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

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

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

Google said that depending on the topic of the video, users can customize the characters by modifying the appearance, changing clothes, and creating new backgrounds through prompts.

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

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

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

Google has continually added features to Vids after first unveiling the product in 2024 to meet enterprise content creation needs. Last year, the company brought AI-powered avatars to videos and expanded its reach to consumers. In February, the company added 2D and 3D anime-style avatars and added language support for seven new voiceover 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.