New Explainer Video Software Showdown Top Picks for 2024

New Explainer Video Software Showdown Top Picks for 2024

Charlotte Lv12

Explainer Video Software Showdown: Top Picks

6 Best Explainer Video Software You Should Try

author avatar

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

The explainer video is the best content marketing strategy in recent times. It can be effectively used in order to communicate with your target audiences. Whether about your service, product or brand, the videos can be of several classical types for making animation .

The explainer videos let you get into the detailing of your service or product with the right message and it is the most effective way of video marketing. It plays an important role in engaging your audience and letting them understand your idea about your product or service.

Powerful animation software can help in making an amazing explainer video. In this article, you will learn the best explainer video software available to make your task easy and fast.

The Importance of Explainer Video

The explainer videos let you explain your business idea with a crisp personal message to your target audiences, building trust and a connection with your viewers. A small message within a second can grab the attention of your users if you place an explainer video on the landing page. It increases the visit time of your audience by 2 minutes.

The colors, landscape, and background of your video also play a major role in attracting your viewer’s attention. Character customization in your videos can generate an emotional connection with your audiences. This, in turn, helps to build trust and brand awareness.

Best Explainer Video Software

1. PowToon

PowToon is a 2D animation tool to create explainer videos and engage, teach or interact with friends or other viewers. If you feel ignored by your students or colleagues, create an explainer video with PowToon and grab the attention of every single audience. The features of PowToon are-

  • Complete an explainer video in just 20 minutes
  • Scripted and fully designed templates
  • Various training programs and webinars are conducted
  • Super fast and professional results
  • Proven to be more effective than any other tool

2. Rawshorts

From animation to ease of access, Rawshorts gives the users whatever they need to create an explainer video at the tip of their fingers. You just need to browse and select the right template, customize by adding text, media, transitions and more to enhance your explainer video and finally export and share. The features are-

  • Intuitive and easy platform
  • Drag and drop interface
  • Professional templates library
  • Animated charts

Rawshorts

3. MotionArtist Software

Do you wish to bring the texts, word balloons, or characters to life? Use the MotionArtist, a specifically designed explainer video software that allows you to access easily to use tools for creating motion comics. The features of this tool are-

  • A powerful and intuitive way to add motion
  • The illustration can be used powerfully to create animation
  • Enter graphical representation in your explainer video
  • Automatic and advanced camera options with 3d effects

MotionArtist Software

4. Easy Sketch Pro

This explainer video software comes with some of the best features like you may choose from 500 icons, select the hotspot size, color, visibility, text and much more. Other feature includes-

  • Addition of autoresponder
  • Customize and add the webinar registration form from GoTo Webinar
  • In your explainer videos, you may add Vimeo or YouTube videos
  • Add SoundCloud mp3 to your videos

Easy Sketch Pro

5. CrazyTalk Animator

CrazyTalk Animator can be downloaded free separately for Windows and Mac users. For the users in trial versions, the CrazyTalk Animator offers G3 Character human template and 3 x fully functional PSD project. The features include-

  • Addition of animal, human, wings and spine characters from the G3 Motion libraries
  • Give smooth expressions with enhanced sprite-based face system
  • 2D motion key editing
  • Face and puppet key editor
  • G2 characters have 3D motion key editor
  • The elastic effect motion controller
  • Timeline editing

CrazyTalk Animator

6. Animatron

An engaging and fun animated explainer video maker, Animatron is a free marketplace with several pre-animated sets. Animatron explainer video software helps in creating videos that can help in increasing ROI and boost your marketing as well. The features of Animatron are-

  • Select from a range of pre-animated characters, props, and backgrounds to tell your story
  • Pre-animated characters and sets can be edited to adapt them to your business
  • Video customization by importing images, audio and fonts
  • Embed your creation on any website or blog
  • Several themes available

Animatron

Conclusion

With the state-of-the-art marketing creations and advances, the video marketing platform attaining greater heights with each passing day. It can be about your company or how-to videos, explainer videos or webinars, training videos or satisfied customer testimonials. Adding the right video to the landing page can help you with 80% more conversions.

Explainer video still continues to progress and is affecting the lives of the people positively. The explainer video software has transformed the businesses meaningfully and helps to further create much-needed videos without any major difficulty. You may try the above-mentioned animated explainer video software available in the market to enhance your business grow and prosper.

author avatar

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

The explainer video is the best content marketing strategy in recent times. It can be effectively used in order to communicate with your target audiences. Whether about your service, product or brand, the videos can be of several classical types for making animation .

The explainer videos let you get into the detailing of your service or product with the right message and it is the most effective way of video marketing. It plays an important role in engaging your audience and letting them understand your idea about your product or service.

Powerful animation software can help in making an amazing explainer video. In this article, you will learn the best explainer video software available to make your task easy and fast.

The Importance of Explainer Video

The explainer videos let you explain your business idea with a crisp personal message to your target audiences, building trust and a connection with your viewers. A small message within a second can grab the attention of your users if you place an explainer video on the landing page. It increases the visit time of your audience by 2 minutes.

The colors, landscape, and background of your video also play a major role in attracting your viewer’s attention. Character customization in your videos can generate an emotional connection with your audiences. This, in turn, helps to build trust and brand awareness.

Best Explainer Video Software

1. PowToon

PowToon is a 2D animation tool to create explainer videos and engage, teach or interact with friends or other viewers. If you feel ignored by your students or colleagues, create an explainer video with PowToon and grab the attention of every single audience. The features of PowToon are-

  • Complete an explainer video in just 20 minutes
  • Scripted and fully designed templates
  • Various training programs and webinars are conducted
  • Super fast and professional results
  • Proven to be more effective than any other tool

2. Rawshorts

From animation to ease of access, Rawshorts gives the users whatever they need to create an explainer video at the tip of their fingers. You just need to browse and select the right template, customize by adding text, media, transitions and more to enhance your explainer video and finally export and share. The features are-

  • Intuitive and easy platform
  • Drag and drop interface
  • Professional templates library
  • Animated charts

Rawshorts

3. MotionArtist Software

Do you wish to bring the texts, word balloons, or characters to life? Use the MotionArtist, a specifically designed explainer video software that allows you to access easily to use tools for creating motion comics. The features of this tool are-

  • A powerful and intuitive way to add motion
  • The illustration can be used powerfully to create animation
  • Enter graphical representation in your explainer video
  • Automatic and advanced camera options with 3d effects

MotionArtist Software

4. Easy Sketch Pro

This explainer video software comes with some of the best features like you may choose from 500 icons, select the hotspot size, color, visibility, text and much more. Other feature includes-

  • Addition of autoresponder
  • Customize and add the webinar registration form from GoTo Webinar
  • In your explainer videos, you may add Vimeo or YouTube videos
  • Add SoundCloud mp3 to your videos

Easy Sketch Pro

5. CrazyTalk Animator

CrazyTalk Animator can be downloaded free separately for Windows and Mac users. For the users in trial versions, the CrazyTalk Animator offers G3 Character human template and 3 x fully functional PSD project. The features include-

  • Addition of animal, human, wings and spine characters from the G3 Motion libraries
  • Give smooth expressions with enhanced sprite-based face system
  • 2D motion key editing
  • Face and puppet key editor
  • G2 characters have 3D motion key editor
  • The elastic effect motion controller
  • Timeline editing

CrazyTalk Animator

6. Animatron

An engaging and fun animated explainer video maker, Animatron is a free marketplace with several pre-animated sets. Animatron explainer video software helps in creating videos that can help in increasing ROI and boost your marketing as well. The features of Animatron are-

  • Select from a range of pre-animated characters, props, and backgrounds to tell your story
  • Pre-animated characters and sets can be edited to adapt them to your business
  • Video customization by importing images, audio and fonts
  • Embed your creation on any website or blog
  • Several themes available

Animatron

Conclusion

With the state-of-the-art marketing creations and advances, the video marketing platform attaining greater heights with each passing day. It can be about your company or how-to videos, explainer videos or webinars, training videos or satisfied customer testimonials. Adding the right video to the landing page can help you with 80% more conversions.

Explainer video still continues to progress and is affecting the lives of the people positively. The explainer video software has transformed the businesses meaningfully and helps to further create much-needed videos without any major difficulty. You may try the above-mentioned animated explainer video software available in the market to enhance your business grow and prosper.

author avatar

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

The explainer video is the best content marketing strategy in recent times. It can be effectively used in order to communicate with your target audiences. Whether about your service, product or brand, the videos can be of several classical types for making animation .

The explainer videos let you get into the detailing of your service or product with the right message and it is the most effective way of video marketing. It plays an important role in engaging your audience and letting them understand your idea about your product or service.

Powerful animation software can help in making an amazing explainer video. In this article, you will learn the best explainer video software available to make your task easy and fast.

The Importance of Explainer Video

The explainer videos let you explain your business idea with a crisp personal message to your target audiences, building trust and a connection with your viewers. A small message within a second can grab the attention of your users if you place an explainer video on the landing page. It increases the visit time of your audience by 2 minutes.

The colors, landscape, and background of your video also play a major role in attracting your viewer’s attention. Character customization in your videos can generate an emotional connection with your audiences. This, in turn, helps to build trust and brand awareness.

Best Explainer Video Software

1. PowToon

PowToon is a 2D animation tool to create explainer videos and engage, teach or interact with friends or other viewers. If you feel ignored by your students or colleagues, create an explainer video with PowToon and grab the attention of every single audience. The features of PowToon are-

  • Complete an explainer video in just 20 minutes
  • Scripted and fully designed templates
  • Various training programs and webinars are conducted
  • Super fast and professional results
  • Proven to be more effective than any other tool

2. Rawshorts

From animation to ease of access, Rawshorts gives the users whatever they need to create an explainer video at the tip of their fingers. You just need to browse and select the right template, customize by adding text, media, transitions and more to enhance your explainer video and finally export and share. The features are-

  • Intuitive and easy platform
  • Drag and drop interface
  • Professional templates library
  • Animated charts

Rawshorts

3. MotionArtist Software

Do you wish to bring the texts, word balloons, or characters to life? Use the MotionArtist, a specifically designed explainer video software that allows you to access easily to use tools for creating motion comics. The features of this tool are-

  • A powerful and intuitive way to add motion
  • The illustration can be used powerfully to create animation
  • Enter graphical representation in your explainer video
  • Automatic and advanced camera options with 3d effects

MotionArtist Software

4. Easy Sketch Pro

This explainer video software comes with some of the best features like you may choose from 500 icons, select the hotspot size, color, visibility, text and much more. Other feature includes-

  • Addition of autoresponder
  • Customize and add the webinar registration form from GoTo Webinar
  • In your explainer videos, you may add Vimeo or YouTube videos
  • Add SoundCloud mp3 to your videos

Easy Sketch Pro

5. CrazyTalk Animator

CrazyTalk Animator can be downloaded free separately for Windows and Mac users. For the users in trial versions, the CrazyTalk Animator offers G3 Character human template and 3 x fully functional PSD project. The features include-

  • Addition of animal, human, wings and spine characters from the G3 Motion libraries
  • Give smooth expressions with enhanced sprite-based face system
  • 2D motion key editing
  • Face and puppet key editor
  • G2 characters have 3D motion key editor
  • The elastic effect motion controller
  • Timeline editing

CrazyTalk Animator

6. Animatron

An engaging and fun animated explainer video maker, Animatron is a free marketplace with several pre-animated sets. Animatron explainer video software helps in creating videos that can help in increasing ROI and boost your marketing as well. The features of Animatron are-

  • Select from a range of pre-animated characters, props, and backgrounds to tell your story
  • Pre-animated characters and sets can be edited to adapt them to your business
  • Video customization by importing images, audio and fonts
  • Embed your creation on any website or blog
  • Several themes available

Animatron

Conclusion

With the state-of-the-art marketing creations and advances, the video marketing platform attaining greater heights with each passing day. It can be about your company or how-to videos, explainer videos or webinars, training videos or satisfied customer testimonials. Adding the right video to the landing page can help you with 80% more conversions.

