Animoto
Introduction
Are you on a quest to discover an easier way to make videos? Go no further than Animoto video maker! Unlike other tools, it doesn’t involve hours of tutorials. Its smoother video creation process promises to turn your video into your dream reality with just a few clicks.
We’ll explore how this online video editor works, unfolding its user-friendly interface through this blog. We’ll also weigh the pros and cons, highlight the standout features, and answer those burning FAQs that pop up in your mind at 3 a.m.
So, let’s take it easy creating exciting videos! It has got you covered whether you promote your small business, capture memorable family moments, or roll into creative stuff without the fuss.
What is Animoto?
Animoto is an online video creation and video editing software. It is a cloud-based service available in both free and paid versions. It features drag-and-drop tools and an impressive collection of visual effects.
You’ll find two options after you login, i.e., the Animoto and Animoto Memories. The Animoto Memories turns videos and images into slideshows. It contains a ton of templates to begin with.
Direct uploads from your computer or cloud storage providers like Dropbox, Google Drive and Box are supported. The interface also provides access to Getty stock footage.
On the contrary, the main interface of Animoto is also minimalistic, intuitive, and straightforward. You will find features like templates, music tracks, themes, and webcam recording. Yet, it features basic and limited video editing options ideal for simple tasks.
How Does Animoto Work?
Its video creation process is pretty straightforward. You can choose from one of the templates or start from scratch. The next step is to upload media or browse from the inbuilt Getty stock library.
Then, you can customize your video using its different features. The templates have been designed by professionals, resulting in a high-quality result. You can collect feedback, download, and share your work.
Anyone can be asked to add comments within the workspace of the video editing workspace. You can download videos in 1080p or share them directly from integrated social platforms. More than one million images and videos are available on Animoto, sourced from Getty Images.
Each template has a description, suggested use, and a preview showcasing the layout and music track. Animoto’s interface may seem a bit antiquated, but it’s simple and clean.
Moreover, the team workspace allows working on shared projects. Teams can collaborate and review video projects quickly and seamlessly. You can connect with their friendly social video marketing community at help@animoto.com.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Online video maker service
- Ease of use
- Free plan available
- Access to Getty stock footage library
- Ideal for newbies
- Serves variety of use cases
Cons
- Lack of advanced editing tools
- Watermark in free plan
- Restricted timeframe editing
Animoto Features
Workspace
It is the editing workspace where you create and customize videos. This features both an individual workspace and a team workspace. It is available in all the plans, including Free, Basic, and Professional.
Blocks
Blocks facilitate the video creation process of Animoto. It contains five types of blocks. It includes Text-only blocks, Media-only blocks, Logo blocks, Media + Text blocks, and Burst blocks.
A single block further features different layouts. You can customize video layouts depending on the video style or aspect ratio. You can also add multiple elements, block by block, throughout your video.
Templates
It boasts a vast template collection to start your video creation process. You can customize these templates according to your purpose. It is easy to customize colors, edit text, change design, add a logo, or choose the aspect ratio.
You can save your customized templates for future use. There is a limit of three Saved Templates for Professional users and 25 for Teams users.
Design Settings
Themes are one of the prominent features of the Animoto Design tab. It features different fonts, colors, style combos, and filters. Saved Brands is another best feature. You can apply all the elements of Saved Brands to your videos with a single click.
However, Saved Brands is available for Professional or Team plans only. Other design options include text settings. You can set fonts, text styles, colors, and sizes. Likewise, you will find video settings to set colors, video styles, and apply filters.
Music
Animoto contains an extensive music library of licensed songs. You can also narrow down the songs while searching based on the artist name, song length, or song name. There is a provision to search music according to your mood and genre.
Uploading music is also effortless with a simple Upload button. The workspace allows trimming songs, volume control, looping songs, or video creation without music. The Professional and Teams subscriptions include access to over 3,000 tracks. The Free and Basic subscriptions offer 50 licensed tracks.
Pricing
Animoto offers both free and subscription-based plans. It includes three pricing tiers: the Basic, Professional, and Team. With prices starting at just $8/month, you can save up to 50% on an annual subscription compared to a monthly one.
The Basic plan costs $8/mo (billed as $96/year). It includes unlimited downloads, high-quality video (HD 1080p), and all standard features.
The standard features comes with every plan. They include unlimited social sharing, 30 color swatches, 50 music tracks, three standard fonts, screen recording, webcam recording, animated design elements, import from cloud storage tools, and availability on desktop and iOS devices.
The Professional plan costs $15/mo (billed as $180/year). This plan includes every Basic plan feature plus 3000 licensed music tracks, 1 million+ licensed stock photos & videos from Getty Images, 3 saved templates, 40 professional fonts, voice-over, and 1 saved brand.
You can also add your logo and colors, record the webcam and screen together, and add multiple songs to videos in the Professional plan.
The Teams plan costs $39/mo (billed as $468/year). It includes all the advanced features that come with the professional plan of Animoto.
The plan further features 3 user seats, 100 million+ Premium licensed photos & videos from Getty Images, 10 saved brands, 25 saved templates, shared team workspace, managed users and roles, onboarding & training, a dedicated account manager, and a license to resell to businesses.
Teams can also upload their fonts, collect time-stamped comments, and buy additional seats for future use.
Why Should We Consider This?
This is an ideal fit if you’re looking for an online video editor with requirements of zero technical skills. You don’t even need to be a professional video editor to create and edit videos.
You will get a ton of resources as a newbie to produce professional-looking videos in a snap. The drag-and-drop tools makes the whole process way easier. It offers a variety of customized video templates to begin with.
It’s easy to update the colors and font of your videos with Animoto. You can also customize music and enjoy a comprehensive library of licensed songs for any occasion. Moreover, the team workspace allows working on shared projects.
It further makes it easy to share your work on various social media platforms, including Instgaram, Facebook, and YouTube. Animoto offers its online service for both iOS and Android devices. Screen recording and webcam recording are additional bonus features worth considering.
Conclusion
We have now concluded our comprehensive review of Animoto video editing software. In this blog, we’ve discovered everything about Animoto, including its working process and features.
The tool simplifies the video creation and editing, especially when you’re just stepping in. It not offers a variety of relevant, user-friendly features but also serves a ton of use cases. The tool is excellent for editors of all levels, but advanced editors may not find it sufficient for their needs.
FAQs
Q.1 What are the advantages of using Animoto?
It includes ease of use, drag-and-drop editor, customized templates, and licensed songs.
Q.2 Is Animoto completely free?
No, Animoto isn’t entirely free. However, it offers very limited features in it’s free plan. There are further subscription-based plans, namely the Basic, Professional, and Teams.
Q.3 What are the disadvantages of Animoto?
It is not an advanced video editor like Adobe Premiere Pro although it’s premium plans have more features. This isn’t an ideal fit if you’re looking for advanced video editor with high-tech skills.
Q.4 Can you edit photos in Animoto?
Yes, you can edit photos in Animoto’s photo editor. It contains different elements to adjust orientation, lighting, color, crop, sharpness, and red eye.
Q.5 What format are Animoto videos in?
These are the file types that you can upload: MP4, AVI, MOV, QT, 3GP, M4V, MPG, MPEG, MP4V, H264, WMV, MPG4, MOVIE, M4U, FLV, DV, MKV, MJPEG, OGV, MTS, and MVI. Your uploaded video clips can be up to 400MB.