10 Best Free Download Animation Software for Windows and Mac 2020

In your search for quality animation software, you may have found that many of the programs cost a lot of money no matter it is 2D animation software or 3D animation editor.

It is not ideal if you need to pay so much for animated application, and price should not be the reason that stops you from making animation video.

The good news is that you can choose free animation tools to start the journey in the market.

That is why we created a list of the best animation software on both Mac and Windows. Some of them are excellent to use, even compared with some paid package.

Whether you are a professional editor or just a beginner to start making animation, you will find the tools listed below are easy to use without watermark and won't cost money to improve your skills.

The best part is you will find these free animation programs are also very useful for content creation on Mac and Windows. Besides, we have listed the pros and cons of each software. Keep reading!

• Part1: Best Free Animation Software for Mac
• Part2: Best Free Animation Software for Windows

You may also like: 8 Best Video Animation Templates (Free Download)

Here we have made a table of 10 free animation software without watermark on Windows and macOS. Take a look.

Number	Software	Supported System	Difficulty Level	Hightlight
1	Synfig Studio	Mac	Easy	Calculate vector shape to animation automatically
2	Pencil2D Animation	Mac	Easiest	Straightforward interface for beginners
3	Tupi	Mac	Middle	Its community is active to offer solutions
4	Blender	Mac	Difficult	It is a powful animation tool to render and make modeling
5	DAZ Studio	Windows	Difficult	For professional users with fast animation process
6	Terragen	Windows	Middle	It can make realistic CG environments
7	Anim8or	Windows	Difficult	3D animation is Anim8or's main function
8	Seamless3d	Windows	Easy	It has many features for 3d modelling
9	OpenToonz	Windows	Middle	Make cartoon animation with plugins
10	Stykz	Windows	Easy	Quickly make animation if you have used Pivot StickFigure Animator

Best Animation Software on Mac and Windows - FilmoraPro

Looking for some simple while powerful video editing tools? We recommend using Wondershare FilmoraPro. You can use it to create 2D/3D animated texts, shapes or anything you like for YouTube video.

The keyframing features will help you make animation effects smooth and precise. When exporting, you can also make it transparent.

Besides, various title templates and transitions are also available for you. Download it now to have a try!

Key features

• Create various shapes that you like
• Add keyframing to make it move
• Fine-tuning to make it smooth
• Add visual effectsa/text/color before export it

Part 1: Best Free Animation Software for Mac

Listed below are free animation software on Mac. Take a look.

1. Synfig Studio - Mac Software to Animate Video

Difficulty Level: Easy

Pro: You can create many layers once a time and sync audio for your animation.

Con: This one needs much time to learn, especially for beginners.

An open-source 2D animation software that works on Macs, Synfig Studio delivers multiple players while you are creating content. Whether you want to add geometric, filters, distortions or transformations, it is all possible! And thanks to the high-end bone system, you can create cut out videos using bitmap images!

The thoughtful part is there are two download version on the homepage: stable version and development version. If you want to enjoy a stable and smooth animation editing experience, choose the stable one. However, the development package give you access to use the latest features.

For a novice, you can learn Synfig from step by step guide in Wikipeida and video tutorials. Four languages are available including English, Russian, Dutch and French for video course.

You can free download its latest version 1.3.11. The upcoming version is 1.4.

Features:

• It offers support for many layers within the animation.
• The program’s bone system means that you can easily create animations with bitmap images or vector artwork.
• It allows you to sync your creative work with any sound that you want. Has a full-featured audio editor.

2. Pencil2D Animation - Animation Program for 2D Pencil Lover

Difficulty Level: Easiest

Pro: Easy to start and make animation as the interface is user-friendly for many people.

Con: You need to set your preference every time to open it up, so it takes up some time

Pencil2D Animation is one of the simplest 2D hand-drawn tools available. It will work flawlessly on Mac computers. It is ideal for beginners, as the commands and interface are very easy to understand.

Whether you want to create a simple one, or you want something with many layers for videos on YouTube, you can use Pencil2D animation to get it done. Its timeline is easy to use at the first glance. You can add and duplicate different frames on different track.

The frequency of releasing new version is very fast as Pencil2D is committed to bring the lasted features to each users. The newest version is v0.6.4 (as of August, 2019). Its user guide is informative with video tutorial, FAQ and manual material.

Features:

• Lightweight and minimalistic design that makes it very easy for beginners.
• Features raster and vector workflows, with easy switching between them. You can paint and sketch as you want!
• Will run on all platforms - Mac, Windows and Linux.
• Completely free and open source.

3. Tupi - Free Animation Application for Mac Users

Difficulty Level: Middle

Pro: It supports vector illustrations. Besides, various formats are available.

Con: If you want to make 3D animation, it will fail. You can only make 2D effects.

A free software application for YouTube, Tupi will allow you to create 2D animations to your heart’s content. The tool was started by animators who wanted to create something that others could use.

It is an open-source tool, which means that users can make their tweaks to the program if they have some interesting ideas. The program works on both Windows and Mac. You need to use Tupi and Papagayo to make lip-sync animation with different mouth shape.

It also offers solution for schools with related features including academic license, technical support and ads-free, so many schools choose use this one to teach kids on how to make an animation video.

Features:

• Support for vector illustrations. You can add rectangles, lines, polygons, and other shapes as you please. To fill areas, just use the paint bucket.
• You can import raster images using this program.
• You can export all your finished images into different file formats.
• Support for tweeting positions, scale, shear and rotations.

4. Blender - Need Some Time to Learn This Animation Tool

Difficulty Level: Difficult

Pro: Really powerful software that you can make for professional users.