Explainer video still continues to progress and is affecting the lives of the people positively. The explainer video software has transformed the businesses meaningfully and helps to further create much-needed videos without any major difficulty. You may try the above-mentioned animated explainer video software available in the market to enhance your business grow and prosper.

author avatar

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

The explainer video is the best content marketing strategy in recent times. It can be effectively used in order to communicate with your target audiences. Whether about your service, product or brand, the videos can be of several classical types for making animation .

The explainer videos let you get into the detailing of your service or product with the right message and it is the most effective way of video marketing. It plays an important role in engaging your audience and letting them understand your idea about your product or service.

Powerful animation software can help in making an amazing explainer video. In this article, you will learn the best explainer video software available to make your task easy and fast.

The Importance of Explainer Video

The explainer videos let you explain your business idea with a crisp personal message to your target audiences, building trust and a connection with your viewers. A small message within a second can grab the attention of your users if you place an explainer video on the landing page. It increases the visit time of your audience by 2 minutes.

The colors, landscape, and background of your video also play a major role in attracting your viewer’s attention. Character customization in your videos can generate an emotional connection with your audiences. This, in turn, helps to build trust and brand awareness.

Best Explainer Video Software

1. PowToon

PowToon is a 2D animation tool to create explainer videos and engage, teach or interact with friends or other viewers. If you feel ignored by your students or colleagues, create an explainer video with PowToon and grab the attention of every single audience. The features of PowToon are-

  • Complete an explainer video in just 20 minutes
  • Scripted and fully designed templates
  • Various training programs and webinars are conducted
  • Super fast and professional results
  • Proven to be more effective than any other tool

2. Rawshorts

From animation to ease of access, Rawshorts gives the users whatever they need to create an explainer video at the tip of their fingers. You just need to browse and select the right template, customize by adding text, media, transitions and more to enhance your explainer video and finally export and share. The features are-

  • Intuitive and easy platform
  • Drag and drop interface
  • Professional templates library
  • Animated charts

Rawshorts

3. MotionArtist Software

Do you wish to bring the texts, word balloons, or characters to life? Use the MotionArtist, a specifically designed explainer video software that allows you to access easily to use tools for creating motion comics. The features of this tool are-

  • A powerful and intuitive way to add motion
  • The illustration can be used powerfully to create animation
  • Enter graphical representation in your explainer video
  • Automatic and advanced camera options with 3d effects

MotionArtist Software

4. Easy Sketch Pro

This explainer video software comes with some of the best features like you may choose from 500 icons, select the hotspot size, color, visibility, text and much more. Other feature includes-

  • Addition of autoresponder
  • Customize and add the webinar registration form from GoTo Webinar
  • In your explainer videos, you may add Vimeo or YouTube videos
  • Add SoundCloud mp3 to your videos

Easy Sketch Pro

5. CrazyTalk Animator

CrazyTalk Animator can be downloaded free separately for Windows and Mac users. For the users in trial versions, the CrazyTalk Animator offers G3 Character human template and 3 x fully functional PSD project. The features include-

  • Addition of animal, human, wings and spine characters from the G3 Motion libraries
  • Give smooth expressions with enhanced sprite-based face system
  • 2D motion key editing
  • Face and puppet key editor
  • G2 characters have 3D motion key editor
  • The elastic effect motion controller
  • Timeline editing

CrazyTalk Animator

6. Animatron

An engaging and fun animated explainer video maker, Animatron is a free marketplace with several pre-animated sets. Animatron explainer video software helps in creating videos that can help in increasing ROI and boost your marketing as well. The features of Animatron are-

  • Select from a range of pre-animated characters, props, and backgrounds to tell your story
  • Pre-animated characters and sets can be edited to adapt them to your business
  • Video customization by importing images, audio and fonts
  • Embed your creation on any website or blog
  • Several themes available

Animatron

Conclusion

With the state-of-the-art marketing creations and advances, the video marketing platform attaining greater heights with each passing day. It can be about your company or how-to videos, explainer videos or webinars, training videos or satisfied customer testimonials. Adding the right video to the landing page can help you with 80% more conversions.

Explainer video still continues to progress and is affecting the lives of the people positively. The explainer video software has transformed the businesses meaningfully and helps to further create much-needed videos without any major difficulty. You may try the above-mentioned animated explainer video software available in the market to enhance your business grow and prosper.

author avatar

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Stop Motion Animation on Instagram: A Beginner’s Guide to Creating Viral Videos

How to Make a Stop Motion Video on Instagram

author avatar

Liza Brown

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Instagram’s announcement that the stop motion feature will become available in the Stories section created quite a buzz on the Internet, a while ago. In 2020, the feature remains relatively unknown to social media users, even though on paper it seemed promising.

Stop motion videos, are simply sequentially taken photos that create an illusion of movement once they are played one after the other. These types of videos are growing more popular on social media, as they can make Instagram stories or any other social media feed more interesting. You are at the right place if you would like to join video content creators who already produce stop motion videos because in this article we are going to show you how to make a stop motion video on Instagram.

Part 1: How to Make a Stop Motion Video on Instagram?

The technical side of making a stop motion video on Instagram is rather simple since you can enable this feature in just a few taps. After you launch the app, you should tap on the Camera icon in the upper left corner of the screen. The new window will open where you can choose the type of Instagram story you want to create, so you can pick to go live , record a video normally or use the app’s Boomerang feature.

You will find the Stop Motion option at the end of this menu, and after you tap on it you just have to press the white button in the middle of the toolbar that is located near the bottom of the screen in order to start taking pictures.

Currently, Instagram limits the number of photos you can take with the stop motion feature to ten. Tap on the Done button that is located at the top of the screen once you completed the process of making a stop motion video and then proceed to choose stickers you would like to include in the story you created. Press the Send To button and decide if you want to share the stop motion video to your Instagram or Facebook story or with some of your Instagram followers. ;

Check the ultimate guide about how to use Instagram Stories

Cons of Making Stop Motion Videos with Instagram

Even though Instagram’s new stop motion feature offers an easy way to make your stories more interesting, it still has a few downsides. Adding sound or music to stop motion videos you create with Instagram isn’t possible at the moment, and you can’t do much more other than downloading the video to your device.

Like all other Instagram stories, stop motion videos created with this app are only available for 24 hours if you don’t save them on your phone. Moreover, downloading the stories you create with Instagram ’s stop motion tool will enable you to edit them with video editing apps for iPhone and Android devices and post them to any social media platform you choose.

In addition, the maximum number of frames a stop motion video created with Instagram can have is limited to just ten.

Frequently Asked Questions: Why Can’t I See the Stop Motion Feature in Instagram Stories?

Instagram’s stop motion feature is still in its beta stage, which means that it isn’t available on all versions of the app. So, if you can’t see this option you must go to Google Play or Apps Store and install the version of Instagram that has this feature. If the issue persists, you should opt for some other stop motion app you can use free of charge. ;

Part 2: 3 Best Stop Motion Apps you can Use to Create Animated Videos for Instagram

You shouldn’t worry if the stop motion feature isn’t available on the version of Instagram you’re using, because there are so many apps that are equipped with this tool. With so many different options on the market, finding the app that provides you with all features you need to create stop motion videos can be a difficult task. That’s why we shortlisted the three best apps for iPhones and Android devices that enable you to make animated stop motion videos for Instagram.

1. Over

Price: Free, offers in-app purchase

Compatibility: iOS, Android

Over allows you to do much more than just create stop motion videos you can post on Instagram since it is equipped with a versatile set of tools that can help you improve the brand awareness on social media. There are more than 700 templates to choose from and each of them enables you to adjust your photos and videos to the social network’s demands. However, the free version of the app offers only limited capabilities, and you must upgrade to the Pro version if you want to have access to all photo and video editing tools Over have to offer.

2. Mojo

Price: Free, offers in-app purchases

Compatibility: iOS , Android

create stop motion video for IG in Mojo

Creating content for social media with Mojo is a simple process that can be completed in just three easy steps. You don’t even need a Mojo account to start creating stories with this app. All you have to do is select an animated template, import videos or photos and edit it before tapping on the share button. There are more than a hundred animated templates to choose from, so after you pick one, you just have to add text overlays , but you must purchase Mojo Pro if you want to change aspect ratios , duplicate stories or have access to all text styles and templates.

3. Life Lapse

Price: Free, offers in-app purchases

Compatibility: iOS , Android

Life Lapse Stop Motion Maker

The fact that more than a million video content creators and brands are using Life Lapse to make stop motion videos says a lot about the app’s capabilities. Unlike Over and Mojo, Life Lapse lets you set the exposure and focus locks, switch on a grid or use the ghosted image overlay. Besides capturing photos and videos, the app also allows you to import photos you want to include in the stop motion animation. Furthermore, even the free version of Life Lapse offers a variety of video editing tools that allow you to crop images or adjust saturation, brightness or white balance values in each frame.

Check more video editing apps for Instagram

Part 3: How to Create a Stop Motion Videos with Life Lapse

You don’t have to be a skilled cinematographer to make a stop motion video using the Life Lapse app. Once you’ve installed and launched Life Lapse you should create a new project by tapping on the + icon. As soon as the camera loads you’ll be asked to choose if you would like to create a photo or a video project. Tap on the photo option and start taking photos of the objects or people you want to include in your stop motion video.

The app also grants you access to a broad range of tools that will make composing the shots easier or reduce the flickering effect. Even though Life Lapse doesn’t limit the maximum duration of the stop motion videos you can create with it, an Instagram story cannot be longer than 15 seconds. Furthermore, changing a video’s aspect ratio to 9:16 is recommended, as it will enable you to know exactly how your stop motion video is going to look like after you upload it to Instagram.

Part 4: Tips for Creating Stop Motion Videos for Instagram

The process of making a stop motion animation is not technically complicated since you just need to place your phone on a tripod and take a photo each time you move an object in the shot. Even so, working on a stop motion project requires previous preparations. Here are a few tips that will help you make a better stop motion animation video.

1. Develop a concept

What is your stop motion video about? This is the first and the most important question you will have to answer before you start making a stop motion video. Developing a concept will enable you to know which props you are going to need or how many actors you have to find before you can actually start shooting. Stop motion videos can be virtually about anything, and you should choose a story that will keep the audience interested from start to finish.

