Splainin Whiteboard animation for ideas worth sharing

Guide updated September 21, 2026. Menu names and workflows reflect the current desktop build.

What Is This App?

Splainin is a desktop tool for creating explainer-style animated videos, including digital promotional assets, commercial overviews, and brand reels. You arrange SVG graphics, images, and text on a virtual whiteboard, then the app animates those elements onto the screen as if being drawn in real time by a hand holding a pen. The result is a polished, hand-drawn-style presentation video.

It is not a freehand drawing application. You don't draw anything yourself. Instead, you:

• Place pre-made SVG or image assets on the whiteboard
• Choose how each element animates in (and out)
• Add scene-level effects, transitions, and narration
• Export animated video, scene stills, multi-scene PDFs, or animated GIF captures
• Package a project for sharing, including its project data and assets
• Present live to an audience display or use the project as a presentation

Presentation Mode

Presentation Mode sends the project to an audience display while keeping presenter controls on the main screen. In the playback toolbar above the scene list, click Present Fullscreen to start with Auto-play selected or Live Presentation to start with Presenter-controlled selected. You can change the mode in the setup window, choose an available display, and decide whether audio plays on the audience display.

During a presentation, the console can show presenter notes, a teleprompter, and a pointer pad. It also provides controls for previous/next scene, restart, scene jump, blank screen, and laser pointer. Audio on the audience display can be enabled before starting.

Who Uses It

Splainin is the creative tool of choice for anyone who needs polished video content without a production team:

Screenshot: Canvas with items animating in with hand-drawn style

Quick Start

1. Create a project. The app opens with a blank project. Choose Settings → Project Settings to pick the aspect ratio (e.g. 16:9 for YouTube) and background color.
2. Turn on the AI Assistant. Choose Settings → App Defaults → AI, enable AI Assistant, and save App Defaults for real-time guidance while you work.
3. Add a scene. The left sidebar lists your scenes. Click + Add Scene (at the bottom of the scene list) to insert a new scene.
4. Add content to the scene. Click the + dropdown on a scene card to add items: an SVG graphic, an image, or a text card. The item appears on the whiteboard canvas.
5. Position and resize. Drag items to reposition them. Drag resize handles to change their size. Right-click for more options.
6. Choose an animation style. Click the AP pill on an item card to open Item Settings directly on the Appearance tab. You can also use the item card's ⋯ → Appearance Effect menu.
7. Add narration (optional). Click the NARR pill on a scene card to open its Narration settings, then enter the narration text and choose a voice.
8. Preview. Press the ▶ Play button in the toolbar to preview the animation.
9. Export or share. Choose File → Export Video, Export Scene as Image…, Export Scenes to PDF…, or Export for Sharing… depending on the result you need.

Screenshot: Full app layout — toolbar, sidebar, canvas

Interface Overview

Resize the Scene Sidebar

To make the Scene Sidebar wider or narrower, point to the thin vertical divider on its right edge. When the pointer changes to a horizontal resize cursor, drag the divider left or right. The sidebar can be between 180 and 600 pixels wide, and Splainin saves the chosen width automatically.

Annotated screenshot: menu bar, scene sidebar, canvas, toolbar

Context Inspector & Dockable Toolbars

The Context Inspector is the selection-aware toolbar area for editing the thing you currently have selected. It can be configured as a docked panel beside the workspace, a floating panel, or hidden when you want more canvas space.

The available toolbar changes with the current selection. Select an item, group, scene, or text item to reveal the controls relevant to that context. The controls are not a single fixed toolbar; the inspector hosts several tool groups:

Text Outline

Yes. Select the text item, open the Context Inspector's Text font controls, then choose an Outline color and set the Outline width. The outline is applied to the selected text item.

Text Color

Yes. Select the text item and choose its color either from the item card's ⋯ menu or from the Context Inspector's Text font toolbar.

Rotate Text

To rotate text, hold Ctrl and drag the text item's bottom-right resize handle. This rotates the text content inside its frame. Release Ctrl to return to resizing.

Lasso Selection Filters

The Lasso settings in the Context Inspector choose which kinds of items are included by drag-lasso selection and the keyboard selection shortcuts. They do not prevent you from selecting a different item with a direct click.

The selected filter is remembered between sessions. The selection commands apply it as follows:

• Drag on empty canvas: selects matching, unlocked items that intersect the lasso rectangle. The filter remains selected afterward.
• Ctrl+A: selects matching displayed items across visible scenes, excluding transition items. Locked matching items are included.
• Ctrl+Shift+A: selects matching, unlocked items that intersect the current canvas view, excluding hidden and transition items.

Text Manager

Text Manager is a floating list editor for creating and revising multiple text items in the active scene. Enter one line per item, choose an optional lead such as a bullet, checkbox, dash, arrow, star, or number, and choose a shared Appearance effect.

1. Select existing text items before opening Text Manager if you want their text prefilled for editing.
2. Edit the lines, choose the lead and Appearance options, then click Update to rewrite the selected text items.
3. Click Add to Scene to create new, evenly stacked text items in the active scene. The new items are selected together for further adjustment.

Lock Position & Size

Lock Position & Size prevents changes to an item's position and size while preserving it in the project. Locked items remain visible and can still be selected; the lock only protects their layout.

1. Select one or more items.
2. In the Context Inspector's Common item controls, choose Lock. The control changes to Unlock when every selected item is locked.
3. Use Unlock to allow moving and resizing again. Locking and unlocking are recorded in Undo and saved with the project.

Always on Top

For normal scene stacking, the item-card order in the sidebar controls which item appears in front: items later in the scene list render above items earlier in the list. Move an item card later to bring it forward, or earlier to place it behind other normal items.

Always on top pins selected items above that normal scene stack. Use it to keep an image, label, caption, logo, or other foreground element visible when other items appear later.

1. Select one or more items.
2. In the Context Inspector's Arrange toolbar, enable Always on top. You can also change the setting in the item's Item Settings.
3. Leave it enabled while editing or previewing. The pinned item stays above normal items even when those items are added later or appear during playback.

Where to configure it

Set the default Context Inspector mode in Settings → App Defaults → General → Context Inspector. The inspector's pin control also switches between docked and floating presentation, while the toolbar toggle hides or shows it. Individual floating toolbars remember their positions.

Camera & Infinite Canvas

The whiteboard is an infinite canvas: all scenes occupy one shared world and can be visible at the same time. Zoom out with the mouse scroll wheel to see more scenes at once, then pan with the middle mouse button to move around the project. The camera changes your editor view without changing item coordinates, layout content, or export framing.

• Pan by pressing and holding the middle mouse button inside the whiteboard, then dragging. Dragging with the middle button moves the camera instead of moving an item or creating a lasso.
• Zoom with the mouse wheel over the whiteboard. The zoom pivots around the pointer, so the content beneath the pointer stays in place. A temporary zoom badge shows the current percentage.
• Zoom with the status bar using the −, percentage field, and + controls. The field accepts 5%–1000%.
• Fit the active scene with the status-bar fit button or Ctrl+0.
• Return to a scene home view by selecting its scene. Splainin stores a home camera view for each scene and uses it when returning to that scene.

Navigation and editing are separate

Use ordinary pointer dragging to move or resize selected items; use middle-button dragging to pan the camera. Use the mouse wheel to zoom the camera. While a scene is playing, design-mode camera input is suppressed so navigation gestures cannot disturb playback.

Image or Item Appears in the Wrong Scene

An item's scene assignment and its position on the whiteboard are separate. The scene containing the item in the sidebar is the scene it belongs to for sequencing and playback. Its canvas position is independent, so it can appear inside another scene's outline or anywhere else on the infinite whiteboard without changing that assignment.

The dashed scene outline is not a container or clipping boundary. It shows the area covered by that scene's saved home camera view. Scene camera areas can overlap, which can make an item assigned to one scene appear visually inside another scene's outline.

• If the item is under the correct scene in the sidebar, select that scene to return to its home view, then drag the item to the intended position.
• If the whole scene is in the wrong canvas location, drag the scene-name label on its dashed frame to move the scene camera area and all of that scene's items together.
• Use Move to a different scene only when the sidebar assignment itself is wrong.

Camera during playback

When a project plays, Splainin can animate the camera to each scene's stored home view as the scene begins. Intro effects and camera-pacing settings can change how that movement looks. This playback camera motion is separate from the camera position you use while editing.

Item Camera View During Appearance

To have the camera zoom in on an image while it is being drawn, first set the whiteboard camera to the view you want, then open the image item's Camera View menu and choose Custom View (set to current). During playback, Splainin moves to that item's saved camera view before its Appearance animation begins, so the image can be drawn in the intended close-up view.

1. Zoom and pan the whiteboard to frame the image the way you want it drawn.
2. Open the image item's ⋯ menu, or its CAM pill, then open Camera View.
3. Choose Custom View (set to current). Use Scene Camera to return the item to the scene's camera, or Inherit (don't move) to prevent an item camera move.

Managing Projects

Projects are saved as .splainin files (a ZIP-based archive that stores all project data and referenced media).

The Projects window opens on Recent projects, showing the same projects in the same order as File → Recent Projects, across folders. Each card shows its saved location; missing projects remain listed with an unavailable message. Search and the favorites filter narrow the visible list.

Choose Browse folder to explore the selected Projects Library folder. Its sorting options, including Recently modified in this folder, apply only to that folder. Grid and list views, previews, favorites, and pinning remain available.

Click New Project... in the Projects window to switch to the existing New Project window. This only opens the creation window; it does not create or replace your current project.

Project History

Saved projects can keep snapshots inside the .splainin file. Open File → Project History… to review earlier states of the current project.

1. Save the project to a .splainin file first.
2. Open File → Project History… and review the dated snapshots.
3. Restore the snapshot you want, or delete an old snapshot and use Undo if you change your mind.

