DragonBones
DragonBones is an open-source 2D skeleton animation system and game engine plugin created by the Chinese company Egret Technology. It allows developers to create and animate 2D sprites using skeletal animation techniques commonly seen in 3D games and animation.
2d
animation
sprites
skeleton
DragonBones: Open-Source 2D Skeleton Animation System
A game engine plugin created by Egret Technology, DragonBones allows developers to create and animate 2D sprites using skeletal animation techniques commonly seen in 3D games and animation.
What is DragonBones?
DragonBones is an open-source 2D skeleton animation system and game engine plugin created by the Chinese company Egret Technology. It provides a complete workflow for creating skeletal animations for games, apps, and other interactive media.
Some key features of DragonBones include:
- Skeletal animation system for 2D graphics and sprites
- Support for importing and exporting animations in multiple formats like JSON, binary, etc.
- Built-in texture atlas packing to optimize sprite sheets
- Support for both CPU and GPU based rendering
- Plugins available for many popular game engines like Unity, Cocos2D, LayaAir, etc.
- Tools for creating and editing armatures, skins, animations, etc.
- A lightweight runtime for playing animations in games and apps
- Open source under the MIT license, written in TypeScript
DragonBones allows developers familiar with 3D skeletal animation techniques to bring similar workflows into 2D game development. Its plugin ecosystem makes integration with many game engines simple. The open source nature also allows customization and learning opportunities.
DragonBones Features
Features
- Supports skeletal animation for 2D sprites
- Can create and animate complex characters with hierarchies of bones
- Exports animations and armatures in multiple formats like JSON, binary, images
- Supports both CPU and GPU rendering for high performance
- Built-in skinning and attachments system
- Supports runtime replacement of armatures and animations
- Can be integrated as plugin into many game engines and frameworks
Pricing
- Open Source
Pros
Open source and free to use
Very fast performance for real-time 2D animation
Lots of export options make it flexible
Easy to integrate and use in games
Good documentation and community support
Cons
Requires coding skills to fully utilize
Limited 2D specific tooling compared to full 2D animation software
Not as feature rich as some commercial 2D animation tools
Can have a learning curve for new users
Official Links
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