2. Shoot in studio conditions

Although it is not impossible to make a stop motion video in outdoor conditions, having control over sudden light changes is. That is why it is much better to shoot stop motion videos in studio-like conditions where you can easily adjust all the parameters in accordance with the demands of the project you’re working on. In addition, it is paramount to keep your phone perfectly steady, which is why it is better to mount it on a tripod than to shoot handheld.

Conclusion

Instagram’s stop motion feature is still under development and it may be some time before you can use it to create professional-looking videos. Apps like Over or Life Lapse are a much better option for all video content creators who would like to impress their audience with stop motion videos. Which app are you using to create stop motion videos? Leave a comment and let us know.

author avatar

Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Liza Brown

Liza Brown

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Instagram’s announcement that the stop motion feature will become available in the Stories section created quite a buzz on the Internet, a while ago. In 2020, the feature remains relatively unknown to social media users, even though on paper it seemed promising.

Stop motion videos, are simply sequentially taken photos that create an illusion of movement once they are played one after the other. These types of videos are growing more popular on social media, as they can make Instagram stories or any other social media feed more interesting. You are at the right place if you would like to join video content creators who already produce stop motion videos because in this article we are going to show you how to make a stop motion video on Instagram.

Part 1: How to Make a Stop Motion Video on Instagram?

The technical side of making a stop motion video on Instagram is rather simple since you can enable this feature in just a few taps. After you launch the app, you should tap on the Camera icon in the upper left corner of the screen. The new window will open where you can choose the type of Instagram story you want to create, so you can pick to go live , record a video normally or use the app’s Boomerang feature.

You will find the Stop Motion option at the end of this menu, and after you tap on it you just have to press the white button in the middle of the toolbar that is located near the bottom of the screen in order to start taking pictures.

Currently, Instagram limits the number of photos you can take with the stop motion feature to ten. Tap on the Done button that is located at the top of the screen once you completed the process of making a stop motion video and then proceed to choose stickers you would like to include in the story you created. Press the Send To button and decide if you want to share the stop motion video to your Instagram or Facebook story or with some of your Instagram followers. ;

Check the ultimate guide about how to use Instagram Stories

Cons of Making Stop Motion Videos with Instagram

Even though Instagram’s new stop motion feature offers an easy way to make your stories more interesting, it still has a few downsides. Adding sound or music to stop motion videos you create with Instagram isn’t possible at the moment, and you can’t do much more other than downloading the video to your device.

Like all other Instagram stories, stop motion videos created with this app are only available for 24 hours if you don’t save them on your phone. Moreover, downloading the stories you create with Instagram ’s stop motion tool will enable you to edit them with video editing apps for iPhone and Android devices and post them to any social media platform you choose.

In addition, the maximum number of frames a stop motion video created with Instagram can have is limited to just ten.

Frequently Asked Questions: Why Can’t I See the Stop Motion Feature in Instagram Stories?

Instagram’s stop motion feature is still in its beta stage, which means that it isn’t available on all versions of the app. So, if you can’t see this option you must go to Google Play or Apps Store and install the version of Instagram that has this feature. If the issue persists, you should opt for some other stop motion app you can use free of charge. ;

Part 2: 3 Best Stop Motion Apps you can Use to Create Animated Videos for Instagram

You shouldn’t worry if the stop motion feature isn’t available on the version of Instagram you’re using, because there are so many apps that are equipped with this tool. With so many different options on the market, finding the app that provides you with all features you need to create stop motion videos can be a difficult task. That’s why we shortlisted the three best apps for iPhones and Android devices that enable you to make animated stop motion videos for Instagram.

1. Over

Price: Free, offers in-app purchase

Compatibility: iOS, Android

Over allows you to do much more than just create stop motion videos you can post on Instagram since it is equipped with a versatile set of tools that can help you improve the brand awareness on social media. There are more than 700 templates to choose from and each of them enables you to adjust your photos and videos to the social network’s demands. However, the free version of the app offers only limited capabilities, and you must upgrade to the Pro version if you want to have access to all photo and video editing tools Over have to offer.

2. Mojo

Price: Free, offers in-app purchases

Compatibility: iOS , Android

create stop motion video for IG in Mojo

Creating content for social media with Mojo is a simple process that can be completed in just three easy steps. You don’t even need a Mojo account to start creating stories with this app. All you have to do is select an animated template, import videos or photos and edit it before tapping on the share button. There are more than a hundred animated templates to choose from, so after you pick one, you just have to add text overlays , but you must purchase Mojo Pro if you want to change aspect ratios , duplicate stories or have access to all text styles and templates.

3. Life Lapse

Price: Free, offers in-app purchases

Compatibility: iOS , Android

Life Lapse Stop Motion Maker

The fact that more than a million video content creators and brands are using Life Lapse to make stop motion videos says a lot about the app’s capabilities. Unlike Over and Mojo, Life Lapse lets you set the exposure and focus locks, switch on a grid or use the ghosted image overlay. Besides capturing photos and videos, the app also allows you to import photos you want to include in the stop motion animation. Furthermore, even the free version of Life Lapse offers a variety of video editing tools that allow you to crop images or adjust saturation, brightness or white balance values in each frame.

Check more video editing apps for Instagram

Part 3: How to Create a Stop Motion Videos with Life Lapse

You don’t have to be a skilled cinematographer to make a stop motion video using the Life Lapse app. Once you’ve installed and launched Life Lapse you should create a new project by tapping on the + icon. As soon as the camera loads you’ll be asked to choose if you would like to create a photo or a video project. Tap on the photo option and start taking photos of the objects or people you want to include in your stop motion video.

The app also grants you access to a broad range of tools that will make composing the shots easier or reduce the flickering effect. Even though Life Lapse doesn’t limit the maximum duration of the stop motion videos you can create with it, an Instagram story cannot be longer than 15 seconds. Furthermore, changing a video’s aspect ratio to 9:16 is recommended, as it will enable you to know exactly how your stop motion video is going to look like after you upload it to Instagram.

Part 4: Tips for Creating Stop Motion Videos for Instagram

The process of making a stop motion animation is not technically complicated since you just need to place your phone on a tripod and take a photo each time you move an object in the shot. Even so, working on a stop motion project requires previous preparations. Here are a few tips that will help you make a better stop motion animation video.

1. Develop a concept

What is your stop motion video about? This is the first and the most important question you will have to answer before you start making a stop motion video. Developing a concept will enable you to know which props you are going to need or how many actors you have to find before you can actually start shooting. Stop motion videos can be virtually about anything, and you should choose a story that will keep the audience interested from start to finish.

2. Shoot in studio conditions

Although it is not impossible to make a stop motion video in outdoor conditions, having control over sudden light changes is. That is why it is much better to shoot stop motion videos in studio-like conditions where you can easily adjust all the parameters in accordance with the demands of the project you’re working on. In addition, it is paramount to keep your phone perfectly steady, which is why it is better to mount it on a tripod than to shoot handheld.

Conclusion

Instagram’s stop motion feature is still under development and it may be some time before you can use it to create professional-looking videos. Apps like Over or Life Lapse are a much better option for all video content creators who would like to impress their audience with stop motion videos. Which app are you using to create stop motion videos? Leave a comment and let us know.

author avatar

Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Liza Brown

Liza Brown

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Instagram’s announcement that the stop motion feature will become available in the Stories section created quite a buzz on the Internet, a while ago. In 2020, the feature remains relatively unknown to social media users, even though on paper it seemed promising.

Stop motion videos, are simply sequentially taken photos that create an illusion of movement once they are played one after the other. These types of videos are growing more popular on social media, as they can make Instagram stories or any other social media feed more interesting. You are at the right place if you would like to join video content creators who already produce stop motion videos because in this article we are going to show you how to make a stop motion video on Instagram.

Part 1: How to Make a Stop Motion Video on Instagram?

The technical side of making a stop motion video on Instagram is rather simple since you can enable this feature in just a few taps. After you launch the app, you should tap on the Camera icon in the upper left corner of the screen. The new window will open where you can choose the type of Instagram story you want to create, so you can pick to go live , record a video normally or use the app’s Boomerang feature.

You will find the Stop Motion option at the end of this menu, and after you tap on it you just have to press the white button in the middle of the toolbar that is located near the bottom of the screen in order to start taking pictures.

Currently, Instagram limits the number of photos you can take with the stop motion feature to ten. Tap on the Done button that is located at the top of the screen once you completed the process of making a stop motion video and then proceed to choose stickers you would like to include in the story you created. Press the Send To button and decide if you want to share the stop motion video to your Instagram or Facebook story or with some of your Instagram followers. ;

Check the ultimate guide about how to use Instagram Stories

Cons of Making Stop Motion Videos with Instagram

Even though Instagram’s new stop motion feature offers an easy way to make your stories more interesting, it still has a few downsides. Adding sound or music to stop motion videos you create with Instagram isn’t possible at the moment, and you can’t do much more other than downloading the video to your device.

Like all other Instagram stories, stop motion videos created with this app are only available for 24 hours if you don’t save them on your phone. Moreover, downloading the stories you create with Instagram ’s stop motion tool will enable you to edit them with video editing apps for iPhone and Android devices and post them to any social media platform you choose.

In addition, the maximum number of frames a stop motion video created with Instagram can have is limited to just ten.

Frequently Asked Questions: Why Can’t I See the Stop Motion Feature in Instagram Stories?

Instagram’s stop motion feature is still in its beta stage, which means that it isn’t available on all versions of the app. So, if you can’t see this option you must go to Google Play or Apps Store and install the version of Instagram that has this feature. If the issue persists, you should opt for some other stop motion app you can use free of charge. ;

Part 2: 3 Best Stop Motion Apps you can Use to Create Animated Videos for Instagram

You shouldn’t worry if the stop motion feature isn’t available on the version of Instagram you’re using, because there are so many apps that are equipped with this tool. With so many different options on the market, finding the app that provides you with all features you need to create stop motion videos can be a difficult task. That’s why we shortlisted the three best apps for iPhones and Android devices that enable you to make animated stop motion videos for Instagram.

1. Over

Price: Free, offers in-app purchase

Compatibility: iOS, Android

Over allows you to do much more than just create stop motion videos you can post on Instagram since it is equipped with a versatile set of tools that can help you improve the brand awareness on social media. There are more than 700 templates to choose from and each of them enables you to adjust your photos and videos to the social network’s demands. However, the free version of the app offers only limited capabilities, and you must upgrade to the Pro version if you want to have access to all photo and video editing tools Over have to offer.

2. Mojo

Price: Free, offers in-app purchases

Compatibility: iOS , Android

create stop motion video for IG in Mojo

Creating content for social media with Mojo is a simple process that can be completed in just three easy steps. You don’t even need a Mojo account to start creating stories with this app. All you have to do is select an animated template, import videos or photos and edit it before tapping on the share button. There are more than a hundred animated templates to choose from, so after you pick one, you just have to add text overlays , but you must purchase Mojo Pro if you want to change aspect ratios , duplicate stories or have access to all text styles and templates.