Con: It is not easy to make image animation as it focuses on 3D.

Blender is an open-source 3D animation creation suite without watermark. If you find that 2D is a little bit limiting, we think that you will be very happy with what this free program offers. You can take your projects to a whole new level when you can use this program on your Mac.

You can use Blender to make video game, modeling and high quality animation. However, it involves steep learning curve. Luckily, there are many tutorial to guide you through the journey. You can also ask for help in Blender community that millions of talented people like you are there.

Features:

• Creating renders is no problem with this program.
• Modeling, such as sculpting, retopology and creating curves is not an issue either.
• VFX and animation features are better than any option on the market.
• It offers powerful simulation tools.
• Integration with pipeline tools is easy.

Part 2: Best Free Animation Software for Windows

Below are free animation software on Windows. Keep reading.

5. DAZ Studio - Free Software for 3D Lovers

Difficulty Level: Difficult

Pro: You can make game animation for fun. It also supports GPU accelerated real-time rendering.

Con: It has high demand for the device, but owns a steep learning curve.

Daz 3d is a powerful and completely free 3D creation tool that will let you create the short videos that you want. Whether you are using this for business or pleasure, you will find the program is very easy to understand. Within a day, you will be completely used to its interface.

3D effects is the core focus of DAZ Studio. You can build model, render and pose animation within skin texture level. It has a high requirement for device. For Windows 64 bits, its recommended RAM is 3G.

Features:

• Options for 3D morphing, animation, and rendering.
• GPU accelerated real-time rendering, which delivers the best results.
• Interactive tutorials to help you become a better 3D artist.
• Everything you make is yours, royalty-free!

6. Terragen - Use It to Make CG Animation

Difficulty Level: Middle

Pro: The recently updated version is the best one. Ray-traced preview is a great function to help us making animation.

Con: The interface looks complicated, but it gets easy to know after you are familiar with it.

A completely free program that you can download and install on all Windows computers and tablets, Terragen is the ideal program for you to create the 3D animations and environments that you want. If you want a photo-realistic CG environment, using Terragen is the best way to do it!

Releasing imagination instantly, Terragen Creative is the one tool you'd like to consider. You can use it to make beautiful scenery.

For advanced tools, you can choose FBX to make animation quickly. The featured image gallery on its homepage will give you a deep understanding about the final outcome you can achieve with Terragen.

Features:

• Ray-traced preview. Without watermark after exporting
• Photo-realistic clouds and ozone simulation
• Rendering is twice as fast as the previous version of the program.
• Adding terrain, objects and shader to your final product is very easy with the intuitive interface.

7. Anim8or - Free Tool to Make 3D Modeling

Difficulty Level: Difficult

Pro: Anim8or supports 3D modeler and TrueType fonts to meet advanced needs.

Con: Beginners will find it difficult to learn.

Anim8or is a free 3D modeling program that will let you create the unique work that you want. It is a personal project from an animator, but the program does get regular updates and troubleshooting.

It is not going to give you the same features as something like Studio Max or Maya, but you will get the basics. Beginners who are getting into animations will love this program.

Anim8or is a great tool to step into 3D animation ff you think other software is too different to start. In some way, it means you need to give up some advanced features. But all in all, it's still recommended for you.

Features:

• A full 3D modeler that allows you to create spheres, cylinders, platonic solids and any other objects that you want.
• Features support for TrueType fonts.
• Easy to create 3D scenes and output them as video files or images.

8. Seamless3d - Open-source Free Software

Difficulty Level: Easy

Pro: It is an open-source 3D modeling package. The good thing is the handy infinite Undo/Redo operation.

Con: Some advanced features are missing like drawing.

Seamless3d, an open-source 3D modeling software that you can download, is among the best animation worktable if you want to create specialized images, animated videos or 3D characters.

It supports FFmpeg video format, so you can use AVI, MP4 and more. Besides, the forum is not active compared with before, but you still can find answers from many tutorials.

Features:

• It comes with infinite undo and redo options for complete flexibility to correct mistakes.
• It allows for partitioned and seamless texture mapping for YouTube videos.
• Has a specialized tree view interface.

9. OpenToonz - Support Plug in to Make Animation Freely

Difficulty Level: Middle

Pro: It is an open source software, so you can change the code freely.

Con: The plug-in effects are limited.

This animation program is made for beginners on Windows. It is among the best 2D animation software in the market. You can use plug-in effects to change image style, add lights and distort details. It supports Windows 7/8/10 only for 64 bit.

Features:

• You can add provisional colors to make your animation more colorful.
• Smooth correction without frame losing.
• Compatible with black-and-white, colored, or without binarization scanning.

10. Stykz - Simple to Use Animation Program for Beginners

Difficulty Level: Easy

Pro: It is the best stick figure animation if you want to make this kind of video.

Con: The UI is not modern to use and needs time to adapt to using it.

Stykz is completely free to use and without watermark. If you have used Pivot StickFigure Animator, then you will find Stykz is similar to it, but you can import the previous .stk files to animate it again. You can use it to make animation smooth frame by frame.

With its frame based feature, Stykz is easy to cutomize each frame. You can change previous and current frames to get what you want. You can download it to have a try considering its easy to use features.

Features:

• There is some animes file on this website, so you can have a reference.
• Edit animation in the software without using another editing window.
• You can share the final work with others including information.

Conclusion

With any of these free animation maker programs on Mac and Windows, you will have an easy time creating your next 2D or 3D video. Ensure you choose the program that has the features and compatibility that you desire. Then it is up to your creative mind to come up with stunning animations! If you want to make animation easily, download FilmoraPro to have a try.