We all love watching animations. From three dimensional animations to simple two-dimensional animations, animations present the idea effectively even to the kids. Kids are the big fans of animations. But we adults also need animations to decorate our web pages, create presentations and explain things effectively. Watching animation is a cool thing, but creating animation is a Herculean task for a non-technological person. But there are a bunch of solutions offering the ability to create stunning animations without any coding and animating skills. But the more coding and graphics knowledge you have the better and the more interactive animation you can create. Anyways here are some tools give you an ability to design animations without much artistic talent and programming knowledge.
2D Animation
Pencil 2D Animation
(http://www.pencil2d.org)
It is a lightweight, open source, free to use and easy to use animation tool, allow you to sketch, ink and paint animations easily. Pencil2D is cross-platform and runs on Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux. You can see the pencil 2D video tutorials here.
Synfig Studio
(https://www.synfig.org)
Synfig Studio is a free and open-source 2D animation software, designed as a powerful industrial-strength solution for creating film-quality animation using a vector and bitmap artwork. It eliminates the need to create animation frame-by-frame, allowing you to produce 2D animation of a higher quality with fewer people and resources.
OpenToonz
(https://opentoonz.github.io/e/)
This is software for producing a 2D animation. It is based on the software ‘Toonz’, and it has been used for creating its works for many years. The main advantage is, the source code of OpenToonz can be modified freely, and it can be used by anyone free of charge, no matter whether the purpose of use is commercial or not.
Karbon
(https://www.calligra.org/karbon/)
Karbon is a vector drawing application with a user interface that is easy to use, highly customizable and extensible. Karbon is a great application for users starting to explore the world of vector graphics as well as for artists wanting to create stunning vector art.
Pencil
(https://sourceforge.net/projects/pencil-planner/)
The pencil is a cross-platform open-source 2D animation software. Its first aim is to make traditional animations. It features bitmap and vector drawing tools, layers, cameras. Animations made with Pencil can be exported as QuickTime.
sK1
(https://sk1project.net)
It is a professional quality illustration program for Windows, GNU/Linux and macOS platforms. SK1 is a nice application that provides the professional and free solution, whether you are a newbie user or an experienced designer, sK1 makes it easy to get started. With its professional color-management engine and wide-range file format compatibility, sK1 provides color accuracy and drawing flexibility you need for all types of projects.
Animation Paper
(https://animationpaper.com)
This is a software package for doing 2D animation. It will allow traditional animators to utilize the powerful and timesaving advantages of computers. Using PAP you see your animation as you create it, removing the need for line tests, cameras, and scanners. After getting comfortable with drawing directly to the screen you never want to go back.
Moho
(http://my.smithmicro.com/anime-studio-2D-animation-software.html)
Moho brings your imagination to life, as they are saying. Formerly known as Anime Studio, Moho offers an affordable tool to create animation from start to end. It brings the most powerful 2D rigging system of the market and mixes it with traditional animation tools.
3D Animation
Blender
(https://www.blender.org)
If you are new to Blender, Blender is a free and open source 3D creation suite that supports the entirety of the 3D pipeline like modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking, video editing and game creation. VFX professionals credited Blender as ‘probably the best tracker in the market’. Blender includes the production-ready camera and object tracking. Allowing you to import raw footage, track the footage, mask areas and see the camera movements live in your 3d scene. Eliminating the need to switch between programs. Blender is being used for numerous short films, advertisements, TV series and feature films due to it’s to the high-quality rigging and animation tools. Another feature of Blender is, it has a flexible Python controlled interface. Layout, colors, size and even fonts can be adjusted by yourself. Blender also offers BFCT, it is the Blender Foundation’s official certified trainers program. To start with blender, blender has a Youtube channel. Blender reference manual and free tutorials are available.
You can find similar tools like Sketchup, Makehuman, and can use more professional and powerful tools like Autodesk Maya, Cinema 4D, etc.
