Best AI Tools for Animation
We all know AI can help you generate all kinds of textual content and images, but did you know it could also do the same with animation?
There are still not that many AI tools for animation, but their numbers are growing with the day. And many of them are really powerful, offering fancy features that used to require a skilled technician, expensive software, and hardware.
No more, with most of these tools working in the browser — allowing anyone to create professionally produced animations with little effort. It’s the AI that does the heavy lifting on your behalf.
That being said, here are some of the best AI tools for animation:
DeepMotion
👍 Pros
👎 Cons
- Powerful motion capture technology
- API for integrating Animate 3D into third-party apps
- Text-to-animation capability with SayMotion
- While available, the free plan is rather limited
DeepMotion basically offers two products Animate 3D and SayMotion. The former uses AI to capture motion from any video, while the latter harnesses the power of Generative AI to seamlessly transform text into dynamic animations.
Animate 3D lets you create 3D animations from video using AI. As such, it offers accessible motion capture that doesn’t require special suits and/or hardware — yet it can create stunning 3D animations in minutes.
On your end, you should upload a video and then choose or upload your digital character. The AI will take it from there, automatically retargeting animations onto whatever character you choose.
The tool also includes some fancy features such as Face & Hand Tracking, Physics Simulation, Foot Locking, Hand to Ground Contact, and Motion Smoothing — providing you with more control and flexibility to create high-fidelity 3D animations. Plus, it has an API that lets you integrate Animate 3D in your applications.
As for SayMotion, it is a generative AI tool that creates animations from text prompts. All you need is an internet connection and a web browser. Type in a text prompt, select a character, and see your motions come to life. Then, export it for use with other platforms. Super cool.
Animaker
👍 Pros
👎 Cons
- Templates are fancy and extremely useful
- Includes a vast library of stock media, icons, music, and more
- You can try it for free
- Free trial is not available
Animaker is an online video-making platform that can help beginners and professionals alike create animated and live-action videos in a matter of minutes.
The AI-powered platform is used by individuals, startups, and Fortune 500 companies when they need to create and produce videos quickly.
Animaker features a powerful character builder and a vast database of stock media, icons, music tracks, and stickers — which are there to “fuel your creativity.”
Perhaps more important is the selection (thousands) of unique video templates, using which you can create videos in under 5 minutes.
The tool also offers more than 25 video editing tools and features, from basic ones like trimming and cropping to complex features like video effects controller and green screen editor.
To sum it up, Animaker will find its users among different groups — including L&D teams, HR, marketing & sales, internal communication, and everyone else who wants to play with video. It’s one highly recommended tool!
Krikey
👍 Pros
👎 Cons
- Text to animation is stunning
- And so is the video to animation feature
- Templates come in handy for common uses
- The free option seems generous, but you'll quickly want to upgrade (pay)
Krikey is an AI-powered animation maker for creating videos, games, and more.
The tool offers several cool features that make it easy for everyone to create fancy animations.
For instance, there’s the template library that will save you time whether you have a marketing idea, a cartoon game, a feature film, or something else.
However, arguably the coolest part is Krikey’s text-to-animation feature, which uses “custom character AI motion algorithms” to generate animations in minutes. You can simply type a prompt and see it being created without any other effort on your end.
Another cool feature is “AI Video to Animation” which lets you convert any video with human motion to 3D character animation. The results are nothing short of impressive, as you can see on Krikey’s website.
Then, once you get the first draft video, you can change it to your liking and finally export and use it with other platforms. Pretty darn cool!
Wonder Studio by Wonder Dynamics
👍 Pros
👎 Cons
- Works without any special hardware
- Ability to export the entire video or individual elements
- Multiple characters to choose from
- It may not deliver the best results for complex emotions and interactions
Wonder Studio is an AI tool that can automatically animate, light and compose computer-generated (CG) characters into a live-action scene.
The app doesn’t require any special software to install or expensive hardware — it does everything in a web browser.
You can start by uploading your CG character model to one shot or an entire scene, and the system will automatically detect cuts and track the actor throughout the sequence.
The system will also detect the actor’s performance based on single-camera footage, and then transfer it to the CG character of your choice — professionally animated, lit, and composed.
In other words, Wonder Studio AI automates up to 90% of “objective” VFX work and leaves the artist with the remaining “subjective” work — which can be exported into the software they already use. Pretty cool!
Simplified by TLDR Technologies, Inc
👍 Pros
👎 Cons
- A single tool for text, image and video content creation
- Social media management comes built-in
- Every plan includes access to all AI-powered tools
- It takes some time to get familiar with all the features Simplified has to offer
Simplified is an all-in-one application designed for modern marketing teams. As such, it integrates various tools into a single platform to make the process of content creation smoother and more efficient.
One of Simplified’s features is its AI-powered writing tool, which helps users generate content for blogs, social media, websites, and more. The AI Writer can produce SEO-driven copies that are free from plagiarism in a matter of seconds.
Then there is a Video Editor and Animation tool that allows users to create and collaborate on videos for platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. This feature can generate professional-looking videos in mere minutes, after which you can upload them to the platform(s) of your choice.
Another feature comes in the form of AI-powered graphic design tools, using which users can quickly and easily design stunning graphics. As part of the package, you get access to millions of free photos and thousands of design templates — allowing you to create appealing graphics for all kinds of marketing campaigns with ease.
Finally, we will mention Simplified’s social media management capabilities businesses can use to maintain an active online presence, which is critical to success.
What can AI tools for animation do for you?
These tools are state-of-the-art and can do wonders for anyone, even those who haven’t created animations before. Some of the things you can do with AI tools for animation are:
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Marketing videos
There are many folks using these tools to create marketing videos to promote their brand, company, products, and services. As some of these tools have been trained on marketing materials, you can get great results that have proven to work.
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Videos for games
Second on our list are videos for games – which are, obviously, primarily used by game developers. We say primarily as they have also found their users among other storytellers, bloggers, influencers, social media fans, TikTokers, and more.
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Turning videos into animations
There are AI-powered tools that can turn the video you took with your phone into an animated movie. The results can be nothing short of stunning, with AI algorithms detecting the movements of the person in the video and replacing them with an animated character.
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Templates make it easy
Instead of starting from scratch, you can pick one of the templates some of these services provide and drastically speed up the animation creation process. We’ve seen all kinds of different templates included here, covering many popular use cases.
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Text to animation
Finally, we should mention the text-to-animation capability that works like magic, though you will have to experiment a bit until you get the result you could really use. Still, this is an easy way to get some fancy animation created with little effort.
AI has entered the animation space, and while this segment is still in its infancy, it is steadily “getting there.” Already, some of these tools are being used by professionals, and as the cost of computing goes further down – we expect to see it being used by the wider audience. In the meantime, you can try it out for yourself. Check out the services listed on this page and take it from there.