How to use HeyGen to record videos with AI

With the improvement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) over the years, it is no surprise that its application is increasingly expanding to tools and objects that we use in our daily lives, both for personal and professional use.

One of these cases is the tool Hey Gen, which uses AI to generate videos. With the platform, it is possible to use your own short video as a basis for creating other audiovisual content, but it goes much further. Continue reading to learn about the main features and learn how to use HeyGen.

What is HeyGen?

It is now possible to use AI to make people sing from photographs, but HeyGen goes further. Launched in 2020, HeyGen is software that uses generative Artificial Intelligence to create professional quality videos in a few minutes, using your own video as a base or creating a new one from scratch without you having to provide images.

That's right. If you don't like recording yourself or even don't have a camera, this is no longer a problem, as HeyGen can also transform text into video. You can provide the tool with content, select the avatar (or instruct it to create a new one for you – or from you) and the voice you prefer and leave the rest to the AI.

And if that's your case, you don't need to worry about variety: HeyGen offers 300 voices in more than 40 languages, as well as more than 100 human avatar options of different ethnicities and ages, with a variety of clothes and backgrounds. . It is also possible to generate an animated avatar, like a drawing, using your own photo.

When looking at a video, people look at two things: one is the editing and the other is the camera. Editing isn't expensive because it's a standard kind of process, but the camera is very expensive. We are solving this specific problem. Snapchat is a camera company where everyone creates content through a mobile camera. We believe AI can create content. AI could become the new camera.

Joshua Xu, co-founder of HeyGen for Forbes

Main features

With the aim of replacing cameras, HeyGen has several different features for you to create videos with AI, saving time and money in productions. The main ones are:

• Avatars created with AI and customizable;
• Avatars that respond to verbal and non-verbal signals in real time;
• Voices generated with AI (more than 300 options);
• Voice cloning;
• Video translation into more than 40 languages;
• Transform text into audio;
• I use avatars in streaming as virtual assistants;
• Integration with platforms like Zapier and Canva.

Advantages and disadvantages

Firstly, it is important to explain that HeyGen works with credits, so that 1 credit is equal to 1 minute of video. The platform works with time rounding every 30 seconds, which means that if your video is between 1 and 30 seconds, only 0,5 credit will be used, and if it is between 31 and 60 seconds, 1 full credit will be used.

Considering this scheme, one of the main advantages of HeyGen is that the platform allows the creation of a free account to test the use of AI to generate videos requires no credit card registration. It is true that this test account is quite basic and without many of the features available in paid plans, allowing the use of just one credit, but you can test more than 120 avatars and 300 voices and get a taste of what can be done with the tool. .

It is important to always remember that the company works in this type of credit, because if you use AI to record videos and don't like the end result, you will lose your credit anyway. Furthermore, the content must be a maximum of 60 minutes – although this is a good amount of time, if you need to make a video that exceeds this limit, you will need to divide the content into two parts.

Other possible disadvantages of the platform: prices are in dollar, so you will need to take into account additional fees such as IOF if you subscribe to one of the plans, and the user area for creating videos with AI is all in English (the page does not translate when clicking with the left mouse button and asks to translate into Portuguese).

However, another advantage of HeyGen is that you no need to use camera on the platform. Furthermore, the videos created can be translated into different languages, with voice changes and new lip synchronization of the avatars to ensure a natural effect.

And if you have little experience and don't know where to start using AI to generate videos, the platform offers various templates to help you in the process, whether to create videos with AI for promotional or educational purposes, also helping to personalize content for advertising campaigns. CRM (Customer Relationship Management, or consumer relationship management).

HeyGen also has integration with other platforms, such as Zapier (company that provides the automation of actions between different platforms and applications), ChatGPT (which can help you in creating the text to be used), and the Canva (if you are putting together a presentation on the design platform), which can make your daily life even easier.

Finally, the platform provides a wide variety of avatars, voices and languages ​​available, and the videos generated with HeyGen are saved in the cloud, so there is no need to download the content (but if you want to save the files on your computer, you can also ).

