Menu
Camtasia 2020 makes it simple to record and create professional-looking videos on Windows and Mac. Make videos on any device, including Chromebook, Windows, Mac, and mobile. Edit on the go with mobile apps for Android and iOS devices. Cloud-based flexibility means you get unlimited storage for your media and there’s no download or software to install. GDevelop is an open source Game Making Software tool which is specially designed for Mac users. The logic of your game can be expressed easily without using a programming language. This game making tool comes with various tools and features that can help you create mobile, HTML5 or the classic games.
(Last Updated: August 19, 2018)How is it important to have a tool for creating video tutorials for Mac OS X?
As you may know, Windows is the most popular operation system around the globe. However, MAC OS is proven that it is one of the most secured, wonderful system created by Apple, based at Silicon valley of USA. We found it vital to create a tool that offer amazing features about video demonstration (tutorial) for MAC’s users similar to what we had done for Windows’ users over the past decades. While there are many tools for creating video tutorials for Windows users to choose like ActivePresenter, Camtasia, Bandicam, etc., people who use Mac sometimes have difficulty looking for a good screencasting tool. It takes them a great deal of time to create an amazing how-to video if using an inadequate application. And this is where ActivePresenter steps in.
7 best tools for creating video tutorials for Mac OS X that worth every penny
In the list, we will share with you top 7 screen recording tools for Mac, with a list of pros and cons for each one.
1. QuickTime Player – simple recorder
QuickTime Player is a default media application of Apple which allows you to play, record, edit, and share audio as well as video files on Mac. When it comes to screencasting, you can use it to record a movie by your camera and capture the screen of your Apple devices, including Mac, iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.
Pros:
- Free to record the screen, audio from microphone and movies.
- Capture full screen or an area.
- Basic editing options: trim, split, cut, copy, paste, delete and flip/rotate.
- Share videos through Mail, Messages, AirDrop, YouTube or Facebook.
Cons:
- Using advanced editing options requires the upgrade to pro version.
- Simple timeline interface.
- Low output quality.
2. ActivePresenter – Powerful screen recorder & screencast video editor
ActivePresenter is truly worth trying since it’s a so-called 2-in-1 tool. It allows you to record and save your project as multiple slides making it easier for you to edit, improve your workflow and productivity. Also, you can add so many smart annotations and triggers to create the best tutorial videos ever. With this tool, you don’t need any separate video editing software anymore. Instead, everything can be done in ActivePresenter without any interruption, time limit, watermark and pop-up ad. We believe that ActivePresenter is the best tool for creating video tutorials for Mac OS X. Let’s see why?
Pros:
- No time limit, watermark, and pop-up ad in the free version.
- Users can work with the familiar-PowerPoint interface.
- 4 capture profiles to choose according to specified purposes.
- Record the screen, audio, voice narration, movies and games.
- Capture everything, including keyboard and mouse actions.
- Record and save videos as slide-based projects.
- Offer batch operations.
- Wide selection of annotations (closed captions, shapes, text box….), interactive objects, and transition effects.
- Advanced video editing options: insert time, add music, audio, blur effect, change play speed, etc.
- Support many output formats for videos, images, documents and web, such as MP4, PNG, and HTML5 Simulation.
Cons:
- No webcam recording.
- Can’t share directly to YouTube. Users need to upload exported video manually.
3. Movavi Screen Capture Studio
Basically, Movavi Screen Capture Studio is a screen recorder for Mac that lets you capture everything on your screen. Like ActivePresenter, this tool also enables you to add background music, transitions, delete unwanted segments in your video, and save it in many formats.
Pros:
- Record any activity on the screen.
- Remove unwanted fragments.
- Add titles, music and effects.
- High-quality screencasts.
- Convert videos to many formats like MP4, MOV an AVI.
Cons:
- No webcam recording for under Mac OS X 10.6.
- Support only GIF format for images.
- Can’t upload finished videos to popular sites from within the interface.
4. Camtasia
TechSmith’s Camtasia is a familiar name in the field of screen recording software which is available for Mac OS X as well. Generally speaking, this tool also provides a variety of common features like other screencasting tools, namely choosing the screen to capture, recording audio and inserting annotations. Besides, you can add quizzes and surveys to your videos in the same way you do in Camtasia for Windows.
Pros:
- Record full screen, region, web camera, audio and voice narration.
- Insert callouts, annotations, shapes, freeze-frames.
- Add effects, transitions, blur, highlight.
- Easy to share projects made with Camtasia between Windows and Mac.
Cons:
- Complex user interface (users report).
- More expensive than other affordable screen recorders.
- Only 30-day free trial.
- The Lock to Application and Batch Production options are not available.
5. ScreenFlow
ScreenFlow is a full-featured software which makes it easier for you to create screencasts, edit and share your captures everywhere. Not only does it allow you to record the screen, but also capture what is happening on your iOS device. Like ActivePresenter, ScreenFlow has built-in transitions, annotations, mouse click effects, and closed-caption as well.
Pros:
- Create screencasts with high quality.
- Record any part of the screen or the whole screen.
- Intuitive user interface.
- Transitions, annotations, text, closed caption, audio and video filters are available.
- Provide many effects to animate titles and logos.
- Export directly to Vimeo, YouTube and Facebook.
Cons:
- Exported videos will be watermarked.
- Can’t record and save videos as slide-based projects.
- Exporting video to HTML5 is not supported.
6. iMovie
iMovie is a really powerful video editing tool for everyone who wants to create stunning videos with up to 4K resolution and experience the dynamic interface. In addition to a collection of video clips, filters, and songs from iTunes library, iMovie also comes with common features to fine-tune every clip and share directly to YouTube.
Pros:
- Beautiful and simple interface.
- Support 4K-resolution videos.
- Dozens of styles, video filters, effects and sounds.
- A collection of video clips to create amazing trailers.
Cons:
- Lack the screen recording features.
- Basic audio editor (users report).
- It’s not a good choice for professional users.
7. Final Cut Pro
Both iMovie and Final Cut Pro are video editing tools developed by Apple. Having said that, while the former is designed for novice users, the latter is suitable for professionals. Therefore, if you are a beginner, you may have difficulty in using Final Cut Pro in the first place.
Best things that Mac users can enjoy in Final Cut Pro are powerful editing tools like the innovative Magnetic Timeline 2, supported third-party plug-ins and the ability to create compound clips.
Pros:
- Offer the magnetic timeline.
- Advanced editing tools and multichannel audio editing.
- Customize projects with filters, transitions, animations, and templates.
- Create videos with extremely high quality.
- Upload files to popular websites.
Cons:
- Recording the screen is not available.
- Limited 30-day free trial.
- Complicated user interface.
- It’s not easy for newbies to use.
Which screen recording tool do you usually use to create video tutorials? Feel free to share with us, and do not forget to check out ActivePresenter blog to get more useful information about screencasting tips.
Animated Videos have become one of the signature tools of marketers worldwide for telling a story and creating effective marketing campaigns for the future.
Depending on your purpose and skills, you can choose from different types of software available both offline and online, for professionals and amateur users, 2D, 3D, whiteboard or stop motion animation tool, etc.
Below are our picks for the best animation software for mac of 2019. For more background information, see a more detailed buying advice below the picks.
Part1. Whiteboard Animation Tools
Part2. 2D Animation Tools
Part3. 3D Animation Tools
Part4. Stop Motion Animation Tools
Part5. Motion Graphics Software
How to Choose the Right Animation Software for Mac
Part2. 2D Animation Tools
Part3. 3D Animation Tools
Part4. Stop Motion Animation Tools
Part5. Motion Graphics Software
How to Choose the Right Animation Software for Mac
Part1. Whiteboard Animation Tools
#1. Best Whiteboard Animation Software for Mac: VideoScribe by Sparkol
This program is produced by Sparkol and it remains one of the best whiteboard animation software programs for both Mac and PC. You can also use it on a number of mobile devices including devices that run android. There are elements of the program that works through the cloud making it very simple to upload and edit video wherever you might be.
Videoscribe works quite intuitively for building business presentations, TED talk style videos, tutorials, creative marketing solutions and more. What is produced out of this program looks hand-drawn and extremely professional for any type of marketing campaign. The best part is that you can use many of these tools to create these effects with very little animation knowledge.