Delete a Project

New Project from Outline

This is one of the fastest ways to get a video off the ground. Give Splainin an outline — a numbered list, a bulleted list, a set of headings, a screenplay-style script, or even a few paragraphs separated by blank lines — and it will build a complete multi-scene project for you in one shot. Each entry in your outline becomes its own scene, with a name, a placeholder text item, a placeholder graphic slot, optional spoken narration, and a duration that matches the spoken length.

Open it from File → New Project from Outline…

How to Use It

1. Choose File → New Project from Outline… A dialog opens with a large text box and a live Preview panel.
2. Paste your outline into the text box — or click 📋 Paste from Clipboard.
3. Watch the Preview update as you type. Each parsed scene appears with an editable Title and editable Narration so you can adjust before committing.
4. Leave Generate TTS narration & auto-set scene duration checked if you want Splainin to also speak the narration aloud and time each scene to match the audio length. Uncheck it if you'd rather just get the scene skeleton.
5. Click Create Project. Splainin builds the project from scratch — you'll see a progress overlay as scenes are added.

What You Can Paste

The outline parser is deliberately forgiving. All of these work:

What Each Scene Gets

An extra "Outro" scene with the narration “Thanks for watching!” is appended at the end. Delete it or edit it to taste.

New Project from Website (AI)

New Project from Website (AI) turns the readable content of a public webpage into source material for an AI-generated Splainin project. It creates a grounded project prompt from the page; it does not copy the webpage's visual layout or download its images.

1. Choose File → New Project….
2. Under Start Fresh, choose New Project from Website (AI).
3. Enter a public http:// or https:// address and choose the project's purpose, structure, tone, runtime, and other Prompt Builder options.
4. Click Fetch Website & Generate Prompt. Splainin retrieves the page and reports how many usable characters it found.
5. Generate with a configured AI Script provider, or use Copy & Open AI/Copy and paste the prompt into an external AI.
6. Review the returned JSON in Prompt Builder and choose Create Project Now. When provider auto-create is enabled, Splainin can create the project immediately after generation.

What Splainin reads

Splainin extracts the page title, description, headings, paragraphs, lists, definitions, and quotations. Navigation, forms, scripts, styles, hidden content, and other non-content elements are removed. Up to 30,000 characters of usable page text are included as authoritative source material for the site's messaging, terminology, benefits, factual claims, and call to action.

Prompt Builder & AI-Generated Projects

The Prompt Builder creates a detailed, copy-ready prompt for an AI assistant. You do not need a website URL: start with a video topic or subject, fill in the guided fields, or paste a complete brief. It is designed to work with most general-purpose AI tools, including ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini, and any other provider where you can paste a prompt and receive JSON back.

Open Prompt Builder

Open File → New Project from Outline…, choose Generate a New Project with AI, then click Open Prompt Builder. To build a reusable template instead, open the same window's Template Builder → Create a new template from scratch → Open Prompt Builder. The Prompt Builder is a floating window with an AI provider selector and a form for defining the project you want. The selected AI site comes from your enabled Browser Sites list; Splainin remembers the provider you last used.

Choose the output

All Prompt Builder options

Input method

Structure options

Purpose options

Target runtime

Complete-project prompts can target Auto (recommended), 35–45s Short / Fast-Paced High-Retention Loop, 30–60 seconds, 60–90 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, or 7 minutes. Runtime guidance affects scene count, narration density, visual beats, and pacing. Single-scene prompts do not use the project runtime selector.

Image style

Choose Hand-drawn line art (default), Vividly colorful, elaborate hand-drawn illustration, Clean flat vector illustration, Detailed technical diagram, or Bold monochrome silhouette. The selected style is applied consistently to every image description and remembered for the next prompt.

Images per scene

Choose Auto (recommended), Maximum 1 image per scene, 1–2 images per scene, 1–3 images per scene, or 2–3 images per scene. Lower limits encourage the AI to create additional scenes for distinct visual beats when the selected structure, scene count, and supplied outline allow it. Poetry uses its own line-by-line image rules.

Conditional fields and rules

• Scene count is available for guided complete-project prompts; leave it blank to let the AI adapt the count to the subject and runtime.
• Image style controls the art direction used in every generated image description.
• Images per scene controls visual density independently of runtime and is remembered for the next prompt.
• Must include adds required names, facts, taglines, questions, or other instructions. For Poetry, it is the authoritative poem text.
• Tone is optional. Poetry has a built-in lyrical default unless you replace it.
• Subject fields change with the selected Purpose. Some Structures add their own fields, such as Ranked List direction and Timeline direction.
• Project-only fields are hidden when generating a single scene, because they describe the whole project rather than one scene.
• Template output hides subject-specific project controls and instead offers an optional reusable template brief.

Build the prompt

1. Choose the output type.
2. For guided project prompts, choose a Purpose such as Explain, Teach / How-To, Demo, Pitch, Story, Myth-bust, Quick Tips, or Reinforce.
3. Choose a Structure such as Story, Sequential / Steps, Ranked List, Timeline, Comparison / Before-After, Problem → Solution, Reveal, Concept Breakdown, or another available format.
4. Enter the subject and any format-specific details. Choose an image style, then add any optional tone, scene count, target runtime, and must-include instructions.
5. For a plain-text conversion, paste the outline instead. For a reusable template, describe the kind of video and expected beats rather than one concrete project.
6. Click Generate Prompt.

Send the prompt to an AI

After the prompt is generated:

• Copy & Open AI copies the prompt and opens the selected AI provider.
• Copy copies the prompt so you can paste it into any AI manually.
• Save to Prompt Manager stores the prompt in the shared Project Templates prompt library for reuse.

Tell the AI to follow the requested JSON schema exactly. Copy the AI's JSON response, including the complete object. The New Project from Outline flow accepts the generated Project Layout or Project Template JSON; it can also extract a JSON object from a response wrapped in a single ```json code block. The image prompts in that JSON are the handoff to the second visual-generation pass.

What the generated project contains

A rich AI-generated project can arrive with the project structure already planned instead of only a list of scene titles:

• Project title and metadata such as description and category
• Scenes with titles, durations, and scene-level narration
• Visible text elements with content, intent, emphasis, appearance, and styling
• Image or SVG elements with detailed image descriptions, visual intent, appearance, duration, and their own narration
• Camera, transition, emphasis, background, foreground, and global effect settings
• Per-image narration designed to synchronize spoken words with the visual beat

Complete the two-pass AI workflow

1. Plan the project. Use Prompt Builder, send its prompt to an AI, and copy the returned JSON into New Project from Outline….
2. Create the project. Splainin builds the scenes, visible text, narration, durations, effects, and image placeholders from the JSON.
3. Generate the visuals. Select annotated image placeholders and use the Context Inspector's AI Image controls, or copy their prompts into an image-generation website. The prompts are already written to match each scene's visual intent.
4. Review or import. Review in-app results as Splainin presents them, or drag externally generated images onto their matching placeholders. You can also import external results through the Asset Library.
5. Review and refine. Check the composition, crop, narration timing, and image-to-narration match. Replace any visual without rebuilding the whole project.

Import the AI result

1. Open File → New Project from Outline….
2. Paste the AI's JSON response into the outline field. The preview should show the parsed scenes and rich elements.
3. Review the scene titles, narration, text, image descriptions, durations, and effects.
4. Click Create Project. Splainin builds the project from the JSON and adds the planned items and metadata.

A Custom Single Scene response can be inserted into the current project through the scene/JSON import flow, while a Reusable Template response can be saved in the template library and used as a starting point for later projects.

AI Image Generation

Yes, Splainin can generate project images from within the app when you configure a supported AI Image provider. It also supports a browser-based copy-and-paste workflow when you do not want to configure a provider API key in Splainin.

Generate inside Splainin with an API key

Splainin includes AI Image providers for Google Gemini and OpenAI. Installed .wbimage plugins can add other supported providers.

1. Add the image-generation prompt to the item's annotation. Select one or more image, SVG, or graphic items; each selected item must have an annotation containing its prompt.
2. Show the Context Inspector if it is hidden. Its AI Image controls appear while an image-capable item is selected.
3. Choose a provider and model, enter that provider's API key when requested, and choose a quality option when the provider offers one.
4. Click the Generate images sparkle button. Selecting it again while generation is running cancels the requests.
5. Review each generated result. Importing an accepted result adds it to the Asset Library and replaces the image item whose annotation supplied that prompt. Closing a review without importing skips that result.

You can select several annotated image items at once. Splainin generates them independently, keeps successful results when another request fails, and reports generation, import, skip, and failure progress.

Generate through a browser without a Splainin provider key

1. Open Splainin's built-in browser from the toolbar, or use an external browser.
2. Copy the annotation prompt from the image placeholder and paste it into the image service you want to use.
3. Generate and save the image, then drag it onto the matching placeholder or import it through the Asset Library.

This route does not require an AI Image provider key to be saved in Splainin, although the website you choose may require its own account or subscription.

Which method should you use?

Project Settings

Open via Settings → Project Settings. The modal has 16 tabs:

Aspect Ratio & Canvas Size

Choose from common presets or enter custom pixel dimensions:

Project Layouts

A project layout is a version of the same project structure with its own aspect ratio and layout data. Use layouts to make a landscape version for YouTube, a portrait version for Shorts, or a language-specific version without maintaining separate project files. Layouts share the project's underlying scenes and assets, while layout-specific geometry, camera state, and presentation settings can differ.

Create a layout

1. Use the layout selector in the project header to see the active layout, then open its ⋮ Manage project layouts menu.
2. Choose New from Current… to copy the current layout, or Duplicate to make a named copy without changing its language.
3. Enter a layout name, choose an aspect-ratio preset or Custom dimensions, and choose the language for the layout.
4. Click Create. Splainin switches to the new layout and adapts text boxes to the new canvas dimensions.

