Make your own animations for free online
It's amazing how much fun you can have just making your Mac speak with the Speech function in OS X but Xtranormal however takes things to a new level with a clever online animation tool which allows you to create video-animations to add to your speech creations.
Most famously Xtranormal is the platform behind the iPhone4 v HTC Evo YouTube viral video that mocked iPhone users. If you think you could do better however, why not give it a go? Xtranormal is extremely easy to use and provides a selection of template backgrounds and animations for you from TV studios to workplace and soccer pitches.
First you need to sign-up for an account which takes just a few seconds. Then the fun starts. Xtranormal allows you to select how many actors you'd like to use to begin with (although this is limited to two) and then which background you'd like to use. Then you can customize the look of your actors and finally, it's time to start animating your short story.
Xtranormal works like a storyboard - enter the text for each character, hit the "+" symbol and then enter dialog for the next character. Using the tools down the left-hand side, you can change the camera angle, change the position of your characters, make them walk around and change their expressions. The really fun bit is clicking Preview to see what your animation looks like. Unfortunately, this can take a while, especially if you've created a large animation.
However, you get a real buzz out of seeing your characters come to life. If you want to save a project in Xtranormal, you can do clicking the Save button and continue it later. The great thing is Xtranormal is free to use. However, to upload your videos you need to buy points. The most basic package - 300 points - costs only $5 though which isn't a great deal to amuse your friends with and show the world your sketches.
Xtranormal will turn you into a master animator in seconds and it's a hell of a lot of fun.
