What software can I use to create an animated infographic?

Question

I'd like to create an animated infographic in the style of this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgD0TY1Fe0E

... using Ubuntu Linux (10.10 Maverick).

One approach I considered was to create an animation using LibreOffice Impress, capture the video using recordmydesktop, and merge the audio using oggz-tools.

But that feels like something of a hack. Could someone please suggest a better toolchain for creating animated infographics?

Answer 1

Check out Synfig: http://www.synfig.org/

I've never used it myself, but I saw a graphics artist give a presentation on it at a Linux Fest and it looked decent.

Here is a demo reel showing some of its capabilities: http://www.synfig.org/cms/en/gallery/animation/synfig-studio-demo-reel/

Answer 2

It eas probably done with Adobe After Effects, which unfortunately is unavailable on Linux. It might be possible to find an older edition that can run under Wine, but I'm not sure if any do. You would need at least version 5 to get 3D layering.

Staying with Ubuntu, you you can try using a combination of Gimp, Inkscape, Xara Xtreme and Blender to create the animations. You would create the graphics in Gimp/Inkscape/Xara, then import them into blender as 2D surfaces to be animated.

I can't tell you how easy or difficult this would be, as I've never tried it. I ponied up years ago for a copy of After Effects and never looked back. :-)

Answer 3

I have Youtube blocked here so did not see the video :-( However, you can do a lot "animations" using a very simple method. Use Inkscape to create the graphics (not need to create every frame) and then load in some video editor - maybe KDEnlive in linux, which offers some transition effects etc. as I know.