Manage layouts

Languages & Automatic Translation

Each layout has its own language assignment. Several layouts can use different languages while sharing the same project scenes and assets, so one project can contain English, French, Spanish, and other localized versions alongside different aspect ratios.

1. When creating a layout, choose Create new language… in the Language field. You can also choose ⋮ → Change Language… on an existing layout.
2. Choose a language from the supported language catalog, such as English variants, French, German, Spanish variants, Portuguese variants, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hindi, and many others.
3. Under Translate with, choose None - copy original text to create the language without translating, or choose an installed translation provider.
4. If automatic translation is unavailable under your license, choose None - copy original text, create the language, then edit the copied text and narration manually.
5. If the provider requires an API key, choose Enter API Key and save the provider settings, or choose Get API Key to open the provider's key page. The provider status must say it is ready.
6. When a provider is ready, the button changes to Create & Translate. Creating the layout automatically translates the project's text and narration into the selected language.
7. Preview the new layout, check text wrapping and names, then generate its narration audio before exporting.

What automatic translation includes

• Text card content, including rich-text runs and line breaks
• Scene narration
• Item narration

When translated text or narration changes, Splainin clears the affected baked narration audio so it can be regenerated in the new language. Translation does not automatically redesign the visual composition; longer text may need a smaller font, a wider text box, or a different position.

App Defaults

Open via Settings → App Defaults. The modal currently has 19 tabs:

Settings → Global Screen Capture… is a shortcut that opens App Defaults directly on the Screen Capture tab.

Set the Default Whiteboard Background Color

To use a different whiteboard color for future projects, open Settings → App Defaults → Background, choose the Color, and save App Defaults. This changes the starting background color for new projects. It does not change projects that already exist; use Settings → Project Settings to change an existing project's background color.

AI Assistant

The AI Assistant is a read-only Gemini-powered helper for questions about Splainin and the project currently open in the editor. It can explain documented workflows and describe the bounded project context attached to a request, but it cannot edit the project or run app commands.

Find, open, and configure it

1. The Assistant is enabled by default and opens on every normal startup after the license agreement is accepted, unless you disable it in App Defaults. Click its robot icon in the main toolbar or choose Help → Splainin Assistant to reopen it during a session.
2. Use the compact Settings link in the Assistant, or open Settings → App Defaults → AI, to enable or disable it and choose whether screen and document context may be attached.
3. The included daily allowance works without an API key. To use your own Gemini quota, open Settings → App Defaults → API Keys to save a Google Gemini key, then select its model under App Defaults → AI.

The included daily allowance does not require a Splainin license. Saving a personal Gemini API key requires any paid Splainin license; it does not require a separate Enterprise edition.

The Assistant opens as a floating window below the menu bar. Drag its caption to move it and drag an edge or corner to resize it. Splainin remembers its position and size and keeps the full window inside the available app area. Clicking the toolbar icon while the window is already open raises it and flashes its border; use the caption's close button to hide it for the current session. Closing it does not disable it or keep it closed on the next launch.

What each request can include

The badge in the Assistant always states the active project-context mode: Screen + document attached, Document text attached, Screen attached, or No project context. Change those attachments under App Defaults → AI. When you use the included allowance, the question, relevant guide sections, and only the enabled project context pass through Splainin's AI service to Google Gemini. When you configure your own Gemini key, the desktop app sends the request directly to Google through its native network bridge. A Screen attachment is input context only; the Assistant returns text and does not generate images.

Included Allowance vs. Personal API Key:

• Included daily allowance: When using the built-in service without an API key, the Assistant displays the number of prompts remaining in your daily allowance and when it resets.
• Personal Gemini API key: If you configure your own Gemini key in Settings → App Defaults → API Keys, Splainin's daily prompt limit does not apply — requests connect directly to Google using your own account's quota. Having your own key also expands the Assistant's creative scope, giving you a full creative co-pilot for scriptwriting, brainstorming, social media optimization (such as sizing and formats for X.com, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram), and video production workflows.

On an unregistered installation, the Assistant may briefly mention a documented licensed benefit when it is directly relevant to the question. It answers the question first and may show an Open Registration button. Registered installations do not receive this registration prompt.

Conversation controls

• Press Enter to send; use Shift+Enter for a new line.
• Stop cancels the active request.
• The trash button clears the in-memory conversation.
• The copy button on an Assistant response copies only that response's plain text.
• Disabling the Assistant aborts its active request, clears its conversation, and hides its toolbar icon and window.

Scenes

A project is organized into scenes — like scenes in a movie. A scene is a group of items (graphics, text, props) that animate in together, accompanied by narration, to deliver one point or beat in your story. Scenes play in order from top to bottom in the sidebar.

Adding & Organizing Scenes

• Click + Add Scene at the bottom of the scene list.
• Drag scenes up or down to reorder them.
• Click the ⋯ (ellipsis) on a scene card for a menu with options including rename, duplicate, delete, settings, and effect controls.

Scene Settings

Open Scene ⋯ → Scene Settings. The modal has nine tabs:

Sequential vs. Simultaneous

Each scene has an Enable Timeline toggle (on the scene's ⋯ menu) that controls how items in the scene play. The two modes give very different feels.

How Timing Works

Automatic Narration Timeline Sync

When Keep scene timelines automatically arranged is enabled, Splainin keeps timeline positions and scene duration aligned with measured narration, video length, and pacing settings. This is separate from simply displaying narration audio on the timeline.

Enable it

1. Open Settings → Project Settings and enable Keep scene timelines automatically arranged for the project default, or open Scene Settings and set Auto-arrange Timeline to On.
2. Leave the scene set to Use project default to inherit the project choice, or set an individual scene to Off to override it.
3. Generate or update narration audio. Splainin measures baked narration before arranging; paid TTS providers may charge when audio must be generated for measurement.

What it synchronizes

• Scene narration creates a timing gate before narrated items begin.
• Items with narration are positioned sequentially using their measured audio length.
• Silent items use the configured silent-item duration, timing breaks use the configured break duration, and optional narration padding adds breathing room after spoken audio.
• The scene duration is fitted to the resulting arrangement. With the timeline disabled, item positions stay unchanged and Splainin fits the scene duration to the narration or video that actually plays.

Review conflicts

Audio bars show where each item’s narration runs. If narration runs into the next item, the timeline marks the overrun. If the last item runs past the scene end, use Extend scene to fit to lengthen the scene without manually calculating the duration.

To arrange one scene manually, open the scene’s timeline arrange control and use Arrange scene. The same popover controls silent-item durations, timing-break durations, narration padding, and whether automatic arrangement is inherited, on, or off.

Scene Effect Pills

Each scene card shows colored indicator pills for active effects:

Items

An item is a piece of content placed on the whiteboard. Splainin has four kinds of items:

Adding Items

On a scene card, click the + dropdown and choose:

• Graphic — opens the Asset Library to pick a picture (vector art, photo, icon, or animated GIF)
• Text — creates a new text item you can edit immediately
• Transition — inserts a transition item to separate the content above from the content below it
• Prop — opens a picker to choose an installed prop plugin

You can also drag a picture directly from the Asset Library panel onto the canvas to add it to the current scene. To add a new item between two existing items, open the item card's ⋯ menu and use Insert Above ▸.

Positioning, Resizing & Selecting

• Drag an item on the canvas to reposition it.
• Drag the corner/edge handles to resize. Hold Shift while resizing to keep proportions.
• Click an item to select it; clicking it in the canvas also expands its scene in the sidebar.
• Ctrl-click (or ⌘-click on Mac) additional items to add them to the selection. Multi-selected items get a single set of resize handles around the whole group.
• Lasso-select by dragging on empty canvas to rubber-band select multiple items.

Stretch an Image Without Keeping Its Proportions

Images keep their original proportions while Lock aspect ratio is enabled. To make an image taller or wider independently:

1. Select the image on the whiteboard.
2. In the Context Inspector's Arrange controls, click the checked Lock aspect ratio button to turn it off.
3. Drag the image's resize handle downward to make it taller, sideways to make it wider, or diagonally to change both dimensions.

Leave Lock aspect ratio off to keep the image stretched. Turning it back on immediately restores the image's original aspect ratio; it does not lock in the stretched proportions.

Grouping

• Select two or more items, right-click, and choose Group Items. After grouping, clicking any member selects the whole group.
• To break a group apart, right-click any group member and choose Ungroup.

Right-Click Menu (Canvas)

Right-clicking an item on the canvas opens a context menu. Available options depend on the item type and current selection:

Item Card ⋯ Menu (Sidebar)

Each item card in the scenes panel has a ⋯ button that opens a popover with cascading submenus. This is where most per-item configuration lives:

Item Card Indicator Pills

Each item card in the sidebar shows a small set of pills so you can see what's configured without opening any menus:

Pills are clickable — clicking a pill opens that slot's settings directly, the same as drilling through the ⋯ menu. Pills appear dimmed when no effect is configured for that slot.

Visibility, Annotations & Opacity

• Visibility toggle — every item card has an eye icon (also available via right-click → Toggle Visibility). Hidden items are skipped on the canvas but stay in the project so you can re-enable them.
• Annotations — attach a comment, instruction, or suggestion to any item. The item card and the canvas item display a small annotation badge so you (or a collaborator reviewing the project) can spot notes at a glance.
• Opacity — select the item, then adjust its rendered transparency either in the Context Inspector's dockable Common item controls toolbar or in the Item Settings modal. This also applies to text items.

Graphics

A graphic is any picture on your whiteboard — vector art, a photo, an icon, a logo, or an animated GIF. You don't have to tell Splainin which kind it is; the app picks the right entrance behaviour for what you've added.

Bringing in graphics

Use the Asset Library (also reachable from the toolbar's search button) to find and import pictures:

• Browse your computer for image files
• Search the built-in online image sources (more sources can be added with image-search plugins)
• Import directly from a URL

Anything you import is added to your Asset Library and stays there for future projects.