3. Life Lapse

Price: Free, offers in-app purchases

Compatibility: iOS , Android

Life Lapse Stop Motion Maker

The fact that more than a million video content creators and brands are using Life Lapse to make stop motion videos says a lot about the app’s capabilities. Unlike Over and Mojo, Life Lapse lets you set the exposure and focus locks, switch on a grid or use the ghosted image overlay. Besides capturing photos and videos, the app also allows you to import photos you want to include in the stop motion animation. Furthermore, even the free version of Life Lapse offers a variety of video editing tools that allow you to crop images or adjust saturation, brightness or white balance values in each frame.

Check more video editing apps for Instagram

Part 3: How to Create a Stop Motion Videos with Life Lapse

You don’t have to be a skilled cinematographer to make a stop motion video using the Life Lapse app. Once you’ve installed and launched Life Lapse you should create a new project by tapping on the + icon. As soon as the camera loads you’ll be asked to choose if you would like to create a photo or a video project. Tap on the photo option and start taking photos of the objects or people you want to include in your stop motion video.

The app also grants you access to a broad range of tools that will make composing the shots easier or reduce the flickering effect. Even though Life Lapse doesn’t limit the maximum duration of the stop motion videos you can create with it, an Instagram story cannot be longer than 15 seconds. Furthermore, changing a video’s aspect ratio to 9:16 is recommended, as it will enable you to know exactly how your stop motion video is going to look like after you upload it to Instagram.

Part 4: Tips for Creating Stop Motion Videos for Instagram

The process of making a stop motion animation is not technically complicated since you just need to place your phone on a tripod and take a photo each time you move an object in the shot. Even so, working on a stop motion project requires previous preparations. Here are a few tips that will help you make a better stop motion animation video.

1. Develop a concept

What is your stop motion video about? This is the first and the most important question you will have to answer before you start making a stop motion video. Developing a concept will enable you to know which props you are going to need or how many actors you have to find before you can actually start shooting. Stop motion videos can be virtually about anything, and you should choose a story that will keep the audience interested from start to finish.

2. Shoot in studio conditions

Although it is not impossible to make a stop motion video in outdoor conditions, having control over sudden light changes is. That is why it is much better to shoot stop motion videos in studio-like conditions where you can easily adjust all the parameters in accordance with the demands of the project you’re working on. In addition, it is paramount to keep your phone perfectly steady, which is why it is better to mount it on a tripod than to shoot handheld.

Conclusion

Instagram’s stop motion feature is still under development and it may be some time before you can use it to create professional-looking videos. Apps like Over or Life Lapse are a much better option for all video content creators who would like to impress their audience with stop motion videos. Which app are you using to create stop motion videos? Leave a comment and let us know.

author avatar

Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Liza Brown

Liza Brown

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Instagram’s announcement that the stop motion feature will become available in the Stories section created quite a buzz on the Internet, a while ago. In 2020, the feature remains relatively unknown to social media users, even though on paper it seemed promising.

Stop motion videos, are simply sequentially taken photos that create an illusion of movement once they are played one after the other. These types of videos are growing more popular on social media, as they can make Instagram stories or any other social media feed more interesting. You are at the right place if you would like to join video content creators who already produce stop motion videos because in this article we are going to show you how to make a stop motion video on Instagram.

Part 1: How to Make a Stop Motion Video on Instagram?

The technical side of making a stop motion video on Instagram is rather simple since you can enable this feature in just a few taps. After you launch the app, you should tap on the Camera icon in the upper left corner of the screen. The new window will open where you can choose the type of Instagram story you want to create, so you can pick to go live , record a video normally or use the app’s Boomerang feature.

You will find the Stop Motion option at the end of this menu, and after you tap on it you just have to press the white button in the middle of the toolbar that is located near the bottom of the screen in order to start taking pictures.

Currently, Instagram limits the number of photos you can take with the stop motion feature to ten. Tap on the Done button that is located at the top of the screen once you completed the process of making a stop motion video and then proceed to choose stickers you would like to include in the story you created. Press the Send To button and decide if you want to share the stop motion video to your Instagram or Facebook story or with some of your Instagram followers. ;

Check the ultimate guide about how to use Instagram Stories

Cons of Making Stop Motion Videos with Instagram

Even though Instagram’s new stop motion feature offers an easy way to make your stories more interesting, it still has a few downsides. Adding sound or music to stop motion videos you create with Instagram isn’t possible at the moment, and you can’t do much more other than downloading the video to your device.

Like all other Instagram stories, stop motion videos created with this app are only available for 24 hours if you don’t save them on your phone. Moreover, downloading the stories you create with Instagram ’s stop motion tool will enable you to edit them with video editing apps for iPhone and Android devices and post them to any social media platform you choose.

In addition, the maximum number of frames a stop motion video created with Instagram can have is limited to just ten.

Frequently Asked Questions: Why Can’t I See the Stop Motion Feature in Instagram Stories?

Instagram’s stop motion feature is still in its beta stage, which means that it isn’t available on all versions of the app. So, if you can’t see this option you must go to Google Play or Apps Store and install the version of Instagram that has this feature. If the issue persists, you should opt for some other stop motion app you can use free of charge. ;

Part 2: 3 Best Stop Motion Apps you can Use to Create Animated Videos for Instagram

You shouldn’t worry if the stop motion feature isn’t available on the version of Instagram you’re using, because there are so many apps that are equipped with this tool. With so many different options on the market, finding the app that provides you with all features you need to create stop motion videos can be a difficult task. That’s why we shortlisted the three best apps for iPhones and Android devices that enable you to make animated stop motion videos for Instagram.

1. Over

Price: Free, offers in-app purchase

Compatibility: iOS, Android

Over allows you to do much more than just create stop motion videos you can post on Instagram since it is equipped with a versatile set of tools that can help you improve the brand awareness on social media. There are more than 700 templates to choose from and each of them enables you to adjust your photos and videos to the social network’s demands. However, the free version of the app offers only limited capabilities, and you must upgrade to the Pro version if you want to have access to all photo and video editing tools Over have to offer.

2. Mojo

Price: Free, offers in-app purchases

Compatibility: iOS , Android

create stop motion video for IG in Mojo

Creating content for social media with Mojo is a simple process that can be completed in just three easy steps. You don’t even need a Mojo account to start creating stories with this app. All you have to do is select an animated template, import videos or photos and edit it before tapping on the share button. There are more than a hundred animated templates to choose from, so after you pick one, you just have to add text overlays , but you must purchase Mojo Pro if you want to change aspect ratios , duplicate stories or have access to all text styles and templates.

3. Life Lapse

Price: Free, offers in-app purchases

Compatibility: iOS , Android

Life Lapse Stop Motion Maker

The fact that more than a million video content creators and brands are using Life Lapse to make stop motion videos says a lot about the app’s capabilities. Unlike Over and Mojo, Life Lapse lets you set the exposure and focus locks, switch on a grid or use the ghosted image overlay. Besides capturing photos and videos, the app also allows you to import photos you want to include in the stop motion animation. Furthermore, even the free version of Life Lapse offers a variety of video editing tools that allow you to crop images or adjust saturation, brightness or white balance values in each frame.

Check more video editing apps for Instagram

Part 3: How to Create a Stop Motion Videos with Life Lapse

You don’t have to be a skilled cinematographer to make a stop motion video using the Life Lapse app. Once you’ve installed and launched Life Lapse you should create a new project by tapping on the + icon. As soon as the camera loads you’ll be asked to choose if you would like to create a photo or a video project. Tap on the photo option and start taking photos of the objects or people you want to include in your stop motion video.

The app also grants you access to a broad range of tools that will make composing the shots easier or reduce the flickering effect. Even though Life Lapse doesn’t limit the maximum duration of the stop motion videos you can create with it, an Instagram story cannot be longer than 15 seconds. Furthermore, changing a video’s aspect ratio to 9:16 is recommended, as it will enable you to know exactly how your stop motion video is going to look like after you upload it to Instagram.

Part 4: Tips for Creating Stop Motion Videos for Instagram

The process of making a stop motion animation is not technically complicated since you just need to place your phone on a tripod and take a photo each time you move an object in the shot. Even so, working on a stop motion project requires previous preparations. Here are a few tips that will help you make a better stop motion animation video.

1. Develop a concept

What is your stop motion video about? This is the first and the most important question you will have to answer before you start making a stop motion video. Developing a concept will enable you to know which props you are going to need or how many actors you have to find before you can actually start shooting. Stop motion videos can be virtually about anything, and you should choose a story that will keep the audience interested from start to finish.

2. Shoot in studio conditions

Although it is not impossible to make a stop motion video in outdoor conditions, having control over sudden light changes is. That is why it is much better to shoot stop motion videos in studio-like conditions where you can easily adjust all the parameters in accordance with the demands of the project you’re working on. In addition, it is paramount to keep your phone perfectly steady, which is why it is better to mount it on a tripod than to shoot handheld.

Conclusion

Instagram’s stop motion feature is still under development and it may be some time before you can use it to create professional-looking videos. Apps like Over or Life Lapse are a much better option for all video content creators who would like to impress their audience with stop motion videos. Which app are you using to create stop motion videos? Leave a comment and let us know.

author avatar

Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Liza Brown

The Art of Chroma Keying in FCP X: Expert Techniques for Stunning Results

FCP X: Create a Chroma-Key (Green-screen) Effect

author avatar

Benjamin Arango

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Chroma-key (also called “green screen”) effects are a staple in video production. What FCP X effect does is allow you to make the background behind an actor transparent so you can place the actor into a different environment than a studio.


This is a basic tutorial about Apple Final Cut Pro X, professional video editing software. However, if video editing is new to you, consider Wondershare Filmora for Mac . This is a powerful but easy-to-use tool for users just starting out. Download the free trial version below.

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )


Getting Started

First, the best thing you can do to improve the quality of your keys is to improve how you shoot them. Here are seven basic production rules:

  • Actors should be at least 10 feet in front of the green screen. This avoids light from the background “spilling” around their body or shoulders.
  • In general, don’t cast shadows on the green screen. Be very careful shooting feet.
  • The green background should be as smooth as possible. Paint is always better than fabric; avoid wrinkles and folds.
  • The green background should be lit smoothly, both from side to side and top to bottom. I try to have the green background display between 40-50% level on the waveform monitor.
  • There is NO relationship between how the background is lit and how your actors are lit. This article will illustrate that.
  • Light your background for smoothness. Light your actors for drama.
  • Don’t worry about having the green background fill the frame. It only needs to completely surround the edges of your actors. Garbage mattes are used to get rid of junk around the edges.

Setting up the Key

fx chroma 01

The green screen image is always placed above the background. You can place either the green screen or background image into the Primary Storyline. I find it easier to put the background in the Primary Storyline, because it makes editing the green screen image easier. But this is purely personal choice.

Step 1: Select the green screen clip

From the Effects Browser > Keying category, double-click the Keyer effect, which applies it to the selected clip. (You can also drag the effect on top of the clip, if you forgot to select the green-screen clip first.)

fx chroma 02

Don’t panic if your image looks weird – we will fix it.

fx chroma 03

Click the Sample Color icon. This allows fine-tuning the selection of the background color.

fx chroma 04

In the green-screen image, drag to select a representative section of the background. I try to get close to the face, but not so close that I accidentally select loose hair or skin.

