AI motion graphics: what they are and how to make a video with AI

What are AI motion graphics?

Motion graphics are animated graphic design: words, shapes, icons, charts and interface screens that move on a timeline, usually with a voice-over and music. AI motion graphics are the same kind of film, where software makes the design and animation decisions from a brief instead of a designer making each one by hand.

The difference from AI video generation matters. A text-to-video model invents footage that looks filmed, pixel by pixel. A motion graphics tool builds each scene from real elements, so a headline stays sharp, a price stays exactly the number you typed and your logo stays your logo. That makes motion graphics the better fit for product launches, explainers and ads, where every word on screen is a claim. Our guide to motion graphics and AI video generators sets avatars, generated footage and motion graphics side by side.

Three terms come up often:

• Kinetic typography: words that move in time with the voice, often the main visual in a short film.
• Aspect ratio: the shape of the frame, written as width to height, such as 16:9 or 9:16.
• Storyboard: the plan of shots, with what each one shows and says.

How is an AI motion graphics video made, step by step?

A brief goes in and a finished MP4 comes out, but a careful tool works through the same stages a studio would. Here is how Voom does it, as an example of what to look for in any AI motion graphics generator.

1. Read the brief. The prompt says what the film is for, who it speaks to and the mood. Voom works out whether it is a launch film or an explainer and how long the story needs to be.
2. Read the source. With a product link, Voom opens the page and takes its colours, fonts, copy, screenshots and logo. Without one, it works from the topic.
3. Design the film. Before any animation, it writes a design system for this one video: a palette, a type scale and layout rules. There are no preset themes to pick from.
4. Write the story. A storyboard and a script, with a word budget sized to the length. Any number in a product film must appear in the site text or the request.
5. Record the voice-over. A narrator reads the script and every word is timed, so each shot can land on the line it illustrates.
6. Animate each shot. Every shot is designed and animated to its lines, using the real screens and logo where they help the story.
7. Score and mix. An original score is written to the length and mood, with a few recorded sound effects where the motion calls for them.
8. Check and render. Every shot is checked and weak ones are redone; then the film is rendered to MP4, with captions if you asked for them.

You can read the same steps from the user’s side on how Voom works. When you compare tools, ask which of these steps each one performs. A tool that skips the design step makes every video look like its templates; one that skips the check step ships typos and broken layouts.

What can you make with AI motion graphics?

Short films that explain or sell one thing work best. The common jobs are:

• Product launch films that show what is new, with real screens and one piece of proof. See product launch videos. For the method, read how to make a product launch video and how to write a product launch video script.
• Explainer videos that make one idea easy to follow, from how a product works to how a password manager keeps logins safe. See explainer videos. If the budget decides it, compare the options in choosing a cheap explainer video generator. For a consultancy, an agency or any service with nothing to photograph, see explainer videos for a service business.
• Social media ads in the vertical and square shapes that feeds use, with captions for people watching on mute. See social media video ads.
• Videos made from a product link, where the website supplies the brand, the copy and the screens. See product link to video. The step-by-step guides show how to turn a website into a promo video and how to make a video from a product link.

Motion graphics are less suited to anything that needs people on camera, a real location or a character with a personality. That is still work for a film crew or an animation studio.

Launch film or explainer: how do the briefs differ?

Both briefs fit in one or two sentences naming the subject, the audience, the mood and the job of the film. The difference is what the film does with its time: a launch film moves from the problem to the product, one piece of proof and a call to action, while an explainer walks through one idea step by step.

The two briefs below are hypothetical, written for this guide. The rows show what each film’s design would draw on and the settings that suit each job.

	Launch film	Explainer
Brief (hypothetical)	“Launch video for our new shared calendar, for small agency teams who still plan in spreadsheets. Confident and clear.”	“Explain how a password manager keeps every login safe behind one master password. Plain and friendly, for small business owners.”
Source	A link to the feature’s own page	The prompt alone
What the design draws on	The site’s colours, fonts, copy, screenshots and logo	The topic and the mood in the prompt
Size	16:9, for the website	9:16, for Reels and Shorts
Length on Auto	About 25 to 40 seconds, Voom’s range for a feature launch	About 30 to 45 seconds, Voom’s range for an explainer
Planning pace of the voice	1.9 words a second, for a confident mood	2.2 words a second, for a friendly mood
Best for	Announcing one new feature	Teaching one idea

Bottom line: the brief names the job, and the source and the topic supply the design. Neither brief describes shots or colours, because Voom has no preset themes or templates: with a link it takes the look from the site, and without one it designs the look from the topic and the mood.

The mood also sets how much the voice can say. For a 30-second film, Voom’s studio plans seven shots and 25.3 seconds of voice, which holds 48 words at a confident pace and 56 at a friendly one. Whichever film you make, the first shot is a finished hook from its first frame, and the last is an end card of 2.5 to 3.5 seconds with the logo and one call-to-action line.

For more example prompts, and what each part of a prompt does, read how to write a prompt for an AI video.

Which size and length should a motion graphics video be?

Choose the size before you write the brief, because a good tool composes every frame for one shape rather than cropping a finished film. Choose the length from the story: a teaser needs the least time and an explainer usually the most. Platforms publish their current specs in their help centres; these were current on 1 October 2026:

Where it plays	Shape to use	What the platform says
YouTube Shorts	9:16 (or 1:1)	Uploads with a square or vertical aspect ratio, up to three minutes long, count as Shorts (YouTube Help)
Instagram Reels ads	9:16	Meta recommends 9:16 at 1440 × 2560 pixels, and keeping 14% at the top, 35% at the bottom and 6% at each side free of text and logos (Meta)
LinkedIn video ads	16:9, 1:1, 4:5 or 9:16	All four ratios are supported (LinkedIn Help)
Websites, decks, YouTube	16:9	The landscape shape of most screens and players

Make one film for each shape you need. A 9:16 version for Reels and Shorts and a 16:9 version for your site cover most launches. The guide to social media video sizes lists the current specs platform by platform.

