# Animation Pro > Professional frame-by-frame animation studio for iPad with advanced tools. (iPhone/iPad app by Stephen Keen.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/animation-pro/id1098505288 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Stephen Keen](https://appshunter.io/developer/550919785) - Category: Entertainment, Photo & Video - Price: $9.99 - Rating: 3.90/5 from 145 App Store ratings · 89 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 13.0 · 233 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2016-07-04 - Data updated: 2026-06-10 - Monetization: paid - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/animation-pro/id1098505288/reviews.md ## What is Animation Pro? Produce professional frame-by-frame cut-out-style animations on your iPad. Animation Pro includes a long list of pro-level tools, such as automatic lip-synching, cloning (for automated shadows and reflections), motion-blur and camera depth-of-field to produce stunning studio quality animations. WARNING: Animation Pro is an extremely large App that will require some effort to learn and master. All Animation Pro help files and video tutorials may be found at http://www.hotjamdonut.com.au. We encourage prospective buyers to review this material prior to purchase. ANIMATING - Produce professional frame-by-frame cut-out-style, stick-figure or stop-motion animations - Add background images from your photo library or shoot them from within Animation Pro - Add videos as background images for rotoscoping with Animation Pro’s drawing tools - Add figures, images, text, audio and clones to your animations - Manage all of your assets using the integrated File Manager - Use a Shadow Wizard to quickly add shadows to your figures - See instant previews - Use onion-skins to see the difference between the previous and/or next frames - Copy and paste backgrounds, figures, frames and camera settings - Key figure, item and camera properties across multiple frames - Access web tutorials and nearly 500 pages of in-depth help (included) FIGURES Animation Pro provides all of the tools that you’ll need to create complex posable figures from one or more items. - Select from a library of pre-installed sample figures - Create your own figures using the integrated Figure Editor - Move, scale, flip and rotate figures - Colour, tint and set the opacity of figures - Blur, distort, shear, accent and highlight figures - Add glows, outlines and motion-blur - Stylise your figures with one of nine special effects e.g. Pixellate, Comic Book, Sparkle - Substitute figures as you animate - Use either forward or inverse kinematics with constraints ITEMS - Scale, flip and rotate the items within figures - Colour, tint and set the opacity of items - Bend items - Substitute items - Draw upon image items whilst you animate CLONES In Animation Pro, figures can be cloned to produce shadows, reflections or even an entire army of figures that animate automatically as the parent figure is changed. - Control which aspects of a parent figure are cloned - Use a Shadow Wizard to create realistic looking shadows AUDIO - Select from a large library of included sound effects - See audio as a wave-form on the film-strip - Record your own audio - Add audio to frames or figures - Automatically pan audio as figures move - Automatically animate/lip-synch the mouths on figures - Create your own mouths using the integrated Mouth Creator VIRTUAL CAMERA - Pan, zoom and rotate a virtual camera - Simulate camera depth of field TWEENING Animation Pro can automatically generate intermediate frames (tweens), between those that you create, to produce super smooth animations. - Take full control over which features are tweened from frame to frame - Override tweens with user-tweens where necessary EXPORTING - Export video (mov, m4v, mp4) with frame rates up to 60fps and resolutions up to 2538x1080 (Widescreen Cinema, 2.35:1) - Export HEVC video (with or without an alpha channel) from supported devices - Export image sequences (with or without transparency) - Export 3D (anaglyph or side-by-side) video or images SHARING Animation Pro allows the following items (that you create) to be exported or shared: - videos - projects - figures - images (and/or image projects) - lip-synching mouths (and/or mouth projects) - sounds For more information and tutorials, please visit http://www.hotjamdonut.com.au ## Key features - Frame-by-frame animation - Automatic lip-syncing - Cloning for shadows/reflections - Motion blur and depth-of-field - Figure editor with kinematics - Virtual camera controls - Audio integration and recording ## What do users think of Animation Pro? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🎬 Powerful skeletal/rigging animation capabilities - 💰 Excellent value for price point - 📚 Comprehensive tutorial videos and documentation - 🤖 Automatic lip-syncing feature - ⚡ Efficient tweening system saves time - 🎨 Customizable character figures and rigging - 📤 Multiple export options including PNG sequences - 🔧 Advanced features for professional animators - 👨‍💼 Responsive developer support - 🖼️ Easy integration with Procreate and other design apps **Cons** - 📚 Steep learning curve for beginners - 🖌️ Drawing tools are limited and difficult to use - 🎯 Non-intuitive user interface - 🔊 Audio issues with music interruption - ⌛ Time-consuming to master - 🖼️ Outdated visual design and aesthetics - 🎨 Drawing functionality inadequate for frame-by-frame animation - ⚙️ Complex workflow with many compartmentalized menus - 📱 Apple Pencil compatibility issues - 🎬 Limited for traditional frame-by-frame animation **Commonly reported bugs** - Camera orientation flips from landscape to portrait unexpectedly - Apple Pencil not working in figure editor - Apple Pencil extremely sensitive in drawing tools - Audio playback pauses music when using AirPods - Program sounds play despite silent mode or headphones - App crashes when exporting large files - Memory warnings during export - Drawing marks undo automatically - PNG import not working while JPG works - Tutorial videos don't match current app version - Import functionality issues with graphics - GIF import converts to static image **Most requested features** - Parabolic/curved motion tweening - Inverse kinematics (IK) for bones - SVG file import support - Vector file import capability - Ability to draw directly on backgrounds - Multiple handles on images with weight distribution - Complex binding between handle properties - Clipping masks for custom shapes - Snapping to whole numbers - Modern UI redesign - Light theme option - Custom stage/canvas size options - Ability to extend frame duration by dragging - Layering system for backgrounds and foreground - Transparent/HEVC background support - Rotating bones for 3D-like effects - Better brush options for drawing - Frame-by-frame drawing animation mode - Timeline with individual frame control - Scrolling background functionality ## Recent user reviews (10 of 89) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/animation-pro/id1098505288/reviews.md ### 5/5 — An AMAZING app! *2024-05-23* This animation app single handedly saved my animated project! I was looking for an app that supported figures and rigging, however everywhere I looked was either much too expensive, or much too complicated. However when I discovered this gem of an app I was SO happy! It was everything I had ever needed in one app! And the amount of customisation for figures is quite good! Of course there are a few bits and bobs that could use a little improvement. For example while I was animating and left the app I re-entered the app to see that my camera had completely flipped to portrait when it was originally landscape and sadly, couldn't be reversed! Overall, LOVELY app! Would recommend to people who want to try rigging and animating figures! **Developer response:** Thank you for the great review, I really appreciate it. With regard to the camera, did you try adjusting its orientation via the ‘Options’ menu on the animation screen? Animation Pro will retain the camera orientation even if your iPad is inverted; otherwise, it would be impossible to take upside-down pictures :) ### 2/5 — Nope *2023-12-29* I really wanted to like this app, but there is so much about it that is not user friendly. I found the options for drawing to be difficult to use, and lacking. I gave up not too long after trying to work in this app. ### 5/5 — Just incredible! *2023-07-02* I’ve made £300 so far making rap music videos with this app combined with LumaFusion . It’s hard to learn at first but once you get it it’s so easy . Qudos to the creator ### 1/5 — Not compatible with Apple Pencil apparently *2023-01-28, version 2.3* Hey fellas, so I was wanting to get a more easy animating app than FlipaClip because I’m a YouTuber “GriffToons” who wants to make more videos in less time so I buy this app and learn all the stuff and I go in to make a figure and what do ya know I can’t draw anything, I try with my finger to see if that works and I does but I’m not gonna do any finger painting so if this is a bug then please fix it . ### 5/5 — Fantastic *2023-01-27, version 2.3* This app blows every other iPad animation app,I’ve tried for iPad out of the water, easily. I was very surprised to see some other reviews where people said it was too complex and tutorials were inadequate. Despite having zero experience with animation software, I found it very easy to pick up and learn and found the tutorials extremely helpful. The features are rather simple, but with a little imagination, there’s all kinds of stuff you can do. I use procreate to draw the various parts of character models as well as backgrounds, then import these images into Animation Pro. I then create character models using the images exported from procreate , and then can move them about on the backgrounds I created and it uses tweening to fill in all the intermediary frames which is a lifesaver. I export the various video clips created in Animation Pro to Luma Fusion where I mix them into a well polished finished episode. I am very pleased with this app and have been using it for an animated series I’ve