Yepic Studio Review 2024: Features, Performance and Alternatives
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8/10 | ||
Yepic Studio Review: Text to video with AI human avatars | ||
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Summary: Yepic Studio offers a user-friendly AI Video Generator that allows users to create professional videos easily. The platform supports localization in 110+ languages and provides API integration for scalable video production Pricing: From $9/month. Free trial with no credit card | ||
In this Yepic Studio review, I will go into every feature of this platform to check how good it is for creating talking head videos.
By the end, you will understand what Yepic Studio is and how it can fulfill your needs for video creation.
As you may already know, plenty of apps allow you to create a video from a text script featuring human avatars. Some years ago, we couldn't imagine making a talking head video from a desktop PC but now it is possible with an ultra-low budget.
So, let's check how Yepic works and compare it with similar software.
Read on to learn more.
What is Yepic ?
Yepic is a UK-based startup founded in 2020. In 2021, they launched Yepic Studio, an AI-based online service for creating videos from text input. Later on, they launched VidVoice, an AI simultaneous voice translation service.
I will discuss here Yepic Studio, a cloud-based software that generates content responding to user prompts.
This can be done in three simple steps:
1-Choose an avatar: This can be done from a stock library or upload your own.
2-Type a text input: Copy or paste a text script (or even upload a voiceover)
3-Customize: Choose voices, background, and sound assets.
4-Render your video: Get your video ready for download.
This software is meant for two purposes: Create talking photos and making videos with human avatars.
What sets apart Yepic Studio from traditional video creation
You can create a talking head video from your PC: No need to hire actors. Since there are many diverse avatars, I am sure you will find the right ethnicity for your target market.
No need for expensive equipment: No mics, no cameras, no lights, no studios. This gives a significant advantage because you don't need to break the bank to make a professional-looking video.
Multi-lingual features: If you create videos regularly, you know localization costs are challenging, even if you have the right people. The possibility of creating a video in many languages is impressive regarding usefulness and costs.
Notice that Yepic is not meant to replace your professional video editing suite. Complete and full-featured platforms like Premiere or Camtasia allow you to control color corrections, transitions, sound editions, and more.
However, professional video creation tools are still necessary for making videos. You should consider Yepic as a complement of your traditional video suite.
Check how it works in this video.
Who is Yepic for?
Everyone who needs to create talking head videos can benefit from this platform's valuable features. There are lots of use cases for this platform, to name a few:
E-Learning videos: If you are a course creator, reaching a worldwide audience is now possible and cost-effective because Yepic features 110+ languages. And updating new content or editing your videos is just a matter of minutes.
E-commerce videos: You can use videos to promote your product on social media or web pages, optimizing customer engagement and getting more leads and sales by creating personal experiences. Has your product just changed some specifications? Don't worry; you can change the description in a snap.
Real estate videos: Today, it is almost impossible to think about selling real estate without videos. But suppose you add a human avatar describing the property. In that case, you can connect strongly with your viewers and mark the difference. Publishing the video on specialized marketplaces will do the rest.
Marketing videos: Creating a marketing video with Yepic is simple. Just choose an avatar, type a script, make changes to the slide, and render the video.
Yepic main features
- Up to 10 slides per video.
- 40+ avatars
- Custom avatars.
- 8 templates.
- AI Character generator.
- Talking photos.
- 110 languages and 500+ voices.
- 16:9, 1:1, 9:16, and 4:5 format.
- Voiceover upload.
- Voice cloning (currently in beta)
- Eleven Labs voices.
- Free images and audio assets.
- Upload custom background video.
- Up to 22 hours of video (depending on plan)
- API access.
- ChatGPT script generator.
- Unlimited video storage.
- HD video download.
Note that some features depend on pricing plan.
How to create a Talking Photo with Yepic
Once you sign in, the dashboard looks clean and minimalist.
Click on the plus sign. Here, you can create an Express video with faster video generation to animate photos, also known as "talking photos." The Pro option is for creating videos with talking avatars, transitions, music and more.
So let's create first a talking photo
There are 100 high-quality photo avatars to make a talking photo, or you can upload your own. Stock images include human faces of regular people, doctors, workers, police officers, cartoons, and AI-generated. Let's choose Alexander's avatar.
Now, it's time to give Alexander a voice by clicking the voice icon on the right. Yepic's management of voices is unique since it lets you choose among different voice providers, a feature you won't find in similar apps.
You can use Amazon, Azure, ElevenLabs, Google, IBM, and Yandex voices. I played with English and Spanish voices (the only languages I know), and the overall quality was very good. However, some sound more natural than others.
