Spine Pro vs Dragonbones

[@mariog.4484]

is dragonbones still alive? Where can I download it?

[@ThinkCitric]

Here: docs.egret.com/dragonbones/en

[@navarrofuentes]

@Shaurya Prakash Singh you can change the language in the setting panel... is not too easy to find but is not a big issue for free.

[@mry7725]

@@navarrofuentes My apologies, but I'm still rather lost. could you tell me/us where the settings panel is located?

[@mry7725]

@@navarrofuentes Oh my gosh thank you so much you're a life saver.

[@DanDan-li4hr]

do yo have app file download for this? I cant download it in the website

[@glitchborne]

Despite the fact that Dragon Bones has not been updated for a long time, it is still the best free software for 2D bone animation. You can learn all the basics in it, and then if you want to do animation professionally, you can easily switch to the Spine, but it was much better if the developers of Dragon Bones released an update that would meet modern requirements, even if it was paid $ 20-40, I think many were ready would pay, Spine s really an expensive tool for beginners, especially if you start doing animation and there is no understanding whether you can make money from it or it will remain a hobby.

[@denniscarballo4151]

for the strech image un check in the edit mesh the option deform

[@LowsSprites]

I've been using dragonbones for 3 years now. This is a very good comparison video and justifies the cost for Spine. Aside what dragonbones lacks for engine integration it's still surprisingly strong when you just need to create sprite sheets for any engine.

[@dineshdiabolic5451]

Dragonbones have option to export as "spine json" which you can use with spine runtime in game engines.

[@o2arya104]

Believe me, catching up the industry standard as a free and open sourced software is a big feat in itself.

[@oldcat1790]

Right now, Dragonbones unity implementation had last commit 2 years old. And Spine unity implementation had last commit 22 hours ago. At this point, Dragonbones runtime is abandonware.

[@KalponicGames]

When no new change is needed and it's fine without any updates then there is no need of any updates. Some is paid so it gets frequent updates. Here is an example. You have a shop with no income will you keep running it? That is your answer. In the end pick up your own poison. People making animations with Dragon bones professionally for long time now.

[@jahn_star]

12:31

[@jejajorinu3082]

​@@KalponicGames Dragonbones have a big problem with "mesh" because it's cause blur effect on images... so, I think in that point the software "needs" to fix this bug. And, of course, can have a new improvements... but I agree with "Re Mora"... it's look like a abandonware... it's usefull, but I think still need updates.

[@oldcat1790]

@@KalponicGames unity constantly introduces massive changes (and bugs) with every big release, which forces spine developers to adapt to them even if they have nothing more to add. I'll be VERY surprised if Dragonbones is coded in such a magical way that it needs no such adaptations whatsoever. So it can be pretty deadly poison, unless you are prepared to fix their runtime by yourself.

[@Jottagelado]

I don’t think its even possible to download it anymore, at least for me everylink in the page is dead.

[@laurac.4509]

This is a very comprehensive video, thank you. I've been using Dragonbones for a few months now, and I really like it, but some of those Spine features are exactly what I need, and I never even knew it.

[@ThinkCitric]

Glad it was helpful! :)

[@B4uneed]

Very professional approach ! Thank you very much for this work of video.

[@RetroGameRepublic]

Best comparison video of these two programs that I have seen. Thanks.

[@ThinkCitric]

Wow, thanks! :)

[@sequoia5934]

i live for these types of ranking videos

[@Miguel7456lmkuutti]

Soo... The part in 11:22 is kind of giving me the impression, that you can export a project from Dragonbones into Spine and use the best features of both. That would be pretty sweet considering all the time saved avoiding the tedious parts 😅

[@SteelWingSkar]

I wanted to try game animation, but don't have money for Spine and I was a little suspicious if there's a point of spending time in free DragonBones. However it looks like DB is still a decent and I can't wait to try it out. Thank you very much for interesting video c:

[@Corilo91]

I was looking exactly for a video like this! Thank you! Depends on where someone is from, $300 can be a LOT of money...

[@RedaChekirine]

I'm currently working on a game, and I use dragonbones, and have no problem with unity it's working like a charm yes he doesn't have constraints but if you do things a la old school you can achieve the result you want, personally I prefer deforming the mesh manualy, there is more freedome and at least im not limited to the constraints limitations Oh and thnx for the video

[@ThinkCitric]

Yeah, that's pretty much the conclusion: you can achieve the result very close to Spine, but it'll cost you time and effort.

