Install StykAnimate
Get StykAnimate on Windows or Linux, or open it in your browser, and see every screen of your first launch: What’s new, the privacy question and the editor.
This guide gets StykAnimate running on your computer and explains everything you see the first time you open it. It takes a few minutes, and StykAnimate is free: no account, no ads.
- Windows: download the installer from the download page and open it. If Windows says it protected your PC, click More info → Run anyway.
- Linux: download the AppImage, allow it to run as a program, then open it.
- Mac, a school computer, or no install at all? Open app.stykanimate.com in your browser. It is the same editor.
Your first launch, step by step
Pick your computer at the top of the playground, then click through: every screen you will see the first time, and what to press. The last step is the real editor, so you can check that posing works.
Untitled animationSavedOn the download page, click Download for Windows. When the file has arrived, open it.
- Click through the steps for your computer until the editor opens.
- Drag one of Blue’s red dots. His arm or leg moves.
- Undo it with Ctrl+Z or the Undo arrow in the top bar.
Which version should I use?
All three are the same editor, with the same tools. They differ in how you install, update and save.
| Windows | Linux | Browser | |
|---|---|---|---|
| You get | An installer (Setup), about 122 MB | One AppImage file, about 154 MB | Nothing to download: app.stykanimate.com |
| Works on | 64-bit Windows | 64-bit Linux (x86_64) | Best in Chrome or Edge, also on a Mac; Firefox and Safari open it too |
| Updates | By itself, when you choose to restart | Download the new AppImage yourself | By itself, the next time you open it |
| Your projects | Files on your computer | Files on your computer | Files you save or download; recovery copies stay in the browser |
If you can install apps, use the desktop app. If you can’t (a school computer, a Mac, a Chromebook), use the browser.
Install it
- On the download page, click Download for Windows. You get StykAnimate-1.2.0-Setup-x64.exe.
- Open the file from your downloads. If a blue window says Windows protected your PC, click More info, then Run anyway. Windows shows this because the installer isn’t code-signed yet.
- The installer asks who should be able to use StykAnimate on this computer and where to put it. The suggested choices are fine. Click through to the end and click Finish.
- StykAnimate opens. You also get a shortcut on the desktop and in the Start menu.
Click Run anyway only for the installer you downloaded from stykanimate.com or the GitHub release it links to. To be sure the file is the real one, check its checksum.
- On the download page, click Linux AppImage. You get StykAnimate-1.2.0-linux-x86_64.AppImage. This one file is the whole app.
- Move it somewhere you will find it again, for example a folder called
Applicationsin your home folder. - Allow it to run as a program. Right-click the file, open Properties and turn on the option that lets it run (its name depends on your desktop), or run
chmod +x StykAnimate-1.2.0-linux-x86_64.AppImagein a terminal in that folder. - Double-click the file. StykAnimate opens.
On a Wayland desktop, StykAnimate restarts itself through X11 as it opens, so that the canvas can use your graphics card. You don’t need to do anything.
- Open app.stykanimate.com. The editor opens with a new animation.
- Optional: install it as an app. In Chrome or Edge, use the install button in the address bar; in Safari, use Add to Home Screen. It then opens in its own window and works without an internet connection.
- Save your work as a file with Save (Ctrl+S). Chrome and Edge ask where to save it; other browsers download it.
While you work, the browser keeps a recovery copy of your project, and the next visit offers Restore unsaved work. But browsers can clear that storage: private windows, a full disk, or Safari after a week without a visit. Save a .styk file whenever you stop.
The first time you open a Pivot file, it takes a moment longer while the Pivot reader downloads (about 13 MB).
There is no Mac app yet. On a Mac, use the browser editor.
What you see the first time
The desktop app shows two windows before you can start. The browser editor shows neither: it opens straight into the editor.
- What’s new. Every time the desktop app starts, it shows the changes in your version. Recent releases lists the earlier ones. Close it with Start animating, the × or Esc. Open it again any time with Help → What’s new.
