Best 2d animation software (help! theres a lot to choose from)

Hi! Please help I don't know what to use theres a lot: spine, spriter etc. What 2d animation software is "best" to use and is compatible with iOS games from stencyl. By best I mean easy to use and makes good 2d animations. Hopefully free and makes vector art. Thanks.

I found this, but no idea how good it is, but it appears to be skeletral based like Spine

http://dragonbones.github.io/

Flash works well and is vector, but it's not cheap.

If and when we decide to adopt skeletal animation software (please don't ask for estimates/updates - when it happens, it'll happen quickly), we'll keep it as generic as possible and aligned with the existing animation system, so you don't have to change anything to use it at a basic level. Even importing animations will be done directly inside the actor editor's appearance page.

Extensions will be used to support functionality specific to any one package using blocks.

If I had to name a package we'd adopt first - Spine would be the top choice if only because the Haxe support is best for it (but not complete). Spriter's support in Haxe is by far the weakest (close to non-existent), and Dragonbones is in between.

Ive used spriter previously, and then exported the animations. (further to that I used the free version of .. errm. game maker i think? - to then import those animations, edit them if need be, and output them as sprite sheets to import into Stencyl.) Most actors in my game 'Spoogo' used spriter and this method.

Congrats to your 1.000th post, spoogob 

 
Didn't notice that. lol

Spriter's support in Haxe is by far the weakest (close to non-existent)

That is disappointing to hear. :/  Haha.  Maybe I should jump ship and start working with Spine…. but I'm enjoying learning Spriter!  Can't have it all I suppose.

If and when we decide to adopt skeletal animation software (please don't ask for estimates/updates - when it happens, it'll happen quickly), we'll keep it as generic as possible and aligned with the existing animation system, so you don't have to change anything to use it at a basic level. Even importing animations will be done directly inside the actor editor's appearance page.

Extensions will be used to support functionality specific to any one package using blocks.

If I had to name a package we'd adopt first - Spine would be the top choice if only because the Haxe support is best for it (but not complete). Spriter's support in Haxe is by far the weakest (close to non-existent), and Dragonbones is in between.

I take the fact that Spine is not free doesn't dissuade you?

People who are adept and serious enough to use these packages are probably going to pay for them. DragonBones isn't truly free because it's a plugin for Flash Studio, which is far from free. The only free solution is the basic version of Spriter.

If I need professional tools (or arts, music or whatever) I have to pay for it. Sure, there's a lot free stuff around, but especially if you design a product like Stencyl, you need reliable partners you want to cooperate with / support their tools.

It's not funny if you implement a free toolset into your toolbox and after 12 months the open source developers start studying or get bored or whatever and stop the development.

I am fine with paying for Spine if I do need this kind of animations (which might happen one day). It's another 60$ on top of my toolbox, that's okay.  Spriter will end probably around $35 to $45 (except with a free version), but Spine is afaik the most mature and most supported tool-set.

I'd agree with some of previous speakers that Adobe Flash is the most useful tool for 2d animation and easy to learn.