[@TeckGeck]

Awesome video, I've been thinking about purchasing Spine for awhile now but I've recently discovered a similar rigging structured 2D animation software called Moho and now I'm conflicted which one to go with. It would be awesome if you could compare the two!

[@motionhokage]

DragonBones offset lifehack - just copy your cycle to 3 parts and then work on middle one, and you can offset keys you want, but its work if you will render it as sequence, i dont know how programmers will add your animation to engine xd

[@ThinkCitric]

This is brilliant!

[@kate_kate_kate]

Very useful video Narrator sounds like GPS navigator :)

[@nicholasengland8605]

Think you very much for making this video, I found really helpful.

[@felsenstern]

Thanks a lot for this great comparison. I'm in the process in settling for an affordable and usable 2d animation software and wondered how spine would compare to live 2d (which I try to avoid because of the lack of a perpetual software license). And the of course alternatives like Adobe Animate or Synfig Studio. However, thanks again for this comparison and all these great tutorials in your channel!

[@HojjatAMRezaei]

Great video, thank you for your attention to the comments (specially my comment on the video)

[@daksdi8963]

Can you review Cut Out Animation Tools addon for Blender?

[@Regetaconadventures]

great vid! I am really just looking into things as a newb, I dont mind paying for a software but I think dragonbones being free will allow me to mess around with this sort of thing to see if this is something I really want to do

[@jefm32]

If your looking into just 2d animations for web for even mini show or ads, take a look at Moho. The Debut version costs as much as Spine ESS but has *almost* all the Spine PRO features. Spine is WAAAAAY too expensive.

[@Captkid1]

Agreed, the price of Spine is beyond the reach of many artist. I think that while this review was good, the wait given to Free -vs- $300 was quite skewed.

[@Toebiscuit]

If only Moho supported JSON export (for runtime support, not just 2D animation). I've been bugging them about that for years. =[

[@zywang2271]

Thanks a lot, I just want to find a software to play with first, I think now I can start from Dragonbones. 😋

[@LalLTa]

Lots of effort, love, and passion are poured in this video.

[@蒙版酱汁]

都很棒 的软件！使用龙骨很多年了 ！有钱会考虑买一个Spine!他有更强大的功能吸引我！

[@SatoKazuya]

There's also a software called Creature by kestrelmoon, can you consider do a comparison in the future?

[@ThinkCitric]

Yes, absolutely, it's on my list.

[@helenawilsena5821]

One of the great video. I love it...

[@SalariaStudios]

It looks to me like this software was designed mostly to make the transfer from psd to spine easier and it became it's own software after a while. Much like how blender started as a video editing software and was slowly updated to do 3d software manipulation towards the end of the original studios life

[@Cryssball]

you're getting blender confused with something else. blender was intended to be a 3d toolset from the start

[@mohamedkamergi412]

@Think Citric Hi! can you make a comparison between Spine and Creature pro ?

[@B-Century]

Thank you very much i was going to spend nearly $400 on spine2d and it seems like its going to happen, there goes my 1 week pay.

[@-e6195]

before all of that you need to compare how accessible is it to download the program, i CANT even download dragonbones because their webpage is broken so.. they automaticaly loose everything else

[@ThinkCitric]

I used this link back then, when making this video, and it used to work for me: docs.egret.com/dragonbones/en But now it seems that the whole Egret documentation website is broken, not just the DragonBones part. I'd say it's a temporary issue, their other websites seem to be up and running.

[@mcvideos4602]

do you plan to do a comparison with Moho?

[@steveking-yu7cu]

do one for live2d vs spine

[@pixel_dank]

Can I make animation videos with dragon bones or only for games?

[@RoxasPikachu]

the only small thing i want to ask is do both programs creates animations in gifs? excuse my silly question but im just a small artist and not good at making codes or games ( i might work with someone in the future.) , i hope i hear from you soon- and want to try your games owo

[@ThinkCitric]

It's actually better than GIFs: they both create a small configuration file that stores the animation data. It saves a lot of disk space and RAM, improving the game performance. But if you need a GIF or a sequence of frames (like PNGs), they both can do that too.

