In the next article we are going to take a look at Synfig Studio. This is a powerful software package for creating vector-based 2D animations, is free and open source. It has been developed from the ground up to produce quality 2D animations for movies with fewer resources.
Synfig Studio is an animation system designed to speed up the animation process by using sprites and digital interpolation rather than adding artwork to the workload. For this reason, it is ideal for an artist working alone or with a small animation team.
Synfig Studio stores animations in its own format XML file. Often gzipped. These files use the file name extension .sif (uncompressed), .sifz (compressed), or .sfg (zip container format). Files store vector graphics data, embed or reference external bitmap images and also gives us a revision history of the project. We will be able to render video formats such as AVI, Theora and MPEG, as well as animated graphic formats such as MNG and GIF. The program can also process a sequence of numbered image files, using formats such as PNG, BMP, PPM, and OpenEXR.
Synfig Studio General Features
Synfig studio supports a multitude of layers of various types: geometric, gradients, filters, distortions, transformations, fractal and some others.
We can make use of a bone system Full-featured allowing you to create cut animations using bitmap images or control vector artwork. The skeleton distortion layer lets you apply complex warps to bitmap artwork.
Synfig has basic functions for synchronize our animations with the soundtrack using the sound layer. Linux users can take full advantage of full-featured audio editors through integration with JACK.
The program has the ability to design the animation on the front-end and make it later with the backend. It will offer us the ability to simulate smooth shading using curved gradients within an area.
Image created with Synfig Studio
We can expand the variety of effects in real time that can be applied to layers or layer groups.
Since it is an input and output application, an animation can be designed with Synfig Studio, which is a module. Then we can render it and pass it to the Synfig Tool for use on a computer that does not require a connected monitor.
It will provide us with the ability to control and animate the width of the lines at their individual control points. We will also have the possibility to link any related data from one object to another. This program works with high dynamic range images.
The program interface is quite reminiscent of the old version of Gimp with several windows. What's more requires a certain degree of learning, but it has the advantage of having a very well documented manual.
Download Synfig Studio AppImage
To begin, we are going to download the necessary package, which in this case will be a file AppImage. There we can download the file for Linux (among other operating systems) either for 32 or 64 bits.
When we have the file that we need saved, we will only have to open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and write something like the following in it:
chmod a+x paquete.AppImage ./paquete.AppImage
Synfig is ready for production thanks to Morevna project. These folks have a small anime studio that is producing not just content, but various tutorials on their tools. Everything is produced as open source, published as Creative Commons. As they work, they are developing and improving the tools they use and committing their code for everyone to use. If you want to finance his excellent work, you can visit his websites and subscribe to its content.
For anyone interested in learning more about Synfig Studio, you can consult the Wiki from this is or from the project website.