Your key should look better immediately. Most of the time, you can probably stop here. But there are three other adjustments that can make your key look even better:

  • Cleaning up the matte
  • Edge adjustments
  • Light wrap

fx chroma 06

Click the Matte button to display your key as a white foreground on a black background.

fx chroma 07

Your goal is the make the foreground solid white, which means opaque, and the background solid black, which means transparent. Adjust the Fill Holes and Edge Distance sliders until your key looks solid. (For REALLY bad keys, you’ll need to also adjust Color Selection, mentioned below.)

fx chroma 05

If an edge is too pronounced, or needs help, click the Edges icon.

fx chroma 09

Step 2: Tweaks Video

Then, click and drag a line from the foreground to the background in the Canvas. Drag the midpoint slider (where my cursor is) until the edge looks the best it can. Different video formats make this easy (ProRes), while others (HDV, avchd) make this much harder. Perfection is impossible – do the best you can.

fx chroma 09a

Final Cut provides four additional tweaks at the bottom of the keyer filter:

  • Color Selection
  • Matte Tools
  • Spill Suppression
  • Light Wrap

The first three are designed to clean up poorly shot keys – read the FCP X Help files to learn how these work. (I used the Color Selection tools to clean up the very dark key I use an example later in this article.)

Light wrap, though, is aesthetic. What it does is blend colors from the background into the edges of the foreground, to make the entire key look more “organic,” as if the foreground and background were actually in the same space.

This is a subtle effect, but very cool.

fx chroma 10

Twirl down Light Wrap and adjust the Amount slider and watch what happens. Drag the other sliders around and see what happens. The nice thing about this setting is that when it looks good to you, it is good. The amount of the effect is totally up to you. Remember, Light Wrap only affects the edges of the foreground and should be used subtly.

fx chroma 11

When you are done, you have a great looking key!

Clean up the Image with a Garbage Mask

fx chroma 12

Sometimes, however, you don’t have, ah, perhaps, the best green-screen image to work with. Here, for example, there are lighting instruments in the foreground, with a very inadequately lit green screen in the background. (Sigh… this is just pitiful.)

Once you pull the key – which is film-speak for creating a green-screen shot, as I described above – and get it looking as good as possible, there’s one more step: adding a garbage matte to get rid of all the garbage surrounding your actors.

fx chroma 13

Once you get your key looking as good as you can – which in this case isn’t all that good – drag the Mask effect (Effects > Keying > Mask) on top of the green-screen clip.

NOTE: The Mask effect should always be added after the Keying effect, so that the Mask is below the Keyer in the Inspector.

fx chroma 14

Then, drag each of the four circles to create a shape such that your foreground image is contained inside it, and everything you want to exclude is outside. Here, for instance, we removed the light stand, the edge of the green background and the tearing at the top of the image. I’ve found this Mask effect works best when applied to a connected clip.

However, the big limitation of the Mask effect is that you only have four points to work with. That’s where a free effect comes in, which allows you to create far more flexible shapes with it. It’s written by Alex Gollner and is available on his website – alex4d.wordpress.com/fcpx/ – I recommend his effects highly.

How to Create a Chroma-Key in easier ways?

Chroma-key, or green screen, is an essential part of every editor to make all kinds of effects. Is there any way to make this sophisticated procedure easier way? Yes, try Filmora.

In version 10.5 for Mac, Filmora added a new feature: AI portrait. It allows you to do a green screen effect with just one click.

By adopting AI portrait, you can add those stunning effects in simple steps: How to Remove or Change Video Background in One Step?

Or: How to Add a Shake Effect to your Videos?

Conclusion

The chroma-key filter in FCP X allows us to create some amazing effects. If you want to use green screen effects more easily, here is Filmora for you. You can appaly Chroma-Key effects with just a few click. Have fun playing with it.

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )

author avatar

Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Chroma-key (also called “green screen”) effects are a staple in video production. What FCP X effect does is allow you to make the background behind an actor transparent so you can place the actor into a different environment than a studio.


This is a basic tutorial about Apple Final Cut Pro X, professional video editing software. However, if video editing is new to you, consider Wondershare Filmora for Mac . This is a powerful but easy-to-use tool for users just starting out. Download the free trial version below.

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )


Getting Started

First, the best thing you can do to improve the quality of your keys is to improve how you shoot them. Here are seven basic production rules:

  • Actors should be at least 10 feet in front of the green screen. This avoids light from the background “spilling” around their body or shoulders.
  • In general, don’t cast shadows on the green screen. Be very careful shooting feet.
  • The green background should be as smooth as possible. Paint is always better than fabric; avoid wrinkles and folds.
  • The green background should be lit smoothly, both from side to side and top to bottom. I try to have the green background display between 40-50% level on the waveform monitor.
  • There is NO relationship between how the background is lit and how your actors are lit. This article will illustrate that.
  • Light your background for smoothness. Light your actors for drama.
  • Don’t worry about having the green background fill the frame. It only needs to completely surround the edges of your actors. Garbage mattes are used to get rid of junk around the edges.

Setting up the Key

fx chroma 01

The green screen image is always placed above the background. You can place either the green screen or background image into the Primary Storyline. I find it easier to put the background in the Primary Storyline, because it makes editing the green screen image easier. But this is purely personal choice.

Step 1: Select the green screen clip

From the Effects Browser > Keying category, double-click the Keyer effect, which applies it to the selected clip. (You can also drag the effect on top of the clip, if you forgot to select the green-screen clip first.)

fx chroma 02

Don’t panic if your image looks weird – we will fix it.

fx chroma 03

Click the Sample Color icon. This allows fine-tuning the selection of the background color.

fx chroma 04

In the green-screen image, drag to select a representative section of the background. I try to get close to the face, but not so close that I accidentally select loose hair or skin.

Your key should look better immediately. Most of the time, you can probably stop here. But there are three other adjustments that can make your key look even better:

  • Cleaning up the matte
  • Edge adjustments
  • Light wrap

fx chroma 06

Click the Matte button to display your key as a white foreground on a black background.

fx chroma 07

Your goal is the make the foreground solid white, which means opaque, and the background solid black, which means transparent. Adjust the Fill Holes and Edge Distance sliders until your key looks solid. (For REALLY bad keys, you’ll need to also adjust Color Selection, mentioned below.)

fx chroma 05

If an edge is too pronounced, or needs help, click the Edges icon.

fx chroma 09

Step 2: Tweaks Video

Then, click and drag a line from the foreground to the background in the Canvas. Drag the midpoint slider (where my cursor is) until the edge looks the best it can. Different video formats make this easy (ProRes), while others (HDV, avchd) make this much harder. Perfection is impossible – do the best you can.

fx chroma 09a

Final Cut provides four additional tweaks at the bottom of the keyer filter:

  • Color Selection
  • Matte Tools
  • Spill Suppression
  • Light Wrap

The first three are designed to clean up poorly shot keys – read the FCP X Help files to learn how these work. (I used the Color Selection tools to clean up the very dark key I use an example later in this article.)

Light wrap, though, is aesthetic. What it does is blend colors from the background into the edges of the foreground, to make the entire key look more “organic,” as if the foreground and background were actually in the same space.

This is a subtle effect, but very cool.

fx chroma 10

Twirl down Light Wrap and adjust the Amount slider and watch what happens. Drag the other sliders around and see what happens. The nice thing about this setting is that when it looks good to you, it is good. The amount of the effect is totally up to you. Remember, Light Wrap only affects the edges of the foreground and should be used subtly.

fx chroma 11

When you are done, you have a great looking key!

Clean up the Image with a Garbage Mask

fx chroma 12

Sometimes, however, you don’t have, ah, perhaps, the best green-screen image to work with. Here, for example, there are lighting instruments in the foreground, with a very inadequately lit green screen in the background. (Sigh… this is just pitiful.)

Once you pull the key – which is film-speak for creating a green-screen shot, as I described above – and get it looking as good as possible, there’s one more step: adding a garbage matte to get rid of all the garbage surrounding your actors.

fx chroma 13

Once you get your key looking as good as you can – which in this case isn’t all that good – drag the Mask effect (Effects > Keying > Mask) on top of the green-screen clip.

NOTE: The Mask effect should always be added after the Keying effect, so that the Mask is below the Keyer in the Inspector.

fx chroma 14

Then, drag each of the four circles to create a shape such that your foreground image is contained inside it, and everything you want to exclude is outside. Here, for instance, we removed the light stand, the edge of the green background and the tearing at the top of the image. I’ve found this Mask effect works best when applied to a connected clip.

However, the big limitation of the Mask effect is that you only have four points to work with. That’s where a free effect comes in, which allows you to create far more flexible shapes with it. It’s written by Alex Gollner and is available on his website – alex4d.wordpress.com/fcpx/ – I recommend his effects highly.

How to Create a Chroma-Key in easier ways?

Chroma-key, or green screen, is an essential part of every editor to make all kinds of effects. Is there any way to make this sophisticated procedure easier way? Yes, try Filmora.

In version 10.5 for Mac, Filmora added a new feature: AI portrait. It allows you to do a green screen effect with just one click.

By adopting AI portrait, you can add those stunning effects in simple steps: How to Remove or Change Video Background in One Step?

Or: How to Add a Shake Effect to your Videos?

Conclusion

The chroma-key filter in FCP X allows us to create some amazing effects. If you want to use green screen effects more easily, here is Filmora for you. You can appaly Chroma-Key effects with just a few click. Have fun playing with it.

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )

author avatar

Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Chroma-key (also called “green screen”) effects are a staple in video production. What FCP X effect does is allow you to make the background behind an actor transparent so you can place the actor into a different environment than a studio.


This is a basic tutorial about Apple Final Cut Pro X, professional video editing software. However, if video editing is new to you, consider Wondershare Filmora for Mac . This is a powerful but easy-to-use tool for users just starting out. Download the free trial version below.

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )


Getting Started

First, the best thing you can do to improve the quality of your keys is to improve how you shoot them. Here are seven basic production rules:

  • Actors should be at least 10 feet in front of the green screen. This avoids light from the background “spilling” around their body or shoulders.
  • In general, don’t cast shadows on the green screen. Be very careful shooting feet.
  • The green background should be as smooth as possible. Paint is always better than fabric; avoid wrinkles and folds.
  • The green background should be lit smoothly, both from side to side and top to bottom. I try to have the green background display between 40-50% level on the waveform monitor.
  • There is NO relationship between how the background is lit and how your actors are lit. This article will illustrate that.
  • Light your background for smoothness. Light your actors for drama.
  • Don’t worry about having the green background fill the frame. It only needs to completely surround the edges of your actors. Garbage mattes are used to get rid of junk around the edges.

Setting up the Key

fx chroma 01

The green screen image is always placed above the background. You can place either the green screen or background image into the Primary Storyline. I find it easier to put the background in the Primary Storyline, because it makes editing the green screen image easier. But this is purely personal choice.

Step 1: Select the green screen clip

From the Effects Browser > Keying category, double-click the Keyer effect, which applies it to the selected clip. (You can also drag the effect on top of the clip, if you forgot to select the green-screen clip first.)

fx chroma 02

Don’t panic if your image looks weird – we will fix it.

fx chroma 03

Click the Sample Color icon. This allows fine-tuning the selection of the background color.

fx chroma 04

In the green-screen image, drag to select a representative section of the background. I try to get close to the face, but not so close that I accidentally select loose hair or skin.

