Download Unreal Engine 2D animation plugin Odyssey for free
Epic Games has made Odyssey, Praxinos’s 2D animation plugin for Unreal Engine, available for free through Fab, its online marketplace.
The software – which can be used for storyboarding or texturing 3D models as well as creating 2D animation – is available for free indefinitely, and will continue to be updated.
A serious professional 2D animation tool created by former TVPaint staff
Created by a team that includes former developers of standalone 2D animation software TVPaint, Odyssey has been in development since 2019.
Part of that work was also funded by Epic Games, with Praxinos receiving an Epic MegaGrant for two of Odyssey’s precursors: painting plugin Iliad and storyboard and layout plugin Epos.
Odyssey itself was released last year after beta testing at French animation studios including Ellipse Animation, and originally cost €1,200 for a perpetual license.
Create 2D animation, storyboards, or textures for 3D models
Although Odyssey’s main function is to create 2D animation – for movie and broadcast projects, motion graphics, or even games – the plugin adds a wider 2D toolset to Unreal Engine.
Other use cases include storyboarding – you can import image sequences and turn them into storyboards – and texturing, either by painting 2D texture maps, or painting onto 3D meshes.
It supports both 2D and 3D workflows, with the 2D editors – which include a flipbook editor as well as the 2D texture and animation editors – complemented by a 3D viewport.
The bitmap painting toolset makes use of Unreal Engine’s Blueprint system, making it possible for users to create new painting brushes using a node-based workflow, and supports pressure sensitivity on graphics tablets.
There is also a vector toolset for creating hard-edged shapes.
Animation features include onion skinning, Toon Boom-style shift and trace, and automatic inbetweening.
The plugin supports standard 2D and 3D file formats, including PSD, FBX and USD.
Available for free indefinitely, but future updates planned
Epic Games regularly makes Unreal Engine assets available for free through Fab, but usually only for a limited period of time.
Odyssey is different, in that it is available for free indefinitely.
However, it will continue to get updates: according to Epic Games’ blog post, Praxinos “plans to work in close collaboration with Epic Games and continue to enhance Odyssey”.
As well as Odyssey itself, Praxinos offers custom tools development and training, which will hopefully also help to support future development.
System requirements and availability
Odyssey is compatible with Unreal Engine 5.6 on Windows and macOS. It is available for free under a Fab Standard License, including for commercial use.
Read more about Odyssey on Praxinos’s website
Find more detailed information in Odyssey’s online manual
Download Unreal Engine 2D animation plugin Odyssey for free
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