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Sinew

A free 2D skeletal animation editor that runs in your browser and opens Spine exports and Photoshop files.

Rig, animate and export characters, symbols and effects without installing anything or signing up. Sinew opens Spine 3.8 to 4.3 exports, imports Photoshop files, bakes 38 ready-made particle effects into bones and exports back to Spine JSON or binary, or to GIF, PNG and video.

Open Sinew free(opens in a new tab)Sinew for Construct 3

How to get it: Free

Sinew

What you get

  • Runs in the browser at sinew.slotwp.com: free, nothing to install, no sign-up
  • Opens Spine exports from 3.8 to 4.3 (.json or .skel with .atlas and images) and imports Photoshop .psd files
  • Bones, IK and other constraints, meshes, weights and skins
  • Dopesheet and graph editor for keys and curves
  • 38 particle effects, from fireworks and coin bursts to snow and fire, baked into bones and keys
  • Exports Spine JSON or binary for 3.8, 4.0, 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3, with a packed atlas
  • Renders animations to GIF, PNG, APNG, PSD, JPEG, WEBP, AVI, MOV and WEBM
  • Free Stickman Fighter example: 31 bones, over 100 animations and 16 skins

See it working

The Sinew editor playing a sword slash animation frame by frame

Animate on a dopesheet and graph

The sword slash from the free Stickman Fighter example, stepped frame by frame: bone keys, the weapon swap and the swoosh image sequence on one timeline. Switch to Graph to shape the curves.

Mesh weights on the Lucky Coin wing in Sinew

Meshes and weights

Bind a mesh to several bones and set how much each one pulls. The Lucky Coin wing bends over three bones; Smooth, Auto, Prune and Weld tidy the weights.

The same stickman rig in seven color skins

One rig, many skins

Skins swap the images on the same skeleton, so every animation works with every look. Click a skin in the Tree to see it. Stickman Fighter ships with 16.

Sinew particle library and the coin burst effect editor

38 particle effects, baked into bones

Fireworks, coin bursts, confetti, snow, fire, magic and water. Tune rate, speed, gravity, floor bounce and colors with a live preview, then create: each particle becomes a bone with keys, so the effect plays in Spine runtimes like any other animation.

Sinew export dialogs for Spine JSON and animated GIF

Export for your game, or as video

Spine JSON or binary for 3.8 to 4.3 with a packed atlas, or render the animation as GIF, PNG, APNG, PSD, JPEG, WEBP, AVI, MOV or WEBM.

The Sinew welcome screen with the Stickman Fighter example and particle library

Start from a full example

Open Stickman Fighter from the welcome screen: 31 bones, over 100 animations, IK legs, weapons and effects. Or drop a Spine export folder anywhere in the window.

Good to know

  • Open sinew.slotwp.com in Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox. In Chrome and Edge, Save writes straight back to your .sinew file; other browsers download it.
  • The editor runs in your browser: files you open are not uploaded. Work in progress is also kept in the browser, so a closed tab can be restored.
  • When you export for a game, pick the Spine version your game's runtime uses.
  • Building in Construct 3? The free Sinew for Construct 3 addon plays the same files and opens Sinew from the editor.
  • Spine is a trademark of Esoteric Software. Sinew is an independent tool from Slotgen and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Esoteric Software. Using Spine export files and Spine runtimes may require your own Spine license from Esoteric Software.

Questions about Sinew?

Send the product name, where it will run and what you want to change. We usually start the conversation on Telegram.

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