Even children enjoy using this program because of its ease of use. There is a full library of stock images, animation and more as well as an extensive voiceover soundtrack that can be used with the solutions here.
The yearly and monthly subscription also ensures that there is a flexible use for the program. It also comes with a seven-day free trial with features to try before you buy.
#2. Best Free Animation Software for Mac: PowToon
This is a fantastic online presentation maker for academic use, presentations and infographics.
The program is completely free to use and has a number of animation effects on board that can make anything exported out of the program seem extremely professional.
The free templates available in the program as well as the quality of the animations that are presented within the platform make it a true favorite amongst many brands.
A number of major companies now almost exclusively trust their creative tools to Powtoon and it can be used almost anywhere where there is an Internet connection with mass compatibility.
As a fully cloud-based system there’s no use for installation or downloads to take full advantage of it. Its available for free use on any Macintosh computer as long as you are willing to use the watermark.
Part2. 2D Animation Tools
#3. Best 2D Animation Software for Mac: Toon Boom Harmony
This is a program that actually deserves some surprising recognition. The company has partnered with major film companies like Warner brothers, Disney, and Nickelodeon and it’s currently one of the best and most powerful 2-D animation suites for commercial use.
With the use of this program you can build anything from traditional animation all the way to amazing drawing tools that can produce the future of 3-D animation. The 3-D cameras and integration available in this platform can provide fundamental solutions for drawing, rendering and building beautiful projects.
![Software For Making Videos For Mac Software For Making Videos For Mac](/uploads/1/1/7/9/117924626/921661447.jpg)
There are tools and tasks available here that can suit small hobby animators all the way up to professional uses. The premium version delivers the top tool professional solutions that you might expect at of any major animation suite. The essentials level of the harmony program is designed more for hobbyists and it delivers a scaled down version of some of their more high and customization techniques.
Toon Boom not only remains one of the best 2-D animation programs for mac but it is a regular fixture in the animation world today.
#4. Runner-up, Best 2D Animation Software for Mac: Adobe Animate
Adobe is one of the successors to perhaps one of the most popular 2-D animation software is available. At the core of Animate are the flash tools that have been working to create high-quality animations since the early days of the Internet. Today the program uses vector-based publishing to produce intuitive and inexpensive animation results.
Although it may not have all of the professional animation tools that you would find in some major production suites, it’s possible to get very professional looking results.
#5. Best Free 2D Animation Software for Mac: Pencil
This is a simple and open source vector-based program that’s designed for the Mac OS X platform. It’s also available on Linux and Windows and it was originally created for producing digital comics. The platform allows animators to use the basic hand-drawn techniques that were experimented with long in the past. Pencil is an ideal program for beginners that don’t want to invest in expensive license for a program. It can teach the basic principles of animation and with a timeline feature it’s possible to add new layers to arrange fun effects.
This is one of the best programs for beginners and sketching characters as well as setting keyframes can all be done using the pen tool, fill tool and the vector layers tool. The interface on this is actually based off of some of the original Adobe flash platform’s and it produces some good quality graphics even on a tablet device. Perhaps one of the best parts of using this program is that it automatically exports everything in.FLV which gives it mass compatibility with a number of online sources. The videos that you export here will be easy to embed or upload in video sharing sources and more.
Part3. 3D Animation Tools
#6. Best 3D Animation Software for Mac: Maya
Autodesk Maya remains one of the best 3-D modeling software programs that’s designed for Mac, Windows and Linux. The program itself has migrated many of the tools away from Autodesk Mud and now has features that you would normally find in several different pieces of software for creating highly detailed 3-D models. Autodesk Maya is a 3-D modeling software that is designed mostly for professional artists but with the templates that are available for download and the massive amount of tutorials online, it is possible to see quite a difference with this software when you are working with it over time.
#7. Runner-up, Best Free 3D Animation Software for Mac: Blender
Blender is a program that is designed with open source technology for 3-D modeling and it’s made mostly for beginners that want the option to learn how to play and get comfortable with reading modeling on their Mac computer. This open-source program does feature many of the basic features that you can expect to find including rigging, animation, architectural support and even the option to create full games. The philosophy that’s behind it allows for the inclusion of many different templates and it is very well suited to use by a number of creators. Blender remains some of the best 3-D modeling software for creative artists with its completely free use.
