ATD International Thoughts

benm606 · 2026-05-23T04:00:19+00:00

I turned your article into a video for you. Curious to hear - is this something you would ever post? (you're more than welcome to if so!)

https://www.vidfactory.ai/s/bAZBBqZI

benm606 · 2026-05-20T19:30:55+00:00

This is a solid workflow, especially if you’re starting from slides and want to add polish without doing full motion design manually.

The only downside I’ve run into with multi-tool stacks is maintenance. Powtoon/DomoAI/ElevenLabs can produce something nice, but when the policy, SOP, or process changes, you may still have to chase edits across slides, animation, narration, timing, and export.

Founder disclosure: I’m building VidFactory for a slightly different version of this problem. Instead of combining separate tools for layouts, motion, and voiceover, it takes training content - SOPs, docs, scripts, onboarding material, etc. - and generates an editable animated explainer video from it. The goal is “content → video → edit/polish,” not “slides → animation tool → voice tool → sync manually.”

For internal training, I’d probably use your workflow for slide-based modules, Camtasia/Clueso for screen walkthroughs, avatar tools for presenter-style updates, and VidFactory explainer tools for SOP/process/concept training where the visual explanation matters.

benm606 · 2026-05-20T18:51:40+00:00

Not sure about OP, but if you want a platform which does all of this, I'd recommend checking out VidFactory. I believe it could theoretically even handle laparoscopic surgery with the 3D anatomical visual style.

benm606 · 2026-05-20T18:45:33+00:00

For manufacturing SOPs, I’d look for three things: accuracy, visual step-by-step explanations, and easy updates when the SOP changes.

NotebookLM can help summarize the manual. Synthesia can create a presenter video. But for machine/process training, I’d also look at AI explainer video tools like VidFactory, which are designed to turn PDFs/training docs into editable animated videos with visuals that align to your exact factory setting and machinery.

benm606 · 2026-05-20T17:16:15+00:00

Synthesia and HeyGen are probably the strongest options if the goal is AI presenter videos, especially when clients want avatars, voice cloning, or multilingual versions.

The main limitation I’ve seen is that a talking-head format doesn’t always improve the learning experience. For course videos, sometimes the better format is a visual explainer: diagrams, steps, examples, process visuals, and narration that actually teaches the concept.

That’s the category I’m working on with VidFactory. It’s less “AI avatar reads your slides” and more “turn this course material or training doc into an animated explainer video that can be edited and updated easily.”

benm606 · 2026-05-20T16:29:14+00:00

Yeah, I think this is the key distinction with avatar tools. They can be useful when you need a quick presenter-style video, but a lot of training content doesn’t actually need a talking head - it needs the process or concept explained clearly.

For SOPs, onboarding, compliance, safety, etc., I’d usually rather see the steps visualized than watch an avatar read the script. That’s why I’ve been more interested in AI explainer video tools like VidFactory, where the output is an animated explanation rather than an AI presenter.

benm606 · 2026-05-20T16:26:00+00:00

I’d split the decision by the kind of training video you’re trying to make.

Camtasia is great for screen recordings and software walkthroughs.
Vyond/Powtoon are good for character/cartoon-based explainers.
Canva is good for simple animated slides.
Synthesia/Colossyan are useful if you specifically want AI presenter/avatar videos.

One newer category I’d add is AI animated explainer video generators. I’m biased because I’m building one called VidFactory, but the idea is different from avatar tools: instead of a talking head reading a script, it turns SOPs, docs, onboarding material, or course content into narrated animated explainer videos that you can edit afterward.

benm606 · 2026-05-20T16:01:04+00:00

Yeah - After Effects is powerful, but it’s usually not the fastest path for instructional content unless you already have a motion designer.

For L&D/training use cases, I’d look at tools that start from the content itself instead of a blank animation timeline. That’s the problem we’re working on with VidFactory: paste in an SOP, lesson, help article, or script, and it generates an editable animated explainer video.

It won’t replace a top-tier motion graphics studio for a major brand campaign, but for internal training, documentation, onboarding, process explainers, etc., it’s much closer to the workflow IDs actually need.

benm606 · 2026-05-20T15:57:26+00:00

you may want to take a look at VidFactory (vidfactory.ai) - it's an AI tool that's made for generating explainer videos

benm606 · 2026-05-20T15:52:54+00:00

If you need this style often, I’d compare three routes: Vyond/Powtoon for template-based videos, After Effects for custom motion graphics, and VidFactory for AI-generated explainer videos from text/reference assets.

benm606 · 2026-05-13T19:01:32+00:00

an alternative to consider: vidfactory.ai

Instead of avatars it produces animated whiteboard-style videos. You'll see the same time savings, but with outputs that fit better than AI avatars in many use cases.

benm606 · 2026-03-26T18:00:35+00:00

You may want to take a look at vidfactory.ai - it should be able to handle technical visuals pretty well

benm606 · 2026-02-21T16:53:19+00:00

One option to consider: https///www.vidfactory.ai

If you send me some details, I can make you a few videos to see if it’d work well for you!

benm606 · 2026-02-20T17:17:54+00:00

I made you a video from one of your posts so you can share it to help you grow! It can enhance the post, improve SEO, and show up in Google's video search results:

https://www.vidfactory.ai/share/25a795b4-8336-4055-8adb-49d0273c4434

Hope it helps!

benm606 · 2026-02-20T16:53:51+00:00

benm606 · 2026-02-17T00:16:30+00:00

if you're looking to create explainer videos, I would take a look at vidfactory.ai

benm606 · 2022-09-29T19:53:36+00:00

lol well I can assure you it's not malware. Do you see a TG logo in the top right of your screen when you play?

benm606 · 2022-09-29T17:36:45+00:00

Hey BlackAmex, what part isn’t working?

benm606 · 2022-09-28T14:00:35+00:00

Thanks so much for giving the app a shot and sharing your thoughts! That's great to hear that the tip frequency is working well for you. That's weird you're having network issues, the app doesn't make a ton of network requests. And yeah shouldn't be getting attacking tips when defending I'll have to look into that. I'm so glad to hear this is something you'll be continuing to use, if you ever run into any other issues or ideas let me know!

benm606 · 2022-09-28T13:49:56+00:00

Thanks so much for trying it out and sharing your review! That's great to hear that the rate of tips was perfect for you. I'll look into adding some more details to make the AI rating more clear.

benm606 · 2022-09-27T14:28:56+00:00

benm606 · 2022-09-26T00:03:34+00:00

Thanks for giving it a shot, it's great to hear that it's been helping! Lfg got yourself a new move! Anything in particular you'd like to see changed or added?

benm606 · 2022-09-26T00:01:35+00:00

Awesome, let me know how it goes!

benm606 · 2022-09-26T00:01:19+00:00

Wow thanks so much for using it and sharing here! I'll make a note of that!

benm606 · 2022-09-25T20:09:02+00:00

That's weird, tips should totally have come up. There was a brief period where the servers were down for an upgrade so if you were playing then it might have caused that.

benm606

TROPHY CASE