Video making is a painful job for many of us. Speaking ad-lib is never easy. Autocue (teleprompter) is expensive. If you think YouTube marketing is not your thing simply because you can't speak in front of a camera, then check my MugJam review. This cloud-based app can create a 3D model of yourself and let it lip-sync. Created by Todd Gross and Rohit Shah, it's a little freaky (coulrophobia beware), but innovative. And fun. You'll be interested to see if this is something you can make use of.
MugJam Review | ||
|---|---|---|
Product Name: | MugJam | |
Website URL: | ||
Type: | Video marketing tool | |
Owner: | Rohit Shah and Todd Gross and Rohit Shah | |
Launch Date: | November 2019 | |
Price: | $47 | |
Rating: | ||
What Is MugJam?
MugJam creates a video clip with its own 3D talking avatar out of a photo of yourself. You can either record your own voice or type in a script and get the built-in advanced text-to-speech engine to read it out. And the avatar will automatically lip-sync to it.
Mouth movements are designed to be reasonably realistic. With automatic head turns, natural facial movements and realistic clothes cloner, the avatar will talk in front of the camera as close to natural as it can get.
If you don't want to use your own photo, MugJam has some predefined avatars. The avatar can be transferred to MugJam's video template or embedded onto your own video. If your video already has a voiceover, the avatar will automatically lip-sync to it.
It won't fool the viewers though, there's no doubt anyone can tell it's an avatar, not the real person. But that's actually the beauty of it. People do use similar software and create videos of a 3D talking Donald Trump or any celebrity just for fun. (Though MugJam does not encourage you to use a photo of a celebrity for obvious copyright reasons.)
The software is easy to navigate and no technical skill is required. The finished video work can be downloaded, or directly posted to your YouTube, Twitter or Vimeo account. The maximum length of the video will be 2 minutes (or 5 minutes if you buy a Pro version).
Who Can Use MugJam?
MugJam can be used to make a video introduction to a business or products, advertisement, user instruction, product review, social post and just to send a fun message to your friends. Useful for anyone who wants to create a video without appearing in it.
Can You Make Money with MugJam?
Not only can you create a MugJam video to promote your own business, but you can also create videos for others to make money. In Fiverr, people make 3D spokesperson videos and sell $5 - $50 per clip.
So yes. if you are looking to make money online from home, video creation can be your good career alternative and Fiverr is the best place to start.
The Creators
Rohit Shah and Todd Gross
MugJam was co-created and produced by Rohit Shah and Todd Gross. Rohit is specialized in developing video software and his recent product Recastly Video Player has sold over 3,500+ copies. While Todd Gross is a famous meteorologist but also known as a video marketing expert for the past many years. MugJam is their latest work and, no surprise it's another unique video creating software.
The Features
Let's recap the features before digging into the "how-to" detail;
- 3D avatar creator - it creates avatars from a photo of a person.
- Predefined avatars - if you don't want to create your own avatar out of a photo, there are premade 3D avatars that you can use freely.
- Auto lip-sync - the avatar can lip-sync with any audio.
- Natural eye, teeth, and head turns - the avatar blinks, moves lips and turns its head randomly to imitate the normal speaking movements.
- Video templates - MugJam is equipped with various video templates for different occasions, such as advertisements, quotes, local businesses, social media stories.
- Add your images - You can add your own still images (jpeg or png) as a background.
- Use your own videos - Your avatar can be added to your existing videos, and it will automatically lip-sync with your audio.
- Use your own voice - To let your avatar lip-sync, you can either directly record your voice or upload an already recorded audio file onto MugJam.
- Text-to-speech - It can also read out your prepared text in your chosen tone of the voice (various male and female predetermined voice tones) supported by Google Cloud Text-To-Speach. The pitch and the speed can then be changed manually.
- Background music - there's a selection of royalty-free music that you can add.
- Clothes cloner - The 3D creation includes the top that you're wearing. It clones very well.
- Supports multiple languages - MugJam currently supports 114 languages, means that the text-to-speech can read and detect almost any language.
- HD quality output - The video that MugJam creates will be exported in full HD format (1080p).
- No limits - you can create as many projects as you like with MugJam.
How To Create A MugJam Video
MugJam really doesn't require any technical or design skills - the following simple steps can show you how easy it is (I hope!) Providing you have all the materials - photo and the messages to record/upload - the editing work won't take you minutes before you can click to render and export.
