Softwares used in Animation: Topmost Programs Used by Production Houses

Softwares used in animation
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As showbiz world is moving fast at rapid pace due to Softwares used in Animation, the worldwide entertainment industry is climbing the ladders of success, as hundreds of movies, tv serials, television commercials, games are releasing in the whole world. There is always need for skillful animators which utilize various tools available in high-end 3d softwares which are further used in creating breathtaking high-end 3d graphics, stunning visual effects and mind blowing dynamics. These softwares further add more and more detailed creativity and that realistic effects and artwork together forms high quality rendered graphics played frame by frame as a series of animation, further forms a particular shot. Below is an animation software list which can help you understand about some of the softwares used by industry professionals and these softwares are used in the animation industry in almost all countries. Animation Industry is creating unbelievable stunning artworks which were not possible 40-60 years ago, Thanks to the latest technology, lot of dreams can be turned into reality.

Softwares used in 3d Animation

Softwares used in 3d Animation
Image Source – Flickr

With entertainment industry producing more and more stunning piece of masterpieces. Credit often is given to visual effects artists, animators, movie actors, story writers and often to directors. But rarely credit goes to people who created the technology which helped people to produce the results. Below is the list of few softwares related to 3d and 2d technologies which helped graphics artist, visual effects masters and creative directors by giving them all necessary tools related to their requirements. Animation has made all those impossible things possible by combining technology with talent.

Best 3d animation software
Image Source – Flickr

Autodesk Maya: When it comes to 3d animation, One of best 3d animation software is Autodesk Maya. Autodesk Maya is part of Autodesk which is the leader in creating high-end 3d products. Autodesk Maya is used especially in movies and is also called as one of the best 3d animation softwares ever. Whether its character animation, game designing, sculpting, creating dynamics, hair, fur or anything else. there is no match to this software and therefore it is preferred above every other 3d software.

Also read: Maya Keyboard Shortcuts

Autodesk Max: With almost many features same like Autodesk Maya, Autodesk Max is also regarded as one of best cartoon animation software by its creators. Creating stunning architecture work and working with biped are few of its amazing features. 3ds max is used in many video games studios and can be used in production as well where pre-built biped library is used.

Zbrush: With 3d market aiming to create more and higher detailed characters which have millions of polygons, creating them in softwares like 3ds Maya is not possible. So an external software like ZBrush is required which is used as a sculpting tool, Zbrush provides high detailed modeling details with ease and 3d Modellers can create spectacular 3d models with a lot of flexibility.

Autodesk Motion Builder: In some production houses,  Autodesk Motion Builder is used for virtual production and motion capturing. It is one of fastest tools for animation and has its own 3d engine. Used for stereoscopic content, this technique saves a lot of time production pipeline time.

Adobe After Effects: This software is a post production software needed to add motion graphics, visual effects and a bit compositing for an animation project. Creating incredible motion graphics is the main feature of this software and it is used in many parts of the world.

Nuke: Nuke is an award-winning compositing software used in post production part of a tv or movie project. It is developed by Foundry and its users are big brands like Digital Domain, Sony Picture Imageworks, Weta Digital, Framestore. Nuke was also used to composite high quality renders of Autodesk Flame.

Fusion: Black Magic Fusion is one of most high-end 3d software used for compositing part by visual effects artist in production houses. It is one of most high-quality softwares used for motion graphics and visual effects and can be used to create complex compositing scenes. It is used in more than 1000 major Hollywood movies like Captain America- The Winter Soldier, Ghost Rider, Titanic and many Tv shows as well.

Softwares used in 2d Animation

Softwares used in 2d animation
Image Source – Flickr

Adobe Flash: Adobe Flash is one of the best 2d animation software in the market. It is used for creating content on its own platform which could be E-learning, character animation, slides, presentation and in some cases websites too. Now it is focussed on creating animations for various platforms, Creating graphics, vectors, motion graphics, doing character animation using bones etc.

Also read: Walt Disney Facts

Adobe Photoshop: One of the top most and highly popular software for creating graphics and adding them in many modules related advertising, print media, commercials, portraits, websites and much more. Photoshop is a complete package to work with images, vectors, text and much more.

Adobe Illustrator: With demand in today’s market for high-end illustrations which can be created with much ease. Adobe Illustrator fulfills that demand. It also has many libraries related to inbuilt vectors, shapes and design formats which can be used as per requirement of the designer or the project to fasten the pipeline and giving desired output in less time.

Toon Boom: With the requirement for 2d animators related to creating frame by frame animations, for animation projects. Toon Boom provides a great user-friendly interface which gives 2d animators flexibility to draw, animate and observe previous and next frames and helping them to create desirable output.

Flipbook: One another software which is used by many animators and visualizers is Flipbook. It makes the animation look so easy. Some very big animation directors like Jason Ryan from IAnimate uses flipbook in his animation exercises and videos before working in Maya.

So this was our article over Softwares used in the Animation industry. We are sure that you will love this article as this article opens the opportunity for people to know more and more about How animations are created etc.

Tarun
I am a former Animator and Graphic Designer who has worked on many International and Domestic projects and Tv series and E-learning projects. I created Animation Alerts so that people who are struggling to learn animation can learn this craft and grow together.