Pencil2D icon
Pencil2D icon

Pencil2D

 57 likes

Pencil2D is an opensource animation/drawing software for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux, based on old Pencil software. It lets you create traditional hand-drawn animation (cartoon) using both bitmap and vector graphics.

Pencil2D screenshot 1

License model

  • FreeOpen Source

Country of Origin

  • International

Platforms

  • Mac
  • Windows
  • Linux
  • Flathub
4.7 / 5 Avg rating (3)
57likes
2comments
0news articles

Features

Suggest and vote on features

Properties

  1.  Lightweight

Features

  1.  Keyframe Animation
  2.  Onion skinning
  3.  No Tracking
  4.  Ad-free
  5.  Support for Layers
  6.  No Coding Required
  7.  Works Offline
  8.  Symmetry brush
  9.  Raster graphics
  10.  QT Based

 Tags

  • hand-drawn-animations

Pencil2D News & Activities

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Recent News

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Recent activities

  • braky updated Pencil2D
    10 days ago
  • asterryplace and allyouaskfor liked Pencil2D
    3 months ago
  • App icon
    Maoholguin added Pencil2D as alternative to Tweencraft
    5 months ago
  • kitsunta1l, PredatorQ, newprogrammer and dimanesterchuk liked Pencil2D
    5 months ago
  • App icon
    leonardosv added Pencil2D as alternative to AnimatorMe
    11 months ago
  • WorkDoodler liked Pencil2D
    12 months ago
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Pencil2D information

  • Developed by

    Matt Chang
  • Licensing

    Open Source (GPL-2.0) and Free product.
  • Written in

  • Rating

    Average rating of 4.7
  • Alternatives

    42 alternatives listed
  • Supported Languages

    • English

AlternativeTo Category

Photos & Graphics

GitHub repository

  •  1,571 Stars
  •  283 Forks
  •  177 Open Issues
  •   Updated Jun 19, 2025 
View on GitHub

Our users have written 2 comments and reviews about Pencil2D, and it has gotten 57 likes

Pencil2D was added to AlternativeTo by Paulo Corceiro on Jun 5, 2014 and this page was last updated Jun 13, 2025.

Comments and Reviews

   
 Post comment/review
Top Positive Comment
phillipsalf
Feb 24, 2017
7

A few years later and I have changed my mind about the re-written Pencil2D App. It works so much better now and video export works on Mac and PC. It's now a quick and easy way to try out ideas using the raster layer. Changing framerate and cleaning your work up is so much better and it's actually a lovely little application - which is also free. You can import sound tracks to animate to and this works a lot better now than the old version.

Haven't changed my mind about the vector layer... so my star rating has changed from 2 to 4. If the vector layer and tools worked better, this would be a 5 star application. Sadly, I can't edit my original title which is now misleading.

old review below___

Tried different versions over the years - you can create line tests really easily using the raster layer but the vector layer is a law unto itself.

However.... try and export either a .mov on a Mac or .avi on a PC and I've never found anything happened.

Just me?

[Edited by phillipsalf, July 31]

[Edited by phillipsalf, July 31]

andrewbeardson
Jan 9, 2022
0

simple use but full of features

What is Pencil2D?

Pencil2D is an opensource animation/drawing software for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux, based on old Pencil icon Pencil software. It lets you create traditional hand-drawn animation (cartoon) using both bitmap and vector graphics.

Official Links