Create Your First Animation

Learn how to create an engaging animated video from scratch with Glintia. This tutorial covers the complete workflow from idea to finished video.

What You’ll Create

By the end of this tutorial, you’ll have created a short animated explainer video featuring:

• An animated character that acts and speaks
• Animated text and graphics
• An AI voiceover with automatic lip-sync
• Background music

Step 1: Plan Your Video

Before diving into the editor, take a moment to plan:

• Purpose: What message do you want to convey?
• Audience: Who will watch this video?
• Length: Aim for 60-90 seconds for maximum engagement

Tip

Write a simple script first. Even a few bullet points help structure your video.

Step 2: Set Up Your Project

1. Click New Design in the left sidebar of your dashboard
2. Under “What do you want to create?”, choose Animation
3. Choose Landscape (1920 × 1080, 16:9), which suits most uses
4. Your design opens with an empty canvas. Click the title at the top of the editor (“Untitled Design …”) and give your project a name, such as “My First Animation”

Step 3: Add Characters

1. Click Character in the left rail
2. Browse the ready-made characters or use Search characters…
3. Click a character to add it to your scene
4. Use the handles to resize and position your character

Templates

Ready-made characters in looks such as Chef, Police Officer, Firefighter, Pilot, Scrubs and Construction Worker, all pre-rigged with the full action library

My Characters

Characters you’ve built or rigged yourself, available in every design

New Character

Opens the Character Editor so you can build a custom character for this video

Step 4: Add Animations

1. Select your character on the canvas
2. Click Actions in its toolbar and pick an action, such as “presenting” or “wave”
3. Click Expressions to change its face, for example to Smile or Surprise
4. To animate it onto the scene, click Effects, open “on Enter” and choose an effect such as “Fade in” or “Pop in”. Hover over an effect to preview it first
5. Set the timing: drag the edge of the effect on the timeline to change its length, and set when the character appears and disappears with From (ms) and To (ms) under Timing in its properties
6. Preview by pressing the Play button or Space

Step 5: Add Text and Graphics

1. Click Text in the left rail, then Add a text box or pick an animated text design
2. Type your message, then click Styles in the text toolbar to apply a look such as Neon, Outline or Extrude
3. Animate your text with Effects. Text-only effects include Type, Split Words and Letter Bounce
4. Use the Elements panel for icons, shapes and illustrations

Step 6: Add Voiceover

1. Select your character and click Lip Sync in its toolbar
2. Click Text to Speech
3. Paste your script into the text box
4. Choose a voice. Search by name, or filter by language and gender
5. Click Generate, listen, then click Add to Timeline
6. Your character lip-syncs to the voiceover automatically. Adjust timing to sync with your visuals

Tip

For background music, open the Audio panel and pick a track from the Music tab.

Step 7: Export Your Video

1. Click the Download button in the top right
2. Choose your export settings:
   • Format: MP4 (recommended)
   • Quality: Full HD (1080p), available on every plan
3. Click Export all pages as MP4
4. Download your finished video from Recent exports when it’s ready

Note

Exports render in the cloud, so you can keep editing or close the tab while you wait. Export time depends on your video’s length and complexity, and you’ll get a notification when your video is ready.

Next Steps

Congratulations on creating your first animation! Here are some ways to level up:

• Using the Character Builder - Create custom characters
• Creating Whiteboard Videos - Try a different style
• Advanced Text-to-Speech - Master voiceovers