Synfig Studio is a free and open source 2D animation software. It specializes in the creation of animated content using a technique called tweening. Tweening is a short form for the term “in-betweening”. Normally in an animated video, someone working on the project must create the beginning frame and ending frame for a particular cut or scene. Then another person is typically responsible for filling the frames in between. This can be a tedious process. Synfig Studio was originally created to simplify this process. It has since developed into a full-blown animation software.
What can it do?
Synfig Studio is a 2D animation program. It can be used for making animated films and other kinds of videos that have animated content. Unlike other 2D animation software, it is based on a vector toolset. This means that the layers created using synfig can be upscaled to obtain high resolution videos without any loss in detail. Synfig Studio has support for multiple video formats.
It is also possible to render the animation as a series of images. This can be helpful in situations where it is needed to render in multiple video formats or formats that are not supported by Synfig. Synfig Studio also has the ability to import and work with images created using other programs.
Perhaps the best showcase for Synfig Studio is the Morevna Project. A group of Russian volunteers have used Synfig Studio for creating a sci-fi anime project.
Where can I get it?
Synfig is available for all popular platforms like Windows, MacOS and Linux. On the Linux platform there are no commercial animation programs available. So Synfig Studio is one of compelling options for 2D animation on that platform.