As time goes by, more and more people in charge of advertising different products and services are betting on animated content to attract the attention of potential buyers. On the other hand, lovers of the cartoons we see on television may also want to know how to develop this type of production. And what do both cases have in common? In both cases, it is necessary to have a specific program on our PC.

That is why we did not want to stop talking about OpenToonz, one of the best platforms for creating animated content from your computer, thanks to which you will be able to generate all the ideas you have in mind.

How it works

As we said, OpenToonz is an application that allows us to create 2D animations compatible with the current standards so that we can add them later to any project we are carrying out. And no matter if you have excellent field knowledge or are just starting, you can rest assured that the results will always be in your hands.

Once you have installed the application on your PC, you will find that there are different internal modes that you can use to edit and adjust the scenes or frames according to the characteristics you are looking for at that moment. Interestingly, as we apply the changes to the contents, its Preview system allows us to see how they look, even without having to save them.

From this, you will see the great editing possibilities, among which appear some, such as modifying the subsampling or the color palette, and others that allow us to control every detail of the scene. Something that we liked is that we can configure the different parameters of a scene and then take them to apply them automatically to other frames, avoiding wasted time.

And when you have finished the animation, or if you prefer before, you can perform the most basic retouching, which is those that have to do with sharpness, brightness, image contrast, and others that will give the final touch to the production. Suppose you have doubts about any of these procedures on the side section of the application. In that case, you will find a series of tutorials and guides, which, although they are only available in Japanese, can help us without translating them.

As is often the case when we think of programs of this type, whose projects may take several days before they are finished, it is possible to save our unfinished work so that we can open them again when we are in a position to do so. These projects are stored in the application's format, so if you want, you can send them to another computer where you have installed them.

Please note

OpenToonz can be used by anyone at no cost, regardless of whether their intentions have to do with private or commercial developments, something that we know is not very common. On the other hand, it is available under an open-source system, so users can make the appropriate modifications to adapt it to their needs.

As for the user interface of OpenToonz, we have found a program that meets the basic aesthetic rules of any video editor, offering the leading role to the content on which you are working. Then appears the Preview section we have already mentioned that we like, and on the sides, we can see the tools and some information, leaving the bottom panel for the timeline, of course.

The best

This service has several positive features, among which we should mention the quantity and quality of editing and content customization options, some of which can be applied to several scenes simultaneously. We also liked the fact that you can save unfinished projects that hardly take up any space on the device,

The worst thing

Indeed the aspects that we liked the least about this application have to do with the absence of other language translations on the main screen, such as the fact that the tutorials and guides are only accessible in English. Beyond this, as it is an editing platform with a familiar interface, navigation within it is not too complicated.

Rating

In conclusion, we believe that OpenToonz is a perfect tool for editing animated products, whether they are advertisements, drawings, stories, etc. It has all the features we could expect from a service of this type, and also, being open source is one of the few that does not require us to subscribe if we have commercial purposes. For these reasons, you should try it if you want software with these characteristics.