Technology has come far enough that we can now do things that animators used to only imagine: make 3D animated characters, designs, and short films on a smartphone. Whether you’re on the bus, waiting at the doctor’s office, or simply inspired in the moment, you can easily bring your cartoon dreams to life with just a phone and your fingertips.
In this article, we’ll get you acquainted with the best Android and iOS apps that can get you started on your DIY 3D animation process, whether it’s just for entertainment or you’re looking to explore or expand your animation skill set. Before we jump into the list, let’s go over the considerations we took into account when creating the list.
Considerations
Here are the considerations we’ve used to narrow down the options:
- Creative possibilities: These apps allow you to create animations in a variety of styles and formats, providing a range of tools as well as a variety of possible activities within the app, such as storyboarding or producing short films with your characters.
- Efficiency: Ideally, you shouldn’t be spending hours just figuring out how the app works but be able to jump in quickly and start bringing your imagination to life. These apps will do just that.
- Quality: The apps featured here are functional and smooth, with well-produced graphics, and feature the right tools to make animating as streamlined as possible.
At the end of each app’s description, you’ll also find a quick run-down of the basics. Also, note that using a tablet instead of a phone will give you better ease and access to more complex animations; user reviews of the apps often reflect this fact.
Now, let’s get animating!
Toontastic 3D
With a focus on storytelling, Toontastic 3D is an ideal app for younger children to unleash their creative side. Chunky, fun 3D cartoon characters are brought to life with basic story outlines that kids can take on by creating their own characters and props or using the included items to customize.
User-friendly 3D drawing tools and kid-friendly in-app musical soundtracks make this an ideal choice to introduce kids to the art of animation and storytelling in film, as parents won’t have to worry about anything inappropriate. The app gets high marks from Common Sense Media reviewers, as well.
- Cost: Free
- Platform: Android
- Rating: 4.2 stars
- Audience: Geared toward kids, easy for adults
Jerky Motion
Ideal for fans of meme-creating, Jerky Motion allows the user to hone in on the animation of a single character. This app has less of a focus on characters and props (you’ll need to make in-app purchases if you want a wider selection), but offers a great base platform for lighthearted, entertaining cartoons and short video-making capabilities.
Lens flares, color grading, and options to add audio or voice recordings help add flair and pizzazz to the animated characters. Just be aware that while the app suggests it’s for ages 4 and up, Jerky Motion is better suited to older children or teenagers (and adults, of course!) in terms of usability.
- Cost: Free, with some additional costs for bonus features
- Platform: Android
- Rating: 3.9 stars
- Audience: Older children and teens
Bot3D Editor – 3D Anime Editor
Bot3D Editor makes it easy to create your own vibrant 3D animations using customizable characters. It utilizes a Full Body Inverse Kinematics Algorithm, which creates natural character movements. Whether you want your character to strike a peace sign, dance, or look surprised, the available editing tools will help your ideas come to life. You can also import audio files and give your character the ability to speak or react to sounds.
In addition to character creation, you can customize the background using the app’s image library or importing an image from your camera roll. There’s also a Live Recording feature for creating real-time videos with your characters.
- Cost: Free
- Platforms: iOS
- Rating: 3.8 stars
- Audience: Teens and adults
Plotagon
With a strong focus on storytelling, Plotagon is a great app choice for those looking for short filmmaking options or storyboarding inspiration. The animations in the app are script-based, and you can add in your own voice recordings, so it’s ideal for budding voice actors.
While it’s rated quite highly by users who enjoy its creative possibilities, be aware that some report that it can get expensive as you need to pay to access some of the higher-level features.
MJOC2
A fairly straightforward 3D animation app, MJOC2 uses simple characters, props, and scenery to allow users to create entertaining short films to share with friends and family via their phones or tablets. Characters’ appearances and vocal styles can be customized.
It was designed primarily for use with phones, so for those without a tablet, this app could be a good option. While it isn’t necessarily ideal for more sophisticated 3D animators, it’s a good choice for beginners or those looking to use it for entertainment purposes only.
- Cost: Free
- Platform: Android
- Rating: 3.5 stars
- Audience: Older children and teens
Animate em!
Though users report it might take a bit of time to master the controls, the Animate em! app is another good choice for those trying to do 3D animations primarily on mobile as opposed to desktop or tablet animations. You can create or customize characters and skins or use the ones the app provides.
While it’s a bit limited in terms of available models and props, this is a good app for amateur animators or storyboarding.
- Cost: Free
- Platform: Android
- Rating: 3.2 stars
- Audience: Beginners, those without tablets
Iyan 3D
A fun animation app for a relatively broad audience, Iyan 3D is great for burgeoning filmmakers as well as those who want to use 3D animation for pose modeling, choreography, or still images. It also allows users to render text in 3D font styles.
After importing characters and props from the app’s store, you can get right to work creating scenes or animating short films. You can also opt to import photos from your personal album to utilize, too.
Bonus: I Can Animate
For a different interpretation of what “3D animation” means, I Can Animate offers stop motion animation with the possibility to use high-definition quality capture. The UI is simple enough for children and adults to use for entertaining animation adventures.
Some of its notable features include onion skinning, time-lapse, and copy-paste for sequencing. It’s user-friendly and appropriate for all ages to use for making brief sequences and longer video features.
Note that there’s a “lite” version on offer for free, which offers the basic features of the app that are good for dipping your feet in the waters of stop-motion animation. But, for the cost of the full app, it’s likely worth the upgrade.
- Cost: ~$5
- Platforms: iOS
- Rating: 4.7 stars
- Audience: All ages and levels
License: The text of "The Best 3D Animation Apps for Android & iPad" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.