Do you want to create a talking photo of yourself? It is very easy following four simple steps.
Check how it works in this video
When I typed the script, there was a maximum of 4000 characters, a more than sufficient number that allowed input between 5700 and 10000 words.
I entered a small script, but when I wanted to hear how it sounded, a popup opened, warning that it costs 0.1 credits.
OK, there's no problem spending 0.1 credits, but Yepic is the only platform that charges for this.
The voice sounds clear and loud, I am happy how it sounds so go ahead and click OK. There is no option to add pauses, tones, phonemes, or particular words, a feature you can find in many similar apps.
Once you want to generate the talking photo, the system pops up a confirmation window showing that it will consume 1 credit.
Here is the final result:
The resulting talking photo has good quality and lip-synching. Furthermore, voice sounds quite well.
In case you need some extra ideas, click on the ChatGPT icon for help
Suppose I need a script for a tutorial video about "how to use a coffee maker." When I type that text in the ChatGPT box, the result is quite good, with a detailed script that can be applied or modified.
How to create a video with Yepic
Now, let's create a video. You can start from scratch or choose a pre-made template.
On the left side, there is an icon for selecting pre-made templates. There are only eight templates available, each one with ten slides (the maximum the platform supports)
The few quantity of pre-made templates is not an issue, but if you make many videos pre-made templates can help to speed up the creation process. To name a few, Synthesia has 60+ templates, Elai.io offers 50+ templtes, and HeyGen has 300+ templates available.
I prefer to start from scratch, click on the plus sign and select the PRO option.
Regarding avatars, there are many HQ human avatars, let's go for Elsa.
The background shape of the avatar can be circled or boxed, and the position can be set in any part of the screen by dragging it.
The slide background can be a solid color or transparent, or you can upload a custom image. If you need a background video, you must upload your own since Yepic doesn't provide this asset.
You can overlay text by selecting the right text icon and choosing some stock music (or upload your own)
Yepic offers various screen sizes; 1920 x 1080, 1280x720 or 1080x608
It is also possible to set the screen ratio to 16:9, 1:1, 9:16, or 4:5. This is a useful feature because you can always set the right screen where you need to publish the video.
You can apply 40+ transition types to your slides and add (very) basic shapes to the video.
Above the text box, you can select voices, and you can also upload your own voiceover. Surprisingly, the ChatGPT integration available in talking photos is not available when you need to create a video! This feature has already been implemented on Synthesia, Heygen, Elai.io, and similar platforms.
Now let's type an example script:
Hi there, welcome to Miracle Enterprises. We specialize in the real estate business, and our staff can help you find your ideal home.
Add a second slide, change the background to one showing a nice house, and type another script:
We have been in real estate for 20 years. Give us a call, and we will be happy to help
Now click on "generate" and wait for rendering. As in the previous example, Yepic discloses how many credits the video will cost
Yepic took 3 minutes to render this small 18-second video, a good average mark.
Here is the rendered video, check it out.
Voice sounds good, and lip-synching is quite acceptable. Avatars only show the upper part of the body, while on other platforms, they usually show from the waist up.
Overall, I think the final video is great, but it could benefit from additional creative assets which I didn´t include because the main goal was to test the platform's performance and how avatars look.
Yepic Studio pricing
Yepic offers four pricing plans.
- Starter Free Plan: 10 credits for one-time use to test the platform only with talking photos but a good way to check voices, avatars and lyp-synching. This plan includes all avatars, languages, and voices,
- Consumer Plan: £6.98/user/month with 50 credits/month, all digital avatars, talking photos, 430 voices, 110+ languages, watermarked videos, and up to 16 mins of rendered videos per month. Hint: You won't find a cheaper price anywhere.
- Standard Plan: £29/user/month with 200 credits/month, all digital avatars, talking photos, 500 voices and 110+ languages, stock image, video and music library, no watermarks, 10 slides per video, up to 66 mins of rendered videos per month.
- Plus Plan: £79/user/month with 750 credits/month, no watermarks, all digital avatars, talking photos, 500 voices and 110+ languages, stock image, video and music library, 10 slides per video, custom avatars, API access and up to 250 mins of rendered videos per month.
- Premium Plan: £299/user/month with 4000 credits/month, all digital avatars, talking photos, 500 voices, and 110+ languages, stock image, video and music library, no watermarks, 10 slides per video, one free custom avatar, API access, up to 1333 mins of rendered videos per month.
Plus and Premium Plans offer faster render speeds.
They also disclose API pricing as follows:
Developer: £1 one-time payment with 100 one-time credits, API only, and 14 days for credit testing.