slowly but surely been creating with some colleagues. I am not quite sure why I don’t see it mentioned more often in discussions about animation apps for iPad, because it is the best I’ve tried, and I’ve tried most all of ‘em. ### 5/5 — Great support *2023-01-06* Like others have commented, this is a complex and powerful app. Lots of support via the built in help and the hotjam website. I have done lots of reading and viewing tutorial videos but hit a snag yesterday. I emailed the creators for help and got extremely prompt, detailed, helpful feedback that was almost perfect (but didn’t quite solve my problem). I told them, and recently another immediate email with an alternate solution that was spot on. Brilliant support! (Note, the issue wasn’t with the app but with how iOS handles files and file sharing when it comes to graphics and importing). I could not fault the developer’s commitment to supporting that wonderfully powerful app. ### 5/5 — Hidden gem! Awesome app *2023-01-04* This is just what I needed! For new animators, this has almost everything you need. And I only say almost, because I haven’t thinkers with it enough… but so thankful to the Developer for being so thoughtful about how you’ve put this together. Well thought out. Not sure why there are some negative reviews on this. I think just like in any application you need to give yourself a chance to learn all the possibilities. When you do, I’m sure it is quite rewarding. Great job on this app! I just love it!!! ### 5/5 — To the future people *2022-12-23, version 2.3* Yes I’m hoping to be rich then this is the website or app because using FlipaClip and this app you can easily make animations and a couple of hours terrifyingly fast contact start making fluffy start becoming a billionaire ### 4/5 — Amost perfect *2022-07-09* The lack of parabolic tween is unfortunate… but it have a lot of great quality ### 4/5 — Powerful, requires learning. *2022-06-28* This app is brilliant, I understand frustration of not getting a cartoon done right away, because there is a lot that can be done in it but is not very intuitive at first. There is also some major room for improvement, my main complaints now would be that there is some bugs on the audio: the clicking sounds in the program sound on the iPad speaker even if on silent mode or if you have AirPods on, also if you try to use AirPods for music while using it, every time there is a sound in the program it pauses the music. A new, more modern UI would be greatly appreciated as well. Hope the developers see this and can update the app. **Developer response:** Thank you for the feedback. I’m not sure what you mean by ‘clicking’ sounds in the audio. Please take a look at the ‘Audio’ preferences (these are accessible from Animation Pro’s ‘Projects’ screen - press the button that looks like a cog, top right). Here you can turn off all of the interface sounds (chimes, clicks etc.) and toggle a setting that will allow the audio, from other Apps, to continue whilst you are using Animation Pro. Finally there is a Bluetooth output option there that may help to deliver better audio quality to your ears. If, however, you are experiencing noise in audio captured by your iPad, you may try turning down the microphone gain (a button to do this will be present next to the microphone button when initiating recording). Because the iPad’s microphone can be quite sensitive, I find it best to lay the device down on a soft surface when recording. I hope that helps. All the very best with your animations! ## Frequently asked questions about Animation Pro ### What kind of animations can I create with Animation Pro? Animation Pro allows you to produce professional frame-by-frame cut-out-style, stick-figure, or stop-motion animations. You can add various elements like background images, videos, figures, text, and audio to bring your creations to life. ### What are the key features of Animation Pro? Key features include automatic lip-syncing, cloning for shadows and reflections, motion blur, camera depth-of-field, a comprehensive figure editor with kinematics, a virtual camera for panning and zooming, and robust audio integration including recording and waveform display. ### Is Animation Pro free to use? No, Animation Pro is a paid application. The description does not mention any in-app purchases or subscription models, indicating a one-time purchase. ### What are the learning requirements for Animation Pro? Animation Pro is described as an extremely large app that will require some effort to learn and master. Prospective buyers are encouraged to review the available help files and video tutorials on the developer's website before purchasing. ### What platforms is Animation Pro compatible with? Based on the description, Animation Pro is designed for use on an iPad. It leverages iPad-specific features for its animation capabilities. