Animation Software suggestions or advice?

I have zero experience animating anything, but I want to put together a 30 second youtube video (explaining/promoting Levitada). I’ve viewed a bunch of youtube reviews of animation software and I’ve played around with some “try before you buy” ones, but I thought I’d ask here to see if anyone has advice. My priorities: keep it very simple to use and relatively inexpensive. The “whiteboard” animations look fun and easy (I’m looking at VideoScribe but wondering if there are others which might be better).

I also figured out how to use some “make an MNG / collection of png image stills into a video” cheap software in combination with Inkscape. In Inkscape I create 2 shapes (for example, a simple square and then a complex 7 pointed star), then use Extentions/generate from path/ Interpolate which creates a bunch of “intermediate steps” of the transitional phases between the square and second star. I can then export each of those as a .png, then connect the .png’s together into an “MNG” animation with some cheap software which can then export into video formats. But, still, a 30 second animation going image by image, even with that handy “interpolate” extention may be a long/slow process… so, I’m thinking the “whiteboard” animation stuff might just be simpler and quicker.

thoughts? warnings? advice?

(btw, learning some animation is another thing to keep my off the streets/busy/having fun before the GF arrives)

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Prezi.com does some cool stuff with animation into a presentation and you can use your own graphics.

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Blender works. You can do some pretty neat things with it, but since it’s built to do 3d modeling and some other stuff it can feel a bit complicated. Totally do-able, though, if you are willing to put up with that.

Video Editing
Blender even comes with a built-in Video Editor.

The Video Editor allows you to perform basic actions like video cuts and splicing, as well as more complex tasks like video masking.

The Video Editor includes:

Live preview, luma waveform, chroma vectorscope and histogram displays
Audio mixing, syncing, scrubbing and waveform visualization
Up to 32 slots for adding video, images, audio, scenes, masks and effects
Speed control, adjustment layers, transitions, keyframes, filters and more.

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If you don’t care about personally making the video, you can get it done pretty inexpensively on Fiverr (https://www.fiverr.com/categories/video-animation?source=hp_cat_sec)

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I have used blender.
It is ridiculously powerful and free; but when those words go together, you can expect a pretty steep learning curve.
I either need to spend several hundred more hours, or find something else.
YMMV- you are a programmer and can understand the way they think, so probably quicker than me. And YouTube has help

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I have so much respect for the things you write but prezi makes the most painful presentations, hahaha. My speech class mandated its use when it was new, and it almost gave me motion sickness :V

Their “intro” docs warn about this. Yes, the zoom in and out features are super cool looking at first, but overuse can lead to nausea!

I’m still playing around with it and will prob make some videos with it. Sadly, it has no “make this into a video” feature, but used with some screen-capture software (https://screencast-o-matic.com/, etc.) I think it’s got a lot of potential… if I don’t get carried away with its zoominess :wink:

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honestly, i think these and all the effects mostly take away from content. if the content isn’t engaging enough, then transitions aren’t much more than lipstick on a hog

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I’ve tried both VideoScribe and PowToon. I like VideoScribe most. Here are two videos I’ve created in the past for comparison. Powtoon, I believe, if cheaper.

VideoScribe (gotta click past the intro on this one)

Powtoon

With both, you can upload an image then create simple animations to write on it.

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If you have adobe cc, than you have Adobe Animate CC (formerly called Flash).
Not exactly easy, or drag & drop, but very powerful.

Yep. It’s like the first days of desktop publishing. People thought they had to use every font available. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

Really nice job. Just spent a few life minutes learning something I didn’t know I ought to :slightly_smiling_face:

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VERY nice. Thx. EasySketch Pro is a cheaper version of VideoScribe (so I think it is all I need), but I will certainly take a closer look at Powtoon. Thanks! :slight_smile:

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