Animux is an operating system, like Windows or macOS. It replaces or sits beside them and comes with the programs an animation studio needs. It is built on Debian 12, one of the oldest and most stable Linux systems, and uses the Xfce desktop, which is simple and light.
The current release is Animux Genesis64 r16.3. It comes as one file, animux-genesis64-deb_28.iso (12 GB). The _28 is the build number, not the release.
What you get#
| For | Main programs |
|---|---|
| 3D modelling and animation | Blender 5.2, MakeHuman II and MPFB, FreeCAD, Wings 3D, MeshLab |
| Rendering | Cycles and EEVEE in Blender, POV-Ray, LuxCoreRender, Mitsuba, appleseed, pbrt |
| 2D animation | Synfig Studio, Pencil2D and TupiTube, Krita |
| Stop motion | Stopmotion |
| Drawing and images | Krita, GIMP, Inkscape, MyPaint |
| Video | Kdenlive, OpenShot, Cinelerra-GG, Avidemux, HandBrake, FFmpeg, DJV |
| Sound and music | Audacity, Ardour, LMMS, Hydrogen, MuseScore |
| Studio pipeline | Gaffer, OpenUSD, Alembic, OpenEXR, OpenColorIO |
| Render farm | Flamenco |
| AI (offline) | Upscayl (image upscaling), Whisper, rembg, Ollama, ComfyUI, LTX (subtitles, background removal, chat models, Stable Diffusion, video API), AI agents in Blender, GIMP, Krita and Inkscape (MCP) |
The software list shows all of them.
Also included: a web browser (Firefox), office-style viewers, a self-test that checks every renderer, sample scenes, and this guide.
Three ways to use Animux#
- In a virtual machine: a pretend computer inside Windows, macOS or Linux. Nothing on your computer changes. It is the best way to look around. → VirtualBox guide
- Live from a USB stick: start a real computer from the stick. It runs at full speed, and the hard disk is not touched. Anything you save inside the live system is lost when you switch off, unless you save it to a USB drive. → USB stick guide
- Installed on a disk: Animux becomes a normal system, and your files and settings stay. → Installation guide
Not sure? Start with VirtualBox.
A virtual machine is slower than a real computer, especially for 3D, but it is completely safe. When you like Animux, put it on a USB stick or install it.
What your computer needs#
| Minimum | Recommended | |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | 64-bit Intel or AMD, 2 cores | 4 or more cores, made in 2013 or later |
| Memory (RAM) | 4 GB | 16 GB or more |
| Disk space (to install) | 40 GB | 100 GB or more |
| USB stick (live use) | 16 GB | 32 GB, USB 3 |
| Graphics | any | a recent AMD, Intel or NVIDIA card |
Very old processors
Blender 5, appleseed, Mitsuba and LuxCoreRender need a processor with SSE4.2; Mitsuba and LuxCore also need AVX. Almost every Intel or AMD processor sold since about 2011 has both. On an older one these programs do not start; the self-test tells you so. See Requirements for how to check.
Is it really free?#
Yes. Animux and almost all its programs are free and open-source software: you may use them for any purpose, including paid commercial work, copy them and share them. The work you make belongs to you. Each program has its own licence; see Licences and credits.
Words you will meet#
- ISO file: one file that contains a whole disc. You use it to make a USB stick or to start a virtual machine.
- Live session: Animux running from the USB stick or ISO, without being installed.
- Render: let the computer calculate the final picture or film from a 3D scene.
- Terminal: a window where you type commands. You rarely need it; this guide gives every command in full.
More in the Glossary.