Synfig provides 50+ layers to create artwork and animation of any complexity. Choose from various layer types: geometric, gradients, filters, distortions, transformations, fractals and others. Free, Open-source 2D animation program for Microsoft Windows, OS X and Linux users. Download Synfig Studio (32-bit) for Windows PC from FileHorse. 100% Safe and Secure ✔ Free Download 32-bit Latest Version 2021.
Introduction¶
Creating an animation in Synfig Studio is really easy. It basicallymeans to change a drawing — you just need to create the first stage andlast stage of a change, and Synfig takes care of the steps in between.
Animation In Synfig
Let’s look at a simple example. Consider a moving light like the one atthe front of the Knight Rider car. Drop the realism, you get a circlemoving from left to right and back. In other words, you need to createthree ‘steps’ or ‘stages’:
- The circle is on the left.
- The circle is on the right.
- The circle is back on the left.
Setting up the workspace¶
Let’s do it. Start Synfig Studio. A new file is created at the startautomatically . Click the caret menu (betweenthe horizontal and vertical rules, in the top left hand corner of thecanvas), then select Canvas|Properties or selectCanvas|Properties from the menu. TheCanvas_Properties_Dialog will appear.
Give a name and description for your canvas, then click Apply (don’tclick OK yet — we’re not quite done with the Properties dialog). Goto the Time tab and make sure to edit EndTime. Change “5s” to“2s” — that will make our animation 2 seconds long.
Note
Good to know: Synfig and time representationSynfig Studio can display the time in various formats (Timestamp).You can configure the Timestamp in Preferences. If the endtime is notdisplayed in seconds then go to <tt>Edit|Preferences|Misc</tt> andchange the Timestamp into: (HHh MMm SSs) FFf.More about the Timestamp and its settings can be foundhere ([Preferences_Dialog#Time_Stamp]).
Now click “OK”, select the Rectangle Tool andcreate a simple black rectangle that will serve as our background. It’snot necessary to make it cover the whole canvas.
Now we need a circle. Change the fill color to red, select the CircleTool and create a circle. It doesn’t matter if it’s notperfect: You can edit it. Select the Transform Tooland click the circle. It will go into an editing mode which is easy todetect by the small green dot in the middle and the white rectanglearound it. You can move the circle by grabbing it on its green dot (theOrigin) in the middle.
These are the first steps to draw an object and to move it, but not ananimation yet, you may say. Indeed. Let’s have a look how this works.
Adding movement¶
In the beginning, you entered a value of 2 seconds in the Propertiesdialog. Because the length of your animation is non-zero, your canvaswindow (the one where you draw) has a grey time slider at the bottom,the Timebar. You can click on it, and a small orangeindicator will appear indicating your position in time. Try clicking inseveral places on the time slider and notice that the entry field on theleft of the time slider is changing its values to something like “12f”,“1s 15f”, etc. You can set your position on the time slider by changingvalues in that field. For example, if you enter “1s” and pressenter, the orange indicator will move in the middle of the timeslider, and entering “2s” will move it to the end of the time slider.
Note
At 2s the orange indicator won’t be visible. That’s because“2s” is at the far right boundary of the time slider, putting theindicator out of view.
You may notice that nothing changes on the canvas at this point. Returnto “0s” and switch to Animate Editing Mode byclicking the green man button to the right of the gray time slider. Thecanvas will display a red outline; it reminds you that changes to yourobjects now affect your animation at the time shown in the time slider.
In animate editing mode, every change to your objects creates awaypoint that associates the changes with the currenttime. As you will see, Synfig can create smooth intermediate changesbetween waypoints, and you can even choose the way in which theintermediate changes take place. You will probably find it helpful toassociate some or all of your waypoints with keyframes.
Previously, three “steps” or “stages” were mentioned. These arerepresented by keyframes. (Just in case you’re familiarwith video encoding: No, it’s not the same!) A keyframe is an image intime where something important happens with your objects.
Note
Default keyframe at 0f
When creating a new project, a defaultkeyframe is already set at 0f. If for any reason you do not havethis default keyframe, go to the Keyframes_Panel— click on the little tab with the small key icon in the bottom window —to edit keyframes. Now press the small button with the “plus” sign andyou should get a new entry in the list displaying 0f,0f,(JMP).
Now, go to the “1s” mark in the time slider. The small orange indicatorshould move there. Then add another keyframe by clicking the small plussign. Repeat the process with the time slider indicator set to “2s”(it’s at the end of your animation). You should now have three keyframesin the list.
The s’s and f’s: Understanding the Timeline¶
By now, you may have figured out what those mysterious “1s 10f”-typemarks represent. They indicate a specific point on the timeline,expressing a location in terms of seconds (s) and frames (f).
By default each second is divided into 24 frames, much like a meter on ameasuring tape is divided into 100 centimeters. The frame markings beginat zero (0) and go up to 24, whereupon a new second is entered and theframecount returns to zero.
For example, when five whole seconds and three frames have passed, usingthis timeline notation would be “5s 3f”.
The Keyframes Panel¶
The Keyframes Panel is rather easy to understand.It displays Time which is basically the start time, Length whichis self-explanatory, Jump which we’ll cover next, andDescription which is, again, self-explanatory.
