When comparing Marionette Studio vs DragonBones Pro, the Slant community recommends DragonBones Pro for most people. In the question“What are the best 2D skeletal animation tools?” DragonBones Pro is ranked 2nd while Marionette Studio is ranked 11th. The most important reason people chose DragonBones Pro is:
This is a very useful feature because you can make a walk animation that you can simply change the animation weight to see the character start running, because it will increase the scale of the movement of the bones in the animation. This will increase the hand and the leg swing as you increase the animation weight and the character, making it appear as though it is running.
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Pros
Pro Actively maintained
Marionette Studio team is actively involved in the development of this software. There is a changelog available and a public Trello board.
Pro Cloud based solution
Projects and files can be stored in cloud and the is no need for creating backups.
Pro Animation export
Animations can be exported as image packs and using some 3rd party tools can be imported and used in Unity.
Pro Easy to use
Can be used by anyone - intuitive interface and short learning curve.
Pro Web-based software
Easy to be accessed as no software needs to be download or installed on your computer.
Pro Animation weight
This is a very useful feature because you can make a walk animation that you can simply change the animation weight to see the character start running, because it will increase the scale of the movement of the bones in the animation. This will increase the hand and the leg swing as you increase the animation weight and the character, making it appear as though it is running.
Pro Switch sprites
Can easily switch sprites in between the animations like switching clothes and other multiple behaviors.
Pro Completely programmable animations
Watching and moving can be programed depending upon certain events.
Pro Animation speed changing, bone scaling, switching postures
Size as well as animation speed can be easily changed during an animation.
Pro Multiresolution with texture scale
Can easily export to different texture sizes to target multiple resolution platforms.
Pro Color transform, changeable Z-Order
Can easily change the Z-Order of a sprite during an animation and can also change the color mask on a sprite, in between an animation.
Pro Animation reuse/clone
Create once and use the same animation for different characters just by simply cloning the same animation for the new characters.
Pro Nesting skeleton, timeline tween
You can nest skeletons and change the timeline of the animation in between the animations in order to make some cool effects.
Pro Flash Pro extension, WYSWYG
There is an extension available for Adobe Flash users, which gives a WYSWYG design window inside of flash.
Pro Open source
Cons
Con It's not free
Con No integration for major game development engines
There is no integration with major game engines such as Unity, Construct 2D, Unreal, Cocos 2dx, etc.
Con Almost no documentation
Con Not developed anymore
Publisher/ Developer dropped support for the software and left it in the dark. Use Spine instead.
Con Deceptive pricing
It's not "free" if you can't save, and tutorials cost money.