By now you’re undoubtedly familiar with the incredible amount of footage that’s uploaded to YouTube — the current count is 35 hours of video uploaded every minute. And with video cameras integrated into smartphones, tablets, and computers these days (not to mention dedicated video cameras) it’s easier than ever to record that content. Unfortunately, there are still plenty of people who simply don’t have access to recording equipment. Today, YouTube is looking to do something about that.
The site has just launched a new portal at YouTube.com/create where you can design your own video clips using GoAnimate, Stupeflix, or Xtranormal, each of which lets you ‘build’ custom videos featuring virtual avatars, custom speech, and more.
Each of these third party apps has now been integrated into YouTube. Choose one, and you’ll jump into their editing interface where you can put together a video for free. Each of them also offers freemium options (more sound options, animations, etc.) which you can pay to access.
YouTube says there’s no financial relationship between these partners — it just wanted to give everyone a chance to participate on the site (the third parties will obviously benefit from the exposure, though). And while it was already possible to crosspost a video from GoAnimate, Stupedflix, or Xtranormal to YouTube, this makes the process more seamless and will help introduce the apps to new users.
There’s just one problem, at least for now: the third parties are responsible for hosting their editors, and they’re currently under heavy load so they aren’t working very well at the moment. YouTube says that the partners will be working to compensate for this increased load and that they should perform better soon.
I tried to make a video on Xtranormal but couldn’t get it to work. But here’s a classic video built using the tool:
