Commonly known as Maya, it can be the best VFX software for Mac, Windows and Linux. It is widely used in the production of movies, TV series, video games and other works. Coming with a rich array of features, this VFX software program is great for 3D modeling, animation, rendering, motion graphics and more.

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From action scenes to snappy dialogue, everything can be captured in a great storyboard.

If you are into traditional hand-drawn animation, then maybe Pencil 2D is a great software to start your animation project. This free software lets you use both raster and vector graphics and you can switch easily between the two types of artwork. Pencil 2D is a cross-platform tool and lets you focus on animating even when you are on the go.
Price: Free Platforms: Mac, Windows The more I look around the more impressed I get with free art software. It seems like the open source movement really has grown rapidly with no end in sight. OpenToonz is a very nice open source program for storyboarding.

The entertainment industry needs quality storyboard artists and those artists need great software. If you search around you’ll find plenty of options but they each have a range of features, benefits, and prices(some free!)

So what kind of software is best for storyboarding? And which programs offer the best features to support your creative projects?

I’ll go through all the best options in this post and get you started on the path to magnificent digital storyboards.

Storyboarder

Price: Free
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux

The team at Wonder Unit has developed some really cool stuff for filmmakers. One of their coolest projects is Storyboarder, a free app made for visualizing stories.

This runs on all 3 major operating systems and it’s 100% free to download and use forever. At that price who can complain?

I’d think if you’re a newbie to storyboarding then you’d want to save money at every turn. That is why Storyboarder makes such a great choice for beginners who need a simple application to practice their boards.

From a single screen you can draw each shot, add dialogue/stage directions, and even port the entire thing into Adobe Photoshop if you need a larger toolset.

Also Storyboarder comes with a play feature so you can demo your boards in a slideshow preview much like a real animatic for animation.

An excellent program for presenting to clients, or just for mucking around and practicing on your own. And you can’t beat that price tag.

Toon Boom Storyboard Pro

Price: $60/mo or $999 one-time fee
Platforms: Mac, Windows

Looking at the complete opposite of free we’ll find Toon Boom Storyboard Pro. To my knowledge this is the most expensive storyboarding software on the market and it’s also the industry standard.

A good majority of studios use Toon Boom for boarding & animating so this is something you may want to learn if you want to break into the industry.

Now with that said, it does offer a cheaper monthly fee that most people could afford compared to the upfront cost.

This monthly fee gives you a chance to test the waters and see what you think of Toon Boom without committing to a massive single use license.

So what exactly does this program give you?

Really it’s a combo of both sketching and animating together. It’s a way to sketch your boards and see how they’d animate, all while tracking your script to make sure your scenes are on target.

Toon Boom is definitely more of an animator’s program.

It can work well for ad agencies or for board artists doing small skits. But the Story Flow tool makes it a breeze for writers to switch between board & script to follow each sequence, each scene, and each act.

You can also create dynamic camera movements along with some experimental 3D features that work nicely for 3D animators. Easily import scripts from Final Draft or export your layered panels for Photoshop. Plenty of support across all the typical art industry programs.

To put it bluntly: Toon Boom Storyboard is really the professional’s program. It is not necessary to buy this in order to create a pro-level board. However it would be worth learning if you want to work in animation someday.

Adobe Photoshop

Price: $9.99/mo
Platforms: Mac, Windows

Good ol’ Photoshop.

It’s been around for 20+ years and I don’t see it going away anytime soon.

Although isn’t it funny how much Photoshop gets used for other things besides photo editing? We see it used for digital painting, pixel art, and of course for storyboarding.

You can draw digitally just as well in PS as you can in other programs. In fact, I’d argue there’s even more support now with tons of brushes for the PS environment.

Not to mention all the free storyboard templates you can get in PSD format specifically for Photoshop.

I don’t think there’s much to say about this program because every artist knows about it already.

The biggest downside is the lack of support for Linux users.

But in general Photoshop is well-supported and managed by a trusted brand. Not to mention if you already use Photoshop for digital painting then you’ll know how to use it for boarding.

Storyboard Fountain

Price: Free
Platforms: Mac

Storyboard Fountain is a newer program that I found just recently. It’s exclusive to MacOS only so it’s not an option for Windows or Linux users.

That said, if you do wanna give it a shot you’ll be impressed.

You can download the program totally free of charge from the main website. It’s currently in beta so there are many features still being worked out and smaller bugs in the process.

Once it does reach its v1.0 release I think it’ll stay free because the entire project is on GitHub. This means the source code is freely available and I doubt the creators would end up charging for it.

I really like the interface and the sidebar flow works incredibly well at presenting scenes in a linear fashion. You can quickly spot scenes that need work and rearrange them without messing up the rest of the story.

Take a peek at their preview video to see this software in action.

Considering it’s limited to Mac users this will have a smaller audience. But I’m really pleased with the GUI and the many complex features of Storyboard Fountain—especially given the $0 price.

Boords

Price: $12-$24/mo
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux

Online SaaS products are quickly becoming “the norm” for software. I don’t think desktop programs will go away but we are seeing more web-based programs like Boords that offer great solutions.

Boords works as a native storyboarding platform that gives you tons of free templates and collaboration tools.

If you’re working with clients they can log into your project space and drop comments on the work right from their computer.

You can also setup team accounts with multiple users if you’re working on a group project.

Boords has flexible frame sizes, tons of free templates, and a really cool animatic tool for presenting your storyboards before animating.

The monthly price is definitely affordable and this can work on every major operating system. Not many programs can offer this much functionality for so cheap.

Anyone looking for a collaborative solution should check out Boords. It may not suit your needs but it does offer a free trial period to see if you like it or not.

FrameForge

Price: $199
Platforms: Mac, Windows

Typically I see FrameForge referenced more in the live action world. It’s still a great program but may not be the #1 choice for animators.

Still, the art of storyboarding is not explicitly for animation. Plenty of marketing agencies need storyboards for commercials or small teaser videos. Same goes for complex movie scenes or indie filmmakers.

The nice thing with FrameForge is that you can work just like any other program, but with a heavier focus on the script.

It supports importing from the most common script writing programs like FadeIn and Final Draft. Plus you can easily jump back & forth between scenes to get an overview of the whole story.

I’d recommend this program more for artists with an interest in directi

What Is The Best Free Animation Software For Mac