FREE 2D Animation Software / How to Animate in Krita!
A practical walkthrough of setting up and using Krita for 2D animation. Covers workspace setup, timeline tools, shortcuts, and a multi-step export process including the required FFmpeg dependency. ---
Key Concepts
| Concept | Definition |
|---|---|
| Krita | Free, open-source painting/animation program with Photoshop-like UI; funded by donations, so bug fixes may lag |
| Timeline panel | The core animation workspace, toggled via Settings > Dockers or Window > Workspace > Animation |
| Onion Skin | Overlay showing adjacent frames in different colors to aid in-betweening and tracing |
| Autoframe mode | Automatically creates a new keyframe when you move to a new timeline position and draw |
| FFmpeg | A free external binary required by Krita to export video files |
Notes
Canvas Setup
- 1920×1080 for short films or YouTube content
- 800×800 (square) for Instagram loops
- **Animation template** option pre-creates labeled layers for traditional-style organization
- Tutorial uses a custom 800×800 document without the template
Enabling the Animation Workspace
- Go to **Settings > Dockers > Animation** and **Timeline** to add panels individually
- Faster: **Window > Workspace > Animation**
- Onion Skin can be added via Dockers or toggled directly from the Timeline panel button
- Manually add Brush Presets docker if needed during animation work
Animation Toolbar
- Displays current frame, start/end frames, and playback controls
- **Frame rate**: Enter value directly (tutorial uses 25 fps)
- Left-side buttons: add blank frame, add duplicate frame, remove keyframe
- **Drop frame**: skips frames during playback to maintain sync on slower machines
- **Autoframe mode on**: new keyframe created on every new timeline position drawn on
- **Autoframe mode off**: all edits apply to the last keyframe made
Onion Skin
- Shows up to 10 frames before/after current frame
- Colors and opacity of each frame are adjustable
- Typical use: 1 frame showing on each side
Audio
- Options: open, mute, remove, adjust volume
- Audio support may be broken depending on build version
- Workaround: animate in Krita, add audio in a separate program post-export
- Broken audio makes in-app lip sync impractical
Layer Management on the Timeline
- Adding a new layer can hide existing animation layers from the timeline view
- Fix: **right-click a layer > Show in Timeline** to make it visible again
- Useful for focusing on one layer or previewing all layers together
Shortcuts / Hotkeys
- Access via **Krita > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts**
- Many animation tools have no default key assigned
- Recommended shortcuts to configure:
- Create blank frame
- Next keyframe
- Previous keyframe
- Remove keyframe
- Toggle onion skin
- Check existing assignments before setting new ones; override with "Reassign" if needed
- Clicking the blank square removes a shortcut
Exporting Animation
- File > Render Animation > Image Sequence
- Set first/last frame numbers
- Use **PNG** if compositing in another program (camera moves, separate backgrounds)
- Creates one image per frame — put them in a dedicated folder
Actionable Takeaways
- Enable the animation workspace via **Window > Workspace > Animation** rather than adding dockers one by one
- Right-click layers and select **Show in Timeline** whenever a layer disappears from the timeline view
- Map at minimum these five shortcuts early: create blank frame, next/previous keyframe, remove keyframe, toggle onion skin
- Download and store FFmpeg in a permanent location before attempting video export
- If exported video won't play, re-export with **baseline profile** selected; fall back to Handbrake if that fails
- Export as PNG sequence when you plan to composite with backgrounds or camera moves in another program
Quotes Worth Keeping
If you can't afford other programs or are just starting out in animation, I think this is a pretty good choice.
Write down a list of all the features you want to use when animating — that will help you work faster and figure out which keys you want to assign them to.