Independent overlays
Create movable desktop overlay windows with scale, opacity, speed, visibility, lock, click-through, and always-on-top controls.
Open-source Windows desktop overlay engine
Turn your desktop into a living canvas.
OpenAnima lets you place GIFs, APNGs, WebM videos, sprites, frame animations, HUD elements, and playful game-style assets directly on your Windows desktop as movable, customizable overlays.
v1.0stable release candidate
APNG + WebMricher animation formats
Physicsmovement and bounce controls
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Library
Desktop
Settings
Library
Choose an asset pack, import new assets, review metadata, and add overlays to the desktop.
Assets: ./openanima/assets
Pack
Root assets
APNG pet
sprite run
HUD bar
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Selected Overlay
Archer_RunType: sprite_strip
Appearance
Scale: 100%
Opacity: 100%
Speed: 100%
Visible
Always on top
Click-through
A desktop overlay engine, not just a GIF player.
OpenAnima now combines asset importing, metadata editing, active overlay management, recovery tools, logging, and playful motion controls in one Windows-focused package.
Asset pack workflow
Import single assets, asset folders, folder-based packs, and zip asset packs, then switch between packs from the Library.
Smart asset setup
The analyzer classifies files before import, explains the detected type, and opens editable metadata setup screens for advanced assets.
Overlay actions
Attach actions to overlays such as opening files, folders, URLs, or launching apps, then trigger them with Ctrl + double click.
Movement and physics
Enable velocity, gravity, friction, and screen-edge bounce to make overlays feel more like desktop toys or tiny game objects.
Recovery-first runtime
Atomic config writes, safe fallback defaults, missing asset skipping, logs, diagnostics, tray recovery actions, and session reset tools keep the app recoverable.
More than APNG and WebM.
OpenAnima is built around a broad local asset workflow: simple image files, classic GIFs, modern animated formats, game sprites, spritesheets, frame folders, and layered HUD compositions.
GIFClassic animated desktop assets with speed and overlay controls.
APNGAnimated PNG playback with fallback behavior when platform support is limited.
WebMVideo overlays through Qt Multimedia, with alpha support depending on backend capabilities.
Static imagesPNG, JPG, JPEG, and WEBP files for simple transparent or non-transparent overlays.
Frame foldersFolder-based animations with metadata-driven frame playback.
Sprite stripsHorizontal or vertical sprite strips with FPS, crop, padding, loop, and preview setup.
SpritesheetsGrid or metadata-based spritesheet assets for game-style animations.
Composite UI / HUDLayered UI overlays such as HP bars, mana bars, counters, and status elements.
Interface.
Library, Desktop, Settings, Diagnostics, About, and asset setup screens are now part of the polished control panel flow. Screenshots are shown uncropped so the product UI stays readable.
Asset Library
Select packs, import assets, inspect metadata, and add visual assets to your desktop from one screen.
Desktop Inspector
Manage active overlays, edit appearance, interaction settings, actions, and movement behavior.
Settings and recovery
Change the asset folder, enable startup behavior, and recover from broken overlay states.
Diagnostics
Review runtime paths, active overlay count, log location, warnings, and recovery information.
Asset setup
Review detected types, manually override metadata, and import the asset with a safer setup flow.
Animated assets, directly on the desktop.
A quick demo is still the fastest way to understand the vibe: small animated objects living above your normal workspace.
A cleaner workflow from import to overlay.
The current version is built around a simple repeatable loop: import, verify, place, customize, recover.
Import
Add a single file, folder, folder pack, or zip-based asset pack from the Library.
Review
Use the setup window to confirm the detected type, crop frames, edit layers, or override metadata.
Place
Add the asset to the desktop and manage it from the Desktop page and Inspector.
Recover
Use Settings, Diagnostics, logs, tray actions, and safe config recovery when something goes wrong.
Advanced setup screens for sprites and HUDs.
Sprite strips can be previewed frame by frame with crop, padding, FPS, loop, anchor, and export controls. Composite UI assets get a layered editor with visibility, opacity, value, clipping, zoom, grid, bounds, and nudge tools.
Sprite strip preview and frame export
Composite UI / HUD layer editing
Live metadata edits with reload prompts
Sprite setup
Preview detected frames, tune animation metadata, and export frames when needed.
Composite builder
Edit layered HUD assets such as HP bars, mana bars, stamina bars, and other UI pieces.
What can you build with OpenAnima?
OpenAnima is not only about putting a GIF on the desktop. It is a small visual layer for playful overlays, desktop toys, creator assets, and weird interface experiments.
Desktop companions
Add animated pets, mascots, pixel characters, or small visual toys that live directly on your desktop.
Example: ghost, cat, robot, mascotGame-style HUDs
Place health bars, counters, status indicators, or ambient UI elements above your normal workspace.
Example: HP bar, combo counter, status badgeCreator visuals
Use animated overlays while recording demos, tutorials, project videos, devlogs, or lightweight streams.
Example: intro overlay, tutorial markerProductivity experiments
Prototype small animated widgets like focus timers, break reminders, ambient indicators, or visual notes.
Example: focus timer, break reminderRoadmap
OpenAnima grows from a reliable 2D desktop overlay engine into a richer asset playground step by step.
v1.0
Reliable 2D overlay engine
Library, Desktop, Inspector, Settings, Diagnostics, asset packs, APNG/WebM, config recovery, and PyInstaller packaging.
v1.x
Polish and distribution
Cleaner first-run flow, better examples, issue-driven fixes, more robust asset setup, and release packaging improvements.
Future
Richer desktop assets
More asset types, stronger creator workflows, reusable presets, and experiments with 3D desktop objects.
Try OpenAnima today.
Download the latest Windows executable from GitHub Releases, test it on Windows, and share feedback or ideas through issues.