Positives
- Simple interface
- Creative customization tools
- Text-to-speech dubbing
- Affordable
- Attentive customer support
- Free version
Negatives
- Basic support page
- Watermarks in free plan
Video is one of the best ways to reach an audience these days. No wonder more people are realizing how important it is to create appealing videos, whether they are entrepreneurs, marketers, or academics. Animated videos go one step further, as they’re fun and easy to follow, but getting them right can be challenging. From the creators of the video editor Filmora, Wondershare, comes Anireel – a video creator that helps produce animated videos easily. With its straightforward interface and tons of tools, such as a character creator, it feels like you’re playing a video game when you’re actually making informative content. All the sounds used in your animation are also fully customizable via dubbing, background music, and sound effects. Even beginners will never feel lost with the various built-in guides. And despite being such a detailed program, it’s not expensive, with the company offering both attractive prices and many features for free.
Features
Upon downloading Anireel’s Windows desktop application, you’ll be greeted by an immersive interface that lets you immediately start creating animations. The program encourages you to use its step-by-step guide that leads you through the basics. It even explains some advanced features, such as how to dub videos with the software’s text-to-speech feature. Anireel hands over full control when you’ve finished the guide so you can let your creativity flow.
The easiest way to create your animations is to use one of the predesigned scripts. Although there are only six to choose from, they’re useful when you need to quickly make a product promo, company introduction, or how-to guide. However, if you have more time, you can get your teeth into the many other tools. From backgrounds to props, characters’ voices, and music, Anireel lets you customize everything to your heart’s content.
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Creating Animations
After finishing the tutorials, you can start animating at your own pace. While Wondershare Anireel doesn’t impose an order on how to proceed, it recommends starting with character creation. Your character will set the stage for the background, music, and all other settings. From changing age, gender, and general look to gestures and poses, characters are fully customizable. Plus, prerecorded voices can be added later on. But if you’re short in time, there are thousands of preset characters to choose from as well.
When you’re done, you can start creating scenes. While there’s a template library with several presets, creating everything from scratch is much more fun. With a plethora of backgrounds, props, titles, and speech bubbles, Anireel offers numerous assets to create engaging animations. A fair amount of background music and sound effects are also available, allowing you to spice up your animation with some looney tunes.
Anireel’s drag-and-drop scene timeline will be your best friend to ensure everything works together seamlessly. It’s conveniently placed below the animation-in-progress, letting you adjust the length of the music and the character’s voice to match the props and background. Scenes can be edited at the same time or individually. Finally, the software allows you to add an infinite number of scenes, although it’s better to create fewer longer scenes than numerous short ones.
Text-To-Speech
Anireel is proud of its text-to-speech feature, and for good reason. It’s possible to either import a text file or write the script in the software directly. The latter is quite straightforward, even though the icon in the bottom left corner is a bit difficult to spot. But after finding it, all you have to do is type the text and choose a voice that suits your character.
Meanwhile, the program’s lip-sync feature lets you match your character’s movements seamlessly to the spoken word, meaning the character will accurately move their lips to the sound. This is also a good time for adding gestures to make them appear more natural.
Pricing
Wondershare Anireel’s prices are surprisingly easy on the wallet. The software’s free plan is immensely satisfying, offering you a great way to test the waters before committing to a purchase. Its main downside is that it only allows for five exported videos per month, which come with a watermark. So, a paid plan will always be necessary when using Anireel for anything that isn’t personal use. As the name implies, the Individual plan is catered to people who want to create animations by themselves, such as YouTubers. Prices start at $8 per month with an annual plan, and the subscription comes with all the features discussed so far. It’s also possible to get the software for a one-time fee of $149, but this option doesn’t provide future software versions.
The company also provides subscriptions catered to businesses. They provide the same features as the Individual plan but come with an admin dashboard for multi-user control. Businesses can also opt between a subscription or a perpetual plan, and there are volume discounts in place. For example, while one user costs $9.99 per month, five users cost $47.50. This translates into roughly $9.50 per user per month. It’s important to mention that Wondershare regularly offers discounts during holiday periods and that the software comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Customer Service
24/7 customer support is always something to be thankful for, especially when it’s attentive. Wondershare’s agents answer in seconds through live chat, and they either forward you to the relevant guide or kindly answer your questions. At the end of the conversation, the agent asks you to rate their support, and you’ll likely want to give it two thumbs up. The same courtesy can’t be said about the company’s guides. Unfortunately, these are quite basic and don’t always help you find what you’re looking for. Worse still, some contain typos, which isn’t professional. Still, the program’s built-in video guides are the exact opposite, as they not only guide you through the software step by step but are also easy to follow and let you absorb the details at your own pace.
Bottom Line
Whether it’s for a simple product presentation or a detailed guide, Anireel provides handy tools to easily create engaging videos with appealing animations. With its numerous editing tools and comprehensive customization, the software helps you create easy-to-understand and personalized animations. Additionally, your character will almost look like a real person due to the software’s accurate lip sync. All this for decent prices, which can be brought down even further by taking advantage of Anireel’s seasonal discounts. Plus, the company’s customer support is helpful, although the latter’s dedicated page could benefit from a thorough edit. All things considered, creating animated videos has never been more fun, whether you’re a beginner or an expert. And the best part is that you can try everything for yourself by taking advantage of either the free version or the 30-day money-back guarantee.
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