The hand-drawn style

When a graphic is line-based vector art, you can give it the Hand-drawn appearance and Splainin will draw it on the canvas with a virtual pen, stroke by stroke, the way you'd sketch it on a real whiteboard. Filled areas fade in after the outline is complete.

Editing animated GIFs on import

When you bring in an animated GIF, an editor opens so you can clean it up before it lands on your whiteboard. (You can reopen this editor anytime via right-click → Re-import GIF….) From here you can:

• Preview the GIF frame by frame with a play/pause button and frame counter
• Trim the start and end with a dual-handle filmstrip slider
• Remove a background colour with an eyedropper and a tolerance slider
• Optionally exclude enclosed areas so only the outer background is erased — useful when the GIF has eyes, holes, or pockets of background colour you want to keep
• Optionally keep only a chosen colour (± tolerance), erasing everything else
• Fill remaining transparent pixels with a solid background colour

Looping animated GIFs

For animated GIFs on the whiteboard, the item card's ⋯ → Animation Loops control sets how many times the GIF should loop while it's on screen. Use 0 for infinite looping (it will keep looping for the full time the item is visible).

Text Cards

Text cards let you type content that then animates onto the whiteboard.

Editing Text

Double-click a text item on the canvas to enter edit mode. Click outside to exit. Font, font size, and font color are set from the item's ⋯ menu.

Text Animation Styles

Props

Props are plugin-powered canvas items that render real-time procedural animations for their full display duration. Unlike SVGs or images, props compute and paint every frame dynamically — opening a category of content that would otherwise require dedicated motion graphics software:

• Countdown Timer — a live ticking clock; perfect for urgency sequences and event promos
• Animated Progress Bar — a percentage-fill bar that animates on cue; ideal for stats, goals, and skill breakdowns
• Live Chart — bar or pie charts that animate into final position as part of your scene
• Speech Bubble — animated speech / thought / exclamation bubbles attached to a character
• …and anything else a .wbprop can compute — the format is open to any canvas-based animation

Add a prop via + → Prop on a scene card. If multiple prop plugins are installed, a picker dialog lets you choose. Each prop has its own settings panel accessible via the item card's ⋯ → Prop Settings ▸.

Transitions

A transition item animates the content above it out of the way as the content below it comes into view — without ending the scene. Use transitions to chunk a long scene into visually separated beats while keeping the same narration, background, and intro/outro effects.

Add a transition via + → Transition on a scene card, or via ⋯ → Insert Above ▸ Transition on any item card. Configure the transition from its item card's ⋯ menu:

• Effect — slide, fade, or any installed transition plugin
• Direction — left, right, up, down (for directional effects like slide)
• Easing — ease-in-out, linear, etc.
• Pan Effect — optionally pan the background along with the transition; mirror direction available
• Scope — whether the transition acts on the previous block of items or stands alone

How Animation Works

When you press Play, each item passes through several lifecycle phases:

1. Scene Intro Effect — the scene enters with a cinematic transition (panels slide in, globe spin, etc.)
2. Item Appearance Animation — the item animates onto the canvas (hand-drawn, fade, slide, etc.)
3. Presence Effect — while the item is fully visible, a looping effect plays (glow, throb, shimmer, etc.)
4. Exit Effect — the item animates off the canvas before the scene ends (fade out, fire out, etc.)
5. Scene Transition — the next scene's Intro Effect provides the visual exit; if no intro is set on the next scene, a direct cut occurs

Item Duration

Each item has a configurable Duration, set in the item's ⋯ menu. It's the length of the item's entrance animation — how long the pen takes to draw an SVG, how long a Fade In takes to fade up, how long a prop runs, and so on. Default is 3 seconds.

What happens after the entrance finishes depends on whether the item has an exit effect:

• No exit effect — the item stays on screen until something else removes it: a transition leading to the next item, the next scene's intro effect, or simply the end of the project.
• Has an exit effect — the exit effect plays at the end of the item's duration (after any exit-effect delay you've configured), animating the item off the canvas.

Appearance Animations

Appearance animations control how an item enters the canvas. Set via the item's ⋯ menu → Animation Style or Appearance Effect.

Plugin Appearance Animations

The built-in set is just the start. Custom entrance animations can be added as .wbappearance plugins — effects like a typewriter reveal, neon flicker-on, hologram materialization, or any CSS or canvas-based entrance you can imagine. Once installed, the new effect appears immediately in every item’s Appearance menu.

Scene-Default Appearance

Set a default appearance effect for all items in a scene via Scene ⋯ → Item Defaults → Default Appearance. Individual items can override this or be set to follow the scene default.

Presence Effects

Presence effects are looping animations that play continuously while an item is fully visible — after its appearance animation completes and before its exit effect begins. This is where good explainer videos become unforgettable. A pulsating glow on a key statistic, flames rising beneath a call-to-action, a highlight shimmer sweeping across a product image — presence effects are the finishing touch that makes viewers stop and lean in.

Each item supports a stack of presence effects — multiple effects run simultaneously and are composited together. For example, you can combine Float (gentle bobbing) with Glow (pulsating halo) on the same item; both play at once, with Float's movement naturally carrying the Glow along with it.

Access via item ⋯ menu → Presence Effect.

Managing the Effect Stack

The Presence Effect panel shows all effects currently applied to the item. Each row has:

• Toggle (●/○) — enable or disable that effect without removing it
• Effect name — click to change it to a different effect
• ⚙️ Settings — expand the settings panel for that effect (color, speed, intensity, etc.)
• ✕ Remove — remove the effect from the stack

To add another effect, click ＋ Add Effect at the bottom of the panel and choose from the list of available effects.

Scene-Default Presence

Set a default presence effect for all items in a scene via Scene ⋯ → Item Defaults → Default Presence. Items with their presence set to Scene Default will pick up whatever effect is configured for the scene.

Exit Effects

Exit effects animate an item off the canvas after its display duration expires. Without an exit effect, items remain on screen for the rest of the scene.

Set via item ⋯ menu → Exit Effect.

Exit Timing

Each exit effect has independently configurable Delay (time after the item's duration before exit begins) and Duration (how long the exit animation takes).

Scene-Default Exit

Set a default exit effect for the whole scene via Scene ⋯ → Item Defaults → Default Exit.

Transitions

Transitions control the visual effect between items in a scene (and between scenes when no scene intro is set). Configure the project default in Settings → App Defaults → Transitions or override per item.

Settings include effect type, direction, easing curve, and pan behavior. Custom transition plugins use the .wbtransition extension.

Intro Effects

Intro effects are scene-level cinematic transitions. Instead of individual items fading or sliding in one-by-one, the entire scene enters as a unified cinematic animation. With no intro effect, changing scenes is a direct cut. When an intro effect is selected, it controls how the new scene enters; depending on the effect, it may slide, pan, wipe, or cover the previous scene.

Set via Scene ⋯ → Intro Effect.

Screenshot: Scene ⋯ menu showing Intro Effect options with layout guide visible

Built-in Intro Effects

Intro Effect Settings

When an intro effect is selected, click Intro Effect Settings to adjust its parameters. Effects that support it also have a Layout Guide option — toggling it overlays panel boundaries on the canvas so you can precisely position content within each panel.

Applying via Drag-and-Drop

Drag an intro effect plugin card from the Plugin Library directly onto a scene card to apply it instantly. The IN pill also accepts drops.

Ambient Effects

Ambient effects are looping atmospheric overlays that fill the entire canvas behind your content — things like drifting particles or a living background. They play for the full duration of a scene.

Set via Scene ⋯ → Ambient Effect. Can also be set as a project-level default.

Frame Effects

Frame effects render a decorative border or overlay around the whole canvas. They sit above all content and are included in exports.

Set via Scene ⋯ → Frame Effect. Can also be set as a project-level default.

Background Layers

The visible backdrop behind your content is built from three independently configurable layers:

All three layers can be set per-scene or as project-level defaults from Scene ⋯ menus and Project Settings.

Narration & Voices

A scene's narration is the spoken commentary that plays alongside the animation. You type the script, pick a voice, and Splainin generates the audio for you — no microphone or recording booth required.

Where to change narration

Use the entry point that matches what you want to edit:

The project voice setting becomes the default for new scene and item narration. Apply voice across project changes all existing narration in the active layout to text-to-speech, including narration that currently uses recorded audio. Splainin asks for confirmation before discarding saved clips so they can be regenerated with the new voice; paid providers may charge for that regeneration.

The scene and item Narration tabs let you:

• Type or paste the script
• Pick a voice from any installed voice provider
• Adjust speaking rate (0.5× – 2.0×)
• Adjust narration volume
• Preview the audio before committing
• Record narration from a microphone instead of using text-to-speech
• Export available narration audio to the Asset Library

Narration Manager

The Narration Manager is the fastest way to revise narration text throughout a project. It lists every existing non-empty scene and item narration in scene order for the active project layout and language. Each narration is a separate block divided by a blank line.

1. Click Narration Manager in the main toolbar.
2. Edit the narration blocks without adding or removing blocks.
3. Click Update. The number of edited blocks must match the number shown in the status line.

A scene card or item card displays the NARR pill whether or not narration has been entered; the pill is highlighted when that scene or item has narration.

Item narration and automatic timing

Item narration belongs directly to the item, not only to the scene. An item's narration can therefore be much shorter or much longer than the scene narration, and its measured audio length becomes part of that item's timeline slot.

1. Open the item's narration controls from its item card or Item Settings and edit the spoken text.
2. Generate or preview the narration so Splainin can measure the resulting audio. The measured duration is shown in the timeline's item narration bar.
3. When Keep scene timelines automatically arranged is enabled for the project or scene, Splainin automatically rearranges the narrated item and the following items to fit the new length. The scene duration is fitted as needed, so you normally do not have to drag timeline diamonds or manually recalculate durations.