Meta’s safe zones matter for motion graphics in particular. Captions and key text placed in the bottom third of a vertical frame can sit under the app’s buttons, so check where a tool puts them before you publish.

Length is the other choice. On Voom you can set 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120 or 180 seconds, up to your plan’s limit: 30 seconds on Free, 90 on Pro and 180 on Business. Or choose Auto, and the studio sets the length the content deserves, up to 45 seconds (30 on Free) and without padding:

• A tight product teaser: about 15 to 25 seconds.
• A feature launch: about 25 to 40 seconds.
• An explainer: about 30 to 45 seconds; set 60 yourself when it needs the full minute.

On Auto, Voom holds credits while the film is made and returns whatever the finished film does not use. To choose a length for each kind of film, read how long a product, launch or explainer video should be.

Do motion graphics videos need captions and a voice-over?

Captions, almost always. The W3C’s accessibility guidelines make captions for prerecorded audio a Level A requirement (success criterion 1.2.2), so that people who are deaf or hard of hearing can follow the film (W3C). Captions also carry the message for anyone scrolling with the sound off.

On Voom, captions are optional and burned into the picture: the spoken words appear on screen, timed to the voice word by word and styled to match the film’s design. The rest of the on-screen content keeps clear of the caption band at the bottom. Before you post to Reels, Shorts or a feed, read our guide to captions for social media videos.

A voice-over is what turns a sequence of animated frames into a story. It sets the pace, and in a well-made film each shot is timed to the words that describe it. Voom offers 30 voices, and each one speaks every language Voom offers, with the accent following the language. You can also leave the voice out for a film with music only.

Sound is the part most people forget to check. LUFS (loudness units relative to full scale) measures how loud a mix sounds over its whole length, and streaming services adjust tracks to a target. Spotify, for example, adjusts tracks to -14 dB LUFS under the ITU 1770 standard and recommends keeping true peaks below -1 dB (Spotify for Artists). Voom masters every film to the same targets: -14 LUFS, with true peaks under -1 dBTP.

How much does an AI motion graphics video cost?

On Voom, the cost depends on one thing you choose: the length. A video costs 8 credits plus 9 a minute of finished film, rounded up. Pro is $29 a month for 650 credits and Business is $99 a month for 2,300 credits, so a credit costs about 4.5 cents on Pro and 4.3 cents on Business (Voom pricing).

Film length	Credits	On Pro
15 seconds	11 credits	about $0.49
30 seconds	13 credits	about $0.58
60 seconds	17 credits	about $0.76

At Pro’s rate, a 30-second film comes to about $0.58. The first video on the Free plan, up to 30 seconds, costs nothing and carries a faint Voom watermark that moves across the picture.

Motion graphics made by hand are priced by the designer’s time. In the United States, the median pay of special effects artists and animators was $49.06 an hour in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Estimate: at that median wage, one hour of an animator’s time costs about as much as eighty-four 30-second films on Voom’s Pro plan ($49.06 ÷ $0.58 ≈ 84.6). The wage covers pay only, not a freelancer’s margin or an agency’s fees, and rates differ by country and experience.

That comparison holds only for the kind of film Voom makes. A designer brings judgement, revisions on request and craft that no tool replaces for the work in the next section. For freelancer, agency and AI prices side by side, see what a motion graphics video costs, for help choosing between a designer, an agency and a tool, read how to pick a cheap motion graphics video maker, and to compare tools from After Effects to Voom, see the best motion graphics video maker for each kind of job.

When should you hire a motion designer instead?

Use a person when the film needs something a brief cannot carry:

• Character animation: a mascot that acts, speaks or has a personality.
• Detailed 3D: product renders, fly-throughs or physical simulations.
• A new visual identity: if the brand does not exist yet, design it first; an AI tool works best from a brand it can read.
• Frame-by-frame art direction: a film where every frame is specified in advance and approved by a team.
• Live action: anything with people on camera or a real location needs a film crew.

For short launch films, explainers and ads built from type, shapes, charts and real screens, an AI tool is a practical way to get a finished film. You can also use both: AI for the steady stream of short product videos, a designer for a flagship brand film.

Common mistakes with AI motion graphics, and how to fix them

• A vague prompt. “Make a video about our app” leaves the tool guessing. Fix: name the purpose, the audience and the mood in one or two sentences.
• Too many messages. Ten features in 30 seconds means none of them land. Fix: one main message per film, and Auto length if you are unsure how long it needs.
• Numbers that are not in the source. A careful tool drops a figure it cannot verify. Fix: put the figure on the page you link, or state it in the prompt.
• The wrong shape. A 16:9 film cropped for Reels loses its edges. Fix: choose the size first and make one film for each shape.
• No captions. Viewers on mute miss the story. Fix: turn captions on for every social placement.
• Publishing without watching. AI-made videos can contain mistakes. Fix: watch the whole film and check names, numbers and claims before you post it.

How to make your first AI motion graphics video

1. Write the brief. One or two sentences: what the film is for, who it speaks to and the mood.
2. Add the source. Paste your product link, or add screenshots and a logo.
3. Choose the four settings. Size, length or Auto, voice and language, and captions.
4. Let it run. Voom designs, writes, voices, animates and scores the film, and you can follow each stage as it happens.
5. Review and share. Watch it, then download the MP4 or turn on a share link.

To see what a link adds, try it on your own site: turn a product link into a video.