I have recently found an interesting 2D animation program called Pencil. It is still in relatively early development but is quite usable. This program allows the user to create cell animation the old fashioned way on the computer. There are some nice features in the program including onion skinning and flash export. I would recommend using a graphics tablet for the drawing part unless you are comfortable drawing with a mouse.
This program is quite easy to use and would be very good for the classroom and it runs on many types of computers (Windows, Mac, Linux). It would be an excellent addition to an art or animation class. Pencil is free and open source so there are no legal or budgeting issues.
Here is the website.
Filed under: Graphics | Tagged: 2D animation, art class, computer graphics, computer lab, flash, graphics tablet, Linux, resource, teacher | Leave a comment »
Open Source Educator 