If a longer item narration collides with the next item, the timeline marks the overrun. If the last narrated item extends beyond the scene end, use Extend scene to fit. If narration has not been generated yet, Splainin cannot know its exact length and shows the span as unmeasured until audio is available.

Voices & Voice Providers

Splainin doesn't lock you into one set of voices. Instead, voices come from voice provider plugins, and you can install as many as you want.

Out of the box, Splainin includes the Microsoft Windows voices provider — the built-in voices that ship with Windows. They run entirely on your computer, work offline, and are free to use. Great for drafts, prototyping, internal videos, or anything where ultra-realistic narration isn't critical.

For studio-quality, lifelike speech — the kind of voices you'd hear on a polished YouTube explainer or a TV ad — install one of the premium voice provider plugins. Today these include:

• OpenAI voices
• ElevenLabs voices
• Deepgram voices
• Azure AI Speech voices
• …and more being added over time. Browse the Plugin Library to see what's available.

These premium providers are run by their respective companies, and you sign up with them directly to get an API key (a private code that lets the plugin talk to their service on your behalf). You then enter that key into the plugin's settings:

1. Open Settings → Plugin Manager
2. Find the voice provider under TTS Voices
3. Click the ⚙ Settings button next to it
4. Paste your API key and save

From then on, that provider's voices show up in every scene's voice picker, right alongside the built-in Windows voices.

Narration Captions

Splainin can display spoken narration as captions during playback and include those captions in the rendered output. Captions follow the scene narration unless a scene or item explicitly overrides the setting.

• Enable or disable the project-wide caption preference in the narration or project settings.
• Use the scene caption setting to override the project choice for a particular scene.
• Use an item caption override when a specific item should inherit, force, or suppress captions.

Pen Customization

The pen is the little hand-and-pen image you see gliding across the whiteboard during a hand-drawn animation. It's what sells the illusion that someone is actually drawing, in real time, in front of the viewer.

Splainin ships with a realistic default pen (a hand holding a marker), but the pen is just an image — so you can swap it out for anything: a different hand, a paintbrush, a fountain pen, a magic wand, a tentacle, a robot arm, your dog's paw, your own logo. If you can find or make a picture of it, you can use it as a pen.

The Pen Library

Open the Pen Library from Assets → Pen Library. It shows every pen that's installed — the built-in default plus any pens you've added yourself. From here you can:

• Set as Default — make this pen the active pen for the current project (or for all new projects, when set in App Defaults)
• Preview Drawing — play a quick sample stroke so you can see how the pen looks in action
• Calibrate — fine-tune the tip position, rotation, and size (see below)
• Delete — remove a custom pen you no longer need

Where to Get Pen Images

A "pen" in Splainin is just a PNG or SVG. Some easy ways to find or create one:

Adding a Custom Pen

1. Open Assets → Pen Library and click Create New Pen.
2. Click Browse Image and pick the PNG or SVG you found, generated, or drew.
3. Give the pen a name you'll recognise later (e.g. "Red Marker", "My Hand", "Paintbrush").
4. Click Calibrate to mark exactly where the pen tip is on your image, and to set the rotation and size.
5. Click Save. The pen now shows up in the library and is ready to use.

If Create New Pen is unavailable under your current license, you can still choose an installed pen from the Pen Library and use it to draw the monster artwork. Creating a custom hand requires access to Create New Pen.

Calibrating the Pen Tip

Splainin needs to know one important thing about your pen image: where the tip is. That's the point that has to follow each stroke as the drawing animates. The calibration tool lets you:

• Click on the pen image to mark the exact tip position (a red dot appears so you can see what's set)
• Rotate the image so the pen shaft is angled the way a right-hander would naturally hold it
• Adjust the overall size so the pen feels proportional to the canvas

Pen Tip Particle Effects

Want sparkles, smoke, or confetti trailing the pen as it draws? Turn on a Pen Tip Effect in Settings → App Defaults → Pen Tool → Drawing Effect. For example, Confetti sprays colourful particles from the tip on every stroke — perfect for celebratory or kid-friendly content.

Stroke Tilt

When enabled, the pen image leans slightly in the drawing direction — clockwise on downstrokes, counter-clockwise on upstrokes — for a more natural, organic feel. Configured in App Defaults or per-project in Project Settings.

Asset Library

The Asset Library is your personal stockpile of every picture, animation, and audio file you've brought into Splainin. Anything you import once is yours forever — across every project, every video, every revision. Your library grows with you.

It lives in a floating panel that you can keep open beside the whiteboard while you work. The panel is part of the Asset Browser, which has two sides:

• The Asset Library tab — your personal collection of imported assets, ready to drag onto the canvas.
• The Asset Importer — for bringing new assets in, with built-in editing tools (background removal, cropping, GIF trimming, flipping, and more).

Using Images in Commercial Videos

You can use Splainin to create and distribute commercial videos, including client work, advertising, branded content, and revenue-generating projects, subject to the license type that applies to your purchase. However, importing, downloading, or saving an image in the Asset Library does not grant you ownership or commercial-use rights for that image.

Before using an image commercially, check the license, attribution requirement, and any other terms from its source. You are responsible for complying with those terms for images you import, capture, obtain through an image-search provider, or generate through a third-party AI service. Search results can have different rights: for example, NASA Images are identified as public domain, while Openverse results are Creative Commons licensed and the exact license can vary by image.

Opening the Asset Library

• Assets → Asset Library from the top menu
• The Asset Library button on the toolbar
• Drag the panel to wherever you like — it remembers its position, size, and whether you had it open last time

Editing an Asset from the Library

Yes. Each image, GIF, video, and SVG card in the Asset Library has an Edit button (the wrench icon). Click it to reopen the saved asset in the appropriate editor, then update the existing asset or save a new copy.

• Images and GIFs: reopen the Asset Importer editor for background removal, cropping, flipping, GIF trimming, transparency, and related cleanup.
• SVG sketches: reopen the Sketch tool with the saved drawing loaded. Use Update Existing to replace the library asset or Save as New to keep the original.
• Videos: reopen the video editor to trim the clip, then choose Update Existing Asset or save a new asset.

Multiple Libraries

Splainin ships with a single Default library, but you can create as many additional libraries as you like — one per client, one per project series, one for personal experiments, whatever fits the way you work. Use the library selector at the top of the panel to switch between them; everything below the selector (search, filters, folders, thumbnail size) is scoped to the currently chosen library.

Click the ⚙ button next to the selector to open Manage Libraries:

• Create a new (empty) library by typing its name and clicking + Create.
• Rename any library to make its purpose clearer.
• Set Default — the default library is the one new imports go into when you haven't explicitly switched libraries; it's also where Splainin looks for an asset whose origin library has been deleted.
• Delete a non-default library. Splainin asks for confirmation; the library file is removed from the libraries folder.
• 📂 Open Folder — opens the libraries folder in Windows Explorer for advanced backup/restore scenarios.

Folders, Keywords & Project Tags

Asset organization is stored as metadata with each asset, so the same image can be found by its filename, keywords, folder, favorite status, or the projects that use it.

Extract Project Assets to Library

Choose Assets → Extract Project Assets to Library… to copy reusable media embedded in the current project into an Asset Library. Splainin inventories project images, video, audio, and baked narrations, removes duplicate sources, and lets you include or exclude each available category.

1. Choose the current library or create a new library.
2. Set the destination folder and select the media categories to extract.
3. Click Extract. Splainin opens the destination library and selects the first extracted asset.

If the project has no reusable images, video, audio, or baked narrations, there is nothing to extract. Extraction copies media to the library; it does not remove the original items from the project.

Create a Collage

Choose Assets → Create a Collage… to arrange every image item in the project into a single white-background PNG. The result is sized at 3840 × 2160, preserves each image's aspect ratio, and opens in the captured-image importer so you can review and import it. If the project contains no image items, or any project image cannot be loaded, no collage is created.

What You Can Do With Assets

Find what you need fast

• Search across filename, keywords, narration text, voice, or project name
• Filter by type — All, ★ Favorites, GIFs, Images, SVG, Audio, Videos, AI Narrations
• Filter by folder — assets you've sorted into custom folders show under their folder; everything else is in Unfiled
• Filter by project — instantly see every asset used in a specific project
• Thumbnail size slider to zoom in or out for easier scanning

Use them in your scenes

• Drag any thumbnail onto the canvas to add it as a new item in the current scene
• Click a thumbnail to preview it, then use it to replace the selected item's content
• Star your most-used assets as ★ Favorites for one-click access later

Keep things tidy

• Right-click an asset to rename it, edit its keywords, change its folder, or delete it from the library
• Splainin automatically tags each asset with every project it's been used in, so you can always find "that hand-drawn arrow I used in the onboarding video" months later

Adding Assets — the Asset Importer

Open the Asset Importer from Assets → Asset Importer, its main-toolbar button, or the + Import button at the top of the Asset Library. It accepts almost anything visual or audible:

Using the Built-in Browser

The built-in browser turns the entire web into a content source. Open it from the Asset Importer (the 🌐 Browser tab) and you have a full web browser running inside Splainin. Use it to visit:

• Stock-image sites that aren't covered by an image-search plugin
• Your company's brand portal or a private image archive (you can sign in just like in any browser)
• AI image generators — ChatGPT, Midjourney, Gemini, DALL·E, Adobe Firefly, etc. — to generate visuals on the spot
• YouTube, Vimeo, social videos, news sites — anywhere with motion you'd like to grab

Three capture buttons sit at the top of the browser:

Capture from Webcam

Record a video clip directly from your webcam — perfect for adding talking-head footage, testimonials, presentations, or B-roll that you can then import into your Splainin project as a video asset. No screen-record needed, no external app required — just hit record and capture yourself on camera.

Open it from Assets → Record Webcam…, or open the Asset Importer and click the 🎥 Webcam tab.