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 2.5 — 2023-11-12 A huge thank you to everyone who has supported Animation Pro over the last 7+ years! Animation Pro version 2.5 now adds the following features: - Figures now support the use of forward or inverse kinematics (or a mixture of both) - Constraints may now be applied to the items within figures e.g. to prevent a character's limbs from being moved into unnatural positions * For more information, please check out the 'Kinematics' tutorial on the hotjamdonut.com.au website - One figure may now be blended with another to produce some really cool effects * For more information, please check out the 'Figure Blending' tutorial on the hotjamdonut.com.au website - By default, Animation Pro applies the shortest path when moving a figure's items through tweens (or during key operations). Version 2.5 now allows the direction of movement to be specified. - It is now possible to drag and drop images from other (supporting) Apps onto the main animation screen or Animation Pro's figure editor - And, of course, general bug fixes ### 2.3 — 2021-09-20 A very big thank you to everyone who has supported Animation Pro over the last 4+ years! With Animation Pro version 2.3 you can now: - Export videos in 'HEVC' and 'HEVC with alpha' formats on supported devices (please see https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT207022 for details) - Quickly access all of the audio in a project via a new 'Audio List' button at the top-right of the 'Animation' screen - Add one of nine new stylisations (e.g. pixellate, comic book, sparkle) to figures in the 'Figure Inspector' - Control the order in which certain effects are applied in the 'Figure Inspector' - Long-press a frame on the filmstrip/timeline to perform a quick copy or paste - Long-press the 'Bookmark' button to see project details - Tint figures using a new 'Fill' blend-mode (this will completely fill a figure with a given colour, including any anti-aliased pixels around body parts) - Loop playback when viewing exported videos - Scale figures more precisely (between 1 and 2x) in the 'Figure Inspector' - Position figures more precisely (to 3 decimal places) in the 'Figure Inspector' - Scale items more precisely using new X and Y scaling dials on the 'Item Adjustment' screens - Choose to use higher resolution onion skins via 'Preferences' on the main 'Projects' screen - Choose to retain the positions of the items within figures when performing figure substitutions - Choose to retain deleted figures through tweens when exporting animations Version 2.3 also includes a number of bug-fixes and specifically addresses an issue under iPadOS 15 whereby progress was not being displayed correctly for certain image exports. ### 2.20 — 2020-09-22 Version 2.20 of Animation Pro includes the following changes: - All screens have now been standardised across all devices (this will allow Animation Pro to better support new devices in the future) - It is now possible to select alternate aspect ratios (other than 16:9) when creating new animation projects Bug Fixes: - Bendable items - fixed the placement of the control handles - Bendable lines - fixed a crash related to bendable lines with zero width - Figure Editor - fixed an issue where the removal of the ‘bendable’ attribute could change the size of an item’s drawing - Drawing (general) - fixed an issue where the reapplication of a distortion could incorrectly change the size of a drawing - Figure Sequences - fixed a crash related to adding figure sequences, with tweens, with one or more groups enabled - Figure Sequences - fixed an issue where the insertion of figure sequences could incorrectly add additional frames to the end of an animation - Image Creator - fixed an issue where images were sometimes being saved with a thin black border A big thank you to everyone who has supported Animation Pro! ### 2.11 — 2020-08-01 - It is now possible to insert frames from one project into another in reverse order (by selecting a start frame larger than the end frame). - The Apple Pencil may now be double-tapped to perform the function selected in the iOS ‘Settings’ App (under ‘Apple Pencil’) when drawing. - It is now possible to perform up to 99 ‘undos’ when drawing. Redo functionality is now also available when drawing. - Animation Pro will now resample large images automatically when drawing upon them (‘Animation’ screen and “Figure Editor’). - The ‘Image Cropping’ tool now includes a ‘wand’ selection tool. - The ‘Image Cropping’ tool now includes ‘undo’ and ‘redo’ functionality. - The’ Image Cropping’ tool will no longer reduce the resolution of large loaded images. - Flood-fill performance has been improved across the entire App. - A ‘Frame Scaled’ option has been added to ‘Figure Sequences’ that may produce better previews under certain circumstances. - It is now easier to display the waveform for figure audio on the timeline (and access the options for that audio) - The ‘File Manager’ now allows either the ‘current’ or the ‘original’ version of images to be loaded from the iOS photo library. Loading ‘original’ images may help when it comes to retrieving images that should have transparency (as modifications and mark-ups may have resulted in a loss of that transparency). - The ‘File