Animation software suggestions

[crazyforlatin]

Dd has a potential project that requires animating 2 characters with voice-over. What's the easiest animation software to learn how to use? It doesn’t have to be necessarily free but easy to learn and edit. There is no action in her project, just 2 characters talking and maybe gesticulating with their hands, but no other movement like walking is necessary. Hopefully there is voice-over with different voices, though a friend can help DD with with one of the voices.

[Spryte]

DS uses Toon Boom currently. He’s used other options, but learned Toon Boom last year and it’s been great for his projects.

He has also used other options (many of them), but this one has been a big hit. We have a student version, and there was a small learning curve as he was switching over from Photoshop.

[crazyforlatin]

3 hours ago, Spryte said:

DS uses Toon Boom currently. He’s used other options, but learned Toon Boom last year and it’s been great for his projects.

He has also used other options (many of them), but this one has been a big hit. We have a student version, and there was a small learning curve as he was switching over from Photoshop.

Thank you I haven’t heard of Toon Boom. Is there a steep learning curve?

[Spy Car]

 

I am no expert on animation software. And that might be an understatement.

My impression is that Toon Box Harmony is the go-to industry choice for professional 2-D animation. Steep learning curve, but if that was a lifepath, might be worth it.

However, there is an easier program that seems like a great fit for the limits of the project described in the OP. It is called Adobe Character Animator. Character Animator allows one to use a "puppet" (a template character that one can modify) and to link the puppet to voice over and movements automatically  by linking a microphone and camera. Essentially real time "motion capture."

Here are a couple of YouTube links that you can check out:

Bill

[Mona]

14 hours ago, crazyforlatin said:

Dd has a potential project that requires animating 2 characters with voice-over. What's the easiest animation software to learn how to use? It doesn’t have to be necessarily free but easy to learn and edit. There is no action in her project, just 2 characters talking and maybe gesticulating with their hands, but no other movement like walking is necessary. Hopefully there is voice-over with different voices, though a friend can help DD with with one of the voices.

This is not my realm of expertise, but I ran it past my dd and she says that this would be a simple project to do. She recommends Fire Alpaca which is free or Clip Studio Paint. Both of these are listed as digital painting software, but you can also animate with them. She mostly uses Clip Studio Paint. There are several different versions of that. There is a free version, a pro version, and I think EX? She says that the pro version has a frame limit of 24 fps, but the EX has unlimited frames and the price reflects that, but it goes on sale every now and then. (Maybe, Black Friday?) She is friends online with many artists who work for anime studios that also use Clip Studio. 

Edited July 25, 2022 by Mona

[Spryte]

7 hours ago, Spy Car said:

 

I am no expert on animation software. And that might be an understatement.

My impression is that Toon Box Harmony is the go-to industry choice for professional 2-D animation. Steep learning curve, but if that was a lifepath, might be worth it.

However, there is an easier program that seems like a great fit for the limits of the project described in the OP. It is called Adobe Character Animator. Character Animator allows one to use a "puppet" (a template character that one can modify) and to link the puppet to voice over and movements automatically  by linking a microphone and camera. Essentially real time "motion capture."

Here are a couple of YouTube links that you can check out:

Bill

Yes, Harmony is the one DS uses most often. There was a learning curve, but he says once it clicks — it’s intuitive. He likes Adobe as well, and before learning this one Adobe products were his go to.

I think there are quite a few more free options for short projects, too. My DS is a bit obsessed with animation, and we worked Toon Boom classes into his junior and senior years. Might be overkill for OP.

[Spy Car]

3 minutes ago, Spryte said:

Yes, Harmony is the one DS uses most often. There was a learning curve, but he says once it clicks — it’s intuitive. He likes Adobe as well, and before learning this one Adobe products were his go to.

I think there are quite a few more free options for short projects, too. My DS is a bit obsessed with animation, and we worked Toon Boom classes into his junior and senior years. Might be overkill for OP.

Your son would be a better source for advice than moi.

Toon Box Harmony does seem like the current professional favorite for 2-D in the industry. 

What would he advice for @crazyforlatin given the limited nature of her daughter's project?

Adobe Character Animator strikes me as being tailor-made to the limits set in the OP, but I don't really have an informed opinion.

What's your boy's advice here? I'm curious.

Bill

[crazyforlatin]

OP here, thanks so much for these suggestions! 
 

Is there a way to dress these characters to look like from Ancient Rome or Greece with any of these programs listed above? Maybe a modern version is fine as well, we just haven’t gotten to the details as Dd needs to draft a convo in modern vernacular first.

[history-fan]

Are you talking about 2d or 3d animation?

For 2d Digicell Flipbook and for 3d the animation standard is Maya. Blender is a free program to use for 3d as well.

[catz]

I have taught and worked with Blender for some time.  It's a great professional level 3D tool.  But I wouldn't recommend it for a simple project that you didn't want to spend much time with.  You could possibly pull in some models and follow a tutorial, but there are definitely simpler paths out there with some of the 2D tools.

For kids that are interested in learning Blender though, Udemy has a bunch of nice self paced classes.  Just read the reviews and watch for sales.  I've never paid full price for a Udemy course.  

[Spryte]

9 hours ago, Spy Car said:

Your son would be a better source for advice than moi.

Toon Box Harmony does seem like the current professional favorite for 2-D in the industry. 

What would he advice for @crazyforlatin given the limited nature of her daughter's project?

Adobe Character Animator strikes me as being tailor-made to the limits set in the OP, but I don't really have an informed opinion.

What's your boy's advice here? I'm curious.

Bill

His recommendation is Harmony. He’s a big Toon Boom fan now, and has found it to be the easiest to use. (If only his volunteer voice actors could keep up!) He was a serious Adobe user, but TB Harmony has saved a ton of time. Pretty cool stuff.

[crazyforlatin]

Dd has a friend that knows a little of Blender. He could possibly help her initially just to get over the learning curve.

 If 2d like Harmony wouldn’t Dd need to do a lot of drawing? So the mouth would have to move, maybe limit the hand/arm  movements?

[Pam in CT]

If she has an iPad, and can draw, my daughter started by doing simple 2d with Procreate -- just replicating the initial drawing and advancing with incremental changes frame by frame (or flicking back-and-forth for small movements like the mouth when the character is talking). She reports it is VERY accessible in terms of learning curve.  I think her first few animations were actually GIFs, lol.  And it's nearly free -- something like $15 one time. 

[crazyforlatin]

8 hours ago, Pam in CT said:

If she has an iPad, and can draw, my daughter started by doing simple 2d with Procreate -- just replicating the initial drawing and advancing with incremental changes frame by frame (or flicking back-and-forth for small movements like the mouth when the character is talking). She reports it is VERY accessible in terms of learning curve.  I think her first few animations were actually GIFs, lol.  And it's nearly free -- something like $15 one time. 

I'm going to have her try this for a different project. She needs to retell some historical texts via different media, and I think 2D and 3D look different enough, depending on how she draws them. It sounds like from what you are saying she can reuse some previous drawings and put them in various places throughout the dialogue. So the drawings better be as simple as possible.