How to Create an AI Avatar of Yourself in 4 Easy Steps

When you think of a personalized avatar, you might be reminded of a video game character avatar. 

However, recent developments in avatar creation technology allow AI avatars to be used for much more than static digital characters. In fact, engaging and lifelike AI avatars can now be used to improve the retention and engagement of your video content. 

Research shows that audiences view realistic-looking AI avatars as more trustworthy and preferable for lecture-style training – not to mention that AI avatars can simplify your video production process across the board. 

So, how do you make a custom avatar to use in videos? We’ll walk you through the steps to create an avatar of yourself in Colossyan – it only takes four steps, and best of all, it’s free!

What is an AI avatar?

Simply put, an AI avatar is a digital representation of a real person. Creating one often requires uploading images or videos of yourself or another person. Then, AI technology creates a realistic digital human that you can use in online videos, communication, and other content. 

AI avatars are useful when creating video content, as they can appear in video content without having to be filmed every time. Simply add a script, and your AI avatar will accurately lip sync your script automatically. You can even translate your avatar’s dialogue into more than 70 different languages. 

What’s a custom avatar?

Looking to create your own avatar? Then you’ll want to look into custom avatars. 

A custom avatar is a type of AI avatar that’s specifically designed to look and sound just like you, or just like one of your brand representatives. 

Custom avatars are more personalized than stock avatars, as they will reflect your body language and facial expressions. 

Custom avatar tools like Colossyan also allow you to clone your voice, ensuring your custom avatar will both look and sound like you. With voice cloning, your personal avatar will be able to speak more than 30 languages in your own voice.  

Benefits of AI avatars

Whether you decide to use an avatar maker to create your own digital avatar, or use Colossyan’s stock avatars instead, there are many benefits of AI avatars:

• Cost savings: You can reuse AI avatars in dozens of different videos at no additional cost, which makes them less expensive than human instructors.
• Speeds up video production: Digital avatars allow you to skip the manually filming process altogether, meaning your video production process can take minutes instead of weeks. 
• Personalized experience: AI avatars are more customizable than traditional actors, meaning you can personalize them with branded clothing, and even change their voice and accent according to your target audience. 
• Realistic interactions: AI avatars mimic human expressions, gestures, and body language to provide immersive, realistic interactions.

Most online avatar creators also offer a library of premade avatars that you can choose from, all with different styles and facial features. For example, Colossyan offers a diverse library of over 150 avatars you can use.

How to create an avatar of yourself

While stock avatars are a great way to quickly get the ball rolling on your video content, custom avatars can bring the personalization of your videos to the next level. 

With advancements in Colossyan’s instant custom avatar technology, creating your own AI avatar can take as little as a minute, using just seconds of recording time. 

Plus, instant avatars created with Colossyan will retain their original background and body movements, meaning you can create dynamic and realistic avatar videos using this new technology. 

To create your own custom avatar, simply sign up for Colossyan and follow these steps. 

(P.S. – creating an instant avatar is free!) 

1. Record your AI avatar footage

To create an instant custom avatar with Colossyan, you’ll need to start by recording between 20 seconds to one minute of input footage of yourself. 

Keep in mind that your background, clothing, and hand movements in this video will all be reflected in your final avatar, so ensure everything is up to your standards before you hit record. 

Here are a few tips for recording your Instant Avatar footage: 

1. Camera settings: You can film on your phone, but make sure you record at 1080p, 30fps, with HDR turned off for the best result. 
2. Act naturally: Switch your position every 10 seconds for the most natural-looking result. Remember that your custom avatar will have the same hand gestures and body language. 
3. Keep your mouth closed: Your lips will be synced with the script you provide later on, so it’s important to keep your mouth closed when filming. 

2. Clone your voice 

In order for your instant avatar to both look and sound like you, you’ll need to clone your voice. 

Fortunately, creating a custom voice is extremely easy in Colossyan – simply upload a one minute voice recording of yourself. You can say anything in your recording, as long as there’s no background noise.

