• What is the Digimi Studio?

The Digimi Studio enables anyone to quickly and easily create original videos right in a web browser using fun and simple templates. With the Studio, users can mash up live action video, 3D sets and our realistic animated 3D characters together with any videos, photos, voice, text and more.

• How do I Start?

Click the "create" button on the navigation bar to get started.
From the demo, click the "get cracking" button.

The first thing you’ll need to do is choose a template for your show. A template is the setting for your show. You can change many of the elements inside, including the character, video, background and more.

• What is "Remix", and why do I see it everywhere?

By, clicking the remix button next to any Show on the site, you can essentially edit the Show and make it your own, by changing the character, video, voice, intro and many other elements of the template.

• Is everything remixable?

Almost everything on the site is remixable. There are, however, a handful of clips created during the private beta of the Digimi Studio that are not remixable.

• What is a template and how do I use it?

There are four different types of templates for your Show.

Talk Before
Talk During
Demos
My

Talk Before templates are those that allow you to create an intro Show - where your character talks before your video begins to play.

Talk During templates are those that allow you to talk over a video that you choose for your Show.

Demos are templates others have made that you can remix to make your own.

My are templates that you’ve used for previous shows - if you’ve saved a scene you like and want to reuse it, you’ll find it in "My".


• How do I choose a Character?

There are three ways to choose a Character for your Show.

Featured Characters
Webcam
Upload

Featured Characters
Use our Featured gallery to pick a celebrity head. Clicking on a character will let you preview it. Choose "apply" to add the Character you chose to your template.
Is there a celebrity you’d like to use that’s not in our gallery? If so, click on the "Upload" tab to find a photo of your favorite celebrity and turn it into an animated Digimi character.

Webcam
When opening the webcam, you will be asked to allow the application to access your camera. You will need to click "allow" for the webcam to work. If a Flash message did not appear, and you cannot use the webcam function see troubleshooting below.

To use the webcam, you will need to position your camera so that your face is in the target area. For best results, use a well lit room and do not smile for the photo. You can toggle the brightness and contrast buttons to get better results. After we animate and render your character, it will be able to smile. You can do this by setting the mood of your character after the webcam photo is taken.

Once you position yourself in front of the camera, click "Set Photo" to see yourself in the target window. If you’re pleased with the results, click preview to see the results without saving, or click apply to render your character from the webcam image, and apply it to the template.

Upload:
You will need to follow these guidelines to upload the best photo for Digimi:
Use passport type photo
Full head, facing camera
Mouth closed
No hair covering face
Using a photo that doesn’t fit the guidelines will result in our inability to create an animated character from your photo. If you don’t have a photo that works, try using your webcam, or choosing a ready-made Character from our Gallery.

• How do I put a photo or video into my Show?

You can use the Choose Media tab to choose a video or photo for your Show. There are five ways to insert a video or photo into your show:
YouTube
Flikr
Upload
Featured
My

YouTube
You can upload a video or photo that you find on the web into the Studio template. Use the "Search" box to search YouTube for any video. After you choose the video you want to upload, it will appear in a preview window, so you can see it. You must click apply for it to be uploaded into your template.

Flikr
You can upload a video or photo that you find on the web into the Studio template. Use the "Search" box to search Flikr for any photo. After you choose the photo you want to upload, it will appear in a preview window, so you can see it. You must click apply for it to be uploaded into your template.

Upload
You can upload a video or photo saved on your computer into the Studio template. Currently the Studio supports only gif, jpeg, png and flv uploads. AVI and other video formats will be added soon. You must click apply for your selection to be uploaded into your template.

Featured
Each template has a group of photos and videos that our editors recommend. Feel free to use these editor’s picks. After you see the video in the preview window, you must click apply for it to be uploaded into your template.

My
"My" is the place where all the videos and photos you’ve used in previous shows are kept, so you don’t need to search for them again if you want to create a new Show with the same content.


• What image / video formats can be uploaded?

Currently the Studio supports only gif, jpeg, png and flv uploads. AVI and other video formats will be added soon.

• Can I make a video shorter?

After you choose the video you want to upload, it will appear in a preview window, so you can see it. On the preview window, there is a small scissors button (bottom left). Clicking the scissors will open a toggle bar, for you to adjust the clip and retain only the section you want to include in your show.

• Can I use more than one photo?

Currently, the only way to create a slideshow in your Show is to upload a slideshow you have already saved on your computer, or alternately, you could upload a slideshow to YouTube, search for it in the YouTube search (see Choose Media) and apply it from there.

• I don’t like the intro for my template, can I change it?

