Online Animation Makers: 7 Tools You Must Know (in 2024)

Rued Riis
17 Jan 202439:58

TLDRThis video offers an expert review of seven top online animation tools in 2024, evaluated on style, usability, and price. The reviewer, with over a decade of experience, scores each tool on a scale of 1 to 10, providing insights into their unique features and potential drawbacks. From 3D animations with Create Studio to the whiteboard style of VideoScribe, the video helps viewers select the best tool for their needs, with a special mention of Beyond as a personal favorite for its versatility and professional output.

Takeaways

  • 🎨 The reviewer has extensive experience with online animation tools and provides a critical assessment based on style, usability, and price.
  • 🌟 Create Studio stands out for its unique 3D style reminiscent of Pixar characters, scoring an 8 for style.
  • 💻 Usability of Create Studio is solid with a score of 6, featuring an intuitive interface but with some limitations in scene customization.
  • 💰 Create Studio offers competitive pricing, earning a 9 for value, with lifetime access deals providing great value for money.
  • 🚫 Animaker, despite its popularity, receives a mixed review with a style score of 6 and a usability score of 4, due to its clunky logic and interface.
  • 📊 Vyond (formerly Animoto) impresses with a variety of quality styles, scoring a 9 for style, and offers a user-friendly interface.
  • 👍 Powtoon is praised for its character creator and overall usability, earning a 6 for usability, though it has some drawbacks in UI feel.
  • 📈 Doodle offers classic whiteboard animation style with a score of 6 for style, but its usability is limited by a push for upgrades and a score of 5.
  • 📉 VideoScribe provides a focused whiteboard animation tool with a style score of 7, and a usability score of 6, noted for its improved browser-based version.
  • 🏆 Beyond is the reviewer's top pick with a style score of 9 and a perfect usability score of 10, though its pricing model receives a lower score of 5.

Q & A

  • What is the main focus of the video review?

    -The main focus of the video review is to provide an expert and non-sponsored evaluation of various online animation tools available in 2024, based on parameters like style, usability, and price.

  • What are the three parameters the reviewer uses to score the animation tools?

    -The three parameters used to score the animation tools are style, usability, and price. Style refers to the visual appeal and professionalism of the animations, usability pertains to the ease of use and features of the software, and price is about the cost-effectiveness in relation to the value provided.

  • How does the reviewer describe Create Studio's 3D style?

    -Create Studio's 3D style is described as unique, with characters resembling Pixar-like quality, and the backgrounds are aesthetically pleasing with nice textures, light, and shadow effects.

  • What is the reviewer's opinion on Animaker's usability?

    -The reviewer finds Animaker's usability to be lacking, with a clunky logic that is unintuitive, especially for those used to standard animation interfaces, resulting in a frustrating experience.

  • What is the reviewer's stance on the pricing of Beyond's animation tool?

    -While the reviewer appreciates the high quality and versatility of Beyond's animation tool, they criticize its pricing as being relatively high, especially considering the watermark on exports for the lowest plan and the additional fees for selling videos made with the tool.

  • Why does the reviewer give a high score to Create Studio's style?

    -The reviewer gives a high score to Create Studio's style due to its consistent 3D look, well-designed characters, and beautifully crafted environments that closely resemble Pixar's style.

  • What is the reviewer's critique of the gating of features in Create Studio?

    -The reviewer criticizes Create Studio for gating many of its beautifully designed 3D scenes behind the 'all access' plan, which limits the usability of the standard plan and forces users to pay more for full access.

  • How does the reviewer assess the value for money in Animaker?

    -The reviewer assesses Animaker as a low-quality tool with a low price, suggesting that the value for money is not good despite the affordability, due to the tool's usability issues and limitations.

  • What does the reviewer like about Vyond's character creator?

    -The reviewer likes Vyond's character creator for being on par with some of the best, offering a variety of styles, body types, and a decent library of assets for every body part.

  • What is the reviewer's overall verdict for Vyond as an animation tool?

    -The reviewer's overall verdict for Vyond is positive, with an average score of eight, making it an eight-tier animation maker. They praise its styles, intuitive interface, and solid build that caters to both beginners and experienced users.

Outlines

00:00

🎨 Comprehensive Review of Online Animation Tools

The script begins with the narrator's extensive experience in online animation, spanning over a decade. They've tested various online animation tools and provide an expert, non-sponsored review. The criteria for evaluation include style, usability, and price. Style refers to the visual appeal, usability to the intuitiveness and features, and price to the value for money. The narrator emphasizes their critical perspective, shaped by their experience selling videos and creating content. They also mention their process of reviewing other reviews and scoring each tool on a scale from 1 to 10.

05:00

🌟 In-Depth Analysis of Create Studio

The review delves into Create Studio, praising its unique 3D style reminiscent of Pixar characters. The tool offers high-quality, pre-made scenes that are visually appealing but non-customizable. The usability is mixed; while the app is solid and the interface professional, the timeline's group logic is confusing. Create Studio stands out for its instant preview feature and a curated library of assets. The text-to-speech engine is criticized as subpar. Despite the tool's strengths, the narrator expresses frustration with the limited library of actions and the gating of features behind a paywall.

10:02

🤔 Pros and Cons of Animaker

The script transitions to a critique of Animaker, noting its popularity but questioning its quality. The tool's style is described as clean and friendly, with smooth animations. However, the usability is criticized for its unintuitive interface and the difficulty in customizing scenes, which feels more like stringing together templates. The narrator also points out the lack of a search function and the overall shaky performance of the software. Pricing is seen as decent, but the tool's overall value is questioned due to its limitations.

15:04

🎭 Babble: A Versatile Animation Tool

Babble is introduced with a focus on its variety of styles, including 2D, 3D, and sketched, which are praised for their quality and professionalism. The usability is highlighted by features like easy voiceover generation, a responsive interface, and collaborative tools. However, the review also points out the limitations in asset searchability and the tedious process of creating from scratch. The AI video creation feature is noted as a gimmick rather than a practical tool.

20:06

📊 Pricing and Usability of Palun

Palun is discussed with a focus on its pricing structure, which is criticized for being confusing and expensive. The tool's usability is criticized for its lack of intuitive interface, especially around voiceover integration and camera movements. The character builder is praised, but it's locked behind a high-paying plan. The overall feel of the tool is described as cheap, and the narrator questions its high ratings on review platforms.

25:08

🖌️ Doodle and VideoScribe: Whiteboard Animation Tools

The script compares Doodle and VideoScribe, two whiteboard animation tools. Doodle is praised for its classic whiteboard style and precision in animation but criticized for its limited libraries and aggressive upselling. VideoScribe is appreciated for its browser-based version and improved animation paths, but its timeline functionality is criticized. Both tools are seen as affordable but with limitations that affect their usability and value for money.

30:09

🏆 Beyond: A Professional and Versatile Animation Tool

Beyond is presented as a professional and versatile tool with a strong focus on style and usability. It offers three distinct styles, a user-friendly timeline, and a robust character creator. The tool is commended for its intuitive motion paths and text-to-speech features. However, the pricing is criticized as high, especially considering the watermark on the lowest plan and the additional fees for selling videos. Despite these drawbacks, Beyond is highly rated for its comprehensive feature set and professional output.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Online Animation Makers

Online Animation Makers refer to web-based tools or platforms that allow users to create animated videos without the need for complex animation software. These tools are designed to be user-friendly and often come with a variety of features such as character creation, background selection, and motion path animation. In the context of the video, the reviewer discusses and compares several online animation makers, evaluating their style, usability, and price.

💡Style

In the video script, 'style' pertains to the visual aesthetic and design elements of the animation tools, including character design, background themes, and the overall look and feel of the animations produced. The reviewer scores each tool on style, considering whether the animations look professional and have a consistent, appealing appearance, which is crucial for creating engaging and high-quality videos.

💡Usability

Usability in this context refers to how intuitive and easy it is to use the online animation makers. The reviewer assesses the user interface, the learning curve, and the efficiency of the tools in terms of creating animations. Features like the timeline, character creator, and the process of adding actions and transitions are considered under usability, which is a key factor in determining how enjoyable and productive the animation process is.

