Animations are slowly becoming a popular media type in content marketing campaigns. As such, businesses are looking for experienced animators to help them with branding. However, some animation software doesn’t require any animating experience, allowing marketers to learn animation without any knowledge. Whether you’re an animator or marketer, here are the best tools for creating walking animation in your projects or campaigns!
How to Create Walking Animation?
Animators
Animators can use a drawing tablet and stylus and beginner animation software. Most animation tools have keyframe and onion skin features to help animators guide them in creating smooth walking animation projects. Other advanced animation software tools allow animators to create complicated objects or 3D styles.
Marketers
Meanwhile, marketers can opt to create their animations if they have experience in the field. However, if you don’t have any experience, online video editing tools with animation features are the ideal tools for you. It’s easy to use, and you don’t have to create the walking animations.
However, some online video editing software tools have preloaded characters that may not reflect your branding. Instead, you can hire a graphic designer to help you create characters that appear walking. This way, you can integrate these graphics or illustrations into your project or campaign. From there, you can use animation software to create your envisioned movement.
If that’s too much work, you can hire an animation designer or use video animation services.
How Do You Animate Walking?
This depends on the software and animation type you want to do. This applies to 2D and 3D software apps.
Most animation software lets you draw images or use and manipulate objects first. Then, you can edit the illustration or character. After that, you can duplicate the image or illustration on another frame or layer. Then, edit the new frame to show that the character or image is walking. Repeat these steps until you achieve the walking animation.
1. Pencil 2D
Best for: Animators
Pencil 2D has a user-friendly interface that is ideal for beginners to start their animation journey. It’s an open-source animation software equipped with basic tools to produce simple animations. Pencil 2D is excellent for hand-drawn animations since it doesn’t have preset elements to bring your animation to life. You can create a walking animation using the keyframe, move, and select tools. However, you can upload various media files like images, GIFs, and videos.
Pricing: Free
2. Adobe Animate
Best for: Graphic designers and animators
Another user-friendly 2D animation software is Adobe Animate. If you have a subscription to Adobe’s Creative Cloud, you can get this software. However, you can buy this separately. Although this is ideal for marketing and animated banner ad creation, you can also create a simple walking animation through layers. You don’t need to hand-draw animation since you can create objects with shapes. However, you can also draw by hand if you prefer.
Pricing:
- Standalone – $22.99/mo (paid annually)
- Standalone – $34.49/mo
- Prepaid – $263.88/yr
- Creative Cloud – $59.99/mo
3. Moho Animation
Best for: Advanced animators
Moho is one of the top animation software with rigging features. This allows you to create smooth movements and walking animations. Additionally, Moho comes with optimized drawing tools, allowing animators to draw illustrations and characters with the vector software. Aside from its advanced features like liquid shapes, curvers, and lip sync tools, you can also import Photoshop files for a seamless editing experience.
Pricing:
- Moho Pro (One-time purchase) – $399.99
- Moho Debut (One-time purchase) – $59.99
4. TupiTube
Best for: Beginner animators
TupiTube is one of the best starter animation tools for new animators. You can hand-draw illustrators or import characters. As such, you’ll have to animate walking manually, which could take some time. One advantage of using TupiTube is that you can animate on your iPhone or Android phone to animate on the go! Plus, you can share your animations with other animators using the software on their website.
Pricing: Download
5. Blender
Best for: Advanced animators
Blender is hailed as one of the best 3D open-source tools. Like Pencil 2D, you can hand-draw animations and create stunning 3D works. Alternatively, you can add objects to create walking characters. This software has a steep learning curve. However, you can find tutorials to get you started. Plus, you can practice with this software to master 3D art.
Pricing: Free
6. OpenToonz
Best for: Advanced animators
OpenToonz is another 2D software to create walking animations. It’s more advanced than other 2D animation tools listed here, having a steeper learning curve than the others on this list. It’s also an open-source software, so it’s free! It has a skeleton tool, letting characters move. Plus, there’s also a plastic tool that helps you create movement frame by frame as well.
Pricing: Free
7. Animaker
Best for: Animators and marketers
Animaker is ideal for marketers and business owners who want to try animations for their branding and marketing graphics and campaigns. But if you’re a newbie animator, Animaker is a great starter tool if you want to learn the ropes about animating before downloading other software applications listed here. Hand-drawing isn’t an option here since there are characters. Plus, the walking animation is already loaded and ready to use.
Pricing:
- Basic – $12.50/mo
- Starter – $25/mo
- Pro – $39/mo
- Enterprise – Custom
8. Powtoon
Best for: Marketers
Here’s another online animation maker for non-animators. Like Animaker, you don’t need to hand-draw animations since they have preloaded characters ready to use anytime. You can use ready-made templates for marketing campaigns. However, if you’re not fond of the animated characters in Powtoon, you can create custom characters. This is great for developing your brand in animation.
Pricing:
- Lite – $50/mo
- Professional – $190/mo
- Business – $125/mo (paid annually)
- Enterprise plans available for teams, corporate businesses, and enterprises – Request a quote
9. Biteable
Best for: Marketers
Biteable is another online alternative when creating animated marketing videos. Unlike other online animation editors, Biteable has various illustrated characters, depending on your brand’s style. However, you can’t customize your character line. Plus, it would be tedious to draw every single movement needed for walking your customized character. However, you don’t have to let preset animations walk manually since they have preloaded movement features, too!
Pricing:
- Pro – $99/mo
- Premium – $199/mo
- Business – Contact sales
