Best Animation Software in 2023: 5 Top Animation Software Apps • Filmmaking Lifestyle

Animated videos are a great instrument for video creators and help businesses to reach their audience. This guide takes you by the hand and walks you through 5 of the best animation software options out there.

Do you know why animated videos are gaining so much attention? Well, it is a fact that our brain responds to visual content quickly as compared to the text, or audio content.

According to HubSpot and Video Brewery, out of the 50 best explainer videos, 43 are animated while seven videos are non-animated.

Due to the importance and massive demand for animated videos, nowadays people are on the hunt for the best animation software. But, in this internet world, it has become very difficult to find the animation software that ticks all the boxes for you.

BEST ANIMATION SOFTWARE

What Is Animation Software?

Animation software is a set of programs that allow designers and animators to create animated movies, TV shows, and games. It essentially turns hand-drawn images into digital artwork.

Animation software has been around for decades but the most popular programs are only about 10 years old which means there’s still plenty of room for improvement in terms of speed, quality, and creativity.

When animation software first started, it was very complex and expensive. Nowadays, animation software is available for free or at an affordable price.

In this article, we have come up with the best animation software apps that you can use to create stunning and engaging animated videos.

Best Animation Software

So, without any further delay, let us take a closer look at the best animation software tools:

1. Toon Boom Harmony

The first 2D animation software in our list is Toon Boom Harmony. It has gained a lot of attention in the industry in the last few years. The world’s most famous animation studios like Pipeline studios, SAEROM, UBISOFT, etc. are using it.

Features of the Toon Boom Harmony animation software

• It comes with the powerful tools which you can use to create almost any type of animation.
• The brush engine inside this software uses the advanced vector drawing technology.
• With the help of the Toon Boom Harmony, you can make 2D animation for all types of games that are compatible with the different game engines like Unity, and others.
• You can add various effects like motion blur inside this software.
• It allows you to add various angles on 2D animation video.

Toon Boom Harmony is compatible with both Mac and Windows operating systems. As per their official website, you require a video card by Nvidia, Intel or Radeon, etc. to use it. A memory of 16 GB is sufficient to use this software without any issues.

You can use the Toon Boom Harmony software for 21 days without paying a single dollar. But after a period of 21 days, you have to upgrade.

The important standout point about Toon Boom is that it is cost effective and highly efficient.

Toon Boom Harmony

Toon Boom Harmony is the most complete professional animation software being used in the 2D animation industry. Its comprehensive features include traditional paperless, cutout (both rigging and animation), as well as compositing and effects tools

Try Toon Boom Harmony

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2. Stop Motion Studio

Have you seen movies like Wallace and Gromit? Stop Motion Studio allows you to create such incredible movies without wasting your precious hours. It is the one stop solution for making stop-action animated movies and videos.

Features of the Stop Motion Studio animation software

• Stop Motion Studio comes with more than a dozen sound clips and background music that you can use to add background sound in your animated videos. You can also record your own voice inside the software.
• With the help of the green screen feature, you can change the background of your video.
• With this software, you can make human-like animated characters. That means you can give human-like facial expressions to your characters.
• You can also import any video, image and audio clip inside the software.

The best thing about Stop Motion Studio is that it is compatible in most of the devices. Whether you are using a tablet, mobile, computer or laptop, it works perfectly.

The only drawback of this software is that it is quite advanced and not beginner friendly. If you want to really master it then use it a lot. It is the leading-edge solution for making stop motion videos.

Want a free trial? Yes, a free trial of Stop Motion Studio is available.

BEST ANIMATION SOFTWARE

Advantages of Using Animation Software

• Gives users the ability to create a story in 9 seconds or less.

• Allows people with no artistic training to animate their stories.

• Creates professional videos and presentations without hiring expensive animators.

• Animating is universal, everyone knows how to read pictures.

