AI Whiteboard Video: From Script to Final Cut in 6 Steps
By Steven Van ·
Synthesys' guide covers its chat-based workflow, free script edits and per-scene render costs, plus a test where a drawn error survived two paid redraws.
Synthesys has published a six-step guide to making an AI whiteboard video, from a one-sentence brief to a translated final cut. The post covers Synthesys, its AI video agent, and is based on the vendor's guide.
The six-step workflow
- Write a brief. One sentence naming the topic, audience, length and whiteboard style. A script can be attached instead.
- Add voice and brand. Choose from 400+ library voices, or film a short clip to build a twin with your face and cloned voice. Pasting a website address lets the agent read the logo, colours and fonts. In the Whiteboard Explainer format, the agent also casts a presenter at the board, or you can pick a saved character.
- Read the storyboard. Check that each scene teaches one idea and that every number and drawn label is right. When a choice would change the outcome, the agent pauses and offers about four options plus a blank line for your own.
- Fix it by chat. Requests such as "Scene 4, change the rate to 5%" work in plain words. Script changes by chat cost nothing.
- Approve with the cost shown. Nothing renders until approval, and the credit cost appears on the button. In the vendor's test, each scene had its own approve button and price.
- Edit, translate and export. Trim, reorder, re-voice or restyle the finished cut by chat. Saying "make it German" changes the voice, captions and on-screen details together. Exports are 16:9, 9:16 and 1:1.
Lesson length
The guide recommends keeping each lesson under 6 minutes, citing a 2014 edX study of 6.9 million video sessions in which median engagement time was at most 6 minutes. Longer courses are better built as a series. A Synthesys whiteboard explainer typically runs 1 to 10 minutes, and videos can reach 30 minutes.
The vendor's test
Synthesys gave the agent a brief for a 4-minute compound interest lesson in 16:9. It planned 20 scenes in under a minute, cast a presenter and produced a finished lesson with word-by-word captions. It also reported two problems:
- One script error (a scene titled "Third Year" that stopped at the year-two balance) was fixed by chat at no cost.
- The drawn board still read "Year 3: $121" after two paid redraws, and stayed that way in the final video.
- The finished video ran 3 minutes 5 seconds, not the 4 minutes requested, although the agent still called it a 4-minute lesson.
The guide advises fixing the words before paying for pictures and checking the length yourself.