Popular 2D Animation Tools You Must be Aware Of

2D animation software helps you create projects in a two-dimensional space. Be it a college project or a business presentation, you can create a story and add characters and background settings to make them lively and fun. 

In this way, using 2D animation services, you can send across a message in an easy-to-understand and effective manner using animation effects. These days, businesses turn to animation to create interest in their products and promote them better.

Are you looking for animation software to create your next business video or just to learn how to draw person video?

Don’t worry; there are many options to choose from. You can install some of this software on your smartphone and get started right away.

In this blog, we will walk you through the top animation tools and how to use them for your business effectively.

7 Top 2D Animation Tools that You Must Not Miss

Here is the list of seven popular animation tools that you can readily use for your business needs.

  • Adobe Animate

Adobe Animate is one of the popular tools from Adobe. You can use it to create interesting characters, add live motion effects, and pair out an interesting story.

Key features of Adobe Animate are:

  • Use a character animator to mimic your real-life movements and expressions.
  • Adobe Sensei AI powers automatic lip-sync and face cum body tracking.
  • Puppet Maker allows you to customize your characters. You can choose from a rich library of Puppet Maker templates.
  • Change your character’s expressions and gestures using the trigger control feature.
  • Add a transcript for your character to illustrate the lip-syncing feature.

Pricing: Starts at $20.99/month, No free version available.

  • Animaker

Animaker provides functionality like creating icons, maps, animated characters, charts, etc. Be it a personal or professional requirement; you can get started with the templates in minutes.

Key features of Animaker are:

  • Choose from over 20 facial expressions for your characters.
  • Easily add voice-overs to your character and see them lip-sync it.
  • Use the ‘Smart Move’ feature to animate complex characters at the click of a button.
  • Integrate with Giphy and Getty to get the right image for your animation project.
  • Select from 100+ royalty-free music tracks to add sound effects to your animation.

Pricing: Basic plan starts at $10/month, a free version is available.

  • Powtoon

Powtoon is another simple 2D animation tool that can be used by both businesses and freelancers alike. Be it creating a marketing video or an explainer video; you can use a variety of ready-made templates from Powtoon.

Key features of Powtoon are:

  • A highly customizable user interface for any business or non-business application.
  • Select from versatile templates like Marketing, HR, Sales, Learning & Development, etc.
  • Share your animated videos to multiple social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, and more.
  • Access royalty-free music from the sound library.
  • Easily add different emotions and character moments to make your animation more lively.

Pricing: Pro plan starts at Rs. 279/month, a free version is available.

  • Blender

Blender provides a free animation tool for businesses of any size. Its attractive features like rendering, sculpting, and rigging help you create high-quality animation videos.

Key features of Blender are:

  • With the rendering feature, add geometrical shapes, apply curves, and use layers and camera effects for your videos.
  • Use the Motion Path feature to visualize the motion of points like origins or bone joints of a character.
  • Story Artist feature allows you to combine both the 2D and 3D effects to create a fine video.
  • Use the rigging tool to transform any model into a lively character.
  • With Shape Keys, you can easily tweak a character’s facial animation.

Pricing: Free Download.

  • Pencil2D

Pencil2D is another reliable open-source platform for adding animation effects to your videos. 

Key features of Pencil2D are:

  • Easily create a free-flowing diagram instead of thinking about what button to click next.
  • Compatible on different platforms like macOS, Windows, Linux, and FreeBSD.
  • Switch easily between vector and raster workflows.
  • Supports Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) that helps you add new frames to images.

Pricing: Free Download.

  • Opentoonz

Opentoonz provides an animation tool for creating commercial and non-commercial 2D animation videos. Here, you can use 2D animation and traditional drawing techniques to give effects to your videos.

Key features of Opentoonz are:

  • Plug-in effect SDK to automatically change the picture styles.
  • Use four types of picture scanning, and save them for your future use.
  • Create animation effects on both raster and vector images.

Pricing: Free Download.

Final Thoughts: Choose the Best 2D Animation Tool for Your Business!

An animation software adds lively effects to your videos and takes them to the next level. With the right animation tool, you can stand out from the rest in the crowded business market.

While selecting the best animation services and tools for your business, ensure that you have ready-made character templates and you are able to add emotions to your characters seamlessly. Many 2D animation tools have a built-in image and music library to further enhance your videos.