Live Preview & Framing

When you open the Webcam tab, you see a live preview of what your camera sees. Use the framing controls below the preview to compose your shot:

• Shape presets — choose the output aspect ratio and shape: 16:9 (widescreen), 4:3 (classic), 1:1 (square, perfect for social), 9:16 (vertical, for mobile), or Circle (for picture-in-picture bubbles with transparent corners).
• Zoom — zoom in 1× to 4× to frame your subject tighter or capture just a portion of the scene. The preview updates as you adjust.
• Pan — drag inside the preview to reposition what you're capturing (useful when zoomed in). Or use the arrow keys for precise adjustments.
• Reset — quickly return to 1× zoom and centered framing.

Smart Camera Features

🎯 Eye Contact Assist

When this toggle is ON, Splainin watches your eyes and subtly nudges the crop to keep your gaze steady and centered in the frame — even if you move around. This creates the illusion of direct eye contact, which is critical for testimonials, presentations, and any talking-head footage where connection matters. It's like having an invisible teleprompter that keeps your eyes locked in the ideal position.

📍 Auto-Framing (Follow)

When enabled and you've zoomed in enough to have headroom, Splainin gently pans the frame to keep your face and eye-line in the sweet spot — no manual adjustment needed. Great for longer takes where you might move around naturally; the camera subtly follows you instead of drifting off-center. For best results, enable both Eye Contact Assist and Follow together.

📸 Background Control

Don't want to fuss with your room's lighting or background? Splainin gives you three options:

• None — records what the camera sees, unmodified. Use this if you have a nice background or want to add one later.
• Blur — intelligently blurs the background while keeping you sharp and in focus. Perfect for at-home recordings where the background isn't ideal. Looks professional, instantly.
• Remove — makes the background completely transparent (alpha channel), so you can drop your footage over any Splainin scene or graphic. Ideal for creating picture-in-picture effects where you appear on top of your whiteboard animation.

Audio & Device Selection

• Microphone (on/off) — by default, Splainin records your webcam's built-in mic (or whatever's set as default on your system). Uncheck the box if you only want video, or if your mic is giving feedback.
• Camera device — if you have multiple cameras (built-in + external), pick which one to use from the dropdown.
• Microphone device — if you have multiple audio sources (headset, USB mic, system audio), pick which one to record from.

Recording & Trimming

1. Compose your shot using the framing controls and enable the features you want (Eye Contact Assist, Auto-Framing, background blur, etc.).
2. Click ⏺ Record to start capturing. The live preview changes to show you what's actually being recorded.
3. Speak, present, or perform — the timer shows how long you've been recording. Free-tier recordings stop at 30 seconds and show a five-second countdown; registered tiers use the 10-minute safety cap for a single take.
4. Click ⏹ Stop (or press Esc) when you're done.
5. The video editor opens with your clip. From here you can:
   • Trim the start and end — drag the timeline handles to cut away false starts or ending faffing.
   • Review — play through to check audio levels, focus, and framing.
   • Import — save to your Asset Library as a video asset ready to use.

Editing Assets on Import

Whatever the source, the Importer's preview gives you a set of cleanup tools before the asset lands in your library — so it's ready to use without further fuss:

• Background removal — pick a colour with the eyedropper (or colour picker), use the tolerance slider to control how loosely it matches, and the edge softness slider to feather the cutout. Optionally exclude enclosed areas so holes in the picture (eyes, windows, gaps in a logo) stay intact, or keep only black to convert a busy image to clean black line art.
• Crop — trim away anything you don't want.
• Flip horizontally or vertically.
• GIF trim & transparency — for animated GIFs, set the start/end frame, remove a background colour, and tune transparency before import.

Where Your Libraries Live

Each library is stored as a single self-contained .wblib file in your Splainin app data folder (%AppData%\Splainin\libraries\ on Windows). The default library is named default.wblib; libraries you create get filenames derived from the names you give them. Each file contains every asset in that library plus its metadata (keywords, folders, favourites, project usage).

You don't need to manage these files directly — but they're plain ZIP archives, which makes them trivially easy to back up, copy to another computer, or hand to a colleague. The 📂 Open Folder button in Manage Libraries takes you straight there.

Sketch Tool

The Sketch tool is a built-in vector drawing pad for making your own SVG artwork without leaving Splainin. Use it for quick custom illustrations, simple icons, hand-drawn-style accents, stop-motion frame sequences, and lip-sync mouth shapes for talking-character props.

Open it from 🎨 Assets → Sketch…. The Sketch window opens as a floating, draggable, resizable panel that stays on top of the whiteboard so you can reference what you're drawing into.

Drawing Tools

Stroke, Fill & Smoothing

Editing What You've Drawn

Switch to the Select tool, then:

• Move — drag inside the selection.
• Resize — drag any of the eight handles around the bounding box.
• Rotate — drag the green circle above the box. Hold Shift to snap to 15° increments.
• Nudge — arrow keys move 1 px; Shift+arrows move 10 px.
• Delete — press Delete or Backspace.
• Multi-select — Shift+click to add or remove shapes; or drag a marquee in empty space (hold Shift to add to the existing selection).

Standard Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y work for undo and redo (60-step history). The Clear button wipes the canvas.

Saving & Naming

Above the canvas there's a Name field and an optional Folder field. Pick names that'll make sense in your Asset Library later.

Re-opening a Saved Sketch

To edit a sketch you saved earlier, open the Asset Library, find the SVG, and click its Edit (✏️) button. The Sketch window opens with that sketch loaded — make your changes, then click 💾 Update Existing to replace it (or Save as New to create a copy).

Animate a Stick Figure (Stop Motion)

Yes. Use the Sketch tool's onion skin to draw the poses, then play the saved frames with the built-in Sketch Stop Motion Animation prop:

1. Open Assets → Sketch…, draw the stick figure's first pose, enter a series name and folder, then click Save as New.
2. Enable 👻 Onion. The previous saved frame appears faintly behind the drawing so you can move the limbs while keeping the character aligned.
3. Edit the next pose and click Save as New again. Splainin gives the frames naturally sortable names such as walk-0001.svg, walk-0002.svg, and keeps them together in the same Asset Library folder.
4. On a scene card choose + → Prop, select Sketch Stop Motion Animation, then open the prop item's ⋯ → Prop Settings ▸.
5. Set Imported Frames to the folder containing the sketches. Choose Frames / sec from 1–30 (default 6), turn Loop on or off, and optionally choose a Mouth Style for lip-sync.

The prop plays the folder's SVG files in natural filename order for the item's duration. This is frame-by-frame stop motion, not skeletal rigging: pose the limbs separately in each saved sketch.

Onion Skin Controls

Tick the 👻 Onion checkbox to overlay your previous saved sketch faintly behind the current one — perfect for drawing a series of frames where each one needs to align with the last. Adjust the opacity slider to taste (5–80%, default 30%). Every time you save, the new drawing becomes the next frame's onion backdrop.

Mark as Mouth (For Lip-Sync Animation)

If you're creating a custom talking character, you can mark one shape as the mouth anchor:

1. Draw a simple mouth shape (an oval, a smile curve, whatever placeholder you like).
2. Select it with the Select tool.
3. Click 🗣 Mark as mouth in the toolbar.

A green dashed outline appears around the marked shape so you can spot it later. When you use this sketch with the Sketch Stop Motion prop, the prop knows exactly where to composite the animated lip-sync mouth on top of your drawing — at the right position, scale, and rotation.

Transparent Background Slider

The Transparent BG slider controls how see-through the editor's drawing surface is — from 0% (you can see the whiteboard right through the Sketch window) to 100% (an opaque white drawing surface). Useful for tracing or aligning a sketch against your actual scene. The saved file is always transparent regardless of this setting; it only affects the editor display.

Plugin Library

Almost every visual effect in Splainin — every transition, every entrance animation, every shimmering glow, every animated prop, every voice, every image-search source — is delivered as a plugin. That means your copy of Splainin is never "finished": as new plugins are released, your toolbox keeps growing. You can also create your own.

Open the Plugin Library from 🎨 Assets → Plugin Library, or from the toolbar. It's a floating panel you can keep open beside the whiteboard.

The Three Tabs

Plugin Types

Each plugin is a single file with one of these extensions. You don't need to remember the extensions — Splainin sorts and labels them for you — but they're useful when downloading, sharing, or backing up:

Installing Plugins

From the online catalog

1. Open Plugin Library → Browse.
2. Pick Official or Community.
3. Click any plugin card. It downloads, installs, and is immediately available everywhere it applies.

From a file

1. Drag a plugin file (any of the extensions above) onto the Plugin Library window — or onto the main whiteboard window.
2. You can also use the + Install button and choose the file from disk.

Configuring Plugins

Some plugins need a one-time setup — typically an API key for a paid online service. On the Installed tab, plugins that have settings show a small ⚙ icon. Click it to enter your key (or other configuration), and Splainin remembers it from then on.

Two common cases:

• Premium voices (OpenAI, ElevenLabs, Deepgram, Azure AI Speech) — open Plugin Library → Installed → TTS Voices → ⚙ on the provider, paste in your API key.
• Premium image search (some image-search sources require a free API key from the source site) — open Plugin Library → Installed → Image Search → ⚙ on the source.

Applying Plugins

Once installed, plugins appear automatically wherever they apply:

• Appearance, Presence, and Exit effects appear in each item's effect menus and on the AP/PR/EX pills
• Ambient, Frame, Intro/Outro, and Background-Music effects appear in each scene's effect menus
• Pen effects appear in the Pen Library
• Voice providers appear in the voice picker on every narration card
• Image-search sources appear as new tabs in the Asset Importer's search

You can also drag a plugin card straight from the Plugin Library onto a target on the whiteboard:

• Drag an Appearance, Presence, or Exit plugin onto an item to apply it to that item.
• Drag an Ambient, Frame, Intro/Outro, or Background-Music plugin onto a scene's thumbnail in the Scenes panel to apply it to that scene.
• Drag a Prop plugin onto the canvas to add it as a new prop item.

