What is a Splash Screen?
A splash screen is a short intro screen or animation presented at the beginning of a video to represent the video creator. These screens are usually shown for about five seconds, with anything longer running the risk of boring the viewer and potentially causing them to stop watching the video.
A good splash screen includes a logo and/or channel name (still or animated) along with a sound to enhance it (sound effects or music).
For example, check out Aaron Blaise's splash screen below. It's a five-second animation with a short sound clip that's placed at the beginning of all of his videos.
What is Panzoid?
Panzoid is an online video editor that allows you to create their very own splash screen using 3D text and objects.
Panzoid Interface
Check out the image and explanations below to learn about what everything does in the Panzoid interface:
Project: The Project tab is for saving and loading projects.
Basics: The basics tab is for setting the length of a clip and other video resolutions
Scene: The scene tab is where to choose the background setting of the intro. Options include outdoor environments, blocks, and darkness.
Objects: The objects tab is where to control everything that animates in the intro. This could be text, boxes, particles, or even 3D objects that have been created in a 3D software like Maya!
FX: The FX tab is for adding special effects. This involves changing the overall color of the scene, distorting the video, or adding any other various effects.
Camera: The camera tab is for animating a camera. Instead of moving the text, you can actually move the camera around. This can range from sudden movements to smooth rotation or even shaking the whole screen.
Audio + Music: The Audio + Music tab is where custom audio files that play in the background of the intro can be uploaded.
Download: Once finished, an MKV file can be downloaded so it can play in a video player.
Project Options: These buttons in the project tab are for saving and uploading a project file.
Workspace: The workspace is where you see a preview of your intro as they add elements to it. It’s based on a 3D grid, but it'll eventually populate it with objects.
Playback Buttons: The playback buttons are how you can view a preview of your intro animation.
From left to right:
-Toggle Playback: Play intro
-Toggle Render Preview: Change the camera angle to the final view instead of the editing view.
-Toggle Audio Mute: Option to mute audio.
-Toggle Half Speed: Slow down a clip to edit it frame by frame.
-Toggle Audio Waveform: This is for timing the animation to sound so you can see when the sound is louder or changes pace.
There are also Zoom Out and Zoom In buttons at the bottom that can be helpful for editing in a timeline.
Timeline: Once you start animating elements, the Timeline will be where you can control how long certain elements show for and when certain effects are applied.
How to Create an Intro Splash Screen
First, you will want to place an object, which is the core of what makes an intro splash screen.
1. Click the "Objects" tab.
2. Click +Add Object
3. Choose Text" from the drop-down list.
4. Click Text: clipmaker.
5. Click and drag over the clipmaker text and type the name of the channel.
6. Press Enter to apply the text to the preview.
Navigating the 3D Space
The preview workspace is in a 3D Space. Panzoid uses mouse and keyboard controls to help navigate.
Some of the controls include:
- Left-click and drag with the mouse to move the camera around and rotate it.
- Right-click and drag with the mouse to pan the camera in a single view.
- Use the scroll wheel on the mouse to zoom in and out.
You can click the green, blue, and red arrows to move the object in that specific direction:
Editing the Text
Once the object's settings are created, you can edit.
1. Move the camera to look at the text from the front.
2. In the Objects tab, choose Custom from the Font list.
3. Click Select next to Custom font.
4. Find the font used in channel resources and click Open.
Choose a Scene
You can also choose a background for the text. For this example, take a look at the outdoor scene.
1. Choose Outdoor from the Choose a scene list. If Darkness, change the Ambient light to 1 so it's visible. You can choose Blocks to build a Minecraft world as the background.
2. Choose anything from the Sky drop-down menu.
Add an Effect
The FX tab has many effects available. You can choose whichever effect you want, but for this example, take a look at Color Correction. You can even mix and match later if you find some that go well together.
1. Click + Add Effect and choose Color Correction under the Color category.
2. Click Color Correction to edit it.
3. Click and drag on the values to change how it affects the scene.
Make sure the Toggle Render Preview is turned on, or it will not show the effects being applied! You might want to change your text color in the Object tab so that the color changes are more obvious.
Animate the Camera
To make this cool-looking piece of text move, animate the camera.
1. Click the Camera tab.
2. With Toggle Render Preview off, move the camera to a start position.
3. Click Use current to save that camera position.
Add a Keyframe
To create an animation, you need to set another camera position. Each image in an animation is known as a frame, and a keyframe is a frame that changes the camera angle or position of the image.
1. Click a spot in the middle of the timeline to select a frame.
2. Click the + next to Position.
3. Drag the numbers around to choose where it should go.
4. Click the slanted line icon to choose how you want it to animate. You can keep it at Linear so it eases evenly from one point to the next.
5. With Toggle Render Preview on, click Toggle Playback to view the final animation!
For easing, if "None" is chosen, that means the frames will be sudden and skip without any kind of easing between the two keyframes. This can be used for sudden movements that you want to pop.
Add Audio
Audio will enhance an intro splash screen!
1. Click the Audio + Music tab.
2. Next to Audio file, click Select.
3. Find the audio clip and choose Open.
Save the Project
Saving the project file is very important so that you can come back and make edits if needed!
1. Click the Project tab.
2. Click Save project. It may take a few seconds to load.
3. Click Download project file.
4. When prompted to save, name it something like "Intro Splash Screen" and click Save.
5. Close the new tab and click Return to editing in the Clipmaker tab.
Save the Video File
When done creating the intro, save the project file, and then save the playable video file. That way, the video can be seen in a media player. The Panzoid project files are only usable on this website.
1. Click the Download tab.
2. Click Start video render. It may take a few minutes.
3. Click Download the video.
4. Type a name for it and click Save.
And that's it! Now with a useful splash screen, what's the next step? If you have a child interested in learning more, consider any of our many YouTube summer camps or online courses.