Looking for a quick way to make animations online? If you want to create one of those cute cartoon-like presentations where everything is animated, text flies across the screen, and so on, then you have a couple of cool online tools to help you get the job done.
In this article, I will introduce two online tools I have used, PowToon and Animatron, that make it easy to create animated presentations and movies. Both services have free versions with certain limitations, such as the ability to only share the presentation online and the inability to remove the watermark and ending from the final presentation. If you plan to use these tools professionally, you can also explore paid options that remove these restrictions and provide more options.
There are many free animation software tools out there, but these usually require a fairly long learning curve due to their advanced tools and feature sets. You can learn how to use these two online tools in just a few hours.
PowToon
PowToon will allow you to create a 5 minute movie for free that you can post online to their website or YouTube. You have to register with PowToon to start using the tool, but it’s free. Once logged in, click Create at the top and select Start from Scratch or Configure Ready PowToon
The customization option is nice because it gives you a whole set of ready-made themes and templates to start your movie with. I also recommended using a pre-made template because it includes multiple slides, objects, transitions, and more so that you can see exactly how elements are added, controlled and manipulated on the canvas.
When the main interface loads, you will be presented with a quick navigation guide. Fortunately, it is very similar to tools like PowerPoint, so it doesn’t take a lot of training. On the left are slides, on the right is a library of objects that you can add to your slides, at the bottom is the timeline, and at the top is to manage project settings.
For starters, you can add objects from the panel on the right. These include text effects, picture holders, characters, animations, props, backgrounds, shapes, markers, action buttons, and transitions. Transitions can only be added if you have more than one slide. For everything else, just click on it and the object will appear on the canvas.
You will also see it at the bottom of the timeline. You can customize the entry and exit effect for each object and the length of time it stays on the canvas by clicking the object in the timeline.
PowToon is quite easy to use, but it can create complex animations. It usually takes a while to get used to the timeline and timing correctly for your objects. There are several tutorials on their website to help you learn the features faster.
You can also upload your own images, sounds and videos in addition to the assets that they have in their library. You will also notice that a lot of them talk about Premium, which means that you can only use it if you upgrade to their paid plans.
Overall, it works really well, is easy to use, and does not incur the expense of creating short videos that you might want to share with friends or family.
Enematron
Animatron is similar to PowToon, but has a few additional features. Animatron also has a free version and several paid plans. Animatron‘s interface is more like Photoshop than PowerPoint. If you need more control over objects on the canvas, then Animatron is the best choice.
One of the main reasons to use Animatron is that all animation is done using HTML5. This means that someone watching your movie doesn’t need to have Flash installed on their system, which is not the case with PowToon
Another cool feature of Animatron is that all objects are vector, so they can be resized and animated without getting grainy. You can even freehand draw, and it will allow you to instantly animate an object like vector art.
As you can see from above, all the tools are on the left side, and at the bottom is the timeline, but with each object on its own layer. You can do much more complex animations with layers than with PowToon Another advanced feature is the ability to add keyframes to change the path and size of an object.
Animatron also has a nice library of vectors, backgrounds and objects that you can add to your canvas. Many require a paid package, but there are also a decent amount of free items. You also need to register with Animatron to use all the free resources. They also have a tutorial section with lots of videos.
Overall, these two online tools are the best way to quickly create animated films or presentations without spending a lot of time. Enjoy!
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