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Top 23 C++ Animation Projects
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Project mention: Show HN: Open-source pixel art editor with animation and auto-tiling tilesets | news.ycombinator.com | 2026-08-06
Nice job. I personally wouldn't switch over from my current sprite editor. I'm sure for a lot of people it's more about the workflow they're comfortable with, and I've been a pretty happy Aseprite user for years - practically a decade at this point.
The only small thing I might suggest adding is the ability to change the loop style from a regular loop to a ping-pong style loop.
https://github.com/aseprite/aseprite
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Project mention: .NET MAUI Is Coming to Linux and the Browser, Powered by Avalonia | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-11-11
> Blender: frontend Python, backend C++.
blender's frontend is pretty much exclusively C++? https://github.com/blender/blender/tree/main/source/blender/...
> Houdini: frontend Python(PyQt),
I would be infinitely surprised if Houdini's frontend wasn't also a majority C++. Likewise consider large apps such as Ardour, Krita, etc.
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o3de
Open 3D Engine (O3DE) is an Apache 2.0-licensed multi-platform 3D engine that enables developers and content creators to build AAA games, cinema-quality 3D worlds, and high-fidelity simulations without any fees or commercial obligations.
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> This fork was made on the last commit covered by the GPL version 2 license, and is now developed independently of Aseprite.
Also I am not really sure if you can convince me that this is a open source license: https://github.com/aseprite/aseprite/blob/main/EULA.txt
Not that it is a unreasonable license, but it is not open source.
[0]: https://github.com/LibreSprite/LibreSprite?tab=readme-ov-fil...
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ALS-Community
Replicated and optimized community version of Advanced Locomotion System V4 for Unreal Engine 5.4 with additional features & bug fixes
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rhubarb-lip-sync
Rhubarb Lip Sync is a command-line tool that automatically creates 2D mouth animation from voice recordings. You can use it for characters in computer games, in animated cartoons, or in any other project that requires animating mouths based on existing recordings.
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SaaSHub
SaaSHub - Software Alternatives and Reviews. SaaSHub helps you find the best software and product alternatives
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pencil
Pencil2D is an easy, intuitive tool to make 2D hand-drawn animations. Pencil2D is open source and cross-platform. (by pencil2d)
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thorvg
A production-ready C++ vector graphics engine supporting SVG and Lottie formats, featuring advanced rendering backends such as WebGPU for high-performance graphics.
Project mention: Math of Vector graphics on GPU, inspired by piet-GPU | news.ycombinator.com | 2026-01-07For anyone looking at this space: ThorVG is worth checking out.
Open-source vector engine with GPU backends (WebGPU, OpenGL), runs on microcontrollers to browsers. Now a Linux Foundation project.
https://github.com/thorvg/thorvg
(Disclosure: CTO at LottieFiles, we build and maintain ThorVG in-house, with community contributions from individuals and companies like Canva)
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In this case, it is much easier to use specialized software. In my opinion, one of the best candidates is Friction. It is amazing motion graphics application that can create an animated SVG file using the SMIL format.
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dem-bones
An automated algorithm to extract the linear blend skinning (LBS) from a set of example poses
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CppRobotics
Header-only C++ library for robotics, control, and path planning algorithms. Work in progress, contributions are welcome!
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OpenSteer
OpenSteer is a C++ library to help build steering behaviors for autonomous characters in games and animation.
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ALSXT
Seize the Means of Animation. An Unreal Engine 5 plugin that extends ALS-Refactored into a Modular, GAS-based, Data-oriented, Character System with the Latest UE5 Features.
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SaaSHub
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NOTE:
The open source projects on this list are ordered by number of github stars.
The number of mentions indicates repo mentiontions in the last 12 Months or
since we started tracking (Dec 2020).
C++ Animation discussion
C++ Animation related posts
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Show HN: Open-source pixel art editor with animation and auto-tiling tilesets
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Esoterica: Prototype Game Engine
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Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software
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Game++. Part 1.4: Game engine architectures
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Making Graphics Like it's 1993
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SVG animations with Friction
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LibreSprite – open-source pixel art editor
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A note from our sponsor - AppSignal
www.appsignal.com | 8 Aug 2026
Index
What are some of the best open-source Animation projects in C++? This list will help you:
| # | Project | Stars |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | aseprite | 38,549 |
| 2 | blender | 19,609 |
| 3 | o3de | 9,580 |
| 4 | LibreSprite | 8,183 |
| 5 | ozz-animation | 2,895 |
| 6 | ALS-Community | 2,635 |
| 7 | rhubarb-lip-sync | 2,567 |
| 8 | appleseed | 2,305 |
| 9 | synfig | 2,275 |
| 10 | fluid-engine-dev | 2,089 |
| 11 | OpenTimelineIO | 1,942 |
| 12 | pencil | 1,779 |
| 13 | reactphysics3d | 1,757 |
| 14 | thorvg | 1,757 |
| 15 | friction | 1,696 |
| 16 | ALS-Refactored | 1,445 |
| 17 | Esoterica | 1,178 |
| 18 | dem-bones | 973 |
| 19 | tweeny | 833 |
| 20 | CppRobotics | 496 |
| 21 | OpenSteer | 366 |
| 22 | SpookyGhost | 346 |
| 23 | ALSXT | 341 |
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