- Help shape StykAnimate (the first time only). See The privacy question below.
Then you are in the editor with a new project: Untitled animation, with Blue, a stick figure, standing on a 960 × 540 scene. The timeline at the bottom is in Advanced mode, and the animation is 10 frames long at 24 frames per second. To learn what each part of the window does, take the Tour of the editor.
The privacy question
The first time the desktop app starts, a window called Help shape StykAnimate asks whether you will share anonymous usage numbers and error reports.
- Accept shares both kinds of report. Reject keeps both off. The editor works exactly the same either way.
- Choose separately & see details lets you pick Product analytics and Performance & error diagnostics one by one, and explains what each contains.
- Your animations, file names and text are never part of a report.
- Change your answer later in Help → Privacy & diagnostics.
The browser editor sends no reports at all, so it never asks.
Check that everything works
- Drag one of Blue’s red dots. A part of his body turns, and the word next to the project name changes from Saved to Edited.
- Press Ctrl+Z. The pose goes back.
- Press Ctrl+S and save the project in a folder you can find again, like Documents. It becomes a .styk file.
If your computer’s graphics can’t be used, StykAnimate says that the canvas uses compatibility rendering, which can be slower. Everything still works. Close the message with its ×. If the canvas stays blank, see Troubleshooting.
Updates
- The installed app looks for a new version about 10 seconds after it starts, and then every hour. It downloads a new version in the background while you keep working.
- When it is ready, a message says StykAnimate 1.2.x is ready. Click Restart to update, or Later to keep working.
- If you have unsaved changes, StykAnimate asks first: Save and restart, Cancel, or Discard and restart. It never installs an update when you just close it.
To look for an update right now, use Help → Check for updates…. The Portable version (a single .exe that runs without installing) doesn’t update itself: it shows Open downloads instead.
The 1.2 AppImage doesn’t update itself. When a new version is out, download the new AppImage from the download page, allow it to run, and delete the old file. Your projects and library are not inside the AppImage, so nothing is lost.
The browser editor updates by itself. A new version downloads in the background, and you get it the next time you open the editor after closing every window of the old one.
To see what changed, use Help → What’s new in the desktop app, or read the changelog.
Check your download
The download page lists a SHA-256 checksum for each file: a long code that only the real file produces. To compare it with your file:
- Windows: in PowerShell, run
Get-FileHash .\StykAnimate-1.2.0-Setup-x64.exein your Downloads folder. - Linux: in a terminal, run
sha256sum StykAnimate-1.2.0-linux-x86_64.AppImage.
If the two codes are different, delete the file and download it again from stykanimate.com.
Uninstall
- Windows: Windows Settings → Apps → StykAnimate → Uninstall. For the Portable version, delete the .exe.
- Linux: delete the AppImage.
- Browser: if you installed it as an app, remove it from the app window’s menu. Save your projects as files first: removing it can also clear the recovery copies and the library kept in the browser.
Uninstalling the desktop app never deletes your work. Your projects stay wherever you saved them, and your library stays in Documents › StykAnimate › library.
Common questions
Is StykAnimate really free?
Yes. It is free to download and use, with no account and no ads.
Windows says the file is unsafe. Is it?
Windows warns about any program it hasn’t seen many times before, and the installer isn’t code-signed yet. If you downloaded it from stykanimate.com, click More info → Run anyway. To be certain, compare the checksum.
Nothing happens when I double-click the AppImage.
The file is probably not allowed to run yet. Turn on the run-as-program option in its Properties, or run chmod +x on it, then try again.
Can I open my animation in the browser and on the desktop?
Yes. A .styk file works in both. Save it in one, open it in the other with File → Open project….
How do I see the What’s new screen again?
In the desktop app, choose Help → What’s new. The full history is in the changelog.
Keep going
Still stuck?
Ask the community, or tell us what’s missing from the docs.