Your key should look better immediately. Most of the time, you can probably stop here. But there are three other adjustments that can make your key look even better:

  • Cleaning up the matte
  • Edge adjustments
  • Light wrap

fx chroma 06

Click the Matte button to display your key as a white foreground on a black background.

fx chroma 07

Your goal is the make the foreground solid white, which means opaque, and the background solid black, which means transparent. Adjust the Fill Holes and Edge Distance sliders until your key looks solid. (For REALLY bad keys, you’ll need to also adjust Color Selection, mentioned below.)

fx chroma 05

If an edge is too pronounced, or needs help, click the Edges icon.

fx chroma 09

Step 2: Tweaks Video

Then, click and drag a line from the foreground to the background in the Canvas. Drag the midpoint slider (where my cursor is) until the edge looks the best it can. Different video formats make this easy (ProRes), while others (HDV, avchd) make this much harder. Perfection is impossible – do the best you can.

fx chroma 09a

Final Cut provides four additional tweaks at the bottom of the keyer filter:

  • Color Selection
  • Matte Tools
  • Spill Suppression
  • Light Wrap

The first three are designed to clean up poorly shot keys – read the FCP X Help files to learn how these work. (I used the Color Selection tools to clean up the very dark key I use an example later in this article.)

Light wrap, though, is aesthetic. What it does is blend colors from the background into the edges of the foreground, to make the entire key look more “organic,” as if the foreground and background were actually in the same space.

This is a subtle effect, but very cool.

fx chroma 10

Twirl down Light Wrap and adjust the Amount slider and watch what happens. Drag the other sliders around and see what happens. The nice thing about this setting is that when it looks good to you, it is good. The amount of the effect is totally up to you. Remember, Light Wrap only affects the edges of the foreground and should be used subtly.

fx chroma 11

When you are done, you have a great looking key!

Clean up the Image with a Garbage Mask

fx chroma 12

Sometimes, however, you don’t have, ah, perhaps, the best green-screen image to work with. Here, for example, there are lighting instruments in the foreground, with a very inadequately lit green screen in the background. (Sigh… this is just pitiful.)

Once you pull the key – which is film-speak for creating a green-screen shot, as I described above – and get it looking as good as possible, there’s one more step: adding a garbage matte to get rid of all the garbage surrounding your actors.

fx chroma 13

Once you get your key looking as good as you can – which in this case isn’t all that good – drag the Mask effect (Effects > Keying > Mask) on top of the green-screen clip.

NOTE: The Mask effect should always be added after the Keying effect, so that the Mask is below the Keyer in the Inspector.

fx chroma 14

Then, drag each of the four circles to create a shape such that your foreground image is contained inside it, and everything you want to exclude is outside. Here, for instance, we removed the light stand, the edge of the green background and the tearing at the top of the image. I’ve found this Mask effect works best when applied to a connected clip.

However, the big limitation of the Mask effect is that you only have four points to work with. That’s where a free effect comes in, which allows you to create far more flexible shapes with it. It’s written by Alex Gollner and is available on his website – alex4d.wordpress.com/fcpx/ – I recommend his effects highly.

How to Create a Chroma-Key in easier ways?

Chroma-key, or green screen, is an essential part of every editor to make all kinds of effects. Is there any way to make this sophisticated procedure easier way? Yes, try Filmora.

In version 10.5 for Mac, Filmora added a new feature: AI portrait. It allows you to do a green screen effect with just one click.

By adopting AI portrait, you can add those stunning effects in simple steps: How to Remove or Change Video Background in One Step?

Or: How to Add a Shake Effect to your Videos?

Conclusion

The chroma-key filter in FCP X allows us to create some amazing effects. If you want to use green screen effects more easily, here is Filmora for you. You can appaly Chroma-Key effects with just a few click. Have fun playing with it.

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )

author avatar

Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Chroma-key (also called “green screen”) effects are a staple in video production. What FCP X effect does is allow you to make the background behind an actor transparent so you can place the actor into a different environment than a studio.


This is a basic tutorial about Apple Final Cut Pro X, professional video editing software. However, if video editing is new to you, consider Wondershare Filmora for Mac . This is a powerful but easy-to-use tool for users just starting out. Download the free trial version below.

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )


Getting Started

First, the best thing you can do to improve the quality of your keys is to improve how you shoot them. Here are seven basic production rules:

  • Actors should be at least 10 feet in front of the green screen. This avoids light from the background “spilling” around their body or shoulders.
  • In general, don’t cast shadows on the green screen. Be very careful shooting feet.
  • The green background should be as smooth as possible. Paint is always better than fabric; avoid wrinkles and folds.
  • The green background should be lit smoothly, both from side to side and top to bottom. I try to have the green background display between 40-50% level on the waveform monitor.
  • There is NO relationship between how the background is lit and how your actors are lit. This article will illustrate that.
  • Light your background for smoothness. Light your actors for drama.
  • Don’t worry about having the green background fill the frame. It only needs to completely surround the edges of your actors. Garbage mattes are used to get rid of junk around the edges.

Setting up the Key

fx chroma 01

The green screen image is always placed above the background. You can place either the green screen or background image into the Primary Storyline. I find it easier to put the background in the Primary Storyline, because it makes editing the green screen image easier. But this is purely personal choice.

Step 1: Select the green screen clip

From the Effects Browser > Keying category, double-click the Keyer effect, which applies it to the selected clip. (You can also drag the effect on top of the clip, if you forgot to select the green-screen clip first.)

fx chroma 02

Don’t panic if your image looks weird – we will fix it.

fx chroma 03

Click the Sample Color icon. This allows fine-tuning the selection of the background color.

fx chroma 04

In the green-screen image, drag to select a representative section of the background. I try to get close to the face, but not so close that I accidentally select loose hair or skin.

Your key should look better immediately. Most of the time, you can probably stop here. But there are three other adjustments that can make your key look even better:

  • Cleaning up the matte
  • Edge adjustments
  • Light wrap

fx chroma 06

Click the Matte button to display your key as a white foreground on a black background.

fx chroma 07

Your goal is the make the foreground solid white, which means opaque, and the background solid black, which means transparent. Adjust the Fill Holes and Edge Distance sliders until your key looks solid. (For REALLY bad keys, you’ll need to also adjust Color Selection, mentioned below.)

fx chroma 05

If an edge is too pronounced, or needs help, click the Edges icon.

fx chroma 09

Step 2: Tweaks Video

Then, click and drag a line from the foreground to the background in the Canvas. Drag the midpoint slider (where my cursor is) until the edge looks the best it can. Different video formats make this easy (ProRes), while others (HDV, avchd) make this much harder. Perfection is impossible – do the best you can.

fx chroma 09a

Final Cut provides four additional tweaks at the bottom of the keyer filter:

  • Color Selection
  • Matte Tools
  • Spill Suppression
  • Light Wrap

The first three are designed to clean up poorly shot keys – read the FCP X Help files to learn how these work. (I used the Color Selection tools to clean up the very dark key I use an example later in this article.)

Light wrap, though, is aesthetic. What it does is blend colors from the background into the edges of the foreground, to make the entire key look more “organic,” as if the foreground and background were actually in the same space.

This is a subtle effect, but very cool.

fx chroma 10

Twirl down Light Wrap and adjust the Amount slider and watch what happens. Drag the other sliders around and see what happens. The nice thing about this setting is that when it looks good to you, it is good. The amount of the effect is totally up to you. Remember, Light Wrap only affects the edges of the foreground and should be used subtly.

fx chroma 11

When you are done, you have a great looking key!

Clean up the Image with a Garbage Mask

fx chroma 12

Sometimes, however, you don’t have, ah, perhaps, the best green-screen image to work with. Here, for example, there are lighting instruments in the foreground, with a very inadequately lit green screen in the background. (Sigh… this is just pitiful.)

Once you pull the key – which is film-speak for creating a green-screen shot, as I described above – and get it looking as good as possible, there’s one more step: adding a garbage matte to get rid of all the garbage surrounding your actors.

fx chroma 13

Once you get your key looking as good as you can – which in this case isn’t all that good – drag the Mask effect (Effects > Keying > Mask) on top of the green-screen clip.

NOTE: The Mask effect should always be added after the Keying effect, so that the Mask is below the Keyer in the Inspector.

fx chroma 14

Then, drag each of the four circles to create a shape such that your foreground image is contained inside it, and everything you want to exclude is outside. Here, for instance, we removed the light stand, the edge of the green background and the tearing at the top of the image. I’ve found this Mask effect works best when applied to a connected clip.

However, the big limitation of the Mask effect is that you only have four points to work with. That’s where a free effect comes in, which allows you to create far more flexible shapes with it. It’s written by Alex Gollner and is available on his website – alex4d.wordpress.com/fcpx/ – I recommend his effects highly.

How to Create a Chroma-Key in easier ways?

Chroma-key, or green screen, is an essential part of every editor to make all kinds of effects. Is there any way to make this sophisticated procedure easier way? Yes, try Filmora.

In version 10.5 for Mac, Filmora added a new feature: AI portrait. It allows you to do a green screen effect with just one click.

By adopting AI portrait, you can add those stunning effects in simple steps: How to Remove or Change Video Background in One Step?

Or: How to Add a Shake Effect to your Videos?

Conclusion

The chroma-key filter in FCP X allows us to create some amazing effects. If you want to use green screen effects more easily, here is Filmora for you. You can appaly Chroma-Key effects with just a few click. Have fun playing with it.

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )

author avatar

Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Benjamin Arango

Animate Like a Pro: Top 10 Tools for Beginners and Experts Alike

Top 8 Best Animation Maker for Beginners and Pros

author avatar

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Having plenty of free animation makers in the market, you must be in a dilemma to decide the best one for you. We believe that there is one animation creator for everyone to suit their specific needs, irrespective of your level of proficiency in animation.

Only you can figure out which one is the best animated profile picture maker for you. When you choose the right software tool for your animation work, the results will always come outstanding.

We have featured a meticulously picked list of animation maker software applications to ease off your burden. Go ahead and explore your creative streak with the best animation creator.


Part 1: Best Animation Software for Beginners

1. Maya

Price: Free for 30 days. $205/monthly. $1620/1 year. $4375/3 years

Maya is one among the leading 3D animation, simulation, modeling and rendering software application empowered with exceptional toolset. You can use it to make animation, motion graphics, environments, character creation, as well as virtual reality to name a few.

Key Features:

  • Arnold RenderView integrated with Maya enables you to experience real-time changes in scenes that include lighting, camera, or materials.
  • The Motion Graphics toolset uses instanced objects and instantly creates complex procedural effects and animations.
  • Using the MASH toolset you can add new nodes consisting of signal, curve, world, placer, etc. along with existing node updates.

Support: Win, Mac, Linux.

Maya

2. Photoshop

Price: $20.99/month.

Because of its influential drawing efficiencies Photoshop has been considered as a mighty tool for creating animations. It renders Disney-style animation due to its frame by frame animation techniques.

You can utilize the onion skinning process for incredible animation experience using the ‘Timeline’ feature (with frame by frame approach).

