Free and Open Source: This is the most significant advantage. It is completely free for both commercial and non-commercial use, making a professional-grade tool accessible to hobbyists, students, and small, budget-conscious studios.
Powerful Feature Set: Reviewers acknowledge its "insanely powerful" and professional-grade capabilities, stating it has enough tools to create a full-length feature film. It supports both vector and raster images, offering immense flexibility.
Traditional Animation Tools: It excels at traditional workflow, including robust onion skinning, frame-by-frame animation, and the unique GTS scanning tool (developed by Studio Ghibli) for efficiently handling paper drawings.
Advanced Digital Tools: Features high-quality digital painting with anti-aliased lines, a sophisticated node-based system for effects composition, and support for plug-in development via an SDK.
Though often hidden, a vibrant community exists to provide tutorials, plugins, and support, making the effort to learn the software worthwhile for serious animators.
Steep Learning Curve: This is the biggest complaint. RDM is considered extremely complicated and confusing for beginners. Users state it "doesn't spoon-feed you," and simple features are often "hidden" or difficult to find.
Instability and Bugs: Users frequently report that the software is unstable, prone to crashing, and has various bugs and glitches. This instability can lead to the loss of hours of unsaved work, as auto-save or backup options are perceived as inadequate or non-existent by some users.
Outdated/Complex Interface: The interface is criticized for being unwelcoming, not aesthetically pleasing, and visually resembling an "old Windows application." The complex terminology and non-standard workflow make it difficult for users familiar with modern UI/UX principles.