[@RoxasPikachu]

@@ThinkCitric glad to know that! Oh by the way how you manage to get dragonbones? Because when I tried to download it it kept giving me errors. I'm very stuck qwq

[@ThinkCitric]

@@RoxasPikachu Yeah, they've moved it to another link, and didn't update the website for some reason. :/ This one worked for me: docs.egret.com/dragonbones/en

[@RoxasPikachu]

@@ThinkCitric thank you so much! ill tag you in my first try post and hope i hear from you soon owo

[@Mihimal]

im only a 2D animater. is Dragonbones good for me?

[@amharmuftin2752]

i tried to instal dragonbones, but no use because some problem of adobe air, it says "initial content could not be found for this application, try re-installing or contacting the publisher for assistance". is anibody can help to solve my problem?

[@DanDan-li4hr]

do yo have app file download for this? I cant download it in the website

[@haroldandrescarrenobedoya3032]

excelente, gracias 👌🏻

[@Veins1]

9:49 was that snake made in Spine? how?!?!

[@ThinkCitric]

Well, that's the only one in the whole video that's not 😅😆 But great idea for a follow-up video though!

[@willgorut87]

Great video and great review. I hope you can help me with a question about a particular topic I have not found much help honestly, except for a channel named gilanimation where the guy is using Dragonbones and he's able to switch an image from an opened hand to a fist during the walk cycle of his character. Is that possible to do in Spine? I'm asking because my character is kind of similar to Samus (Metroid) and I need her to transform her arm into a laser beam while walking or running and due to the disadvantages for animation in Dragonbones I was hopping to find a feature for switching images in Spine pro, I have the version 3.8. I hope you can help me. Thanks.

[@ThinkCitric]

Yes, absolutely, it is possible to do in Spine as well. You can attach multiple images to the same slot and easily switch between them - only one image will be displayed at the same time.

[@willgorut87]

@@ThinkCitric thanks! When you say "only one image will be displayed at the same time" means that the image will be displayed in the particular frame you need? Would you be able to make a quick video to explain that? I would love that. Thanks again.

[@Godlimate]

Just saw the video from Gilanimation. Looks like you can add multiple layers of images in one bone and choose which image you want to show or hide... this would be super great if spine can do this...

[@Godlimate]

​@@willgorut87 basically the video showed that in one bone, you can add multiple images and choose which image you want to show or hide. So for instance, if you have an open hand and a closed hand stuck to one bone, you could animate it to make whatever shows or hides in real time animation... If Spine can do this, then that would answer your question, but I assume it does since it allows you to customise the image setting with different colours as seen in your video.... but I don't know.

[@willgorut87]

@@Godlimate yeah, that's exactly my point. Figure out if you can do the same in Spine. So far what I have seen about that functionality is this kzbin.info/www/bejne/j4rXkIOdaamYhpI like transitioning from one image to another with some sort of fading effect. I think it would be it, yet I will test it myself.

[@TrentKaniuga]

You just saved me tons of wasted time. Thank you.

[@GikePeterson]

You can make transform constraint to move bones in opposite direction in dragonbones drive.google.com/file/d/1CacMv2CFfp6f4ImBAWqY9qD98IIYnvIm/view?usp=sharing

[@ThinkCitric]

Nice! How did you do that?

[@GikePeterson]

@@ThinkCitric Im trying to post link but i cant(

[@ThinkCitric]

@@GikePeterson can you try again please? Sometimes comments with links get blocked, but haven't seen anything in the blocked comments.

[@GikePeterson]

@@ThinkCitric I Sent to you by mail

[@ThinkCitric]

@@GikePeterson I've watched it. It is truly awesome! Can I share your link here? I think a lot of people will find it extremely useful.

[@blasterxt9]

Hey please do a comparison of rive vs. spine

[@leleleonardo7801]

muchísimas gracias

[@BossAlien56]

thank you very much

[@siberiongames16]

Should I use Spine Essentials or Unity2D Animations?

[@maheshsomwanshi6879]

Nice and informative video ... You should try moho studio pro ...

[@andrybrz3535]

You the best! 😃

[@Exirock]

Dragonbones is impossible to download, i the page seems to be broken for over 6 months, i lost my installer now im screwed, and Spine way too expensive.

[@jabourq]

Can confirm, I can click some links but nothing that brings me to any kind of download

[@Exirock]

@@jabourq i already sended an email 3 days ago to them but i have alot people telling me it can take months until they see it, just like the current website problem, the only way is to ask someone that has the installer.