Manager’ now allows images to be retrieved directly from the iOS pasteboard (a temporary location into which other Apps may paste images) - And, of course, bug fixes and performance enhancements! Version 2.1 of Animation Pro also introduces a brand new concept called ‘Groups’. ‘Groups’ allow multiple figures to be flipped, scaled, rotated or moved at once. This functionality will be further expanded in future releases of Animation Pro! Previously… Animation Pro version 2.0 now integrates drawing tools into the figure editor and the main animation screen making it possible to combine cut-out-style with traditional hand-drawn frame-by-frame animation! - Draw the image items for your figures without leaving the figure editor - Draw on the image items within your figures as you animate (or add blank figures to the animation screen and completely hand-draw them from frame to frame) - Choose from (and individually configure) multiple new ‘Brush’ types - See suggested mouth shapes and figure audio waveforms whilst drawing - Move from frame to frame (or add new frames) whilst continuing to draw on the same item - Quickly scrub between the previous/next drawings for a given item - Easily rotoscope videos loaded as background images using the new drawing features For more information, please refer to the new ‘Drawing’ topic in the Animation Pro help. As always, a very big 'thank you' to everyone who has supported Animation Pro. I hope that you enjoy this update! ### 2.02 — 2019-12-02 This version includes the following enhancement and bug fixes: 1. A 'Force Threshold' setting has been added for the Apple Pencil (Animation Drawing View/Image Creator/Mouth Creator). This may be used to specify how much force/pressure must be applied (as a percentage of the total possible force/pressure) before the brush width (or colour) will change. 2. Tool sizes were not always being set correctly (tint/select/lighten/darken) when using the Apple Pencil - fixed 3. Tool sizes were not always being initialised correctly on the Animation Drawing View - fixed 4. The scrubber on the Animation Drawing View was not always showing images in the correct order - fixed 5. The non-display of an item (in the Animation Drawing View) was not always being respected when adding a figure to an existing frame - fixed Animation Pro version 2.0 now integrates drawing tools into the figure editor and the main animation screen making it possible to combine cut-out-style with traditional hand-drawn frame-by-frame animation! - Draw the image items for your figures without leaving the figure editor - Draw on the image items within your figures as you animate (or add blank figures to the animation screen and completely hand-draw them from frame to frame) - Choose from (and individually configure) multiple new ‘Brush’ types - See suggested mouth shapes and figure audio waveforms whilst drawing - Move from frame to frame (or add new frames) whilst continuing to draw on the same item - Quickly scrub between the previous/next drawings for a given item - Easily rotoscope videos loaded as background images using the new drawing features For more information, please refer to the new ‘Drawing’ topic in the Animation Pro help. New video tutorials (available via the Animation Pro help) will also be added over the coming weeks, so please stay tuned! In addition, version 2.0 also introduces a host of other changes, bug fixes and enhancements. Here is a few of them: - Set a lip-synching strength (whisper to shout) when using automatic lip-synching - Paste a frame multiple times from the clipboard - Remove the background from multiple frames at once - Convert a clone to a regular figure across multiple frames - Choose exactly which properties to assign to an item (in a figure) across multiple frames As always, a very big 'thank you' to everyone who has supported Animation Pro. I hope that you enjoy this update! ## Apps similar to Animation Pro | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Slide AR](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/slide-ar/id1439367917) | 4.0 (8) | Free | Entertainment | | [Rzoom Pro](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/rzoom-pro/id603397068) | 1.0 (1) | Free | Entertainment | | [Choreo AR](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/choreo-ar/id1509718478) | — | Free | Entertainment | | [AVATAVI -Play with your avatar](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/avatavi-play-with-your-avatar/id1574630277) | 4.5 (30) | Free | Entertainment | | [VoiceCopy: AI Voice Generator](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/voicecopy-ai-voice-generator/id6450896342) | 1.0 (2) | Free | Entertainment | | [Fairy Tale](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/fairy-tale/id432391841) | 1.7 (7) | Free | Entertainment | ## More apps by Stephen Keen - [StickMotion Animation](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/stickmotion-animation/id593763018) All apps by Stephen Keen: https://appshunter.io/developer/550919785 --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-10.*