The End of Slideshows?

Sitting through slideshows is often boring, and there’s nothing more bland than a slideshow full of nothing but still images. Animoto aims to bring an end to the monotony of image slideshows.

Animoto, which is in open beta and was developed by actual producers, takes the images and audio you provide, analyzes it, and uses artificial intelligence to generate a customized video. They claim no two videos are the same, and it’s true—I created two videos with the exact same images and audio and they were both dynamic, yet completely different. After being created, videos can be shared with others or posted online.

One limitation to Animoto is that free “shorts” can be no longer than thiry seconds long. Credit for longer, “full-length” videos can be purchased. But since a thirty second short can showcase up to fifteen images, it’s not such a bad deal. People are likely to find music to be a bigger drawback. Even if they’re only being created for personal, non-commerical use, only original, unlicensed music can be used. If you want to use licensed music, you have to get permission from the proper party. Animoto does, however, have a library of music for those who do not wish to search for something suitable.

So how helpful is Animoto? Well if you don’t want to spend time putting together a static slideshow or you need a dynamic presentation, Animoto is perfect. I wouldn’t recommend using it for a demo reel or for showing anything that people may need to take a close look at, though. Learn more or sign up to try it at animoto.com.