GoAnimate

1. Go to GoAnimate and sign up for a free account, click Make a Video.

2. Select a theme to use. You will have to use the free themes unless you upgrade to the paid version. Some of the themes are more complicated videos (instructions below), some of them are simplified (just add dialog).

3. Click on the picture icon (on the left) and select a background or scene setting to start. You can also go through a tutorial if desired.

4. Click on the people icon and select the characters you want to use. For more options a subscription is necessary.

5. Click on the next icon which gives you choices of props to use. Clicking on the character or the prop opens the editing panel to add actions, voice and/or animation for that item. Click on an Action/Voice/Enter-Exit for the item in the scene where you want the action to occur. NOTE: click on the ‘+’ to add a scene in the timeline below the preview canvas before making changes to your characters or props. This adds motion to each scene of your video (each scene should have its own text and animation so that things flow smoothly). Click on the picture icon to change the scene (one scene per video).

6. Click on the ‘T’ and type in the dialog for each character. Remember to switch scenes as you add text, motion, characters, etc. You can use voice instead of word clouds; click on the character, click on voice, either record a clip, upload a prerecorded file or use text-to-speech. Click on the text bubbles in the scene to animate and edit the duration, do this in the editing panel that appears on the left side when an item is selected.

7. Use the timeline below the canvas to edit timing, hover over the edges of each scene and drag the scene to shorten or lengthen each ‘shot’. NOTE: In the free version of GoAnimate you can make only 30 second videos.

8. Click on Scene Settings to edit the content, speech, camera angles, and transitions between scenes if needed. Click on the ‘+’ to add a scene or click on ‘Add Scene’. You will need to ‘play’ with these effects to get the look that you want.

9. Click on the music icon to add background music or intro music. Click on the music track in the timeline to edit the music track.

10. Preview the video and edit as necessary. Save or Save and Share, to get back to your Dashboard. You can save the video as a Draft, Private, or Public. If saving as Private you will be able to share the link for outside viewing.