Youtube launches an animation beta

THE ONLINE VIDEO ARM of Google, Youtube has launched a beta for an animation creation feature, allowing users to make videos without recording any footage at all.

A whopping 35 hours of video is uploaded to Youtube every minute, making the outfit a warehouse for moving images. Now it can help users make more moving images, with three video creation options available.

The first two options, Goanimate and Xtranormal Movie Maker, allow Youtubers to create animations featuring images and text. Users may have seen these tools used before in a multitude of bears talking about various topics videos.

A third tool, Stupeflix, allows users to create a video slideshow featuring photos, video clips and music. This can be used to create very professional looking advertisements for products, with transition shots and other things that make it look much better than a regular slideshow.

These tools were previously available on independent websites, but the integration into Youtube makes them much easier to use, with a publish button at the ready to get them onto Youtube immediately.

Youtube plans to add additional video creation tools in the future. The crowd-sourcing of video production is accelerating. µ