10 claymation ideas to try
Tap one to put it in the box above.
What claymation is
Claymation, or clay animation, is stop-motion animation made with soft modelling clay. An animator poses a clay figure, takes one photo, moves it a tiny bit, takes the next photo, and repeats. Played back at 12 to 24 frames a second, the figure seems to move. A one-minute film shot at 12 frames a second needs 720 poses, which is why handmade claymation takes weeks.
The look is easy to spot: soft round shapes, fingerprints and seams in the clay, warm practical light, shallow depth of field, and a slightly jittery movement that makes everything feel handmade. Famous examples include Gumby, created by Art Clokey in the 1950s, and Aardman's Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run. The word "Claymation" itself was popularized by Will Vinton's studio in the 1970s.
On Shorts and Reels, clay is a cheat code. A tiny blob with eyes, a cutting mat and a fingertip that makes it come alive stops a thumb faster than most 3D. The reference channels in this style have hundreds of millions of views, for example the tabletop clay comedies by Nick Douillard and Plim Stop Motion (embedded and credited on this page, never copied).
How to make a claymation video with AI
- Start on this page. The composer already has the claymation style picked.
- Write one sentence. A tiny character, one goal, one problem: "A blue clay worm tries to cross the cutting mat before a thumb arrives."
- Set the length. 20 to 40 seconds suits a single gag; one run can make several episodes with the same character.
- Preview the script for free and change any line.
- Press Generate. You get clay-look pictures that move with a stop-motion step, voiced clay characters, captions and music, as one MP4.
The claymation look, in plain words
- Medium: tabletop plasticine stop motion: hand-sculpted figures with visible thumbprints, round glossy eyes, tiny mouths.
- Set: a green self-healing cutting mat with a fine grid on a workbench, a cluttered shelf blurred far behind.
- Light: soft bright overhead daylight with a gentle shadow; a cool blue-teal version for dramatic scenes.
- Camera: locked tabletop shots at the height of the character, a very slow push in, visible stop-motion stepping, hard cuts only.
- Voices and pace: two clay characters with warm, light voices; a new shot every 3 to 4 seconds; the last beat is a small gesture and a hold.
Tips that make clay videos work
- One character, one goal. Clay is about small stakes told big.
- Show the hand. A fingertip or tool in frame sells the handmade feel.
- Keep it short. Two or three beats and a reaction beat at the end.
- Use sound. Squishes, ticks and a soft score do half the comedy.
Price and what is free
New accounts get free credits, no card. The exact price of each claymation video, in credits, is on the Generate button before anything runs, and a step that fails is refunded.
A 15 second Claymation reel costs 1,060 credits on Basic. A 30 second one costs 1,990 on Basic, 6,250 on Premium and 14,340 on Ultra. New accounts get 400 free credits, no card. The Reel Factory plan gives 10,000 credits a month (see pricing).
Your first 15 second reel is free
New accounts get 400 free credits, no card. The exact price of every run is on the Generate button before anything runs.
The look, from the style
Claymation at a glance
- Look
- Hand-sculpted plasticine figures and sets with fingerprints, visible stop-motion jitter, warm practical light, shallow depth, often a hand entering the frame; cute blob comedy through to horror
- Kind of video
- Tiny sitcom
- Music
- Comedic
- Pace
- a new picture about every 3.5 seconds