Developer Plus: £20/user/month with 200 credits per month, priority video rendering, API only.
Yepic Studio Pros: What I like about Yepic
Excellent pricing: Pricing plans are lower than other similar apps. For example, Heygen charges $96/month for 60 mins of video, while with Yepic, you can render 66 mins for £29/month (which is approximately equivalent to $36)Complete API support: Yepic strongly emphasizes developers, and API documentation and support are excellent.
Precise rendering times: Yepic is the only app that discloses its rendering times. In text-to-video apps, rendering time heavily depends on how long your video is, but here, rendering time depends on your pricing plan as follows:
Premium Plan users: <10-20 minutes
Standard Plan users: <15-25 minutes
Special Plan users: <1 hour
Starter Plan users: <24 hours
Outstanding voice management: Yepic is the only platform that enables several voices options; like Eleven Labs, IBM, Google and more.
Yepic Studio Cons: What I would like Yepic Studio to improve
Only eight pre-made templates: A bigger set of templates should be useful to get some inspiration, thus avoiding starting from a blank canvas.
No integrations: I don't understand why this tool has no integration with other platforms. Integration is a feature every competitor offers with different approaches.
Unclear pricing plans: Yepic's pricing plans are based on a credit system, a schema used by similar platforms. For example, in the basic plan, you have 50 credits per month; Yepic claims it equals up to 16 minutes per month.
Furthermore, Knowing beforehand how many credits will waste your video is impossible because the way Yepic consumes credits is difficult to follow.
Every competitor uses a similar credit system, but usually, 1 credit equals 1 minute of video (except Hourone, which charges per second).
No self-serving custom avatar: To create a custom avatar, you must contact support for a studio custom avatar with professional quality. There is no option to make a standard avatar from my PC or cell phone camera, an option many similar apps offer.
Yepic social proof, what do people say?
We found a 4.5/5 rating on G2 from 53 reviews.
On Trustpilot, there are 60 reviews with 4.7/5 score
These rates are excellent and hint at how valuable the platform is from the user's point of view regarding ease of use and overall features.
Yepic Support and onboarding
When it comes to support and onboarding, Yepic features a knowledge base available on their website with articles related to languages and voices, talking photos, custom avatars, video licensing and commercial rights, API, ethics policy, and content moderation and expected rendering times.
Support is handled via chat, and the support team is available from 10am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Not bad, but you'd better have an issue during these days and hours.
Yepic handles tutorials via its YouTube channel, where you will find many videos, from samples to feature videos and how-to examples. They are arranged in no order, and it would be interesting to have a tutorial section highlighting different features of the platform and walk-through videos as well.
Three best Yepic Studio alternatives
If you are uncomfortable with Yepic features, I am listing below the three best Yepic alternatives.
Synthesia
Synthesia is the leading app to create videos with human avatars with unsurpassed quality and performance.
It offers 150+ avatars, auto-closed captions, 120+ languages, and many additional features.
Pricing starts at $22/month billed annually for 10 mins of video. You will get more features but be prepared to spend more money.
Read our Synthesia review or go to Synthesia website
Elai
Elai.io is a strong player in the video avatar creation business. It features 80+ diverse avatars, 50+ pre-made templates, ChatGPT integration, and a proprietary API.
You will need $23/month for creating 15 mins of video per month. Here again, Yepic pricing is lower.
Read our Elai.io review or go to Elai website
Colossyan
Colossyan is an excellent option to consider. With 30+ diverse avatars, aging and avatar emotions, a complete video editor, and up to 50 scenes per video, this platform sets itself apart with outstanding quality.
Pricing starts at $28/month for 10 minutes of video per month, which means more features but more money than Yepic.
Read our Colossyan review or go to Colossyan website
Anyway, I advise registering for a free trial and learning how the platform works.
My conclusion about Yepic Studio
Yepic Studio is a good choice when you need to create a talking photo video or a talking head video.
I liked how talking photo works, with high-quality avatars and ChatGPT integration. The creation process was quick and straightforward, and the resulting talking photo showed a very good voice quality and lip-synching.
On the other side, the video platform needs improvement. The lack of pre-made templates makes the creation process more complex, and the video editor is bare basic. Not to mention, there is no video translation, captions, or ChatGPT integration.
All of these are compensated for by Yepic's unbeatable pricing.
If you need to create a talking head video without bells and whistles, Yepic Studio is a reliable platform to consider.
RELATED READING: 8 Best Synthesia.io Alternatives in 2024 Free and Paid
Mario here. I am the owner of Vidmetoo, a one-man band.
I founded this website to provide you with useful insights about video tools and related resources. Thanks for reading!