At the very least, you can help the Pencil community make the software better at best, you might enjoy using it. If you like to draw and want to animate, sharpen your (virtual) pencil with Pencil. But in return, you’ll get a great little 2D animation program that keeps getting better with every version release. When you start using Pencil, expect to have to read the manual, get frustrated by a few bugs, and participate in the growing online community to work through the annoyances.

However, the community there seems extremely willing to help even a noob. 4)Supports both Raster and Vector graphics. 3)Cross-Platform - Can be used on any operating system or device. You don't need to pay anything to use this application. 2)Completely Open Source - Free 2D animation software.

Even a new user can pick up this tool in a few hours. If you are new to the process of stop-motion animation this can be very confusing, and unfortunately the only help options beyond a very basic manual are the online forums. 1)Beginner-Friendly - The User Interface is very easy and simple. The oilskin function in Pencil allows you to trace from one frame to the next, or from a previous frame, which is how you fill in the gaps between your keyframes. This allows you to easily create smooth animation without duplicating every single frame.

Pencil instead assumes that you want the image to stay the same along the timeline until you add in a new key frame. However, unlike other basic animation programs, Flip Boom Cartoon ($40) or Animation-ish ($60) for example, you don’t have to add in every single frame. Oddly, for a stop-motion animation program, Pencil doesn’t seem to have a duplicate frame menu item or button. The layers work much like layers in any other drawing program–Illustrator, Paint.NET, Serif DrawPlus, and so on–but it’s not always easy to see what you’re doing, which layer you’re working in, or why part of the drawing you’re trying to manipulate just isn’t changing.

Type in pencil animation software