Tips for picking a cover image or thumbnail for your video:
A still image of the first block of your video will be set as the cover image for your project.
We recommend using a logo, text block or a unique image for your first block to help you differentiate between videos in your account.
After downloading your video, the cover image may change because it's been detached from the Animoto website that sets the image. If you plan on sharing your video to social media, some platforms will allow you to select a cover image directly through them. You can find more detailed information about social media cover images in this blog post.
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Cover images and Animoto 3:
In the Spring of 2020 we released Animoto 3, our fastest and easiest video creation tool to date.
After fully reviewing feedback that we received from our users during the Beta release, we’ve decided Animoto 3 will not include cover image setting capabilities for now, but we will explore that functionality again some time in the future.
Setting a cover image was used by a very small number of our users in Animoto 2 and we heard from many that did use that feature with confusion about how the feature actually worked. As we built Animoto 3, our team saw an opportunity to reduce the number of steps that stood between a user and sharing their video and to learn more about what our users do with their videos after they are complete, so we decided to remove cover image setting capability in Animoto 3. Since cover images set on Animoto are not reflected on social media platforms, when we do revisit this feature we know we can do more to help our users with that experience, while also giving them control over the cover image on Animoto.
We know that transitioning to Animoto 3 without cover image setting capabilities will be difficult for many of our users that have been using this feature in Animoto 2. Our team is here to support anyone that needs a little extra help or an option to complete a video in Animoto 2! We’ve also included some tips in this article above for having some control over the cover image.
We can’t wait to make Animoto even better! Over the next few months our team will be focusing on making video creation, sharing, and downloading even faster and easier. Keep an eye on our Blog for updates on the newest releases and tips and tricks for Animoto 3.