20 Best Free 2D Animation Software for Windows 10

Animation tools are essential for crafting captivating characters, backgrounds, storyboards, and effects, enabling you to captivate audiences and generate leads. If you’re a newcomer to graphic design, we have curated a list of the best free 2D animation software specifically designed for Windows 10 PC. These tools will provide you with a fantastic head start in your creative journey.

20 Best Free 2D Animation Software in Windows 10

When choosing animation software, it is important to look out for the features it offers you to best interpret your creativity. Below is the list of the best 2D animation maker programs for Windows 10. 

1. Animaker

Animaker is one of the best free 2d animation software programs that include a wide range of elements, icons, properties, backgrounds, maps, and charts.

• It’s one of the best tools to make the perfect presentation, freelance tasks, or personal projects.
• You may make animated films in 2D, handmade, whiteboard, infographics, 2.5 D, and typography, among other styles.
• Animaker has more than 200 sound effects to select from.
• This tool lets you export videos in HD resolution.

2. Pencil2D

Pencil2D is a simple-to-use two-dimensional hand-drawn animation program. Anyone with little to no expertise with animation software will be able to tell right away what this tool can achieve.

• It’s a free 2D animation program that lets you draw, ink, and paint on the move.
• Pencil2D is a cross-platform application that works on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
• This open-source, free 2D animation program has a basic and easy user interface that allows you to create color compositions with a pencil, pen, and brush tool.
• The TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) format is supported by this free 2D animation program.

Also Read: 26 Best 3D Modeling Software

3. Blender

Blender is a 2D computer graphics program that may be used to create visual effects, animated movies, games, and more.

• You may use this program to import and export videos in MPEG, QuickTime, and AVI formats.
• This 2D animation maker has a Python API that may be used for scripting and customization.
• It shows a live preview of the 3D scene as well as tracked footage.
• You can make stunning animations out of motionless characters.

4. Moho Pro

The Moho Pro tool is a 2D animation program that combines animation technology with professional tools, it lets you give the characters their own textures and effects.

• It comes with a unique bitmap brush that allows you to make your own.
• It supports 3D objects better.
• During camera manipulations, it allows you to see a preview and adjust the material qualities of 3D objects.
• Subwords, keywords, and Boolean operations can all be used to search.
• By combining the Bitmap Tools with frame-by-frame layers, you may build old-style animations in Moho.

5. Harmony

Harmony is a one-stop shop for efficient animation, from concept to completion. You can use this 2D animation maker to make artwork, animate it, and add music and other effects to it.

• It has curved perspective guides at three, four, and five points.
• You can use this tool for 2D or 3D designing.
• Harmony aids with the creation of 2D animation for use in the game.
• Multilayer PSB and PSD files, Illustrator, PDF, bitmaps, and media files may all be imported.

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6. Synfig

Synfig is one of the best 2d animation software free tools that are free to use. This program is compatible with three operating systems: Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

• Synfig also supports Gradient routes are supported, allowing you to shade your drawings, alter vector lines, utilize a grid, onion-skinning, and a number of blend methods for your design.
• Synfig is an excellent program for individuals who have some familiarity with animation software.
• Layer parameters can be linked using mathematical equations.
• Synfig allows you to generate bitmap and vector animation in addition to the standard drawing tools, keyframes, onion-skinning, and shape tools found in many other free animation programs. It also has some complex capabilities that take some study.
• This free 2D animation program allows you to create animations with over 50 layers.

7. Celaction

Celaction is a professional 2D animation program for movies, advertisements, and television shows.

• This 2D animation maker application makes it simple to manage complicated projects with several layers.
• You can utilize bitmaps, vectors, or both at the same time.
• You may choose from over 16 million colors to customize your palette.
• It is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, XP, Windows 8, and Windows 10.

Also Read: How to Draw in Microsoft Word in 2022

8. Opentoonz

Opentoonz is free and open-source animation software. It works with four different methods of scanning and allows you to preserve scanning settings.

• TWAIN (Technology Without an Interesting Name) standards are supported.
• It enables the usage of anti-aliased lines.
• Company Ghibli Studios, the Japanese animation film studio behind films including My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away, and Kiki’s Delivery Service, frequently uses it because of its great level of customization.
• Onion skinning and frame-by-frame animation are two capabilities that eliminate the need to redo your work at each frame.
• The node tree in the Graphic User Interface (GUI) may be used to generate effects.
• This free 2D animation program can work with both raster and vector pictures.

9. Stop Motion Studio

Stop Motion Studio is one of the best 2d animation software free editors for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. The software is compatible with cameras from the most well-known manufacturers, such as Canon, Nikon, and Sony.

• Set in and out points in Stop Motion Studio to identify a specific section of your movie for replay and looping.
• There are dozens of music clips and sound effects included.
• This tool comes with a magic eraser that may be used to eliminate undesired items from the video.

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10. Krita

Krita is a straightforward 2D animation program that lets you personalize your process.

