When comparing SmoothMoves vs Marionette Studio, the Slant community recommends Marionette Studio for most people. In the question“What are the best 2D skeletal animation tools?” Marionette Studio is ranked 11th while SmoothMoves is ranked 13th. The most important reason people chose Marionette Studio is:
Marionette Studio team is actively involved in the development of this software. There is a changelog available and a public Trello board.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro PlayMaker integration
Developers echo17 provide Playmaker action scripts for SmoothMoves.
Pro Texture swapping and tinting at runtime
Animations can be re-skinned in several ways, entirely on the fly.
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.
Cons
Con Bone hierarchy is not collapsible
When working with a complex skeleton, the entire tree is always visible. There is no way to hide bones under their parents.
Con Unity Middleware
SmoothMoves is not a stand-alone application. It runs entirely within the Unity Editor, and is not compatible with other engines.
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.