In recent times, videos have emerged as a powerful online marketing tool. According to reports, over 78% of internet users watch videos every week. And people want to see more video content from their favorite brands or personalities. In fact, more than half of the people think more video content should be put out there. Animated videos are an emerging video trend in the marketing world. They are effective in engaging the viewers and conveying your story or message in the most efficient way possible. Moreover, with the limitations on face to face contact during the ongoing pandemic, animated videos are one of the best ways to provide your audience with some fresh and valuable content. 

However, producing and publishing videos online is not always easy. Perhaps you have run out of ideas, or maybe you don’t have a professional animation video maker in-house, or maybe, you just don’t have a sufficient video production budget. But fortunately, there are various handy tools you can use to create animated videos at no cost to you! In this blog, we will look at some free animation software for beginners as well as experienced professionals. Let’s dive in! 

Top 7 Free Software to Create Animated Videos

1. Animaker

This web-browser based animation software comes with a simple drag-and-drop functionality along with an intuitive interface to match. You can make 2D, infographics, 2.5D, typography, handcraft, and whiteboard animation videos with Animaker. 

It includes full HD support, horizontal and vertical video layouts, and premade graphics to choose from, allowing you to make engaging animated videos in no time. It also comes with various audio features, including the option to add background music and sound effects, text-to-speech, and voiceover. You can either upload your own tunes or pick from the Animaker library. 

You can also unlock multiple advanced features such as in-app camera, transition effects, enter/exit effects, curves, and multimove by upgrading to its paid pro version. 

2. Blender

One of the best video animation software tools, Blender supports rigging, modelling, simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking, animation, video editing, and 2D animation pipeline. Blender is a free, open-source 3D animation tool that comes with a range of features, including sculpting, VFX, grease pencil, and much more. 

3. K-3D

This free 3D animation tool specializes in polygonal modelling, which refers to an approach that represents or approximates object surfaces using polygons. K-3D software integrates plugins with a visualization pipeline architecture. It adapts to the look and feel of the tools you combine it with. 

The easy undo/redo functionality is one of its best features that lets you correct your mistakes quickly. However, most tools can only provide the option to undo an action. It also allows you to work on one side of a model and mirror the other side to see what it looks like combined. 

4. OpenToonz

One of the best free animation tools for 2D videos, OpenToonz is open-source software that can be used to create high-quality marketing videos for your business. It is packed with some amazing features, including scripting, digital drawing tools, indexed colour palettes, motion tracking, effects and compositing, scan and cleanup, motion tweening, frame-by-frame animation, bones character animation, particle systems and much more. This is an ideal tool for creating advanced animations. Moreover, if you face some issues using this software, you can reach out to the user community or developer forum.

5. Pencil2D Animation

A simple, easy to use animation software, you can use Pencil2D to make hand-drawn 2D videos. This open-source software comes with a simple and intuitive interface. It includes some great features such as image and audio import, toolbar customizations, multiple export formats, pressure sensitivity, onion skinning, etc. It also lets you adjust frame rate, add distortion and lighting effects, switch between raster and vector workflows so that you can sketch, ink and paint conveniently. 

6. Powtoon

This free, web browser-based animation software is meant for creating dynamic video presentations. Its free version can be used to make videos up to three minutes long. Powtoon is an excellent tool for beginners and comes with several professional-looking templates to pick from, such as animated explainer and infographic-style videos, along with templates built especially for product promotion. In addition to this, it also lets you start from scratch or import a theme from PowerPoint. 

7. Toontastic 3D

This Google-owned free animation software for Android and iOS is primarily meant for kids, but businesses can also utilize it to create animated 3D videos. Toontastic 3D is ideal for storytelling, and you can start by making your own characters, either from scratch or based on an uploaded image. Once you are done with that, you can proceed with inserting your characters into a story. 

Toontastic aims to encourage new storytellers to get creative with their narratives, and businesses can do the same. Craft your storyline, animate, incorporate narration and music, and finally export to share it with your audience. 

However, since your narrative is based on the software’s templates and it also has ready-made scenes to choose from, the only drawing you will have to do is to make your own characters. So, if you want more control and flexibility, Toontastic is not the ideal way to go. It is best suited for newbies and can be a great place to start from. 

Wrapping It Up

Videos as a marketing tool are relatively a new trend, but it’s here to stay. Humans naturally find it easier to grasp the content when presented in the form of a video than text. But creating and publishing high-quality videos is surely not a piece of cake. A lot of time, effort, and resources go into video production. Animated videos are an effective way to get your message across while keeping the content entertaining, useful and engaging. While the animation tools mentioned above are free to use, it really depends on your skills how you make the most out of them. If you are still struggling to make quality videos, you can hire a talented animation video maker for the best results. For professional software development services, get in touch with us now!