Good morning all,
Who among us hasn’t doodled in the corner of a notebook, scene after scene, creating a miniature movie for our own personal enjoyment? I know *I* did (though it was nothing like the drawing above). It was a fun way to pass the time. Over the years, the stick figure animation genre has developed right along with Internet subculture, inspiring young artists. Well, this is the 21st century … so today, we have awesome free software that takes stick figure animation to entirely new levels. Today, we’re talking about Stykz, thanks to a tweet from Twitter user Laurie Toll!
Stykz is a cross-platform, full featured, totally free stick figure animation development environment. With an intuitive yet powerful interface. A direct competitor to the also free Pivot Stickfigure Animator, Stykz offers similar capabilities (plus some more) but adds cross-platform support. (For more, read “How does Stykz compare with Pivot Stickfigure Animator (Pivot)?”
So what could someone *DO* with software like this? Take a look at this classic viral video, Animator vs. Animation (it’s actually a combination of versions 1 & 2, both of which have gone viral.) Note: as is usually the case with stick figure animation, it is (ahem) a bit violent, so, be forewarned.
We’re actually going to be experimenting with this software in our after-school media club – will let you know how it goes!
Hope this helps!
-kj-
I had a go with Styks a few hours ago and really liked its simplicity – and the fact it was free to use. Good introduction to animation and nice how it shows previous image to allow position of next drawing – fab!
So glad you liked it – can’t wait to spring it on my unsuspecting Media Club members! -kj-