2D animation

Getting started with tools

In the old days animations were drawn on special paper and then

transferred onto clear acetate sheets called cels for painting.

Then they were photographed frame by frame.

Sounds like terrible amount of work, right?

Well, hand drawn animators still create their animations frame by frame 

using very similar principles as in the beginning. So no laughing for poor 

animators of the old times.

No need to give up either. Some things have changed!

Cels are not in use anymore after scanning drawings into the computer for digital coloring became possible, and now many hand drawn animators skip paper altogether and draw directly into the computer using drawing tablets. So yes the process is getting faster all the time.

Now that the idea is to become an animator and we have dropped paper and cells from the tools and have a fast glance on my desk where I have my XP-Pen ready for drawing digitally, it's time to choose (2D) animation softwares.

With this comparison I'm trying to figure out what softwares to learn and maybe I'm able to give you a vague idea of their differences.

My list of softwares for traditional animation:

Krita

- Free program!

- For beginners

- Drawing, painting and animation scenes. Best painting software of 2019.

- Easy to use, if you know how to use Photoshop you will learn Krita fast. 

Plenty of tutorials in Youtube. My favorite for now because I'm familiar with it 

and it's free!

OpenToonz

- Beginner friendly

- Free, based on the software 'Toonz', developed by Digital Video S.p.A. in Italy and customized by Studio Ghibli

-Effect development kit (SKD)

- Mononoke Hime was made with using Toonz and OpenToonz is based on it so I would like to see what it's capable of creating

Spine

-For both beginners and professionals

-Essential 70€, professional 300€

-Skeletal animation for games, efficient workflow both for creating animation 

and for integrating it into a game

-I'm just obsessed with this software after seeing amazing tutorials in Youtube.

Going to buy the essential and later the professional version

Toon Boom Harmony

-Beginner friendly but takes time to master

-15€-75€/month or 2000€-400€ Free 21 day trial

-Painting and drawing, 2D/3D integration, advanced animation potential

-Sounds promising when it's been used to create so many animations for example

 The Simpsons, Rick and Morty, Princess and the Frog and even Klaus

TVPaint

-For professional animators and studios

-500€ (250€ for students)

-A french software compiled for graphic design and 2D animation

-So many beautiful short animationclips that I've found in instagram 

has been made with TVPaint so I started following it's instagram account. 

Too bad it's that pricey but I will manage to buy it at some point of my studies

Adobe Animate

-Beginner friendly, easily pick up the basics

-Free with school license, 20€/month

-Supports both audio and video embedding, allow the creation of interactive animations

-This software is mostly used for website element animations so in that purpose very good, I don't think I would use it for anything else but good software to handle.

Moho

- For animators looking to hone their craft, not beginner friendly, 

takes time to get the hang of

- 400€ priceyyy

- Professional looking animations, constant updates

- Can't for that price but definetely in the future when I'm advanced and rich xD

Retas Studio

-For aspiring anime creators

-You have to contact the company for the price, but about 350€

-Special suite of programs for creation of anime. 

-It's said to be gold standard in Japan in animation programs. If I'm ever dreaming of working in Japan/Asia with animation then should learn to use this at some point.

CelAction2D

-For a bit advanced animators

-950€-1600€ Nope, not now and maybe never

-Heavily used making TV and movie spots, many features

-Maybe the least interesting one of the softwares, haven't heard about it a lot and the price is something I wouldn't use without being obsessed with some animation made with it

Conclusion:

I'm going to continue with Krita as long as I feel like a beginner, but also getting other softwares to learn. OpenToonz as a free software is definitely worth learning and 70€ for the essential version for Spine is not too much asked. If I find Spine as enjoyable to use as it looks I will try to get to Game Academy in our school. I'm not like a super gamer but love to create animations, characters, environments and stories. With one game design software in my sleeve it's not going to feel too challenging!

After becoming more advanced animator I will have a look on Toon Boom Harmony and TVPaint. Adobe Animate I will surely use in my studies at least a little even when right now I don't find it super interesting software for some reason. Other softwares on the list are not currently relevant for me but maybe in the future.

So that was my research! I hope you feel less like this:

And more like this:

Maybe next time actual animation creation! Thank you for reading!