Key Features:

  • It supports a varied range of QuickTime video formats, image sequence formats, and color mode and bit depth for animation.
  • With the help of the Timeline panel, you can make animation frames, where the configuration of layers is represented by a single frame.
  • In Photoshop the opacity, styles, position represents the layer properties and a gradual change in them gives you the feeling of transformation or movement in animations. It results in automatic modification and addition of multiple frames in a series among two existing frames.

Support: Win, Mac.

Photoshop

3. Adobe Animate

Price: $20.99/month.

Adobe Animate is a brilliant tool to make animations with interactive vectors that you can use in games, web as well as on apps and make banners and cartoons movable. Infographics and tutorials become lively with this tool and you can share them on numerous platforms as well using mobile, computer or TV.

Key Features:

  • Use the tilt and pressure sensitive vector brushes to draw and sketch characters and with frame by frame animation make them talk, walk and blink.
  • Design and develop interfaces, start screens, game environment and player sprites to get the best interactive web-based content.
  • You can export your work to WebGL, HTML5 Canvas, Flash/Adobe AIRetc.

Support: Win, Mac.

Animate

4. Moho

Price: Free for 30 days. $399.99/lifetime

Moho is a complete animation tool dedicated to digital artists and professionals which was used to make movies like Song of the Sea and The Breadwinner (both were nominated for OSCAR).

Key Features:

  • Having smart warp, this tool enables you to shape, bend, animate, and twist assets including vectors and images and is compatible with Smart Bones.
  • Using the realistic motion blur feature you can manage the number of frames and how they blend to moving objects or characters for creating amazing results.
  • The vector Bezier handles allow you to have more control on designing and make exceptional line bends having minimal points and perfectly optimized to sync with animation.

Support: Win, Mac.

Moho

Part 2: Best Animation Software for Pros

1. Autodesk motion builder

Price: Free for 30 days. $1855/1 year. $5010/3 years

Autodesk motion builder is one of the coolest animation creators that allow 3D character animation. The highly interactive and responsive environment enables you for capturing, editing, and then playing back complicated character animations. Directors or animators, all of them love the results of Autodesk motion builder.

Key Features:

  • The real-time 3D engine builds human movements.
  • It manipulates motion capture data with production-proven tools that allow motion capture editing.
  • It can interact with other 3D applications through the interoperable FBX data exchange and software development kit.

Support: Win, Mac.

motion builder

2. Blender

Price: Free

Blender is an open source 3D animation creator available free of cost. Talk about modeling, animation, rigging, rendering, simulation, motion tracking, compositing, video editing, or game creation.

Key Features:

  • Industry standard libraries are available in the simulation tool, such as MantaFlow and bullet.
  • The modeling toolset in Blender can not only do modeling, but also does retopology, sculpting, curves as well.
  • The animation toolset enables you to synchronize sound, automates walk-cycle, edits the pose of characters, impart independent movements with Non Linear Animation as well.

Support: Win, Mac, Linux.

Blender

3. Vyond

Price: $299/1 year. $649/1 year. $999/1 year

Vyond is a flexible animation creator that customizes the animated characters with various hues of color and efficiently showcasing the diversity of their race. There are options to slide scales and offer a flexible environment for animating objects and characters alike.

Key Features:

  • Create any character around you or recreate yourself, with the amazing character creator tool.
  • For voiceover narration you just need to give a voice track and the characters can also auto-lip-sync when you give them a voice.
  • There are numerous industries and occupations that you can incorporate in your animation to keep the audience engaged.

Support: Win, Mac.

GoAnimate

4. After Effects

Price: $20.99/month

Cinematic intros, movie titles, as well as transitions can easily be created using this tool. It enables you to make it rain or start a fire, animate a character, or logo, and a lot more. It is compatible with other Adobe apps, such as Adobe Dynamic Link, Photoshop CC, Audition CC, Illustrator CC, as well as Team Projects.

Key Features:

  • Creating visual effects or motion graphics for TV, film, web, and videos is easy for designers, animators, and compositors with After Effects.
  • Using the animation presets you can slide, spin, or swipe texts for animated credits, titles, etc.
  • Cartoon, logos, or shapes your key-frames can make all of them moving with amazing background music.

Support: Win, Mac.

After Effects

Final Verdict

Apart from the best animation software for beginners mentioned here, you can make use of Wondershare Filmora to create breathtaking videos. This powerful video editing tool can help you make one of the best videos using features such as precision speed control, frame by frame preview, color tuning, noise removal, and 4K editing support etc.

author avatar

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Having plenty of free animation makers in the market, you must be in a dilemma to decide the best one for you. We believe that there is one animation creator for everyone to suit their specific needs, irrespective of your level of proficiency in animation.

Only you can figure out which one is the best animated profile picture maker for you. When you choose the right software tool for your animation work, the results will always come outstanding.

We have featured a meticulously picked list of animation maker software applications to ease off your burden. Go ahead and explore your creative streak with the best animation creator.


Part 1: Best Animation Software for Beginners

1. Maya

Price: Free for 30 days. $205/monthly. $1620/1 year. $4375/3 years

Maya is one among the leading 3D animation, simulation, modeling and rendering software application empowered with exceptional toolset. You can use it to make animation, motion graphics, environments, character creation, as well as virtual reality to name a few.

Key Features:

  • Arnold RenderView integrated with Maya enables you to experience real-time changes in scenes that include lighting, camera, or materials.
  • The Motion Graphics toolset uses instanced objects and instantly creates complex procedural effects and animations.
  • Using the MASH toolset you can add new nodes consisting of signal, curve, world, placer, etc. along with existing node updates.

Support: Win, Mac, Linux.

Maya

2. Photoshop

Price: $20.99/month.

Because of its influential drawing efficiencies Photoshop has been considered as a mighty tool for creating animations. It renders Disney-style animation due to its frame by frame animation techniques.

You can utilize the onion skinning process for incredible animation experience using the ‘Timeline’ feature (with frame by frame approach).

Key Features:

  • It supports a varied range of QuickTime video formats, image sequence formats, and color mode and bit depth for animation.
  • With the help of the Timeline panel, you can make animation frames, where the configuration of layers is represented by a single frame.
  • In Photoshop the opacity, styles, position represents the layer properties and a gradual change in them gives you the feeling of transformation or movement in animations. It results in automatic modification and addition of multiple frames in a series among two existing frames.

Support: Win, Mac.

Photoshop

3. Adobe Animate

Price: $20.99/month.

Adobe Animate is a brilliant tool to make animations with interactive vectors that you can use in games, web as well as on apps and make banners and cartoons movable. Infographics and tutorials become lively with this tool and you can share them on numerous platforms as well using mobile, computer or TV.

Key Features:

  • Use the tilt and pressure sensitive vector brushes to draw and sketch characters and with frame by frame animation make them talk, walk and blink.
  • Design and develop interfaces, start screens, game environment and player sprites to get the best interactive web-based content.
  • You can export your work to WebGL, HTML5 Canvas, Flash/Adobe AIRetc.

Support: Win, Mac.

Animate

4. Moho

Price: Free for 30 days. $399.99/lifetime

Moho is a complete animation tool dedicated to digital artists and professionals which was used to make movies like Song of the Sea and The Breadwinner (both were nominated for OSCAR).

Key Features:

  • Having smart warp, this tool enables you to shape, bend, animate, and twist assets including vectors and images and is compatible with Smart Bones.
  • Using the realistic motion blur feature you can manage the number of frames and how they blend to moving objects or characters for creating amazing results.
  • The vector Bezier handles allow you to have more control on designing and make exceptional line bends having minimal points and perfectly optimized to sync with animation.

Support: Win, Mac.

Moho

Part 2: Best Animation Software for Pros

1. Autodesk motion builder

Price: Free for 30 days. $1855/1 year. $5010/3 years

Autodesk motion builder is one of the coolest animation creators that allow 3D character animation. The highly interactive and responsive environment enables you for capturing, editing, and then playing back complicated character animations. Directors or animators, all of them love the results of Autodesk motion builder.

Key Features:

  • The real-time 3D engine builds human movements.
  • It manipulates motion capture data with production-proven tools that allow motion capture editing.
  • It can interact with other 3D applications through the interoperable FBX data exchange and software development kit.

Support: Win, Mac.

motion builder

2. Blender

Price: Free

Blender is an open source 3D animation creator available free of cost. Talk about modeling, animation, rigging, rendering, simulation, motion tracking, compositing, video editing, or game creation.

Key Features:

  • Industry standard libraries are available in the simulation tool, such as MantaFlow and bullet.
  • The modeling toolset in Blender can not only do modeling, but also does retopology, sculpting, curves as well.
  • The animation toolset enables you to synchronize sound, automates walk-cycle, edits the pose of characters, impart independent movements with Non Linear Animation as well.

Support: Win, Mac, Linux.

Blender

3. Vyond

Price: $299/1 year. $649/1 year. $999/1 year

Vyond is a flexible animation creator that customizes the animated characters with various hues of color and efficiently showcasing the diversity of their race. There are options to slide scales and offer a flexible environment for animating objects and characters alike.

Key Features:

  • Create any character around you or recreate yourself, with the amazing character creator tool.
  • For voiceover narration you just need to give a voice track and the characters can also auto-lip-sync when you give them a voice.
  • There are numerous industries and occupations that you can incorporate in your animation to keep the audience engaged.

Support: Win, Mac.

GoAnimate

4. After Effects

Price: $20.99/month

Cinematic intros, movie titles, as well as transitions can easily be created using this tool. It enables you to make it rain or start a fire, animate a character, or logo, and a lot more. It is compatible with other Adobe apps, such as Adobe Dynamic Link, Photoshop CC, Audition CC, Illustrator CC, as well as Team Projects.

Key Features:

  • Creating visual effects or motion graphics for TV, film, web, and videos is easy for designers, animators, and compositors with After Effects.
  • Using the animation presets you can slide, spin, or swipe texts for animated credits, titles, etc.
  • Cartoon, logos, or shapes your key-frames can make all of them moving with amazing background music.

Support: Win, Mac.

After Effects

Final Verdict

Apart from the best animation software for beginners mentioned here, you can make use of Wondershare Filmora to create breathtaking videos. This powerful video editing tool can help you make one of the best videos using features such as precision speed control, frame by frame preview, color tuning, noise removal, and 4K editing support etc.

author avatar

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Having plenty of free animation makers in the market, you must be in a dilemma to decide the best one for you. We believe that there is one animation creator for everyone to suit their specific needs, irrespective of your level of proficiency in animation.

Only you can figure out which one is the best animated profile picture maker for you. When you choose the right software tool for your animation work, the results will always come outstanding.

We have featured a meticulously picked list of animation maker software applications to ease off your burden. Go ahead and explore your creative streak with the best animation creator.


Part 1: Best Animation Software for Beginners

1. Maya

Price: Free for 30 days. $205/monthly. $1620/1 year. $4375/3 years

Maya is one among the leading 3D animation, simulation, modeling and rendering software application empowered with exceptional toolset. You can use it to make animation, motion graphics, environments, character creation, as well as virtual reality to name a few.

Key Features:

  • Arnold RenderView integrated with Maya enables you to experience real-time changes in scenes that include lighting, camera, or materials.
  • The Motion Graphics toolset uses instanced objects and instantly creates complex procedural effects and animations.
  • Using the MASH toolset you can add new nodes consisting of signal, curve, world, placer, etc. along with existing node updates.

