Google now lets you direct avatars through prompts in its Vids app

Google on Thursday added new features to its video editor app Vids, including directing and customizing avatars through text prompts, Veo 3.1 support, the ability to export videos to YouTube, and recording with a Chrome extension.

Users will be able to use natural language prompts to direct avatars to “act” in a scene. This can include the avatar interacting with a product, a prop, or a piece of equipment. The company said that despite the dynamic nature of the output, Vids maintains character consistency.

Google said that based on the theme of the video, users can customize characters by tweaking appearance, changing apparel, and creating new backgrounds through prompts.

Last month, Google added its Lyria 3 and Lyria 3 Pro music creation models to Vids to let users add sound effects or music to their clips. With this rollout, Google is bringing the Veo 3.1 video-generation model, which can create eight-second clips within the video editing tool. The company is giving out 10 free generations per month to all users. The company said Google AI Ultra and Workspace AI Ultra accounts can generate up to 1,000 Veo videos per month.

What’s more, Google is adding the ability to export finished videos directly to YouTube, saving the hassle of downloading and uploading them to the channel. All the exported videos are by default private, so you can review the video before making it public.

The company is also adding a new screen-recording Chrome extension to the video suite, allowing users to capture the screen with audio or video.

Google has constantly added features to Vids after first unveiling the product in 2024 to cater to enterprise content creation. Last year, the company brought AI avatars to Vids and expanded access to consumers. In February, the company added 2D and 3D cartoon-style avatars and added language support for seven new voice-over languages, including French, German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Japanese.

Google Vids faces competition from the likes of Synthesia, HeyGen, D-ID, and Lemon Slice.