[@jabourq]

@@Exirock I was able to find a download to 4.9 on Internet Archives thankfully. But despite it prompting for an update upon launch, it fails to update. Hopefully the website is fixed soon!

[@ninalindqvist7411]

@@jabourq google "majorgeeks dragonbones" for 5.6.2

[@ktvoid]

what version of photoshop was used here?

[@ThinkCitric]

It was either Photoshop 2020 or 2021, don't remember exactly.

[@Helthurian]

This comparison makes it seem like you'll lose many hours over time if you use Dragonbones (DB). I was just researching because a devlog mentioned DB and I became interested. Now I know if I ever make a 2D game, Spine Pro is the best option. Good vid, very clear and concise!

[@lord_lilith]

Probably a silly question but could this be used for vtubing?

[@Hijab_Diffusion]

Do comparison with rive Nima app

[@ThinkCitric]

I didn't know about this one, but it looks very impressive! Added to my list!

[@Hijab_Diffusion]

​@@ThinkCitric ikr, looking forward to your pro insight!!!

[@sequoia5934]

i need spine vs moho

[@swingingartist5651]

Where can i get Dragonbones though?

[@ThinkCitric]

Here: docs.egret.com/dragonbones/en

[@swingingartist5651]

@@ThinkCitric Thank you!

[@antonovanimation]

Thx!

[@Kaedohplaydoh]

Is fruit vs vegetables finished

[@ThinkCitric]

Not yet, unfortunately. 2020 has been harsh for me as well, so I had to shift my focus from the actual development for a while.

[@fuadmohammed8066]

cool...

[@ABond]

Try moho

[@DailyFootballEditsDFE]

is dragon bones still free?

[@ThinkCitric]

Yes, it still is.

[@kennybaltazaralanoca6235]

I'm felling that I love Spine pro ... :')

[@michaelhong5941]

dg dealing big size files is very delay, same file into spine is easy to work

[@AWario93]

Spriter 2 is coming ❤️ best rigging software

[@ThinkCitric]

Will definitely check it out!

[@appolity]

I hope it comes out soon XD otherwise I’d probably end up using both software. I feel like switching to Spine because the skin mode in Spriter crashes and well, even when I open my file, the whole skeleton is screwed up and I have to restart

[@userhome79]

WaybackMachine is your friend.

[@Takishao]

why i can't download dragonbones i really like it.

[@ThinkCitric]

They've moved it to another link, but left the old website running for some reason. This one worked for me: docs.egret.com/dragonbones/en

[@DearFox]

isn't the Dragonbones dead?

[@blackgrin3507]

I still use bone a lot to this day and have introduced it to a couple people who are interested in spine but the price of buying it it’s a little frightening and they would like to at least get familiar with the program and see if they are actually really interested in the whole workflow of it before committing to buying it’s fine The price differences I feel like it’s always going to keep bones somewhat around but they haven’t been updating it if that’s what you’re referring to....

[@nickmack7282]

what a voice

[@fablewalls]

Dragonbones is Chinese owned - are there any security risks? I always read on KZbin comments that Cocos for example has some dubious privacy settings.

[@nowherefool5869]

you said dragonbones doesn't have transform constraints, so how is this possible? kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpW7oZecft6XrtE is this an add-on? what's it called?

[@ThinkCitric]

It's a clever use of bones hierarchy. Apparently, you can mimic some of constraints functionality, if you'll turn off child bone's inheritance of scale and rotation. Then you control the child bones by scaling or rotating the parent one. It's not like a traditional constraints feature, but you can still get very impressive results out of this.

[@karyjas1]

I had used dragonbones a little bit, but i would always prefer to make professional level animations over amateur. So this video only convinces me to buy spine. Afterall Spine has better animation tools and the software in mind exists for the purpose of animating

[@brian10508]

Dragonbones is dead, no more new support for new version of Unity or other Engine, the website has shut down as well. Spine is your best go, or using Anima2D for Unity can be an alternative, but the user interface sucks, a painful experience.

[@hi_its_jerry]

aargh its pirate time!

[@lazymay7654]

Aaaargh 🏴‍☠️

[@greatrespect1549]

Spoiler alert.... spine always wins...

[@igorthelight]

I prefer Dragonbones Z :-)

[@leopoldmcfitz1124]

dragonbones is quite possibly some of the worst software i've ever seen. it's completely unsuable

[@-Engineering01-]

Spine is efficient cuz it is not free and fki*+n expensive while dragon bones is free!