You can also export your work in a variety of formats like jpeg and png sequences and Flash movies. However, it only shows the frame before and after the current one…it would be nice to have an option that allows you to show more, but unfortunately there isn’t. The Onion Skin feature is clearly visible with an on / off button, so no need to waste time going through menus to find it. The drawing tool gives a nice sketchy line quality particularly if you’re using a Wacom tablet, and you can work in either Bitmap or Vector mode (vectors give you a cleaner line and good if zooming in since they don’t lose quality or go “pixelated”).

The standard drawing tools are all there and obvious to any one who’s used a paint program before.

The interface is pretty standard for animation software and clearly laid out with most things fairly self-explanatory. Now since i’m an old-fashioned sort of a gent and believe there’s no such thing as a free lunch, I was a tad skeptical at first and wondered if it would be any good, but upon opening the software was pleasantly surprised to see that in fact it is actually very good. Just go to the site and download the latest version for Windows, Mac or Linux (no registration required either). Pencil is an open source animation program meaning it is completely free to use in any way you want with no license restrictions (you can make a donation to the developers if you so wish).

Pencil animation reviews