Plotagon: a tool for creating short CGI movies
Plotagon is a user-friendly tool that allows you to easily create visual stories with a selection of characters. The app makes use of text-to-speech, allowing you to easily give your characters dialogue, but also provides you with the ability to record your own dialogue directly.
While there are similar apps to Plotagon, like Focusky, which allows for the creation of slideshow presentations, and HitFilm Express, which is a pure video editing package, Plotagon is relatively unique in providing full 3D environments and animated characters.
While no one would claim that the videos produced by Plotagon are a match for professional-grade CGI productions, users can produce very good results with almost no expertise. And for those who are willing to put more effort into understanding the app, it is possible to produce quite professional-looking videos in considerably less time than it would take from scratch.
Simple to use yet effective
The app has a vast array of locations, characters, and animations to make give each scene with, as well as effects that can be applied, such as a retro black and white movie effect. There is also a range of computer-generated voices to choose from, but a user with a flair for voice-acting might choose to use the recording function to record real voice dialogue.
A good starting point but not a professional tool
In terms of the amount of skill and effort required, the results produced by Plotagon are very impressive. With a vast array of options to choose from in all aspects of the scene, it is a surprisingly versatile piece of software that can be applied to narrative-driven art and video presentations alike. It is undoubtedly a good tool for inexperienced filmmakers to get started.
That being said, the finished videos are not up to a professional standard, and Plotagon is no replacement for experienced 3D animators and filmmakers. This does not make it a bad app, but it is important to understand its limitations.