💡Price

Price here refers to the cost of using the online animation tools, which can vary greatly. The reviewer evaluates the pricing models of the tools, including monthly, yearly, or one-time purchase options, and considers the value for money in relation to the features and quality of the animations that can be produced. The affordability and cost-effectiveness of the tools are important for potential users with different budgets.

💡Create Studio

Create Studio is one of the online animation makers mentioned in the video. It is noted for its unique 3D style, which sets it apart from other 2D animation tools. The reviewer discusses its style, usability, and price, highlighting features like the character creator, the quality of the pre-made scenes, and the lip-sync functionality. Create Studio's score and tier are determined based on these factors.

💡Animaker

Animaker is another tool discussed in the video, known for its large user base and a variety of animation styles. The reviewer provides a critical perspective on Animaker's style, which they find to be clean and friendly but not as impressive as other tools. Usability is a point of contention, with the reviewer finding the interface and functionality less intuitive than desired. Pricing is seen as decent, but the overall value is questioned.

💡Biteable

Biteable is highlighted as a versatile online animation maker with a range of styles from 2D to 3D. The reviewer praises Biteable for its high-quality templates and ease of use, particularly for simple explainer videos and animated slideshows. The tool's usability is scored highly due to its intuitive interface and collaborative features, while its pricing is seen as reasonable for the value offered.

💡Paw Patrol

Paw Patrol is mentioned in the script as a reference point for the 3D style of characters in Create Studio. It's a popular children's animated television series known for its distinct character designs. The comparison is used to give viewers a familiar benchmark to understand the style of characters in the animation tool being reviewed.

💡Lifetime Access

Lifetime Access in the context of the video refers to a one-time payment model for online animation tools that grants users unlimited access to the platform's features for life, without recurring subscription fees. The reviewer discusses the value of lifetime access deals, particularly for Create Studio, and how they compare to other pricing models in terms of cost-effectiveness.

💡Whiteboard Animation

Whiteboard Animation is a style of animation that mimics the traditional whiteboard sketching process. It is characterized by simple drawings and a hand-drawn look. In the video, the reviewer discusses tools like Doodle and VideoScribe that specialize in this style, evaluating their effectiveness in creating professional-looking whiteboard animations and the ease of use of their respective platforms.

💡Beyond

Beyond, also known as Vyond, is an online animation maker that the reviewer has used for over a decade. It is praised for its professional and versatile animation capabilities, offering a range of styles and a robust set of features. The reviewer particularly appreciates Beyond's timeline, character creator, and the ability to cater to both beginners and experienced users, making it a top recommendation among the tools reviewed.

Highlights

Online animation tools claim to be the best, but the reviewer tests each to give an honest expert review.

The reviewer has over 10 years of experience in online animation and has sold hundreds of videos through his agency.

Each animation software is scored on style, usability, and price to provide a comprehensive evaluation.

Create Studio stands out for its 3D style, similar to Pixar, and aesthetically pleasing backgrounds.

Create Studio's 3D scenes are pre-made and non-customizable, limiting user flexibility.

The app for Create Studio is solid and well-built, with an intuitive interface and instant preview feature.

Animaker's animation style is clean and friendly, with smooth character actions and good-looking backgrounds.

Animaker's usability is hindered by a complex logic behind action and movement, making it difficult for experienced animators.

Biteable offers a variety of styles, including 2D, 3D, sketched, and PowerPoint styles.

Pawoon's character creator is one of the best, but the overall platform feels cheap and lacks focus.

Doodle's whiteboard animation style is classic and has a simple, hand-drawn aesthetic.

VideoScribe's primary whiteboard style is professional and has a good selection of hand-drawn assets.

Beyond's Contemporary style is praised for its professional and customizable flat design.

Beyond's timeline is scene-specific and stacked, making it user-friendly and efficient for both beginners and experienced users.

Beyond's pricing is considered high, but it offers a wide range of creation possibilities and a solid platform build.

The reviewer recommends trying out the tools through provided trials and deals to find the perfect fit for individual needs.