Pencil 2D animation software

Animation doesn't have to be complicated in the style of Pixar Studios – freehand drawings can be just as effective. Pencil is an open-source animation program that is ideal for anyone who wants to experiment with this style of work.

Pencil takes a simpler approach by sticking with 2D animation. As a freehand drawing program, you need a graphics tablet get the most from it but there are plenty of tools to keep work as efficient as possible.

It is also frustrating that there are no help files included with Pencil, as it is all on the Pencil website. Hopefully this will be changed in later versions.

There is no installation required, simply uncompress the files from the download and double-click on the pencil.exe icon. The only disadvantage with this is that all shortcuts and entries to the Start Menu must be added manually.

These problems aside, this is a useful tool for anyone who wants to give animation a go.

The software was originally written for Mac, so that version has more features. There is also a version available for Linux. Both versions can be downloaded from the Pencil Download page.