An animated explainer video lets you to describe
an idea in a visual way without a complicated and expensive production.
Explainers keep things simple and engaging. The
big advantage of the explainer video is that, while you can create
something that looks very professional, producing an
explainer video is not all that difficult.
DIY Explainer Videos With After Effects
You
don't have to be an animator to create a great explainer video. Starting with an After Effects template from Envato Elements, an all-you-can-download service with easy-to-customize templates, makes things easy. If it's your first time making an explainer, check out my full-length tutorial on how to make an explainer video, too, for tips on writing and recording your explainer.
Make sure to play the previews to see these projects in action!
1. Explainer Typography Kit
This
flat explainer template is geared around eye-catching typography. This
project is a great example of how easy it is to start with a project,
swap in your own text, and create an explainer in a single sitting.
2. Hand Explainer Kit
The
Hand Explainer Kit can work perfectly as a standalone project, or an
overlay on top of your existing video. The animated hands and objects
can add a bit of color and commentary to your video to create easy
explainers.
3. Lopo: Isometric Explainer Kit
Lopo
is an impressive project that creates three-dimensional scenes from
scratch. Use any of the pre-built scenes and add your own details to
illustrate a concept to life.
4. Clean Explainer Kit
With
40 ready-to-use scenes built-in, the Clean Explainer Kit gives you a
major headstart versus animating from scratch. As you can see in the
preview below, you can use a pre-built scene or combo together the
individual objects for totally custom animations.
5. Outline Character Explainer Toolkit
Straight
out of a comic book, this After Effects explainer project is a
people-centric animation for your new concept. The characters are nicely
animated and you can drop them into expertly designed scenes and
backgrounds to create your explainer.
6. Flat and Modern App Explainer
If
you want to showcase your brand new app concept, this project will be
right up your alley. With easy placeholders for the app in action, just
drop in your own footage and screenshots to explain your new hit app.
7. SEO Explainer (Modular Promo Kit)
The
SEO Explainer makes it a breeze to drag-and-drop your animator to life.
This is perfect for showing off a web concept or SEO project to hook a
potential client.
8. Pixity Land Character Animation Explainer Toolkit
Pixity Land, an all-time best-selling project on VideoHive,
is now available as part of the Envato Elements subscription.
Using the Pixity Land project is really like having an animator on your
team, as you can easily combine the various elements to create a
character animation project.
9. Food & Hands Explainer
Thanks
to the Food & Hands Explainer, you can basically create a lay-flat
animated video. With a top-down animation view, you can use the built-in
objects and hands to animate a scene from a birdseye view.
10. Trendy Minimalistic Web Promo
Less
can be more thanks to the Trendy Minimalistic Web Promo. For
marketplace creators, I think this project is an ideal choice to drop in
some screenshots or footage and add descriptions with the text
placeholders.
11. Hero Animation Toolkit
With
this 3D character, you can create a hero video with the lead character
explaining your concept. The built-in clothing, scenes, and objects can
create an unlimited number of animated concepts.
12. Global Promotion
For
your next promotional video, the Global Promotion package has
everything you need to grab attention and hold it. Big, blocky text and
three-dimensional objects are a breeze to customize.
13. Content Marketing Opener
This
flat project is designed to promote your content easily. I could
certainly see using this project as an opener for a client pitch thanks
to its sharp animation and easy customization.
14. Flat Corporate People
The
Flat Corporate People package is another powerful character animator
that is a bit more conservative than other choices, making it ideal for a
corporate video. This would be perfect for your company pitch or videos
that you'll publish internally. Impress your co-workers with this easy
animation.
15. Agency / Website / Service Advertisement
Here's
another package that could be perfect for promoting your own creative
assets. Drop in your own footage or screenshots and add a few
explanatory captions to sell a visitor on the value of your product.
Top Tips for Great Explainer Videos
- Keep it simple! You
can't put everything in your video, and it would defeat the point, so
stick to the main points you want to get across to your audience and
avoid technical or complicated language. - Speak to a person: use 'you' and 'your' to keep it personal.
- Make
sure your main message appears early in your explainer video: if you
haven't said it in the first 30 seconds then chances are it'll get
missed. - Audio quality needs to be great: As an audience, we're
more likely to stick with bad visuals than bad sound, but try to keep it
all to a high standard. - Know your target audience and speak directly to them, don't try to cover all bases or you may end up covering none.
More Resources From Envato
Boost Your Video Marketing With the Envato Guide
Boost your video marketing skills with
our comprehensive guide: You'll learn video marketing from start to
finish.
Download Free Video, Music, and Templates From Mixkit
Check out Mixkit for free stock videos, free stock music, and free templates for Adobe Premiere Pro.
Make a Motion Graphics Video Online With Placeit
Placeit is an online video maker with professionally-designed motion graphics templates.
Envato Elements: Unlimited Downloads
Envato Elements offers millions of stock items: photos, music, video clips, fonts, video project templates for After Effects, Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro and Motion, and creative courses from Envato Tuts+, all with a single subscription: Download as many items as you want for one low monthly price.
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