RoughAnimator - animation app Reviews

by Wootmise

I think Rough Animator is the best animating app on iPads. It’s easy, smooth, and it doesn’t crash. Some thing I wish were easier is placing an image in. I wish this was easier because when I’m adding in backgrounds, I draw from the same dimensions as the animation. Unfortunately rough animator doesn’t have a “center” option, so you always have to do it yourself. I’ll end up with bits of my background cut off of the color of the orginial background showing because I didn’t stretch it down enough. Another thing I find troublesome is adding audio. I’ve found a way to add audio,
but it’s much harder than the way I’m about to explain. Adding in music from your iTunes is super frustrating because it doesn’t work. I click on the option to add music from my library, and RoughAnimator crashes. Please fix this. One last thing is TRANSPARENCY. PLEASE... fix this. I’m having trouble editing my animations because I cannot export an animation with transparency. It’s SUPER frustrating because it’s such an easy thing to fix. PLEASE fix the transparency exports before anything else.
Thanks

by Syntonica

Works just like an animation program should! My only complaints are with the GUI. There are a couple of niceties I'd like to see. The ability to touch-hold or double-tap a frame and get a copy/cut/paste menu. The ability to slide or touch-hold to change values more quickly. A small popup or temporarily change the example in the brush button to show the size, style, etc. of the brush while changing the size or opacity. Those would greatly speed up my workflow!

Update:
Unfortunately, after beginning my project, a four-minute music video, I must amend my review and rating. The audio wave view just shows a vague representation of the sound. It does not show transients, masking it very difficult to find beats and to set cues. Also, the wave display cuts out at three minutes, despite still playing audio. Finally, the audio begins playing for no reason all the time, especially on opening the project. There's no way to stop it except to tap play and then stop. Except on doing that, the active layer disappears from view...

I really enjoy animating with this program, but the only way I can get my cues is to write them down from another program and keep a list. 😭 <- Yes, that's me crying, hoping you have an update waiting in the wings!

by IntrovertReviewer

First of all, I absolutely love RoughAnimator to death- it's extremely user friendly and to my knowledge it's the only one that actually allows audio scrubbing on the ipad.

That being said, there's a bit of a problem with the audio settings, which can be intrusive at best and downright startling/painful at worst, if you have very sensitive hearing (as I do). For some reason, if you select a frame or chunk of frames in your animation while you have audio enabled, it will play a preview of the audio wherever you are on the timeline. While I understand that this feature is there to remind the user where in the audio they are, as someone with audio processing issues I find it very startling and distracting to work with, and this feature cannot be turned off without muting the audio entirely. It really discourages me from using RoughAnimator more than i already do, and I don't... entirely understand its purpose when simply scrubbing can provide the user with the same ability to remember what part of the audio they are working with.

Overall I recommend RoughAnimator , but I would be incredibly grateful if the creator would consider a way to disable this feature so I and others with hearing issues can work more efficiently.

by Mother Of 2 Beauties

Okay, I’m not gonna try to go on an all-out rant, but I really need to talk about some problems RoughAnimator has-
Okay, so firstly, the cycle option?? What the heck does it even do?? I haven’t found one single person on the entire internet that knows how to work it. If you’re going to have an option, tell people how to work it, or check if it’s even functional. Secondly, you can’t copy and paste multiply frames onto the layer they’re already on. That may be a nit-pick, but it’s extremely frustrating to have to click the copy and paste button SO. MANY. TIMES. Not to mention making animations that are loops, and having to go through the trouble of seeing which frame is which, only to find you messed up an hour ago and can’t fix it without starting over completely.
Okay, I’m done. Please, fix these. It would make so many other people’s experience with RoughAnimator better, including mine.

by Sketchezgroup

I believe that this is the best frame by frame animation software for the iPad right now that is affordable. But there are still some nitpick that I have with it. Like how there is no stabilizer like it says that there’s a stabilizer but it’s very lag he doesn’t like work out like a normal art program like MediBang or clip studio paint works. Another thing that I have a small nitpick about are the transformation tools and how limited they are. If there was like a mess transformation I believe that will be more better so the artist won’t have to redraw the whole entire frame as it is but that’s what I have to say nonetheless this is a great program it has all the things that I need and is like a far more improved version of the paid version of FlipaClip I highly recommend it even though with the small complaints that I gave.

by Ellneedsanap

I’ve been wanting to really get into animation for a while and get a nice animation app. This seemed like a good option and I can’t say I was wrong. The interface is nice and I like being able to actually adjust frame rate properly. I do have a couple gripes though.

First of all I keep having issues with lag. I haven't had any problem with this in any other app, so I do know it’s RoughAnimator itself. (I do have a pro iPad by the way) Basically when I have a file size larger than like a hundred or so pixels it just.. lags.. really bad. My lines drag really far behind my Apple Pencil and it’s really unfortunate considering I do really like RoughAnimator. My other issue is with brushes. I do wish that there was more methods of editing them. Maybe that’s a bit too needy though considering this is just an animation app.

Anyways, for just general animation I may have to stick with something more barebones that lags less, but this is a solid app!

by D Mations

So you got all the layers and all that-you can make some pretty cool stuff in RoughAnimator - my only problem is the fact you can only add 1 bit of audio- I recommend you add some audio layers so you don’t gotta add all the sounds together first- and maybe adding a text feature?-as well as a marker brush and the ability, in the settings, to be able to fill on different layers but overall it’s pretty great- the option to fill in the back- and the front or inside is a pretty cool feature- keep up the good work my dude, one more thing as well that would make this program perfect! Maybe add a magic wand tool? So you can tap on the inside of something and it would select the inside of whatever you pressed, and it would be the only thing effected, and a gradient tool as well, and maybe a maker kind of setting for fading out? Thanks dude 👌 I’d say rough animator is worth the money

by Nubbs88

I love RoughAnimator so much! It is especially useful for storyboarding and quick animatics due to how easy it is to drag and. extend frames and overall playaround with the timeline until you get the timing you want.

If it's possible, I'd love if there was an option to make the select tool a marquee or rectangle. I think when it comes to animating, this would make it so much easier to select objects and make the flip select horizontal/vertical features a lot more useful than they are now. In particular, I would use it to make quick character turnarounds, instead of having to import the frames from procreate.

Otherwise, I am really happy with this app. I have been using it since back when it first came out and to this day, I have no regrets!

by Mega-Glitch

Amazingly there are more than one option for animation apps here, HOWEVER this is the only one that has a friendly UI, not going to burn a hole in your wallet, it’s fast, all substance, no BS, and great for roughing something out absolutely ANYWHERE (Heck I’ve been animating in bed and it’s hella comfy) and if you feel up for it, you can make a fully fleshed out animation in this program, colors, clean lines, everything! Granted, this kind of a basic traditional 2D animation program, no peg system or anything stupidly fancy so don’t expect the ability to make parallax backgrounds, 2D rigs or importing brushes from other programs like Procreate or Clip Studio Paint but that’s not the point of this, because it’s in the name “Rough” and I absolutely love it for that. It’s very easy to pick up, saves instantaneously right as you close out of the project, and I can’t recommend this enough.👌👌👌

I do have a suggestion to give it 5 stars from me, and that’s a dark mode. I personally don’t like melting my eyes out, that’s just me, a bit of an odd opinion I know, but it’d make working so much better and possibly more visually pleasing. Just throwing it out there, but it’d be nice as an option in a future update, thanks! 😘

by Perceptivisiontv

This is the only animation app on RoughAnimator Store that has a timeline, You can rotoscope, you can add audio and images and that’s amazing, but for whatever reason where RoughAnimator falls short is the brush selection. I don’t not see any option or anywhere online to download brushes or have any real knowledge to make brushes myself. This is a big problem because I noticed that my line art in RoughAnimator looks kind of ugly. The standard brush looks like a bunch of tiny dots it should be a straight line, like a vector line even. And there is a severe lack brushes on RoughAnimator and it needs to be fixed. I could easily give this five stars if there were brushes that make the art look sharper , it’s such a fantastic app for animators on a budget , Please fix this, I would even buy brushes if it were offered in RoughAnimator. There needs to be more choices for brushes, I cannot stress that enough.

by Imaginary Lines

I’ve been using this app for about a year now, and I love it. It’s easy to use, lets me change the length of frames for individual layers (which I couldn’t find on any other app) and overall makes animating simple and fun. But recently I haven’t been able to import audio files? I can import songs, but if I choose the “browse” option and click the mp3 file it doesn’t do anything. This goes for audio files that I’ve used in the past, which have always worked up until now. I don’t know what’s causing this or if anyone else has the same problem, but this has been going on for a few months at this point and I don’t know how to fix it. Most of my animations are audio based and use lip syncing, so this problem has really crippled my ability to use RoughAnimator . Please help

by Hollydolly85

I’ve only been playing with it for a few hours, but I think I actually found a decent animation app for iPad. The layout of the tools is perfect. Everything I need is where I can tap it easily. This has been a frustration for me with a lot of the apps that hide things in pop up menus. And oh my gosh, an actual traditional timeline that you can edit on the spot! It also feels nice to draw in and responds well to the Apple Pencil. A lot of apps don’t have a lasso tool, and I never understood why, because it’s one of the most useful tools in drawing and animation apps. This one has it and it works perfectly! Finally, it isn’t blurry, even when zoomed in, which is also a problem I’ve noticed with a lot of the apps I’ve tried. I’ve had a project in mind to work on for a long time, and I think I’ll test it out in RoughAnimator. Keep up the good work, animation apps are one of the things severely lacking on the iPad. This fills an enormous gap for me!

by Jse Animations

I’ve been using RoughAnimator for a while now and I want first say that I love RoughAnimator so much. The interface is very simple and easy to understand yet with RoughAnimator you can make still make animations with many layers and long lengths without RoughAnimator crashing. All that said there are a few things that I think can make RoughAnimator even better.

First I think it would be helpful if RoughAnimator had a text tool. This would be helpful for many reasons. It might also be cool if you can download fonts onto RoughAnimator to use with the text tool.

Next it would be very helpful if there were a ruler tool that can help with drawing straight lines and/or perfect circles.

Furthermore I think a blur tool would be helpful for many things including creating depth within a scene, more realistic and many more things.

Lastly I think something that would improve RoughAnimator is a way where the user can save a drawing so that they can access it again. This would be helpful for lip syncing as the user can access their mouth shapes without having to go back and copying and pasting an old frame.

These are three of the things that I think would be helpful but if these things are not possible then I also think that a tweening tool would be even more greatly helpful than all of the aforementioned things. Although copying and pasting things is not very hard it is time consuming and I believe that a tweening tool would solve this problem.

Thanks!

by The Roman Candle

This has been the first intuitive animation app that I have found for doing traditional 2D animation, not only as a mobile app, but even compared to professional desktop animation software in terms of ease-of-use. I have to disagree with those who request more features such as effects, scene transitions, etc. There are plenty of apps out there for accomplishing those tasks that can be imported from Rough Animator. I’ve worked in apps such as TV Paint, and although it’s a great piece of software, it’s just too bogged down with so many features that it practically obscures the animation features and hinders a good workflow. Can we please just keep Rough Animator as a simple app for accomplishing hand-drawn animation without all the bells and whistles to bog down an already great software? Thanks!

by Loganschuylerdavis

RoughAnimator overall is good, however, the audio system is very inconvenient and bad. Especially if you’re having errors with importing audio files into apps. I end up having to do really inconvenient swaps between stuff like iMovie, if the audio made more sense I’d actually bump this review 1 or 2 stars up. Please fix this. Also, the frame duplication here is so slow. You literally have to go frame by frame on each layer just to make a 4 second animation.

Actually, never mind, I’ve found ways to work around all of these problems. For the audio, just download another animation app that allows you to record sound directly in there, then see what timestamps audio comes at in whatever FPS you’d be using. I’m a pretty okay animator. I’d say, now I’ve improved even more. Thank you for RoughAnimator. Also, for the frame by frame issue, just make the animation more sophisticated so that you can make use of it more rather than having it be a hinderance. Or, just simply be patient.

by AylaYuFen

I mean ya sure, RoughAnimator costs money. But believe me when I say it’s worth it. If you want an animation app then get this one. I mean it goes beyond the basic requirements of being an animation app and has a lot of features that are useful like cycles and keyframes. The timeline has to be my favorite, unlike the other apps, rough animator has a timeline that can have multiple layers etc. You can also import audio and stuff. Although in my opinion I would use RoughAnimator for more “rough” animations as there aren’t a whole lot of features to make your animations pretty with things such as overlays and blending modes. You can certainly still make finish animations but you won’t get the same illustration feel as other drawing apps.

by Stupidapplenicknamebs

If you’re serious about hand drawn character animation there’s no other choice that comes remotely close to RoughAnimator. I’ve been animating professionally since 1974 and using RoughAnimator since it’s debut a few years ago. Simply the best app for professionals wanting the convenience of a mobile device to free them from their desks. It’s accessible enough to use it for my beginner students and yet powerful enough for commercial production. Jacob hit it out of the park with RoughAnimator, and it keeps getting better. The rest of the apps available are just toys, this is the real deal with a path to adobe after effects and Toonboom harmony for studios. Simply the best.

by éclatante

I was trained in animation on paper, and this app was very intuitive and easy for me to pick up. It honestly feels just like animating on paper, but more convenient. This isn’t a motion graphics or rig animation program, but its the best app I’ve found for doing purely hand-drawn animation. The brush engine, while simple, even feels more responsive and natural than in other iPad drawing apps I’ve used.

I just have ONE gripe! The play/preview button is right above the frame forward/back buttons, so when I’m drawing with one hand while flipping the drawings with the other, I accidentally press the play button ALL the time. PLEASE consider giving users the ability to customize the button layout, or at least choose between more than one prefab layout. I don’t think the play button needs to be right under your thumb, it’s not the kind of thing you need to be able to hit frequently without looking, like the frame flip buttons are.

Otherwise, fantastic job on this essential animation app!

by MagmaNinjaPro

I love using RoughAnimator so much!!! Since my laptop can’t run my animation programs I had to resort to using my iPad and I don’t regret it. To be honest, I just wish that this app was a bit more... Advance? I mean, I just wish there was a way to do effects like motion blur, fade in/out, luminance, and other cool stuff you can find in softwares like Open Toonz and After Effects. If adding a bunch of cool effects aren’t possible, I’d still be very grateful for a few common effects (like motion blur and fade in/out). I look forward to the day this app gets really superb effects you’d find in really expensive software :)

by Rez128

RoughAnimator is everything I want in an animation app. Wonderful interface, excellent feature set. But the bugs make it practically unusable. The Apple Pencil support is poor, making uneven lines and accidental pressure blots at the start of the stroke. It also crashes when attempting to import a file from the windows version. Interoperability with other platforms was a major selling point for me, but not one of them work well together. If the developer would fix the bugs then this would be my favorite app on RoughAnimator Store. If the developer is listening, please let me know where I can file bug reports. I’ve sent you emails but they appear to have been sent into the void...

Update:
Just tried 1.5.7. Apple Pencil support is still very bad. Every stroke starts with a blot at the beginning. Pressure is erratic.

Update 2:
Just tried the latest version. Apple Pencil support appears to be fixed!! Thanks for continuing to improve this! I’m having a blast with it now!

Update 3:
I’ve been using RoughAnimator for a while now since pencil support was fixed and it continues to be my favorite app on RoughAnimator Store! A feature request that could really improve the experience:
Mirroring support. Being able to see and sketch from a reverse angle really helps get proportions correct. It’s the most major thing I miss when roughing out an Anim.

Thanks so much for RoughAnimator!