In a growing world of video, it’s important to stay on top of the current trends and techniques. Creating videos or animations has always seemed like an incredibly daunting task, luckily for us, some lovely people on the internet have made this a thing of the past. Today, you can find some fantastic programs for web design that will have you making animated videos in a flash!

So without further ado – here are five free programs to help you create animated videos!

Animaker

Animaker gives you the power to create 2D animations, animated infographics, typography, whiteboards, and more. Choose from a variety of templates, backgrounds, props, sound effects, and audio to create your animated masterpiece.

While Animaker isn't as versatile as some animation programs, a little bit of creativity and you’ll be quickly making videos for YouTube and your other social media platforms. A free account will allow you to make videos up to 2 minutes in length, with paid plans starting at $12 per month.

PowToon

Capture your audience with a professional presentation made by Powtoon. This online video creation platform is excellent for creating short, engaging videos and presentations with a professional look and feel.

A free account on PowToon is relatively limited but paying for one is worth it, with the ability to select from royalty-free libraries of animation, videos, images, graphics, backgrounds, soundtracks, and you can also upload your own content to use.

Blender

The free and open source 3D creation suite, Blender, supports the entire 3D pipeline. Go through the whole process in one program, including; modelling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing, motion tracking, video editing, and game creation.

Blender is an amazingly powerful free animation that allows you to sculpt characters, use simple or complex animation cycles, and render with bright lighting and effects.

Synfig Studio

Synfig Studio gives its users a dominant open-source 2D animation drawing and animation tool. Significantly more complicated than most animation programs, you’ll have full control over almost every aspect of your animation.

If you’re used to the Adobe Suite then you’ll find some familiar tools in Synfig Studio like brushes, fills, masking, layers, and more. This free app may look a little dated, but it can push out film-quality animation using vector and bitmap artwork. You can get Synfig Studio for free on Windows, macOS X, and Linux.

Piskel

Feel a blast from the past with the pixel art and animated sprites from Piskel. Completely free and super easy to use, Piskel allows you to create retro animation in the form of GIFs, PNGs, JPGs, and more.

This isn’t the most powerful tool, but it’s pretty fun to use, definitely worth checking out!

Filed in // Design