely free and open source Inochi2D  which I thought showed great potential for my own needs of creating a live performance character rig for my own TET Avatar that I use for all my promotional materials. While it is possible to live perform my character using Cartoon Animator itself, Reallusion's MotionLive2D capture system isn't great - with lip sync in particular. More importantly though, I can't exactly teach people how to use Cartoon Animator if I'm using Cartoon Animator to control my Avatar. What is Inochi2D
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

Eric W. Schwartz: Cartoonist, Animator and Amiga Die Hard

July 1992 Edition, CU Amiga Featuring Amy the Squirrel. American Cartoonist, Eric W. Schwartz , (whose unofficial Amiga Icon, Amy the Squirrel, is pictured on the July 92 edition of CU Amiga cover on the right) is my only real animation hero. Sure there are the big names like Disney , Chuck Jones , Tex Avery and even Preston Blair whose influences can all be seen in my own cartoons but Eric did what none of the others could. He showed that really great 2D computer animation was within my reach with little more than an Amiga Computer , a copy of Deluxe Paint and Moviesetter . This was at a time when computer based animation was in its infancy (outside of computer game animation) and Flash was something that lights did. There were many great Amiga artists but Eric was really the only one consistently making very funny, traditional style animations. His humor and drawing style is heavily influenced by classic Warner Brothers and Disney cartoons but he managed to build on this,
8 comments
Continue Reading »

Wonder Unit Storyboarder - Free Storyboarding Software for People Who Can (or Can't) Draw

Wonder Unit Storyboarder.  As an independent and solo animator I'm always tempted to try and skip storyboarding my animated shorts because they're usually only single scene sketch comedy type jokes. As a result I have many unfinished projects that kind of petered out due to having no clear finishing line. Storyboarding your productions, no matter how small, gives you a step by step guide of every shot that needs to be completed (no planning shots as you animate). It also allows you to create an animatic that gives you a rough preview of the finished production. In short, you shouldn't skip storyboards as they, generally, increase the chance of the project being completed. Disclaimer - I'm Not a Fan of Storyboarder Upfront, Wonder Unit's Storyboarder  is not my preferred storyboarding software. However it's completely free, has a number of very compelling featu
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

Can You Learn Reallusion's Cartoon Animator 5 for Free Using Their 137 Official YouTube Video Tutorials Sorted Into a Logical Learning Order?

Or you could just buy The Lazy Animator Beginner's Guide to Cartoon Animator . While Reallusion's Cartoon Animator is one of the easiest 2D animation studios to get up and running with quickly, learning it from all of the official, free, video tutorials can be more overwhelming than helpful. With more than 137 videos totaling more than 28 and a half hours of tutorials, spread across three generations of the software (Cartoon Animator 3 through 5) it's hard to know if what you're learning is a current or legacy feature that you either need to know or can be skipped. Many of the official tutorials only teach specific features of the software and don't relate at all to previous or later tutorials. As a result there are many features either not mentioned or are hard to find. To make your learning easier, on this page, I've collected together all of the essential, official, free video tutorials and sorted them into a learning order that makes sense. Simply start at
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

Creating an AI Digital Avatar and Voice Clone of Myself with Free and Low Cost AI Tools

O ver the years I've looked at various ways of creating and animating a digital avatar, from simply creating a character for Cartoon Animator and voicing and animating it myself, to creating a  live motion capture ready Vtuber avatar puppeted and voiced by me in real-time. In the last year or so, making photographic images talk, using AI and AI voice cloning has really progressed. To the point where I wondered if I could create a photographic AI avatar of myself, complete with my cloned voice, that I might use on some of my videos? Creating My Avatar: Artflow To create my avatar image, as far as I'm concerned,  Artflow.ai is the best value AI site for creating consistent digital characters (or 'actors' as Artflow calls them). That's pretty much their entire focus. Artflow's actor model training user interface. You get your first actor for free, 100 free credits per month (which equates to 100 still images per month - get an additional 50 credits if you sign
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

Dollars Mocap: Full Body Webcam Motion Capture (Including Hands and Fingers) For iClone and Cartoon Animator

Even though I should be further away from the camera Dollars Mocap MONO still does a good job of  tracking my arms, hands and fingers. Ever since I wrote my series on becoming a VTuber , discovering it was possible to do full body motion capture, including hands and fingers, with just software and a webcam, I've been on the look out for any motion capture software that can bring that functionality to Cartoon Animator. Dollars Mocap is a low cost motion capture application with a free trial that I learned about through the YouTube Channel Digital Puppets  and their test video . It can record full body, upper body, arms and hands, and facial mocap from a live video source or pre-recorded video. Investigating further, I discovered not only does Dollars Mocap have a free iClone7, iClone8 character profile file download (look for it at the bottom of the main program download page), so you can use the saved motions with iClone8, they've also got a demo video for how to convert your
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

Moho 14 Released - Still the Best 2D Animation Software for Indy Animators on a Budget

Moho 14 Released. Regular readers know I am a Reallusion, Cartoon Animator advocate through and through. Hands down I would recommend Cartoon Animator 5 first over Lost Marble's Moho 14 to anyone who is just starting in 2D animation, is a team of one, or just needs to animate as quickly as possible. However, feature for feature, Moho is, arguably, the best 2D animation software for the rest of us who can't justify a Toon Boom Harmony , or Adobe Creative Cloud subscription (and even with their applications Moho is very competitive on features). You can get started with Moho Debut for just USD$59.99 which is a cut down version of Moho Pro but it still has the most essential features needed for 2D animation. While Moho Pro is a whopping USD$399.99 (Cartoon Animator, which only has one version, is just USD$149.00) upgrades to new version numbers come down to a quarter of the price at USD$99.00. Even though Reallusion just released features like Motion Pilot Puppet Animation and
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »