Synfig
Encyclopedia
Synfig Studio is a free and open source
2D vector graphics
and timeline
-based computer animation
program created by Robert Quattlebaum with additional contributions by Adrian Bentley.
Synfig was originally the custom animation platform for the now defunct Voria Studios, but was released in 2005 as free
/open source
software, under the GNU General Public License.
, it is possible to design the animation in the front-end - Synfig Studio - and to render it at a later time with the backend Synfig Tool on another (potentially faster) computer without a graphical display connected.
The goal of the developers is to create a program that is capable of producing "feature-film quality animation with fewer people and resources." The program offers an alternative to manual tweening
so that the animator doesn't have to draw each and every frame.
The software is capable of simulating soft-shading using curved gradient
s within an area so that the animator doesn't have to draw shading into every single frame. There is also a wide variety of other real-time effects that can be applied to layers or groups of layers like radial blurs, color tweaks that all are resolution-independent. Other features include the ability to control and animate the width of lines at their individual control points, and the ability to link any related data from one object to another. Synfig also works with High Dynamic Range Imaging
.
file format, often compressed with gzip
. These files use the filename extension
.sif (uncompressed) or .sifz (compressed). The files store vector graphics data, and can also reference external bitmap
images.
Synfig can render to video formats such as AVI
, Theora
and MPEG, as well as animated graphics formats such as MNG
and GIF
. It can also render to a sequence of numbered image files, using formats such as PNG, BMP, PPM and OpenEXR
.
From version 0.62.00, Synfig has basic support for SVG
import.
Free and open source software
Free and open-source software or free/libre/open-source software is software that is liberally licensed to grant users the right to use, study, change, and improve its design through the availability of its source code...
2D vector graphics
Vector graphics
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...
and timeline
Timeline
A timeline is a way of displaying a list of events in chronological order, sometimes described as a project artifact . It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labeled with dates alongside itself and events labeled on points where they would have happened.-Uses of timelines:Timelines...
-based computer animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
program created by Robert Quattlebaum with additional contributions by Adrian Bentley.
Synfig was originally the custom animation platform for the now defunct Voria Studios, but was released in 2005 as free
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
/open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
software, under the GNU General Public License.
Features
As a true front-end and back-end-applicationFront-end and back-end
Front end and back end are generalized terms that refer to the initial and the end stages of a process. The front end is responsible for collecting input in various forms from the user and processing it to conform to a specification the back end can use...
, it is possible to design the animation in the front-end - Synfig Studio - and to render it at a later time with the backend Synfig Tool on another (potentially faster) computer without a graphical display connected.
The goal of the developers is to create a program that is capable of producing "feature-film quality animation with fewer people and resources." The program offers an alternative to manual tweening
Tweening
Inbetweening or tweening is the process of generating intermediate frames between two images to give the appearance that the first image evolves smoothly into the second image. Inbetweens are the drawings between the key frames which help to create the illusion of motion...
so that the animator doesn't have to draw each and every frame.
The software is capable of simulating soft-shading using curved gradient
Gradient
In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar field is a vector field that points in the direction of the greatest rate of increase of the scalar field, and whose magnitude is the greatest rate of change....
s within an area so that the animator doesn't have to draw shading into every single frame. There is also a wide variety of other real-time effects that can be applied to layers or groups of layers like radial blurs, color tweaks that all are resolution-independent. Other features include the ability to control and animate the width of lines at their individual control points, and the ability to link any related data from one object to another. Synfig also works with High Dynamic Range Imaging
High dynamic range imaging
In image processing, computer graphics, and photography, high dynamic range imaging is a set of techniques that allows a greater dynamic range between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than current standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods...
.
Input and output formats
Synfig stores its animations in its own XMLXML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
file format, often compressed with gzip
Gzip
Gzip is any of several software applications used for file compression and decompression. The term usually refers to the GNU Project's implementation, "gzip" standing for GNU zip. It is based on the DEFLATE algorithm, which is a combination of Lempel-Ziv and Huffman coding...
. These files use the filename extension
Filename extension
A filename extension is a suffix to the name of a computer file applied to indicate the encoding of its contents or usage....
.sif (uncompressed) or .sifz (compressed). The files store vector graphics data, and can also reference external bitmap
Bitmap
In computer graphics, a bitmap or pixmap is a type of memory organization or image file format used to store digital images. The term bitmap comes from the computer programming terminology, meaning just a map of bits, a spatially mapped array of bits. Now, along with pixmap, it commonly refers to...
images.
Synfig can render to video formats such as AVI
Audio Video Interleave
Audio Video Interleave , known by its acronym AVI, is a multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft in November 1992 as part of its Video for Windows technology. AVI files can contain both audio and video data in a file container that allows synchronous audio-with-video playback...
, Theora
Theora
Theora is a free lossy video compression format. It is developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation and distributed without licensing fees alongside their other free and open media projects, including the Vorbis audio format and the Ogg container....
and MPEG, as well as animated graphics formats such as MNG
MNG
Multiple-image Network Graphics is a public graphics file format for animated images.MNG is closely related to the PNG image format. When PNG development started in early 1995, developers decided not to incorporate support for animation, not least because this feature of GIF was seldom used at the...
and GIF
GIF
The Graphics Interchange Format is a bitmap image format that was introduced by CompuServe in 1987 and has since come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability....
. It can also render to a sequence of numbered image files, using formats such as PNG, BMP, PPM and OpenEXR
OpenEXR
OpenEXR is a high dynamic range imaging image file format, released as an open standard along with a set of software tools created by Industrial Light and Magic , released under a free software license similar to the BSD license....
.
From version 0.62.00, Synfig has basic support for SVG
Scalable Vector Graphics
Scalable Vector Graphics is a family of specifications of an XML-based file format for describing two-dimensional vector graphics, both static and dynamic . The SVG specification is an open standard that has been under development by the World Wide Web Consortium since 1999.SVG images and their...
import.
Morevna Project
Since May 2008, a group of Russian volunteers have been trying to make an animation movie project called Morevna project using Synfig. They have been making regular updates since then on the Morevna project site. Free Software Magazine recently put up an article on the same as well.See also
- KToonKToonKTooN is a software application for the design and creation of 2D animation. This tool, inspired by and for animators, is being developed by an open community...
- PencilPencil (software)There are two software products named Pencil, that are not related to each other. This article is about the graphical animation software.# A 2D graphical animation software that runs on Mac, Windows, Linux and BSD...
- InkscapeInkscapeInkscape is a free software vector graphics editor, licensed under the GNU General Public License. Its goal is to implement full support for the Scalable Vector Graphics 1.1 standard....
- Adobe FlashAdobe FlashAdobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
- Vector graphics editorVector graphics editorA vector graphics editor is a computer program that allows users to compose and edit vector graphics images interactively on a computer and save them in one of many popular vector graphics formats, such as EPS, PDF, WMF, SVG, or VML....
- Blender 3D