Best Free Adobe Animate Resources & Tutorials

There are plenty of professionals who are eager to learn Adobe Animate but hesitate because of the perceived up-front costs. Enrolling in a paid class is a common way to learn an application like Animate. However, a surprising number of free resources are available to help beginners get the hang of this exciting program. 

Read on to learn more about the different types of free resources and tutorials available to help you learn Adobe Animate and other animation applications.

What is Adobe Animate?

Adobe Animate is an Adobe application used to create 2D animation. With it, Animators can produce animation and interactive vector graphics for a variety of media, including television, games, apps, and online video. They can export their work to multiple platforms, including Flash/Adobe AIR, WebGL, and HTML5 Canvas. Animate has been used to create a number of popular cartoons, including My Little Pony and The Amazing World of Gumball. It was previously known as Adobe Flash Professional, a top-rated program in the late 1990s and 2000s.

Animate has numerous tools that allow Animators to create complex and detailed animations. For instance, its virtual camera feature can pan, zoom, and rotate animations. Audio synching lets Animators sync the audio in their animations. Vector brushes make it possible to resize, move, color, and animate brush strokes. Animation apps like Animate give Animators the tools to create things that would be difficult to draw by hand.

Read more about what Adobe Animate is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Adobe Animate?

People have been using animation for more than one hundred and fifty years to entertain and communicate a wide variety of content. Animation can grab an audience’s attention, tell stories, simplify complex content, and communicate ideas quickly. As a result of its versatility and universal appeal, animated content is used in many professions. Early animation featured hand-drawn content. However, today’s Animators use computers and animation applications such as Adobe Animate.

When people think about animation, many think of cartoons, which are indeed one thing many Animators create. Animation is in countless forms of media, and much of it develops from applications like Adobe Animate. Adobe Animate, in particular, is frequently used to generate cartoons and 2D animated television shows. The application can be used to create characters and add effects and audio, and it has developed many well-known shows and movies, including My Little Pony and The Amazing World of Gumball. However, cartoons are only one of the things that Animators create with animation apps. Apps also help to create video games for computers and mobile devices, educational content, and a wide variety of advertising and animated content for the internet.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics explains that Animators typically choose a specific medium to work in, such as television or video gaming. In addition, they often specialize within that medium. For example, some video game designers specialize in creating characters, while others focus on scenery. Animators who specialize in this way are typically part of a larger team, with each team member working on one part of a project.

Free Resources

A quick online search will generate a long list of free animation resources. However, when utilizing online sources, students need to be careful to check the reliability and truthfulness of the information they find. While the internet is a valuable source of information, it also contains outdated or incorrect information. Before using any online source, experts advise researching the author or website.

Noble Desktop is a New York City-based design and coding school with a faculty of expert instructors, and it provides free animation information on its website. Noble’s Learning Resources page has articles about animation and motion graphics that explain general animation concepts, explore careers in animation, and discuss some of the most popular animation software used by professional Animators.

Free Online Tutorials

Students who search online will find many free animation tutorials. One great place to look is on the Noble Desktop website. Noble posts free seminars on a variety of topics, including animation and motion graphics. Some examples include Get Started in Motion Graphics, an overview of motion graphics and video editing, and an introduction to animating with Adobe After Effects. Intro to Cinema 4D Lite is another free Noble seminar. It provides an overview of Cinema 4D Lite, which is an app used to create animation through Adobe After Effects.

The Adobe website is good for free tutorials on Adobe applications like Animate or After Effects. For instance, Adobe provides a number of short, free tutorials that answer common questions about Animate. These include Drawing with the Brush Tool, Managing Color in a Document, and Create an Animated Infographic. 

Video tutorials give students a lot of flexibility in learning. They can be accessed at any time and place, making video learning a lot easier to fit into a busy schedule. With video, students also have the ability to adjust the learning process to fit their own needs. For instance, they can pause and rewatch content that they need to take more time with or fast-forward sections that they think are unnecessary.

Animation Classes

While free online resources can be a valuable source of information about animation, students who want to learn an application like Animate for professional reasons often end up enrolling in a paid class. Paid classes have expert instructors who know how to explain the material and can also answer any questions students have. Further, many paid classes include mentorship and help with building a portfolio. Students who enroll in live classes have the additional advantage of access to computer labs and up-to-date animation software.

Learn Animation & Motion Graphics with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

At Noble Desktop, students can learn animation and motion graphics with hands-on classes that fit many schedules and learning styles. Every class is small and interactive and led by expert instructors. In addition, Noble always provides a free retake option. The free retake allows students to retake the same class once within a year without paying for it again. Students can gain additional animation or motion graphics skills using the free retake without investing in another class.

The After Effects Bootcamp is a popular option among students who decide to study animation at Noble Desktop. Students in this bootcamp learn After Effects, a program that professional Animators commonly use, in just 18 hours. Bootcamps like this are popular because they provide quick, intensive training that gives students a good understanding of the subject matter over only a few days. Many pick a bootcamp when they want to add one skill like After Effects to their resume.

However, bootcamps are not the best option for everyone. Some students prefer more in-depth training and opt for a certificate program instead. Certificate programs take longer to complete, but they cover more subject matter. For instance, Nobel’s Motion Graphics Certificate takes two months full-time or four months part-time to finish. During that time, the curriculum covers animation programs, including After Effects, Cinema 4D Lite, and Premiere Pro, and how to use these programs to work on multiple animation projects.

Key Insights

• If you want to learn more about animation, you’ll find lots of different free resources online.
• When using online sources, always research to ensure you get accurate and up-to-date information.
• You can use free online tutorials to understand many different animation topics.
• Many people find that video is a particularly effective way to learn.
• Despite the availability of so many free resources online, many students ultimately end up enrolling in a paid animation class.