• More than 100 professionally crafted brushes are included in this free animation program.
• The brush may be customized with 9 different brush engines.
• It even features a programming function that allows you to script using the ever-popular Python programming language.
• Make picture references on the x and y axes to create seamless textures and patterns.
• To arrange your artwork, you may merge, flatten, or order layers.

11. Animate CC

Animate CC is a program for creating an interactive bitmap and vector animations for use in games, applications, and the web. With the help of this tool you can easily make infographics and lessons more interactive. 

• It allows you to set up a parent-child hierarchy for your layers.
• With a wide selection of creative tools that make it simple to accomplish what you love, you can generate animated movies, and build interactive and game-based content.
• There is a plugin capability in this program that allows you to enhance your animation films.
• 360 VR animations can be exported.
• By bypassing image optimization and utilizing image settings, you can export photos with the correct resolution.

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12. SketchBook

SketchBook is a 2D animation program that allows you to create your ideas quickly and easily. It comes with over 140 brushes to help you create your masterpiece.

• You can change the tools and controls as you see fit.
• You may use this tool to add color to your artwork.
• It allows you to import and export layers as PSD files (Photoshop Document).

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13. CrazyTalk Animator

CrazyTalk Animator is a 2D animation program that allows you to manipulate characters and animated characters by turning pictures.

• You can quickly create lip-sync animation from audio with this freeware.
• Photoshop layers may be converted into 2D characters.
• It allows you to alter motion paths and timelines.
• It can accommodate up to four 4K high-definition monitors.

14. FlipBook

FlipBook is a two-dimensional animation application for transforming PDF files into HTML flipping books.

• It is compatible with both Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X.
• By simply clicking on the capture icon, FlipBook allows you to capture your pencil test artwork.
• Backgrounds, overlays, videos, and cels are among the four types of pictures that may be imported into this software.
• You can use the number keys to figure out how many frames you want to paint in total.

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15. TVPaint

TVPaint is a two-dimensional program that uses bitmap technology.

• With this program, you may combine paper and computer animation to create your project.
• You may use this tool to manage your layers and photos.
• It allows you to mix and match many FX (effects) inside a single FX stack.
• Brush opacity, size, jitter, and angle may all be controlled in real-time with a graphics tablet.
• Tvpaint allows you to change the color, luminance, and color of a live camera.

16. Animation Paper

This free animation program is the successor to the extremely successful Plastic Animation Paper 4.0 (PAP 4.0) and has established itself among the many free animation apps available. Unlike its predecessor, Animation Paper is available for both Windows and Mac.

• If you want to upgrade to the final version after it’s out of beta, you’ll have to spend $79 to do so.
• With onion skinning, light setup, layers, and black, blue, red, and green pens for planning and creating poses and scenarios, this free 2D animation program will remind you of conventional light-table animation.
• PAP 4.0 is always free if you want a polished result but don’t want to pay. 
• The free animation program works with your pressure-sensitive Wacom pen has touch-screen compatibility, and has easy shortcuts for zooming, rotating, and switching between draw and erase modes, as well as other small conveniences that may be annoying to be without.

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17. Clara.io

Clara.io is a free cloud-based animation program that doesn’t require any plugins to run, it combines simple stick-figure animation with polygonal modeling in a pleasing way.

• This free animation program allows you access to a wide variety of mesh instruments.
• Sub-object editing, modeling capabilities such as subdivision surfaces, and a plethora of realistic-looking materials that you can tune with some changeable lighting are all available.
• It’s one of the only free animation applications with its own forums, so you can tap into the 80,000-strong community that contributes to the Clara.io cloud.

18. DAZ Studio

DAZ Studio is another best free 2D animation software for posing, rendering, and animating 3D models.

• This free animation program is easy to use, features a lightning-fast design engine, and a massive collection of elements to help you create high-quality animations.
• This helps visitors to get a lot of information in a short amount of time. DAZ Studio is suitable for both novices and professionals.

19. Toontastic 3D

Toontastic 3D is another 2D animation maker tool created by Google.

• It is available for free download and allows anybody, from beginners to professional artists, to develop projects and have them rendered into stunning 3D cartoons to share with friends and family.
• The incorporation of photographic photos into 3D models, the addition of storyboards, and the customization of music are just a few of the capabilities of this free animation program.
• The easy-to-use tool is ideal for teaching youngsters the fundamentals of animation and storytelling.

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20. Stykz

Stykz is another best 2D animation software for stick figures that allows you to modify vector characters into 2D animation, as the name indicates.

• Stykz incorporates features from the freeware tool PivotStickFigure, such as STK file compatibility.
• You can import files downloaded in STK format into the software if you’ve already worked on them.
• Stykz also allows you to deal with frames, which are transitioned organically via onion skinning

We hope this list was helpful and that you were able to find the best free 2D animation software. Please let us know which method you found to be the most effective. Please feel free to ask questions or make suggestions in the comments section.