Yes, many items in the templates are modular, and you can replace them with similar objects. To choose a new intro, go to the "Choose Intro" in the studio preview pane. This will open a gallery of intros and you can choose a new one.

• How do I make my Character talk?

There are four options you can use to make your Character talk:

Record with Mic
Text-to-Speech
Featured
My

Record with Mic
You can create an intro or running commentary for your Show by using your computer’s microphone (mic).
Click the record button to start recording, click "stop" to finish. Click "play" to hear your recording. NOTE: clicking play does not apply the voice to the template. In order to apply the voice to the Character, you must click "Done" in the record window!

You can record for up to 60 seconds.

• A message window will appear "Allow Digimi to access your camera and microphone?". Click "Allow".
  
• If you click "Deny" you will not be able to record speech for your character.
• My mic doesn’t seem to work. How do I check if my mic is working? (link to windows help)

You can choose the mood of your character by clicking on one of the mood faces.
After recording and choosing mood, click "Done" to preview the animation. You will need to click "Apply" to add the voice animation to your Show.

Text-to-Speech
You can create an intro or running commentary for your show by using our text-to-speech engine. Simply type the words you want your character to say. You can choose the mood of your character by clicking on one of the mood faces.
After typing text and choosing mood, click "Done" to preview the animation. You will need to click "Apply" to add the voice animation to your Show.

Featured
You can create an intro or running commentary for your show by using our gallery of pre-recorded texts.


• Click the "Category" tab to see texts by category. Categories include male, female and celebrity voices.

You can choose the mood of your character by clicking on one of the mood faces.
After choosing mood, click "Done" to preview the animation. You will need to click "Apply" to add the voice animation to your Show.

My
All recordings you’ve crested for use in previous shows are saved here so you can use them again. After listening to a recording, you must click on the "Done" button to render the voice, and then click "Apply" to upload the voice animation to your template.


• Can I change objects within the templates?

Yes. Each template has some items that are changeable. If you scroll over the template, you will see various items highlighted in pink. Clicking on any of the pink-framed objects will take you to a menu of available items for that area in the template.

• Can I change templates in the middle of creating a Show?

Yes, on the right top corner, above the template instructions, there is a button "Get New Template". Clicking this button will take you out of your current template and back to start (blank slate). If you want to save the work you’ve done on the template you’re working on, follow the prompts and click "yes" to save.

• I just created a Show - how do I see it on the Digimi site?

There are two ways to see a Show you’ve published:

1. Go to "My Stuff" on the site navigation bar - from there you can see all of the Shows you’ve saved. You can also remix, or edit the Show if you want to make changes, and clicking on the Show will allow you to view it and share it.
2. Go to "View" on the site navigation bar - if you click on the "All" category, you can see videos created from newest to oldest. A clip you just created should appear on the first page.

• How do I share a show or post it on my blog?

After you publish a show, you are taken to a page where you can view your show. Under the view area, there are five options for sharing your show:
YouTube
Share
Email
Embed

YouTube - click here to upload your Studio Show to your YouTube account (coming soon).
Share - click on any of the social networks and post your Show.
E-mail - send your Show to friends.
Embed - copy the code of your Show to embed in your blog or webpage.


• What are Tags and how do they work?

Tags are helpful for us to categorize Shows, and for you to find them. When you save or publish your show, you are asked to submit relevant tags for your video. You’ll see that there are some tags already inserted into most Shows, usually the template name and relevant category tags. If you chose a video from YouTube or a photo from Flikr for your Show, you’ll automatically see the tags that were associated with that video or photo. To add additional tags, use English characters and separate tags with commas.

• How can I delete a Show?

Sure, to delete a show that you saved:

1. go to "My Stuff"
2. click "delete" under the Show you want to delete
3. You will be asked "are you sure you want to delete?" - click "yes"

• Is my show private? What if I want to make it private?

When you click "Save" on your Show, it’s saved in "My Stuff" and only you can see it. However, if you click "Publish" your show will automatically be made public on the Digimi site. If you want to make your show private:

1. go to "My Stuff"
2. click "edit" under the Show you want to make private
3. check the "private" box

• How do I change or update my profile info?

In "My Stuff", underneath the basic details and your photo, there’s a link to "Edit Personal Info". Use it to tell others about you and your Shows!

• How do I put a Digimi Character in my Profile?

Your default Digimi, either from the Studio site or from the Digimi.com site, will appear as your profile picture. To change it, go to your profile at www.digimi.com and create a new default Digimi.

If you have a specific question that we did not answer here, please contact us.