Pricing

HeyGen has a free plan quite basic, but does not require credit card registration. In addition to this, there are two other structured plans: creator (creator) and the business (business), with different functionalities and amount of credit available. Prices are in dollars and start at US$24 (R$119, at current rates) per month, but the platform offers a 20% discount if you choose to pay in one go for a year of use.

To be able to use platform tools such as finetune on avatars (make small adjustments to the selected avatar) or create one studio avatar (a professional quality avatar) you will need to pay an additional fee.

If for some reason neither of the two available packages meets your needs, you can contact the platform to create a different and individual plan for your company.

• Free plan: 1 credit (i.e. 1 minute, which can be distributed in a one-minute video, or two videos of 30 seconds or less), only one access per account, more than 120 avatars and 300 voices available for use;
• Creator plan: You can choose two options, the monthly plan and the annual plan. On a monthly basis, you can choose to purchase 15 to 90 credits for the period (with variation in the final price), while on an annual basis it is between 180 and 1080 credits. In addition to all the features available in the free plan, you also receive premium voices, fast video processing, creation of 3 personalized avatars and automatic subtitles. In the monthly plan, the version with 15 credits costs US$29 per month (R$144), while if you choose 90 credits during the period the price rises to US$179 (R$886). In the annual payment, the initial amount, with 180 credits, is US$24 per month (R$119), and the final amount, with 1080 credits, is US$114 per month (R$713);
• Business plan: in addition to all the features available in the creator plan, in the business package you can share the bill with 2 more people (that is, you can create collaborative AI videos), receive 4K video resolution and a brand kit. On the monthly plan, the minimum number of credits is 30 per month, costing US$89 for the period (R$440), and the maximum is 180, costing US$539 (R$2668). In the annual plan, with a discount, the basic version with 360 annual credits costs US$72 per month (R$356), and the version with the maximum credits, 2160 per year, costs US$432 per month (R$2138) .

O finetune avatar, that is, the possibility of making adjustments to avatars, comes with the addition of voice cloning. On the monthly plan, the functionality costs US$49 (R$242), while on the annual plan it costs US$39 per month (R$193). If you also want the tool for creating studio avatars, you will need to pay an additional US$1000 (R$4950), an amount charged only once a year.

How to use HeyGen

Now that you know the main features, advantages and disadvantages as well as the different plans and prices, it's time to find out how to use HeyGen.

1. The first thing to do is open an account on the platform, so just access the website and click on “Get started for free”.

2. You can then create an account by clicking on “Sign up with Email” or choosing one of the options below to create an account with Google or Facebook, for example.

3. After registering, HeyGen will take you through a quick questionnaire to understand more about you and your area of ​​expertise. Then, the platform will present you with the home page of the video creation area, where you can choose between the available features to start using AI to record videos.

Although the “Instant Avatar” functionality, which creates your own avatar, is only available on paid plans, it is possible to test several other HeyGen features, such as “Photo Avatar”, an area in which you can choose animation avatars (such as drawings or paintings , like the Mona Lisa) or import a photo (you can also give instructions for AI create an image yours or your own design); “Template”, which allows you to use AI to record videos using existing templates; and “AI Script”, in which it is possible to convert written text also with AI (don't worry if you don't like the generated content, you can manually edit the information you want) into video, editing avatars, voices, languages, background and soundtrack.

Remember that in the free version there is only one credit available, so if you save the video at the end by clicking “Submit”, HeyGen will use your credit to save the content. You can still continue testing the tool and use AI to generate videos, but you will no longer be able to save future videos.

FAQ

Is HeyGen free?

As we mentioned earlier, HeyGen is not free software. However, it is possible to test the platform and save a single video for free and without having to register your credit card.

Is it possible to use HeyGen on your smartphone?

For now, the vast majority of HeyGen's features are only available on the computer, but it is possible to use a demo version to create a quick video without many editing possibilities.

Is it possible to control avatar gestures and expressions?

Not yet, but each avatar comes with its own gestures and expressions, so you can choose which one you prefer. But if customization is important to you, you can pay to customize your own avatar, but it will take 5 to 7 days to be ready. You can also contact the HeyGen team to create a specific gesture or expression for your avatar.

Learn more

Sources: Hey Gen, Unite.AI, Rush Tech Hub

Text proofread by: Pedro Bomfim