Q3. Animation

Advantages

• Creative and fun; engaging
• Great for less complex ideas, introductions to an idea, dos and don’ts, etc.
• Ideal for an audience that doesn’t want to read a lot of text
• Great way to communicate with a younger audience

Disadvantages

• Can be time consuming to create
• Voices can sound monotone (boring) or rushed
• Awkward for note taking
• Can be harder to communicate complex ideas

Free Animation Tools and Resources:

Note these resources require an email account, and for those under 13 either parental permission and/or use of a school account.

1. PowToon for Education Required: account (can use Google & Facebook) or student school account, teacher supervision, or parental permission.

• PowToon tutorial in 10:41 minutes - We highly recommended you watch a tutorial that shows you the template choices, and adding and deleting media or How to Create a Powtoon with Storyboard.
• A handy Powtown Quick Reference Guide (Google Doc) from the Center for Teaching and Learning with screenshots.

 2. Moovly for Education: Required: Free 30-day trial. Under 13 must have parental permission. Browser based with no download required. Moovly has an extensive animation library to choose from.

• Moovly Review 3/21/2021
• Free Edu account is available

Some APPS for animation

• Animation, Green Screen by Do Ink APP for Apple iPad and iPhone
• Stop Motion Studio App  lets kids create their own stop-motion animations using a mobile device. Available on Google Play for Apple or on Google Play for Android.  Stop Motion Showcase of Examples and a Stop Motion YouTube Tutorial (2:20)
  • Stop Motion Draw a Stickman: Epic 3 Apple or Google Play for Android

An Advanced option that requires a download:

Blender is a free Windows or MacOS 3D creation and OpenSource program that requires a download. There are complete Beginner Tutorials available.

Steps: 

1.  First, you will need to create a login, or get an account from your teacher, for the animated website of your choice (or that your teacher recommends).

2.  View the interactive learning tutorial(s) for the site.

3.  Play and explore the website or the software until you are comfortable enough to begin creating your animation.

4.  Design and map out your animation and write a script to communicate your 
message. 

5.  Plan out and gather any media elements needed for the program you are using and remember to follow the rules for copyright​.

6. Create your animation and watch it. Does it communicate your message well?

7. Save your animation frequently as you work.

9. When done, download or copy the link provided to share with your teacher.

 Return to Creative Communications Q3 page