Friction is an open-source 2D animation and motion-graphics application for creating vector and raster animations for web and video. It can animate prepared artwork and export animated SVG, rendered video, and image sequences, but it is not a full drawing or painting program—and it does not support Lottie.
What is Friction?
Friction is designed to build motion graphics and animations rather than serve as an all-purpose graphics editor. Its features include multiple scenes and timelines, viewers and graph editing, an ECMAScript expression editor for parameters and effects, and text and path effects. It also describes customizable shader effects as experimental. See the official Friction site for its feature overview and downloads.
The distinction between animation and illustration shapes the best workflow: prepare artwork in a dedicated graphics app, then bring it into Friction to animate. Friction’s usage guide names Inkscape and Affinity Designer for vector artwork, and Krita, GIMP, and Affinity Photo for bitmap artwork. These are examples given by the guide, not a ranking of those tools.
How do you bring artwork into Friction?
Friction handles SVG differently depending on whether you import or link it:
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- Import an SVG when you want its shapes and colors editable inside the Friction project.
- Link an SVG when you want the project to refer to an external file that can be edited elsewhere and reloaded or replaced.
- Link bitmap files such as JPEG or PNG. Friction does not provide pixel-based image-editing tools, so bitmap artwork remains an external asset.
Keep linked files available alongside the project so Friction can continue to access them. A drawing tablet might be useful for creating artwork in an external graphics app, but Friction’s documentation does not require a tablet or specify a model.
What can Friction export?
Animated SVG for web
Friction exports animated SVG using SMIL. Its FAQ says it does not support Lottie and has no current plan to add it; the project instead uses SVG animation with SMIL. If a website or app specifically requires Lottie files, do not assume a Friction export will fit that pipeline. Check whether another tool or a conversion workflow meets the requirement. See the Friction FAQ.
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SVG export supports only a subset of Friction’s features, so the exported animation may not exactly match the project viewer. The export guide lists supported categories including transforms, gradients, images, text, keyframes, expressions, path and transform effects, blur, shadow, shape morphing, masking, and blend modes. Consult that guide for the current feature details and export settings before relying on a particular effect in a web deliverable.
Rendered video, audio, and image sequences
For rendered output, the export guide lists MP4/H.264, ProRes/MOV, MPEG-4, AVI, and WebM video formats, along with numerous audio formats through integrated FFmpeg. Friction also supports TIFF, PNG, and JPEG image sequences. These are formats listed in the documentation; they are not independent test results.
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The guide does not list GIF as a direct export format. Its suggested route is to export an MP4 or PNG sequence and convert it with GIFTuna or Gifski. It also notes a compatibility issue involving ProRes with alpha and Apple Silicon decoders, which may matter when handing off transparent video.
Which operating systems does Friction support?
The Friction FAQ lists Linux and Windows for x86_64, and macOS for both x86_64 and ARM64. It marks macOS support as beta and says users should expect more issues there than on Linux or Windows. Check the download section for current packages and requirements: the reviewed official materials do not establish minimum hardware specifications or operating-system versions.
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Is Friction open source, and can you use it commercially?
Yes. Friction’s FAQ says it is open source under GPL version 3 and may be used for commercial projects. The project repository specifies GPL-3.0-only. If you plan to distribute modified copies, read the license text to understand the obligations that apply to your distribution. The relevant references are the FAQ and the official repository.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Is Friction the right tool for your project?
| Need | What Friction offers | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Animate vector or raster artwork | 2D motion-graphics and animation tools for prepared assets. | Plan to create or edit artwork in a separate graphics application when you need full drawing or painting features. |
| Deliver an animated web graphic | Animated SVG using SMIL. | Confirm the destination accepts SMIL SVG and verify that the specific effects you use are supported by the SVG exporter. |
| Deliver a Lottie animation | Not supported, according to Friction’s FAQ. | Use another tool or verify a separate conversion workflow if Lottie is mandatory. |
| Deliver rendered video or image sequences | Documented video formats via FFmpeg and TIFF, PNG, or JPEG image sequences. | Check the export guide for format settings and relevant compatibility details, especially for ProRes with alpha on Apple Silicon decoders. |
| Work on macOS | FAQ-listed support for x86_64 and ARM64. | macOS is identified as beta; the FAQ warns that it may have more issues than Linux or Windows. |
Friction is a plausible fit when the job is 2D motion graphics and the delivery format matches its exports. Its clearest constraints are the separation between animation and full-featured artwork creation, the limited subset of features supported by SVG export, and the lack of Lottie support. Project versioning documentation describes X.Y.Z versioning and stable branches, but the reviewed official sources do not establish a current stable version or release date. A 4 July 2023 note for version 0.9.1 called that release beta quality and warned of missing or broken features; that is historical context, not a statement about the current release.
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