Support: Win, Mac, Linux.

Maya

2. Photoshop

Price: $20.99/month.

Because of its influential drawing efficiencies Photoshop has been considered as a mighty tool for creating animations. It renders Disney-style animation due to its frame by frame animation techniques.

You can utilize the onion skinning process for incredible animation experience using the ‘Timeline’ feature (with frame by frame approach).

Key Features:

  • It supports a varied range of QuickTime video formats, image sequence formats, and color mode and bit depth for animation.
  • With the help of the Timeline panel, you can make animation frames, where the configuration of layers is represented by a single frame.
  • In Photoshop the opacity, styles, position represents the layer properties and a gradual change in them gives you the feeling of transformation or movement in animations. It results in automatic modification and addition of multiple frames in a series among two existing frames.

Support: Win, Mac.

Photoshop

3. Adobe Animate

Price: $20.99/month.

Adobe Animate is a brilliant tool to make animations with interactive vectors that you can use in games, web as well as on apps and make banners and cartoons movable. Infographics and tutorials become lively with this tool and you can share them on numerous platforms as well using mobile, computer or TV.

Key Features:

  • Use the tilt and pressure sensitive vector brushes to draw and sketch characters and with frame by frame animation make them talk, walk and blink.
  • Design and develop interfaces, start screens, game environment and player sprites to get the best interactive web-based content.
  • You can export your work to WebGL, HTML5 Canvas, Flash/Adobe AIRetc.

Support: Win, Mac.

Animate

4. Moho

Price: Free for 30 days. $399.99/lifetime

Moho is a complete animation tool dedicated to digital artists and professionals which was used to make movies like Song of the Sea and The Breadwinner (both were nominated for OSCAR).

Key Features:

  • Having smart warp, this tool enables you to shape, bend, animate, and twist assets including vectors and images and is compatible with Smart Bones.
  • Using the realistic motion blur feature you can manage the number of frames and how they blend to moving objects or characters for creating amazing results.
  • The vector Bezier handles allow you to have more control on designing and make exceptional line bends having minimal points and perfectly optimized to sync with animation.

Support: Win, Mac.

Moho

Part 2: Best Animation Software for Pros

1. Autodesk motion builder

Price: Free for 30 days. $1855/1 year. $5010/3 years

Autodesk motion builder is one of the coolest animation creators that allow 3D character animation. The highly interactive and responsive environment enables you for capturing, editing, and then playing back complicated character animations. Directors or animators, all of them love the results of Autodesk motion builder.

Key Features:

  • The real-time 3D engine builds human movements.
  • It manipulates motion capture data with production-proven tools that allow motion capture editing.
  • It can interact with other 3D applications through the interoperable FBX data exchange and software development kit.

Support: Win, Mac.

motion builder

2. Blender

Price: Free

Blender is an open source 3D animation creator available free of cost. Talk about modeling, animation, rigging, rendering, simulation, motion tracking, compositing, video editing, or game creation.

Key Features:

  • Industry standard libraries are available in the simulation tool, such as MantaFlow and bullet.
  • The modeling toolset in Blender can not only do modeling, but also does retopology, sculpting, curves as well.
  • The animation toolset enables you to synchronize sound, automates walk-cycle, edits the pose of characters, impart independent movements with Non Linear Animation as well.

Support: Win, Mac, Linux.

Blender

3. Vyond

Price: $299/1 year. $649/1 year. $999/1 year

Vyond is a flexible animation creator that customizes the animated characters with various hues of color and efficiently showcasing the diversity of their race. There are options to slide scales and offer a flexible environment for animating objects and characters alike.

Key Features:

  • Create any character around you or recreate yourself, with the amazing character creator tool.
  • For voiceover narration you just need to give a voice track and the characters can also auto-lip-sync when you give them a voice.
  • There are numerous industries and occupations that you can incorporate in your animation to keep the audience engaged.

Support: Win, Mac.

GoAnimate

4. After Effects

Price: $20.99/month

Cinematic intros, movie titles, as well as transitions can easily be created using this tool. It enables you to make it rain or start a fire, animate a character, or logo, and a lot more. It is compatible with other Adobe apps, such as Adobe Dynamic Link, Photoshop CC, Audition CC, Illustrator CC, as well as Team Projects.

Key Features:

  • Creating visual effects or motion graphics for TV, film, web, and videos is easy for designers, animators, and compositors with After Effects.
  • Using the animation presets you can slide, spin, or swipe texts for animated credits, titles, etc.
  • Cartoon, logos, or shapes your key-frames can make all of them moving with amazing background music.

Support: Win, Mac.

After Effects

Final Verdict

Apart from the best animation software for beginners mentioned here, you can make use of Wondershare Filmora to create breathtaking videos. This powerful video editing tool can help you make one of the best videos using features such as precision speed control, frame by frame preview, color tuning, noise removal, and 4K editing support etc.

author avatar

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Having plenty of free animation makers in the market, you must be in a dilemma to decide the best one for you. We believe that there is one animation creator for everyone to suit their specific needs, irrespective of your level of proficiency in animation.

Only you can figure out which one is the best animated profile picture maker for you. When you choose the right software tool for your animation work, the results will always come outstanding.

We have featured a meticulously picked list of animation maker software applications to ease off your burden. Go ahead and explore your creative streak with the best animation creator.


Part 1: Best Animation Software for Beginners

1. Maya

Price: Free for 30 days. $205/monthly. $1620/1 year. $4375/3 years

Maya is one among the leading 3D animation, simulation, modeling and rendering software application empowered with exceptional toolset. You can use it to make animation, motion graphics, environments, character creation, as well as virtual reality to name a few.

Key Features:

  • Arnold RenderView integrated with Maya enables you to experience real-time changes in scenes that include lighting, camera, or materials.
  • The Motion Graphics toolset uses instanced objects and instantly creates complex procedural effects and animations.
  • Using the MASH toolset you can add new nodes consisting of signal, curve, world, placer, etc. along with existing node updates.

Support: Win, Mac, Linux.

Maya

2. Photoshop

Price: $20.99/month.

Because of its influential drawing efficiencies Photoshop has been considered as a mighty tool for creating animations. It renders Disney-style animation due to its frame by frame animation techniques.

You can utilize the onion skinning process for incredible animation experience using the ‘Timeline’ feature (with frame by frame approach).

Key Features:

  • It supports a varied range of QuickTime video formats, image sequence formats, and color mode and bit depth for animation.
  • With the help of the Timeline panel, you can make animation frames, where the configuration of layers is represented by a single frame.
  • In Photoshop the opacity, styles, position represents the layer properties and a gradual change in them gives you the feeling of transformation or movement in animations. It results in automatic modification and addition of multiple frames in a series among two existing frames.

Support: Win, Mac.

Photoshop

3. Adobe Animate

Price: $20.99/month.

Adobe Animate is a brilliant tool to make animations with interactive vectors that you can use in games, web as well as on apps and make banners and cartoons movable. Infographics and tutorials become lively with this tool and you can share them on numerous platforms as well using mobile, computer or TV.

Key Features:

  • Use the tilt and pressure sensitive vector brushes to draw and sketch characters and with frame by frame animation make them talk, walk and blink.
  • Design and develop interfaces, start screens, game environment and player sprites to get the best interactive web-based content.
  • You can export your work to WebGL, HTML5 Canvas, Flash/Adobe AIRetc.

Support: Win, Mac.

Animate

4. Moho

Price: Free for 30 days. $399.99/lifetime

Moho is a complete animation tool dedicated to digital artists and professionals which was used to make movies like Song of the Sea and The Breadwinner (both were nominated for OSCAR).

Key Features:

  • Having smart warp, this tool enables you to shape, bend, animate, and twist assets including vectors and images and is compatible with Smart Bones.
  • Using the realistic motion blur feature you can manage the number of frames and how they blend to moving objects or characters for creating amazing results.
  • The vector Bezier handles allow you to have more control on designing and make exceptional line bends having minimal points and perfectly optimized to sync with animation.

Support: Win, Mac.

Moho

Part 2: Best Animation Software for Pros

1. Autodesk motion builder

Price: Free for 30 days. $1855/1 year. $5010/3 years

Autodesk motion builder is one of the coolest animation creators that allow 3D character animation. The highly interactive and responsive environment enables you for capturing, editing, and then playing back complicated character animations. Directors or animators, all of them love the results of Autodesk motion builder.

Key Features:

  • The real-time 3D engine builds human movements.
  • It manipulates motion capture data with production-proven tools that allow motion capture editing.
  • It can interact with other 3D applications through the interoperable FBX data exchange and software development kit.

Support: Win, Mac.

motion builder

2. Blender

Price: Free

Blender is an open source 3D animation creator available free of cost. Talk about modeling, animation, rigging, rendering, simulation, motion tracking, compositing, video editing, or game creation.

Key Features:

  • Industry standard libraries are available in the simulation tool, such as MantaFlow and bullet.
  • The modeling toolset in Blender can not only do modeling, but also does retopology, sculpting, curves as well.
  • The animation toolset enables you to synchronize sound, automates walk-cycle, edits the pose of characters, impart independent movements with Non Linear Animation as well.

Support: Win, Mac, Linux.

Blender

3. Vyond

Price: $299/1 year. $649/1 year. $999/1 year

Vyond is a flexible animation creator that customizes the animated characters with various hues of color and efficiently showcasing the diversity of their race. There are options to slide scales and offer a flexible environment for animating objects and characters alike.

Key Features:

  • Create any character around you or recreate yourself, with the amazing character creator tool.
  • For voiceover narration you just need to give a voice track and the characters can also auto-lip-sync when you give them a voice.
  • There are numerous industries and occupations that you can incorporate in your animation to keep the audience engaged.

Support: Win, Mac.

GoAnimate

4. After Effects

Price: $20.99/month

Cinematic intros, movie titles, as well as transitions can easily be created using this tool. It enables you to make it rain or start a fire, animate a character, or logo, and a lot more. It is compatible with other Adobe apps, such as Adobe Dynamic Link, Photoshop CC, Audition CC, Illustrator CC, as well as Team Projects.

Key Features:

  • Creating visual effects or motion graphics for TV, film, web, and videos is easy for designers, animators, and compositors with After Effects.
  • Using the animation presets you can slide, spin, or swipe texts for animated credits, titles, etc.
  • Cartoon, logos, or shapes your key-frames can make all of them moving with amazing background music.

Support: Win, Mac.

After Effects

Final Verdict

Apart from the best animation software for beginners mentioned here, you can make use of Wondershare Filmora to create breathtaking videos. This powerful video editing tool can help you make one of the best videos using features such as precision speed control, frame by frame preview, color tuning, noise removal, and 4K editing support etc.

author avatar

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Also read:

  • Title: New Explainer Video Software Showdown Top Picks for 2024
  • Author: Charlotte
  • Created at : 2024-04-29 06:30:41
  • Updated at : 2024-04-30 06:30:41
  • Link: https://smart-video-creator.techidaily.com/new-explainer-video-software-showdown-top-picks-for-2024/
  • License: This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
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New Explainer Video Software Showdown Top Picks for 2024