Stop Motion Studio

Stop Motion Studio is an app, available for iOS and Android, which turns a collection of images and audio into videos. It is super simple to use and, as such, is ideal for younger students – with some assistance.

Try Stop Motion Studio

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3. OpenToonz

Are you searching for free animation software? Then, OpenToonz is the perfect choice for you. It is an open source animation software that means anyone can use for commercial or personal applications.

Features of the OpenToonz software

• OpenToonz can handle both vector and raster images and allows the usage of anti-aliased lines.
• Inside the software, you will get effects like affected incident light, wavy distortion, etc.
• It is available in both Japanese and English language versions.

Talking about the system requirements, OpenToonz can work on Windows as well as on Mac. You require an Intel core processor and 4GB RAM to run this software on your computer.

The disadvantage of this software is that it cannot be used for producing studio like animation videos.

However, you can create high-quality animation graphics with it. On the other side of the spectrum, you don’t have to pay any fees at all to use it as OpenToonz is 100% free to use.

Open Toonz

OpenToonz is software for producing a 2D animation. It is based on the software “Toonz”, which was developed by Digital Video S.p.A. in Italy, customized by Studio Ghibli, and has been used for creating its works for many years.

Try Open Toonz

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4. Moho Pro 12

Moho Pro 12 is a world-renowned software as it was used in the production of the Oscar-nominated movies like Song of the Sea and The Breadwinner. It is the must-have animation software for video professionals and artists in this digital world.

Features of the Moho Pro 12 animation software:

• The revolutionary smart bone feature of the Moho Pro 12 separates it from the other tools. This feature allows you to remove the distortion produced near the elbows and knees of the characters. The same feature is used to monitor the facial expressions and the body movement of the character.
• Moho Pro 12 permits you to import your photoshop files inside this software. Due to this feature, you don’t have to worry about your saved photoshop files.
• With Moho Pro 12, you can control the layer order, layer visibility and can review your animation before rendering it.
• Another great feature of this software is its ability to bounce any character in the animated video.

You can try Moho Pro 12 free for 30 days. Though it has powerful features, its cost is quite high.

So, if you are looking for the software that gives you a friendly interface and saves you time then, Moho Pro 12 is suitable for you.

Moho Pro 12

The big hook of Moho is it’s ease of use for creating reusable 2D rigs with a tremendous amount of control. This makes it great for TV shows, web series and even for creating video game animation. Moho goes all in on its vector rigged characters, and neglects other hand-drawn features.

Try Moho Pro 12

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5. CelAction2D

The last animation software on our list is CelAction 2D. It is a simple and easy to use software that is used for creating TV series, commercials, and movies.

Features of the CelAction 2D animation software

• Inside CelAction 2D, you will get more than 60 effects for creating an engaging and dynamic video.
• The advanced syncing technology inside this software helps you to manage all the animated scenes properly. The real-time animation preview window inside CelAction2D also saves your lot of time.
• CelAction2D gives you an added advantage of exporting into both PDF and Animatic format. You can also export sketches in the form of the image file.
• In this software, you will find auto scrubbing features and multiple audio tracks with volume control.
• CelAction2D provides the full support of graphics tablets.

The only downside of this software is that it is not compatible with Mac OS. If you want to use it on Windows, you must have a PC with an Intel processor and at least 4 GB RAM.

CellAction2D comes in three versions: Studio, Professional and Educational. You can get more information about each of these versions here.

CelAction2D

CelAction2D is the most powerful 2D animation software in the world, used for many award-winning and commercially successful films, TV series and advertising. It is the software of choice for many leading animators and studios, and represents the state-of-the-art in high quality, high volume production.

Try CelAction2D

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Best Animation Software – Final Words

That ends our list of the best animation software that you can use to create amazing graphics and animated videos.

Making an animation video is an easy task if you have the right skills and software. Explore the above-listed tools yourself to get the best out of it.

Thanks for reading this article and if you know any other animation software that is working best for you then, please let us know by commenting below.