Create Your Own Plugins

You can build your own plugins using whichever AI assistant you prefer (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc.). Splainin ships with a set of AI instruction files that explain to the AI exactly how a Splainin plugin is structured — its file format, the functions it must implement, the canvas APIs it can call, and so on. You hand the instruction file plus your description ("make a presence effect that makes the item gently wobble like jelly") to your AI, paste the resulting plugin file back into Splainin, and you have a brand-new effect.

Splainin Vault

Open the Splainin Vault button in the left project sidebar. The Vault contains ready-made project packs and a Character Roster of talking characters.

Use Core Project Packs or Weekly Drops to browse complete project layouts. Select a pack to inspect its preview, duration, access requirements, and supported aspect ratios.

• Browse packs by collection, category, search text, and layout.
• Preview a pack before adding it to a project.
• Choose a layout that matches the project's aspect ratio when a pack offers several options.
• Create an editable copy when you want to customize the pack without changing the catalog original.

Image & Talking Characters

Image Characters are configurable talking-character props. They can switch among several character images while narration plays, animate a procedural or image-based mouth, appear inside a framed bubble, and act as the narrator for one item, a scene, or the whole project.

Find the Included Talking Characters

1. Open Splainin Vault from the left project sidebar.
2. Select Character Roster. Search the roster or select a cast member to inspect it.
3. Click Play Sample to preview the character with narration and mouth animation.
4. Choose the Asset Library where you want the character stored, then return to the Vault and click Add to Asset Library.
5. Open the Asset Library, use the Characters type filter if needed, and drag the character onto the canvas.

The roster includes over 70 animated talking characters, including 22 original cast members, with more characters added regularly. Their poses transition smoothly while narration plays. All characters are downloaded online rather than bundled with the app. Four of the original characters are available free; registration-required characters need Splainin Pro registration to be installed. Click Refresh to check for new characters. An internet connection is needed to load the roster and fetch characters for the first time. Previously downloaded samples can be replayed from the cache when offline; characters already installed in an Asset Library remain available. Playing a sample does not install the character. Characters are added to whichever Asset Library is active when you click Add to Asset Library.

Search by character name or keywords, such as soldier or robot. A character's keywords are retained when the character is installed in an Asset Library.

Use the Card Size slider to show more characters at once or larger thumbnails; your size preference is saved. Select a character to see its preview on the right. Play Sample and Add to Asset Library stay above the preview, so you can use them without scrolling away from the character. Expand Voice options for information about narration voices.

Configure a Character

Open the character item card's ⋯ → Prop Settings ▸, or open Item Settings → Configure. The main options are:

• Images → Open Image Character Builder… — add, remove, reorder, and preview as many as ten character images from the Asset Library. Each image can be included in or excluded from animation and can have its own random weight, mouth position, mouth size, mouth angle, and attached image props.
• Cycle Images — switch poses or expressions while narration is active. Set Seconds Per Image and choose Sequential or Random order. Random weight controls how often each enabled image is selected.
• Smooth Pose Transitions — enabled by default for new image characters when Cycle Images is turned on; you can disable it per character. Existing saved settings are preserved, and older characters without this setting retain instant pose changes until you enable smoothing. Smooth characters always cycle sequentially; Random order and random weights remain available when smoothing is off. The mouth follows each transition while remaining synchronized with narration. Transition Duration (ms) adjusts the transition from 150–1200 ms, defaulting to 400 ms. The actual transition is limited to half Seconds Per Image so each pose still has a hold; changing this slider does not rebake. Item play, scene play, project play, and export automatically prepare and retain missing transitions before starting, with progress and cancellation. Editing previews reuse available transitions and use instant pose changes for missing ones without starting a bake. Saving a smooth character to the Asset Library includes its bake; the frames travel with the character when added to a project or shared. Reordering, adding, removing, or disabling images reuses valid pairs and bakes new neighbors; artwork or attached-prop changes regenerate affected pairs. Mouth placement and timing changes do not require rebaking.
• Add Animated Mouth and Default Mouth Style — enable lip sync and choose either a procedural mouth or Viseme Images.
• Display in Bubble — crop the character into a circular presenter bubble, with optional background and frame colors.

To build a character from your own artwork, first import each pose or expression into the Asset Library. Add a new prop with + → Prop → Image Character Builder, open its Image Character Builder, click + Add first image, and drag Asset Library images into the preview area. Click Apply when finished.

Make a Character Talk: Narration Roles

A character's images and mouth respond to narration. In Prop Settings, choose its Narration Role:

Only one Image Character can be the project narrator. Choosing Project narrator changes any previous project narrator back to This item only.

Use Image-Based Viseme Mouths

A viseme is a visible mouth shape for a speech sound. A Viseme Mouth Set packages image-based mouth shapes as one reusable Asset Library item. Use one when the built-in procedural mouths do not match your character's artwork.

1. Open Viseme Mouth Set Builder from its button in the main toolbar. You can also choose Create Mouth Set… after selecting Viseme Images as a character's mouth style.
2. Name the set, optionally choose an Asset Library folder, and drag Asset Library images into the twelve slots: Rest / Idle, MM, T/D/TH, S/Z, AH, EE, IH, OH, OO, W/Q, F/V, and L.
3. Fill Rest / Idle, which is required. Empty optional slots use the nearest available shape and ultimately fall back to Rest.
4. Click Save or Save As. The set appears in the Asset Library under the Viseme Mouth Sets type.
5. On the Image Character, enable Add Animated Mouth, choose Viseme Images under Default Mouth Style, then drag the mouth-set card from the Asset Library onto the Mouth Set field.

The character stores an independent snapshot of the mouth set. Editing the library copy does not change characters already using it; drag the updated set onto the character again to replace its snapshot. Replacing a set preserves that character's mouth position, size, and rotation.

Save a Customized Character for Reuse

After configuring an Image Character, open its item card's ⋯ menu and choose Save Character to Asset Library. Name the character and Splainin saves its images, mouth settings, narration role, bubble settings, and other configuration as a reusable Character asset in the active Asset Library.

Context Help

Startup guided-tour cards have been retired. Context help remains available:

• Context help — small ? controls attached to particular panels and tools. Open one to read help for that exact control without leaving the project.

Annotations

Annotations let you attach production notes to any item, scene, or the project itself — useful for instructions, revision markers, or comments for collaborators.

Adding Annotations

Right-click an item on the canvas and choose 💬 Annotate…, or use the ⋯ menu on any item card, scene card, or project header.

Annotation Types

• 💬 Comment — a general note
• 📋 Instruction — a production directive
• 💡 Suggestion — a proposed change

Options

• Placeholder — shows a dashed border on the canvas item as a visual reminder that content needs placing
• Dismiss on Edit — automatically removes the annotation once the item's content is replaced or its text is edited

Annotated items display a small badge on the canvas and on their sidebar card. The annotation popover is draggable and stays open until explicitly closed.

Export Video

When your project is ready to render, open File → Export Video. The Export Settings dialog handles WebM video and animated GIF output. Splainin then plays the project from start to finish, captures every frame and audio source, and saves the result to disk.

Export Settings

Click Start Export. The settings you pick are remembered next time, and the dialog itself is draggable and resizable.

What Gets Recorded

Splainin captures the full whiteboard exactly as it would play in Preview, including:

• Every animated item — graphics being drawn, text appearing, props animating
• All Appearance, Presence, and Exit effects on items
• Scene-level effects: Ambient, Frame, and Intro/Outro
• The background colour and background image
• The watermark, if you have one configured

And, in the audio track:

• Narration — Splainin uses the audio it has already rendered for each scene. Narration is rendered the first time you preview or play a scene, then cached on the scene; export simply reuses that cached audio. Only scenes whose narration has never been rendered (or whose text/voice/rate has changed since) are rendered just before recording starts.
• Background music set in Project Settings
• Pen sounds while items are being drawn
• Any per-scene audio

During Export

While exporting, Splainin shows a recording indicator and plays through the project. The animation runs in the foreground so you can keep an eye on progress. Don't switch away or interact with the canvas while the export is recording — it's a live capture.

When playback finishes, the file is handed off to a native Save As… dialog so you can choose where to save it. WebM exports save with a .webm extension; GIF exports save as .gif.

Animated GIF Export

GIF is a great choice for short looping clips, social previews, and embedding in documentation, but the format has real limits. Splainin's GIF dialog defaults to sensible values for these use cases:

• Defaults to 480p at 10 fps on a single scene
• Auto-stops at 30 seconds of recording to keep file size and memory under control — you can hit Stop earlier to save what was captured up to that point
• Supports the Hold Last Frame option to pause on the closing visual

A Single Frame as an Image

To save just the current canvas as a still image (PNG), use 🎨 Assets → Capture Whiteboard as Image… Useful for thumbnails, social previews, or grabbing a single illustration out of a project.

Tips for Best Results

Export Layer Order

For the curious, scenes are composited from bottom to top in this order during export:

1. Background colour + background image
2. Background Effect canvas
3. Ambient Effect canvas (when set to render behind items)
4. Animation overlays (graphics, text, images, props, presence effects)
5. Foreground Effect canvas
6. Ambient Effect canvas (when set to render in front of items)
7. Intro Effect canvas (when active)
8. Frame Effect
9. Watermark

Export Scenes to PDF

Use File → Export Scenes to PDF… to turn whiteboard scenes into a portrait PDF. Each exported scene becomes a page containing the captured scene artwork and its selected narration text.

Choose What to Export

• Included scenes — export the project's included scenes.
• Current scene — export only the scene currently active.
• Selected scenes — export scenes selected in the scene list. This option is disabled when no scenes are selected.

Choose Narration Text

Click Export PDF, wait for the scene capture to finish, then choose the output location in the native save dialog. PDF export is available in the desktop app.

