Open Source Animation Software
Animation is brutal on time: a few seconds of motion can be days of frame-by-frame, rigging, or tweening, so being locked out of your own project the month a subscription lapses is a uniquely cruel way to lose work. The open source tools here let you build 2D, cutout, and programmatic animation in formats and a pipeline you control, so the scenes you spent weeks on stay openable long after any rental would have expired.
Manim
Engine for precise programmatic animations, made for explanatory math videos
Graphite
Free open source vector and raster editor with nondestructive layers and a node-based procedural engine
Video2X
Machine learning video super resolution and frame interpolation for Windows, Linux, and containerized use
Blender
Free 3D creation suite covering modeling, animation, rendering, compositing, motion tracking, and video editing
Krita
Free and open source digital painting app for creating artwork, comics, illustrations, and concept art
OpenToonz
Full-featured 2D animation software based on the Toonz tool used by Studio Ghibli
OpenShot Video Editor
Free and open-source video editor for Linux, Mac, and Windows with FFmpeg formats and timeline editing
Synfig Studio
Industrial-strength 2D animation that uses tweening to avoid drawing every frame
Pencil2D
Easy, intuitive tool for 2D hand-drawn animation with bitmap and vector drawing