Part4. Stop Motion Animation Tools
#8. Best for Making Stop Motion Videos: Dragonframe
Dragonframe remains one of the best stop motion software solutions for mac today. It’s one of the top choices for many of the world’s largest studios like Laika and Aardman. It can produce high-quality masterpieces in stop motion animation and it is a perfectly suited set of professional tools. The program allows for easy capture of a number of precise movements and you can also compose in light various angles using the camera controls on board. Editing images as well as performing advanced image review techniques can all be done through the program as well.
The process of inserting and editing audio can be done according to a characters needs and based off of the animation that you want to create. The advantage to using some of the precise movements and controls in this program is that you can have a wide array of improvements at your fingertips for professional products.
#9. Runner-up: Stop Motion in Movavi Video Editor
We selected this is our runner up because with this program there’s no need to pay for a dedicated piece of stop motion software. This is an open source piece of technology that delivers a full-featured video editor that suitable for many beginners.
The program itself is perfect for getting all of the features that are often teased in many full license software programs. Because it’s open source there are also a number of templates that can make it easy to use. The full-featured video editor is excellent for its features and for the newest features that are being added by the community regularly to keep up with the stop motion technology of today.
Part5. Motion Graphics Software
#10. Best Motion Graphic Animation Software for Mac: After Effects
With a number of motion graphic animation software programs available for Mac, after effects sets itself apart.
Adobe After Effects is truly one of the most masterful programs for any motion graphic artist. Of course many of the features of aftereffects can be found in other Adobe programs, but there is no other piece of software that can be so versatile for the creation of motion graphics. The way to the menus are set up and the way that the program behaves makes it an intuitive leap for 3-D modeling and 2.5 D animation.
The whole goal of aftereffects is to help you produce almost any type of animation that you may want without having to involve 3-D modeling. After effects remains one of the primary pieces of software for motion graphic work in storyboards, motion comics and more. There are elements in this program that are close to Photoshop and illustrator but they have been optimized for the purpose of creating motion graphics here.
How to Choose the Right Animation Software for Mac
When it comes down to choosing the program that you may want to purchase a license for or download on your computer, you need to be very focused into the types of animation that you are looking for and what you need out of any program. The first thing you need to understand is the various styles and techniques for animation and what you might want out of a program:
Video Download Software For Mac
2d animation
This is the traditional style of animation that comes from the idea of cell shading or digital cell shading. In the past animators would draw images on transparent pieces of paper and then later than one frame at a time to create motion. Today drawings can be rendered and layered on top of one another using a digital timeline and computer vector animations.
3d animation
This is a completely new and different way to look at traditional animation that requires understanding the basic principles of composition, movement and 3-D modeling. Creating 3-D graphics can involve scanning objects or even piecing together various 3-D models to create characters, share complex ideas and then animate all of the items along a storyboard.
Motion graphics
A motion graphic is considered to be one of the newest forms of animation. These motion graphics are fairly common in items like banner ads, short comics and more. Usually these types of graphics are designed for commercial purposes.
Stop motion
Stop motion involves taking photos of an object and manipulating it ever so slightly to eventually produce a storyboard of motion. Completing and repeating this process over and over eventually gives the full allusion of movement. This is a very time-consuming process that often involves manipulating objects slowly over hours of movement to create just a few seconds of animation.
Software For Making Videos For Macbook
Presentation or whiteboard style
This is a popular style of animation that has taken off over the past few years. The online marketing videos that are produced and the specific programs that have been created for building whiteboard videos are proving that this is a format that truly keeps people engaged and remains a trend for school projects, business presentations and more.
You may also like:
Best Video Editing Software Mac
Software For Making Videos For Macbook Pro
Hey, My name is Paul – nice to e-meet you ? I’m a freelance video editor who has over 4 years experiences of making all types of videos. I founded this website to provide step-by-step and easy-to-follow instructions to first-time editors or beginners like you who want to start their journey in video editing.