Creating your own avatar in Google Vids just got a lot easier

Google Vids is a video editing platform part of the Workspace suite of apps. While you can just edit videos on a typical timeline, Gemini adds a lot more features, including the options to turn Docs or Slides into videos, edit videos with simple text-based prompts, and even transform how people in the videos look. Besides video editing, Vids also lets you generate human-looking (or human-inspired) characters using AI, with options to customize characteristics such as age, gender, race, and more. Now, Google is adding more options to customize the avatar and make it resemble you.

Google is now adding an option in the Vids app that lets you create custom avatars using just images. Previously, users were required to go through the entire process of creating an avatar in Gemini using Google’s likeness tool. The latter required scanning your face from different angles and recording your voice.

The update now changes that by letting you create custom avatars with a single photo. However, if you use this option, you’ll have to choose from the existing voice options.

To create a custom avatar in Vids using your image, follow these steps:

1. Create a new Google Vids project and select the Create AI videos option.
2. At the bottom of the right pane, go to the Create tab and click Avatar.
3. Click Design a custom avatar
4. On the next page, you will now see an option to Upload image alongside the existing templates.
5. The next page shares instructions for the best image, after which you can click Upload to insert your image.
6. The tool then processes and enhances your image, following which you can use it to create a new clip.

Another benefit this offers over Gemini’s avatars is that you can also recreate multiple looks for various different clips using different photos. Doing so saves you the effort of adding custom instructions in text.

The feature is already rolling out for Google Workspace users and will soon roll out to Gmail users with Google AI Pro or Ultra subscriptions.