Toon Boom Harmony (best software for 2D animation) $215 paid monthly or $1,700 paid annually (34% saved), or $4,845 paid triennially(37% saved)ģ.
It is the industry standard for 3D animation and is widely used by animation studios and teams. And once you get used to it, the interface is fully customizable to fit any workflow Pros:Īutodesk Maya creates high-quality renders. Although it doesn’t have an intuitive interface, like Blender, there are a lot of explainer video tutorials online. Maya is mostly used for creating Interactive 3D applications, advanced animations, animated videos, and video games. Having gained popularity for being the 3D animation program that one of the biggest animation studios on the planet-Disney, uses, Maya has become the industry standard and a no-brainer for professionals that are willing to spend money to get the very best 3D animation software that they can.Īvailable on Windows, macOS, and Linux, Maya has features like 3D rendering and shading, modeling, pipeline integration, special effects, rigging, and motion graphics.
Autodesk Maya (great professional 3D animation software )Īutodesk Maya, or just Maya, is widely regarded as the best 3D animation software for professionals. However, there are a lot of detailed explainer video tutorials online, and a great community of seasoned users that are ever ready to provide the necessary expertise to beginners Pricing:Ģ. The user interface is not intuitive enough for beginners, and it has a rather steep learning curve. The software is very capable of what it does, and if you want to extend its functionalities even more it supports plug-ins. It is improved upon so quickly, that it constantly catches up to its rivals, and outclasses them with every new iteration. Pros:īlender has a great online community that keeps improving on it at a very fast pace. It’s also free, retains a wide range of functions that is useful to beginners and seasoned users, and has a very large community of online support.Īs a result it earns the top spot for best animation software overall. With features like 3D modeling, texturing, keyframes, rigging, onion skinning, particle simulation, soft body simulation, rendering, compositing, and video editing amongst others, Blender is more than capable of handling almost every beginner-level and professional animation design you can think of.īlender’s unique Grease pencil feature also allows you to draw 2D animations in a 3D space.Īvailable on Windows, macOS, Linux, OpenBSD, DragonFly, and FreeBSD, Blender has ridiculous cross-platform availability. Mostly renowned for its amazing 3D capabilities, Blender is widely used by industry professionals, hobbyists, and beginners for creating visual effects, 3D interactive apps, motion graphics, animated characters, video games, and 3D models.
Blender (best animation software overall)īlender is a top-notch free and open-source animation software that is licensed under GPL-2.0 and has both 2D and 3D animation capabilities. With those thoughts in mind, here’s our top 10 best animation software that you could choose from: 1. To narrow your focus, you might want to set a price ceiling and determine must-have features. Ease of use might also be a key factor. What is the best animation software? Here’s our top 10 list:Ĭhoosing the best animation software can be quite a chore given the options. What are the different types of animation software?īefore we take a look at what software is used for animation specifically, let's take a look at the different types of animation software that you might be interested in: Top open-source design animation software Top open-source animation software for experienced users Best cartoon animation software for beginners