Export for Sharing

Use File → Export for Sharing… when you need to send someone an editable project rather than a rendered video. Splainin creates a single .splaininpack bundle containing the current project and its required assets.

1. Save or otherwise flush the latest project changes.
2. Choose File → Export for Sharing… and select a destination.
3. Send the resulting .splaininpack file to the other Splainin user.

Export a Scene as an Image

Choose File → Export Scene as Image… to save the current scene as a still image. Use this for thumbnails, handouts, documentation, social graphics, or a single finished whiteboard frame without rendering the full project.

Capture GIF

Records any rectangular area inside the Splainin window as an animated GIF — handy for capturing the whiteboard canvas mid-animation, a particular tool or panel in the app, or any other on-screen action you want to turn into a reusable asset.

Open it from 🎨 Assets → Capture Whiteboard as GIF….

How It Works

1. A red dashed capture frame appears in the middle of the window with a toolbar attached underneath.
2. Drag the frame to position it, drag the bottom-right corner to resize. The size readout above the frame updates as you go.
3. Pick your settings in the toolbar (see below), then click ⏺ Record.
4. The frame turns solid red and the timer starts. Recording stops automatically at the max duration, or click ⏹ Stop (or press Esc) to end early.
5. When recording finishes, the GIF Importer opens — trim the start/end, optionally pick a colour to make transparent, then click Import as GIF to send it to your Asset Library.

Toolbar Controls

Capture Video

Choose 🎨 Assets → Capture Video… to record a rectangular region of the screen as a video asset. In the desktop app, the capture region can include content outside the Splainin window; in browser fallback mode, the selected region is cropped from a display-share stream.

1. Position and resize the capture region.
2. Choose the capture frame rate, duration, and any available audio options.
3. Click Record, perform the action you want to capture, then stop recording.
4. Review the result, re-record or discard it, or save it to the Asset Library as a video.

Captured video assets can be placed on the whiteboard and animated like other video items. The native recorder can also preserve interaction events for demo recordings when that option is enabled.

Capture Screen / Window

Choose 🎨 Assets → Capture Screen / Window… when you need to capture a whole display or an application window rather than a manually selected rectangle. Use this for software demos, walkthroughs, and other screen-based source material.

Watermark

Splainin supports two independent watermark layers. You can use the app-level watermark for a mark that applies across projects, and a project-level watermark for branding specific to one project. If both are enabled, both appear in exports; when they overlap, the app-level watermark draws on top.

The settings below apply to either watermark layer. Select the matching tab to configure the app-level or project-level watermark independently.

Settings

All Built-in Effects — Quick Reference

These are the effects that ship with Splainin out of the box. Anything further you want is a one-click install away from the Plugin Library.

Effects fall into two scopes:

• Item-level — applied to one specific item on the canvas (an SVG, a piece of text, an image, a GIF, a video, a prop). Set on the item itself, or as a scene default that applies to every item in the scene.
• Scene-level — applied to the whole scene (a background atmosphere, a frame around the canvas, an entry animation when the scene begins).

Item-level: Appearance (how items appear)

Pick one per item, or set a scene default. The right choice depends on what kind of item you're animating.

Item-level: Presence (what items do while visible)

Optional ongoing animation that plays for as long as the item is on screen. Use sparingly — one item glowing draws attention; everything glowing is just noise.

Item-level: Exit (how items leave)

Optional — items stay on screen by default. Add an exit effect when an item should disappear partway through a scene.

Item-level: Props (extras you attach to items)

Props are reusable overlays that live on top of an item — speech bubbles, animated mouths, search bars, and so on. Attach via the item's effects pill or drag a prop from the Plugin Library onto the canvas.

Scene-level: Ambient (ongoing background atmosphere)

Scene-level: Frame (border around the canvas)

Scene-level: Intro (scene entry animation)

Plays once when the scene begins, before the items start appearing.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcuts are skipped while you're typing in a text field, so Ctrl+S in a text box still works the way you expect.

Project

Editing

Canvas & View

Canvas Gestures

Resize Handle Modifiers

While dragging an item's bottom-right resize handle:

Universal Dialog Patterns

Presentation

Help

Sketch Editor

Open the Sketch… tool from the 🎨 Assets menu to draw your own SVG. Inside the editor:

Best Practices

For Hand-Drawn-Style Videos

• Use SVG linework icons. Simple line-art SVGs produce the most authentic hand-drawn look. Avoid SVGs that consist entirely of opaque filled shapes with no strokes — they will still animate but the pen tracing is less convincing.
• Keep SVGs clean. Remove hidden paths, clip-paths, and duplicate shapes before importing. Simpler SVGs animate more predictably and perform better.
• Calibrate your pen. Taking 60 seconds to mark the pen tip position and set the rotation makes the animation look far more polished.
• Match animation speed to narration cadence. Aim for SVG drawing to complete just as the narrator mentions that element. Adjust item duration in the item's ⋯ menu.

Constructing Effective Scenes

• One idea per scene. Each scene should cover a single concept. This keeps videos focused and editing manageable.
• Use sequential mode for step-by-step content. Items appearing one-by-one as narration mentions them is more engaging than all items popping up at once.
• Add presence effects sparingly. A single glowing element draws attention powerfully. Presence effects on every item create visual noise.
• Use the layout guide. When using Sliding Banners intro effects, enable the layout guide overlay before arranging content — it shows exactly how the canvas will be divided.

Narration & Audio

• Pre-render narration before exporting. This avoids re-calling the TTS API on every export run and guarantees consistent audio timing.
• Microsoft voices are free and offline — ideal for prototyping and drafts. Switch to a premium cloud provider for final production.
• Keep scene narration under 30 seconds. Longer narration usually means the scene is covering too much; consider splitting it into two scenes.

Performance & Export Quality

• Use a solid background color rather than a background image unless the image is meaningful content — it speeds up rendering significantly.
• GIFs: lower the frame rate. 10–12 fps is usually sufficient and keeps file sizes manageable. Animated GIFs are not well-suited for high-motion content.
• Export at native canvas resolution. Upscaling in post is almost never worth it — export at the aspect ratio and pixel size you actually need.

Plugin & Effect Organization

• Use scene-default effects rather than setting the same appearance/presence/exit effect on every item individually. It's faster and makes bulk changes a single edit.
• Drag-and-drop from Plugin Library onto scene cards or item cards rather than navigating through menus — it's significantly faster for multi-scene setups.
• Set a project-level intro default if every scene should share the same cinematic entrance. Individual scenes can then be given their own overrides only where needed.

For Educators

• One concept per scene, no exceptions. The most effective educational whiteboard videos present a single idea, let it land, then move on. Resist the urge to pack multiple points into one scene — break it up.
• Use sequential animation mode. Items appearing in sync with narration — one at a time — mirrors the cognitive approach that makes whiteboard teaching so effective. Let each element breathe before introducing the next.
• Pre-render narration for consistent playback. Once you’ve finalised your script and chosen your voice, pre-render each scene’s narration to WAV. This ensures the audio is perfectly timed and the video exports identically every time.
• Export 16:9 for YouTube / LMS, 9:16 for Instagram / TikTok. The same lesson content can serve both channels with just an aspect-ratio change and a quick item re-layout — no need to recreate content from scratch.
• Use Annotations to mark scenes for later revision. Add an Instruction annotation to scenes that need updating next semester so you know exactly what to revisit without re-watching the whole project.
• Organise by unit or module. One .splainin file per lesson or topic keeps things manageable. The Asset Library retains all your graphics across projects, so your visual library grows with every lesson you build.

For Small Businesses

• Lead with the problem you solve. The most effective business explainer videos open with the customer’s pain, not the product. Your first scene should make the viewer feel understood. Subsequent scenes introduce your solution, one step at a time.
• Keep the full video under 90 seconds. For website or social use, 60–90 seconds is the sweet spot. Aim for 8–12 scenes with tight narration — viewer retention drops sharply beyond that unless the audience is already ready to buy.
• Use Sliding Banners or Background Pan intros for a polished brand feel. Nothing signals professional production faster than a cinematic scene entrance. Set a project-level default intro so every transition reinforces your brand identity.
• Export multiple aspect ratios from the same project. Your website wants 16:9. Instagram Reels wants 9:16. LinkedIn wants 1:1. Change the aspect ratio in Project Settings, adjust item positions, export again — your content is repurposed in minutes.
• Add your logo as a watermark. Configure your branding in Settings → App Defaults → Watermark. Every export carries your brand automatically, at whatever position and opacity you choose — including customer-facing deliverables.
• Use AI narration for a consistent brand voice. A Pro license unlocks cloud AI voices that sound consistent across every video you produce — no recording booth, no re-takes, no microphone required.

Help, Support & Licensing

The Help menu collects Splainin's reference, support, legal, update, and license commands:

Report a Bug or Send Feedback

To report a bug, choose Help → Send Feedback, select Bug report, and describe the issue. You can optionally attach a screenshot and provide contact details. Splainin includes system diagnostics with the submission to help investigate the problem.

Contact Splainin

Splainin does not publish a separate administrator email address. For general support, licensing, or company inquiries, email [email protected]. For bug reports or product feedback, email [email protected] or choose Help → Send Feedback. For privacy requests, email [email protected].

Register or Remove a License

To activate Splainin, choose Help → Register License, enter the key from your purchase email, and click Activate. Get a License opens the purchase page. On an activated installation, the same dialog shows the current status and a Remove License command; removing it frees this machine's activation and you can reactivate later.

🔓 Unlock the Full Experience

Splainin is free to get started. Every core tool is available from day one — build real, complete projects and export actual videos before spending a penny. A Pro license removes the export watermark, unlocks cloud AI narration (bring your own OpenAI / ElevenLabs / Deepgram / Azure key), includes a year of free updates, and adds priority support and premium plugin releases.

Splainin Whiteboard Animation  ·  User Guide  ·  © 2026