Any good "Free" 2D animation software out there? (With vector and bone features)

[Hazy Skies 1,010]

I have spent like.. 2 hours scouring the Internet looking for cheap or free alternatives to Adobe Flash Pro (which i hear is the best and stuff) But the pricing is just way too steep for my minimal budget Seriously.. Adobe Flash Pro is apparently like.. $42 a month.. WUT?!

 

I've already got Inkscape, and GIMP and they're awesome (especially Inkscape for making still vector art) but they don't have the option to animate.. not without having to spend hours and hours shifting every little vertex to pose it, export it then repeating until it's done..

 

What I'm looking for is Free (Or like.. $30 maximum) 2D animation software with vector and bone/armature features so i can animate with ease, i really wanna try and animate some ponies and if that works out i might try animating some other 2D stuff as well, like anime..

 

Searching though the Internet for this i found a lot of dead ends or programs that just didn't cut it for me..

 

I've Tried Synfig Studio, It was way to buggy and unusable for me.. despite seemingly being the most promising..

And I've Tried Pencil2D which was meant to have vector features but i was mislead..

 

I really want to get Anime studio 10 as i saw one video on the interface, rigging and stuff and it seems perfect, but it was $50.. I'd be fine if it was $30ish but not $50..

I searched high and low for an older version that may be cheaper or free but couldn't find any

 

But yeah..

 

Can somepony please help me out here? I'm a little lost and i really wanna animate some ponies and stuff but without a good program to do so.. I'm stuck..

 

Thanks in advance

~AURA

 

EDIT: Please.. this is driving me crazy.. Not a single good program i can find..

Edited August 24, 2015 by AURAequine

[IvaCatheriaNoid 115]

I think you can use Pencil2D - free to use, open-source program for animation. As i see, its good program for bitmap and vector animation ^^.
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Link to Pencil2D site - http://www.pencil2d.org/ .

[SPLinux 380]

Well maybe something from here is useful...

http://alternativeto.net/software/adobe-flash/

 

It looks like Tupi is the next best option if Synfig and Pencil2D weren't working well for you, I don't think it has any bone functionality however...

 

Blender is not listed there but i'm pretty sure it does have bone functionality and is capable of 2D animation but since its obviously meant for 3D work its probably pretty difficult for your use. there is website dedicated to 2D animation with blender: http://www.blender2d.com/

 

[Hazy Skies 1,010]

As i stated, i tried out pencil2D and it didnt work for what I want it for..

 

I checked alternateto earlier.. which is how i found Synfig and Pencil2D

 

I'll check out Tupi and see if it works and has bones/puppeting features..

 

I already use Blender in 3D, and have for like.. 4 years.. I tried making a pony in 2D.. didn't turn out so well.. Plus if it's 2D its best kept in a 2D space with tools designed for that style of animation.. I will however give that site a look-see, thanks

 

I'm still open to more alternative options, so let me know if there are anymore you are familiar with

[Jokuc 8,173]

Try Synfig. It's pretty good!

 

If you don't mind old softwares you could try macromedia flash, it's pretty much an adobe flash wannabee but outdated. You'll be fine by sticking with it if you just wanna learn, the interface is like exactly the same as adobe flash so it's awesome if you want to learn techniques and then move over to adobe when you need da power. A lot of people seem to hate on it but that's what I did.

[Hazy Skies 1,010]

Try Synfig. It's pretty good!

 

If you don't mind old softwares you could try macromedia flash, it's pretty much a adobe flash wannabee but outdated. You'll be fine by sticking with it if you just wanna learn, the interface is like exactly the same as adobe flash so it's awesome if you want to learn techniques and then move over to adobe when you need da power. A lot of people seem to hate on it but that's what I did.

OOooooo.. that sounds good I'll give it a try and hopefully it works good for me :grin2:

I couldn't find a log of the features for it, so i couldn't tell if it does have the bone features and stuff..

But I'll find out by the time I start running it

 

----------------

 

Thanks everypony for your helpful replies

 

I've decided to buy a physical copy of "Anime Studio Debut 10" on eBay because buying it direct, even digitally would cost like.. over $22 more..

 

But yeah.. i did however get Macromedia flash 8 though, i could try making an animation or something using that but i think it'd be better to just wait for the new program to get here, then it's time to master it and stuff

Edited August 25, 2015 by AURAequine