Hi. I just want to say that Pencil 2D version 0.6.5 is working very well for me because the latest version 0.6.6 which was released over a year ago doesn’t work as well for me. The interface was a mess and I couldn’t properly import any audio and I couldn’t scrub it either. Sometimes, using older versions of software are more user-friendly than newer versions.
I can’t wait until Pencil 2D cooks up a new and improved version including new features like layer types and cel-animation emulation options like drop shadow, graininess, and very slight blurring and darking of cel levels on top of the background, suitable for those who are fans of those old imperfections as seen for cartoons, especially television ones produced from 2004 and before. TV shows like King Of The Hill, The Simpsons, The Powerpuff Girls, Ed, Edd and Eddy and Dexter’s Laboratory were the last major animated television series to utilize the traditional cel animation technique.
In the digital age, there’s no point in why we should use actual cels and film to make our animated movies with. Of course, you SHOULD and CAN still use the old animation process technique, if you want to. Obsoleteness is a matter of personal opinion.
We strongly recommended against anyone using older versions of Pencil2D, including v0.6.6. The latest stable version has very important fixes for certain issues including file corruption bugs, as well as various new features. You may still encounter issues with the newest version of the program, but it is far better to work out what is going on with those and address them directly than going to an older version of the program where you will encounter issues which have already be fixed and want features which have already been implemented.
As for the features you are suggesting, some of them may be implemented in the future, but some are very unlikely to ever be implemented. Applying video filters for example tends to be a task best suited for the video editing or compositing stage, not for the animation stage that Pencil2D is focused on.
There’s nothing wrong with using the traditional cel animation process at all. I believe people should and can still use real cels in animated productions today!
The problem is, however, cels are really expensive if you buy over 100,000 of them! Cels are even more expensive than sheets of paper! Not that you need that many, but making high-quality full animation is costly with the traditional cel animation method and all of those cels and drawings would take up space, especially in your own bedroom. If you’re only using a relatively few drawings and cels, than you’re good.
You said you like the 90s, well, guess what…much of the animated TV shows, short films and feature films back in the 1990s used the traditional cel animation process. But also many of the cartoons back then used computers much like we do today! Obviously, the interface to make cartoons digitally was a different animal from how we make them in the 2020s. But nevertheless a lot of the principles for making cartoons on a computer from back in the 90s apply today. I said earlier that the traditional cel animation process was used for making television cartoons as recent as 2004! That’s amazing!
I think the older animation process should make a comeback in independent filmmaking as I feel there’s a certain craft to it. Computers make cartoon making a lot quicker, easier and cheaper than ever before! I love digitally made cartoons but traditionally made cartoons need to reappear at some point in time.
And I agree! Pencil2D really IS the best hand-drawn animation software! Not only because it’s free, but it’s also because it’s easy to use AND allows you to make cartoons much like how people used to do it decades ago, only digitally, which also makes it quicker to make them provided you have friends to help you with the process.
Pencil2D really IS the best hand-drawn animation software! 
Not only because it’s free, but it’s also because it’s easy to use AND allows you to make cartoons much like how people used to do it decades ago, only digitally, which also makes it quicker to make them provided you have friends to help you with the process. 