Simple 2D Animation Software for UNIX-like OSes

BSDanimation asks: "I want to create slide based cartoon-like animations with speech bubbles and simple programmable 2D effects in a widely accepted format like MPEG or AVI. I have considered using Ming to code a Flash animation, but then decided against Flash and would prefer to stay away from such proprietary formats. Blender seems nice, but is too complex and a complete overkill. OpenOffice presentations seem promising, but I am not sure if it is possible to program effects and speech bubbles in it and export such presentations into a format other than Flash. What free UNIX-like OS based open source software is there for such simple 2D animation that would also allow me to distribute my animations commercially without any licensing restrictions?"

Comments

ktoon

[lanswitch]

http://ktoon.toonka.com/

How about Moho?

[Tool Man]

Moho is a vector-based program from Lost Marble, and runs on Linux as well as Mac and Windows. It can output Flash as well I think, but wasn't restricted to Flash output either.

http://www.lostmarble.com/moho/index.shtml

Re:How about Moho?

[Tool Man]

Just one thing... Moho isn't quite free, but pretty close. The demo version watermarks the output and renders Flash as gray-scale, but the full version is $100 US. Considering the features, it's still cheap cheap cheap.

Re:Blender is not Overkill

[TheWanderingHermit]

I can't give you a full answer, but I can tell you I'm no expert and no skilled artist by any means. I've always been interested in playing around with 3d animation, and downloaded Blender several years ago, when I needed a creative outlet. At first I thought I'd never learn it and nothing made sense to me. Then I bought a copy of "The Official Blender 2.0 Guide" (I guess that probably says how long ago it was!). I started reading through it and was designing 3d objects within a few hours. Once I had a guide to Blender and saw what the intent was with all the strange (or so they seemed to me) way things were done, it make sense and I was able to start working with it quickly.

SVG - scalable vector graphics

[sednet]

have you looked into scalable vector graphics format (svg)? it is a mature spec published by the W3C, and like macromedia flash, svg stands to become much more popular once it is distributed with web browsers.

there have been svg browser plugins for some time; now native svg is included with firefox on ms-windows, and scheduled for inclusion with firefox and mozilla. here are some SVG and SVG animation links for you:

• Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 Specification - w3c 2003
• Mozilla SVG Project
• SVG Animation Tutorial - dated 2002, i'm sure you can find something more recent

Re:Blender is not Overkill

[thhamm]

Once I had a guide to Blender and saw what the intent was with all the strange (or so they seemed to me) way things were done, it make sense and I was able to start working with it quickly.

i think there`s nothing more to say about blender than this. the learning curve is somewhat steep, but you can learn it quickly, but only with a manual. but then, it`s left hand on the keyboard, right hand on the mouse, and off you go. never had a better modelling tool. it will get you to your results more easily than 3DS, lightwave etc. even if you`re only doing 2D, or video editing (sound editing excluded).

for me, getting into some other specific tool for the task would take more time than just blendering it in a few minutes. though i preferred the 1.x interface without dropdown menus. and it`s opensource now.

/me big blender fan. :)