BEST 3D SOFTWARE FOR ANIMATION

Pivot Stickfigure Animator is a simple, easy-to-use animation software designed for personal use. The main feature is that instead of having to redraw your character, you are able to move the specified joints inside your character from the position of the last frame. This software is ideal if you are starting out in animation. It is easy and fun to use as not only does it quickly introduce you to the animation world, it gives you a nice head start by quickly improving the quality of your animations.

The Layout

As soon as you open up pivot, you know it won't be hard. The number of functions is 15, and the toolbar has only 3 tabs: File, Options, and Help.

The file tab is the place you will be at the most when you are working with Pivot. The functions of File are to Load/Save an animation, Load/Create a stick figure, Load a background, create a New animation, or to Exit.

When you click the options tab, a small window will appear with the text "Animation Dimensions" and two options labeled Width and Height. The default is W: 506 and H: 415. Normally I never open the dimensions tab, but if you feel you want to work with a larger/smaller screen you can change them accordingly. The quality of your animations are never affected.

The Help tab is pretty intuitive, there is a read me file and an About section. Personally it is so simple that I never have had to open either of them.

On to the more confusing section, but still easy, is the main buttons off to your left. You will see a small box on the top of that left tab. There you have your main playback options: Frame rate, Repeat, and Play/Stop. Below that you have a drop down menu with a button that reads "Add Figure." Just select a figure from the drop down menu (that you have already loaded from the file tab) and press the button. The figure will appear in the middle of your screen. Below is another box with the main stick figure options: Delete, Edit, Center, Flip, Color, Size, Front, and Back. They all are self-explanatory. Right below that is the last button, the Next Frame button. Of course, that button goes to the next frame.