You might be wondering about the entries called (JMP). In fact,these are links just like web links: click them, and the indicator inyour time slider will jump to the correct time.
You can use this to edit your image for a given moment in time. Forinstance, you can now jump to the first second “1s”, and move the redcircle to the right. There! You made your first movement, your firstanimation with Synfig!
Canvas Window, Keyframes Panel and Time Track Panel
Wondering where the animation is? Just click to an arbitrary position onthe time slider: You will note that the red circle is in a new position,one that you didn’t specify! So what happened? Synfig figured out whatyou would like to do, namely move the circle, and drew all the imagesbetween these states. Each image will later make a frame in youranimation and the circle will appear to be moving.
Note that you don’t need to go to the last keyframe at “2s” and moveyour circle back to the left. Keyframes make Synfig remember the imagestates at particular times. That’s why when we modified the circle’sposition at “1s”, it stayed on the left at “2s” (as well as at “0s”). Ifyou switch back to the Parameters Panel, and look at the TimetrackPanel you will see that three orange diamonds (orgreen dots depending on the default interpolation) appeared on the rightof the Origin parameter. Those are called Waypoints,and they represent times at which object’s parameters, like location orcolor, are instructed to take on specified new values.
Parameters Panel and Time Track Panel with green Waypoints
Rendering your animation¶
Before you can see your animation, you need to render your work. Thereare two ways to do so: using the Synfig Studio (what you have been usingso far) or the command-line program called “synfig”.
Let’s try the first way. Leave the Animate EditingMode by clicking on the red man icon in thetimeline editing widget, and save your file; for instance under the name“BasicKnightRider.sifz”. Then go to menu in the Canvas Window (CanvasMenu Caret button in the upper left corner) andselect File|Render or click on the render icon. Change the filenameto “BasicKnightRider.gif” in the same location where you saved“BasicKnightRider.sifz” and choose gif target format instead ofAuto, then click Render. Depending on your processor speed itshould take a few moments, but finally the image window status bar(located on the bottom of the window) should say “File renderedsuccessfully”.
Render Settings
Note
The “magick++” target (if it is available) produces muchbetter gif files than the “gif” target because it can optimize thepalette for the image.
Synfig Animation Review
Open BasicKnightRider.gif in Firefox or anotherapplication that is able to show animated gif’s. However, Firefox willreplay the GIF all the time which makes your short animation a ratherlong one. If you’re now seeing a red circle moving from the left to theright and back, congratulations! You just made your first animation!
Note
You can also preview your animation. Press the “caret” menubutton in the upper left corner of the Canvas Window and chooseFile|Preview.
If you would rather use the command line instead ofthe menu to render your animation, then open a terminal (on Windows, goto Start|Run, type cmd and press enter), change to thedirectory you saved the file in, and type something like this:
synfig -t gif BasicKnightRider.sifz
A few messages appear that don’t matter right now. Depending on yourprocessor speed it should take a few moments, but finally a line likethis will appear:
BasicKnightRider.sifz > BasicKnightRider.gif: DONE
Then you are done and can view your animated gif using Firefox oranother program as mentioned above and it should look like this.
Synfig Animation Tutorial
Conclusion¶
Of course, the position of an object is not the only thing you canchange with Synfig Studio. Other possibilities include its size, itsoutline, its color, etc. Synfig comes with several example files thatshould let you dig deeper into the possibilities.
Now, let’s continue with the next manual chapter: AddingLayers
Is Synfig Studio Safe
You can download the project used :BasicKnightRider.sifz
Synfig Studio is a free and open source 2D animation creator software download filed under image animation software and made available by Robert Quattlebaum for Windows.
The review for Synfig Studio has not been completed yet, but it was tested by an editor here on a PC and a list of features has been compiled; see below.
Free bitmap animation software with tweening and fluid motionSynfig Studio is a 2D animation application that enables you to produce film-quality animations using bitmaps.
While there are many other programs currently on the market to aid with the efficient production of 2D animation, we are currently unaware of any other software that can do what our software can.
2D Animation has traditionally been very expensive because every frame must be drawn by hand. Even with today's digital inking and painting software, the process still relies on individuals hand-drawing each frame. This laborious task is called 'tweening'.
Our animation technology eliminates the task of manual tweening, producing smooth, fluid motion without the animator having to draw out each frame individually.
This allows you to produce 2D animation with fewer people while producing a product of a higher quality.
Features and highlights
- Spatial resolution-independence
- Temporal resolution independence
- High Dynamic-Range Imaging (HDRI)
- Artist-oriented design
- Path-based Gradients
Synfig Studio 1.4.0 on 32-bit and 64-bit PCs
This download is licensed as freeware for the Windows (32-bit and 64-bit) operating system on a laptop or desktop PC from image animation software without restrictions. Synfig Studio 1.4.0 is available to all software users as a free download for Windows. As an open source project, you are free to view the source code and distribute this software application freely.
Filed under:- Synfig Studio Download
- Freeware Image Animation Software
- Open source and GPL software
- Major release: Synfig Studio 1.4
- 2D Animation Creation Software