Artoonix

Before modern computers, cartoons were drawn frame by frame, which was an expensive operation. Although the artists from Hanna-Barbera figured out a smarter animation technique, an 8-minute cartoon still required thousands of paper sheets and countless drawing tools. If you wish to create your own cartoons, with drawings or pictures, you should try out Artoonix. It allows you to draw and edit individual frames, animate them, insert soundtracks and more.

The software's trial version is essentially a freeware edition, but with restricted functions and nag screens. If you look past its restrictions, you can use it for an unlimited period of time. Artoonix is compatible with numerous Windows platforms, from Win 98 to Win 7 and it does not use too much processing power or RAM.

When launched, the application will display a home screen, on which you can find your creations, as well as options for creating new cartoons, editing existing ones or playing them as movies. The cartoon editing interface resembles a basic video editor. You may create and manage frames, add audio tracks in a multi-channel timeline and preview the cartoon, on separate panels.

Once you create a new frame, the application will take you to an MS Paint-like environment. You can draw with a paint brush, insert shapes, transformations and so on. It is also possible to invert colors, blur, sharpen, add shadows and more. Inserting pictures, instead of drawing, is another possibility.

Frames can be copied, duplicated and moved, so you don't have to draw each frame from scratch. You can also set a time delay for one or more frames. The software comes with a frame tweening feature as well, which enables you to work faster and easier.