Once your voice has been cloned, you’ll be able to translate your voice into 30+ different languages. How cool is that?

And if you prefer to skip the voice cloning, Colossyan offers dozens of stock voices that you can pair with your custom avatar and translate to 70+ different languages instead. 

3. Preview your avatar

Once you’ve uploaded your video clip and cloned your voice, you’ll be directed to Colossyan’s video editing suite. 

Your instant avatar will be ready to be previewed in less than 60 seconds so you can ensure you’re happy with the results. 

If your avatar is to your liking, you can add it to your desired video scene within Colossyan’s editing interface. 

4. Generate your video

After you’ve customized your script and added all of the necessary video scenes, you’re ready to generate your final video product. 

The generation speed depends on your video length, but it will usually take just a few minutes. Once your video is done processing, your personal AI avatar video is ready to be shared!

6 ways to use an AI avatar of yourself

Building an AI avatar of yourself isn’t just fun – it also supports and enhances a variety of projects. You can take advantage of this technology in the following ways:

Produce training videos

AI presenters reduce training costs by allowing you to create multiple videos without expensive equipment, software, or actors. Additionally, you’re able to adapt the look and sound of your AI avatar depending on the audience you want to reach. 

This means you can create high-quality training video content without needing to pick up a camera or hire on-screen talent. Instead, opting for a digital avatar to serve as your instructor enables you to create content at scale. 

Simulate role-play situations

Thanks to their dynamic quality, digital avatars are perfect for simulating real-life scenarios. This allows trainees to role-play various skills that may otherwise be difficult to practice. 

For example, Colossyan offers a conversation mode which allows for dialogue between multiple avatars, paving the way for quality scenario-based training. 

One AI avatar might assume the role of a customer and another might serve as a customer service representative, showcasing the right communication and negotiation skills to exhibit in certain scenarios. 

Personalize learning experiences

With brand kits and the ability to add company branding to your avatar clothing, your AI avatar’s look and feel can be customized to match your brand voice and values. 

Avatar personalization is a huge advantage when creating company-wide training materials. You can create videos using a custom avatar of one of your company executives, allowing your training materials to be delivered by a familiar face. 

Plus, AI avatars are highly customizable when it comes to accents and dialects. When creating training content for your London office, you can give your avatars a British accent, and switch their voice to an American accent when creating videos for your New York team, for example. 

Customer service

AI avatars are ideal for customer service as well. They can answer questions, walk viewers through product demos, narrate explainer videos, and provide additional customer education for your products or services. 

Create multilingual content

The process of creating multilingual video content is typically very expensive. To create a video in five different languages, you’d need to reshoot your footage five different times, with five different actors who speak each language. 

Instead, you can easily reach employees and customers in their native languages with multilingual AI avatars. AI avatars can be translated into dozens of different languages in a few clicks, meaning you can make your content widely accessible in far less time. 

Plus, it’s a much more cost effective solution than outsourcing to a translation service. Colossyan can automatically translate your AI avatar’s speech into over 70 different languages, including Chinese, Spanish, and Japanese.

Convert leads

AI avatars are perfect for product demonstrations and related product recommendations. Adding avatars to your AI-created videos can enable your sales and marketing teams to reach and convert more leads. 

Because of their realism, AI avatars add a human-like touch to these digital experiences. Plus, many AI video platforms have a screen recording feature, enabling you to easily showcase your product to leads. 

Create the perfect AI avatar of yourself with Colossyan

Creating an avatar online is an effective way to personalize your content and create interactive videos.  

To easily create avatars that look and sound like you, you’ll want to use a free avatar maker like Colossyan. Not only can you create custom avatars of yourself using our tool, but you can also create cartoon avatars that look like you, as Colossyan’s instant avatar feature also supports image uploads. 

Sign up for Colossyan to design your free personal avatar today, or book a demo with our team to learn how Colossyan provides cost-effective video creation to support your business needs.