1. Choose Your Template or Upload Video
First, if you want to start from a template, the ready-made templates are categorized. Select one from 30+ professional ready-made templates in over 7 categories. Or upload your own video here.
2. Create An Avatar
Upload a face photo of yourself or anyone and let MugJam create a 3D avatar. It will take 40-50 seconds. Once created, it will be saved in your file so you can use it over & over again. You can save up to 5 avatars at a time.
3. Customize Video
Now get 1 and 2 together - add the avatar to the video at a click of a button. You can customize the size and the position of it. Add your own images (jpg or png up to 50Mb in size) or predefined images.
4. Customize Audio
Add audio to the video; record voiceover, upload voiceover or use text-to-speech. If you use text-to-speech, you can choose a voice tone from the examples and change the pitch and speed as you wish. The recommended voiceover length is 42-50 seconds. If it's longer, it will take much longer to render.
You can add background music by selecting one from the list of royalty-free music.
5. Preview and Export
When finished editing, it will generate a preview automatically. If you're happy with the finished work, you can either download it (it will send you a download link, which will be available for up to 48 hours), or upload it directly onto YouTube, Vimeo or Twitter. It will take 20-25 minutes to render.
Upsells
The following 3 enhanced versions will be available.
One-Time Offer 1: Mugjam Pro ($37, Recommended)
- Green screen videos - Creates a talking avatar video with a green screen background, which is very useful in integrating with another third-party app.
- Up to 5 minutes video upload
- Additional 50+ voice models (Amazon Polly integration)
- Create unlimited avatars
- Download never expires
- Can upload to YouTube, Vimeo and Twitter at the same time.
MugJam Assets Club ($67 Half Yearly or $97 Yearly)
As soon as you get MugJam Assets Club, the following assets will be unlocked instantly;
- 20 Additional templates
- Access to millions of in-built stock photos
- Training to create professional-grade "fake human photos" to help you create unlimited avatars
- One additional template each month
- 3 extra background music each month
- Higher Priority For Template Requests
One-Time Offer 2: Agency ($67, Recommended)
- Create MugJam sub-accounts and assign projects to each of them
- Landing page hosting
- Video hosting by MugJam
- Create high converting and eye-catching landing pages for each project (no MugJam branding visible on the landing page)
- Assign your own domain to the landing pages
- Each landing page is comments-enabled. Both your clients and yourself as an agency owner have full access (read, reply and delete)
- Collect leads for your video service on your client's landing page - MugJam emails the lead to you as soon as someone opts-in.
Help and Support
The 3D avatar video creation process is pretty straightforward but if you're ever stuck, you can send an email to the support desk.
MugJam Pros and Cons
Pros
Cons
MugJam Review - Conclusion:
Mugjam makes it possible to create a video of 'yourself' without actually appearing on it or even without a piece of recording equipment. As you know by now, this is a fun and versatile tool. You can use it to promote your own business, to review a product as an affiliate, or you can create a video for others to make money. In my opinion it's worth the money. If you give it a try, let me know what you think of it by leaving a comment below!
Good point about making money with it. Everyone tries Youtube marketing hoping to make money eventually but until you have thousands of views it’s not possible. Then others put affliate links hoping someone to buy then without SEO knowledge it’s really hard. Instead you can make videos for others and simply sell downloadable mp4 files. It can be the best option for beginners?
Hi James, yes some people do sell animated video instructions/testimonials that way, and there are always buyers. Just an alternative way to make money.
Hi this is a informative post. Youtube marketing is essential for every internet marketer in this day and age. Everyone has to have a video creator but it’s difficult for many of us.
I needed a video creator software that would enable me to create video ads anonymously. This is the one to look out for.
Hi, thanks for your comment. You’re right, and some of us reluctantly admit that YouTube has become ridiculously essential for online marketers. MugJam has an answer for those of us!
Hi Ray, Mugjam sounds like a very interesting software. I was looking for something like this for a long time because I don’t like to show myself on videos and I am not good at talking to people. I cannot read too well so I need a software like this one. Mugjam looks like the perfect one.
I understand what you mean when you say freaky, I think it’s the teeth a little bit scary. But it’s better than talking on camera by myself. I like it you can make it quietly in the middle of the night. I will think about buying in the future. Thank you for the interesting review.
Hi Tito, thanks for sharing your thoughts. Yes that’s right, it is possible to create a video clip and upload it onto YouTube without making any sound, with your headphones on. Let me know how you feel if you ever get MugJam. Thanks for your comment!