Playing with Xtranormal Animation

Mr Mayo guided me to Xtranormal via this tweet this morning:

Xtranormal (beta) seems like a pretty neat idea. You supply the text and choose the characters, soundtrack, set design from the site’s templates. Cool way to quickly give dialogue some life. Pros are that it was really quick to use and easy to register. Cons are the digital sounding voices and that I couldn’t get my character to move more than the funky in-place dancing. A major con is the advertisement at the bottom that states publishing movies is free for a limited time only.

This is really a major con because I had initially thought this would be a great way for my students to give life to their writing. A great way to make writing a monologue or a persuasive essay fun. But that threat of bits of the site becoming un-free soon, well, doesn’t make me want to start using it with my students because who knows when all of a sudden we’ll have to stop, or certain elements will no longer be available to us.

Don’t think I’d pay for this when it comes time to do so. But until then, it is fun to play.

7 Comments

  • I am this close to signing up. I would love to surprise my class by Monday. I would also like to cling to the free time I have left, and this looks as addictive as the original Zelda.

    Glad to know “free universes” still exist.

    Michael Doyles last blog post at [site]..Proust effect

  • sweetleaf says:

    i think your girl is extremely cute. she reminds me of obama when as a guest on ellen, he entered and greeted ellen with similar moves of his own, only he has bush bombs to clean up instead of toby’s. :)….

  • Marie Amiot says:

    Hi Tracy,
    We are happy you are having fun on xtranormal.com. For your information some pieces of the site, such as the universes already released : the Playgo characters and the Black& White will always remain free and some others as well. So a user will always be able to do movies for free. But, in a short period of time we will be issuing value-added characters, improved voices and gestures that will give a lot more quality to the rendered movies. We think some people will be willing to pay for these. Those who are not ready to pay can use the free universes. So the good news is that you will be able to keep practicing your dancing move for free and have the option to do even better for a small fee!
    Xtranormal Marie

    Marie Amiots last blog post at [site]..IMPORTANT NOTICE: Issues with New User Registrations

  • Jose says:

    I’m not saying I don’t like the moves. I just think they’re hilarious. It was just so random is all.

    Joses last blog post at [site]..What You Know (Am I Not Human?)

  • George says:

    Hi Tracy,

    I didn’t notice that you will have to pay for this service eventually. That will severely limit the number of teachers who would otherwise use the site. But for quick animation it’s pretty impressive. I have to politely disagree with Jose about the dance moves though. :) George

    Georges last blog post at [site]..We’re Making Movies!

  • Tracy says:

    C’mon! You don’t like my moves?

  • Jose says:

    What is with that dancing Tracy?! The 3D Funky Watoosie? hahah

    Joses last blog post at [site]..What You Know (Am I Not Human?)

1 Trackback or Pingback

Leave a Reply to George Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *