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Creating AI Avatar Videos When Your Character Is Not Human

A complete guide using Heygen, Google Flow, and a hybrid workflow


AI avatar videos are becoming a powerful resource for tutorials, onboarding, storytelling, and education. They help teams simplify communication and introduce complex topics in a clear and engaging format. But as more creators experiment with avatars, one surprising challenge appears quickly: human avatars are easy to animate, but non-human characters are not.


The AIO team recently explored this challenge while creating an animated video for our AI Buddy mascot. The process revealed a practical workflow that anyone can follow, especially if you are working with robots, mascots, or characters without realistic facial features. This guide breaks down the full process and shares what works best.


Why Human Avatars Are Simple

Heygen is one of the most popular tools for creating AI avatar videos. It can animate human faces with high accuracy because it uses facial tracking points. When the tool detects lips, eyes, jaw structure, and facial movement, it can generate very realistic lip sync.


To test this, the team uploaded the AI Buddy image, set the name, age, gender (female), selected a voice, and added a short script. The voice played perfectly. The setup was smooth. But nothing moved. There was no speech animation. The robot did not come alive.


The reason is simple.AI Buddy is a robot with a fixed shell and no mouth. There are no tracking points for Heygen to animate, so the system cannot generate talking motion. This is not a limitation of the script or the voice. It is a limitation of facial structure.

This led to an important insight.Talking animations rely on human faces. Non-human characters require a different solution.


Why Google Flow Works for Non-Human Characters

To solve the problem, the AIO team used Google Flow. Flow does not base animation on lips or facial markers. Instead, it animates the entire scene. This makes it suitable for robots, mascots, animals, and illustrated characters.


Upload the AI Buddy image.

The workflow looked like this:

  1. Upload the AI Buddy image.

  2. Write a short scene description.

  3. Paste the script.

  4. Generate an 8 second clip.


Flow produced expressive movement by animating gestures, glowing elements, light reflections, and small head tilts. Even without a mouth, AI Buddy could “speak” through motion and context. This made the avatar feel more alive and engaging.

The voice remained natural, and the visual behavior of the robot matched the tone of the message.



Best Workflow for Mixed Media Avatars

For the strongest result, use both tools in combination.

Step 1: Generate clean voice in HeygenHeygen provides smooth audio output with consistent tone, which is essential when the avatar is used across multiple scenes or videos.

Step 2: Animate the character or robot in Google FlowFlow gives the character motion that does not rely on lip sync.

Step 3: Sync both in CapCut or CanvaA quick alignment of voice and video creates a polished final video, even if the character is not human.


Best Practices for Creating AI Avatar Videos

During testing, the AIO team collected a set of practical guidelines that improve results:

  1. Choose the tool based on the character type

    • Human faces: Heygen

    • Robots and mascots: Flow, Runway, Pika Labs

  2. Use short scriptsGoogle Flow supports up to 8 seconds per clip, so break longer videos into smaller messages.

  3. Focus on gesture and movement instead of lipsRobots do not need mouth movement. Light hand gestures, glows, or simple head turns communicate clearly.

  4. Keep visual continuity across clipsUse the same background, camera angle, and lighting when you plan to merge multiple scenes.

  5. Combine tools for flexibilityGenerate voice in Heygen, animate in Flow, and merge them in a video editor.


Final Thoughts

Creating an AI avatar is easy when the character is human, but this experiment showed that non-human characters require a more creative approach. With the right tools and workflow, digital mascots like AI Buddy can deliver messages with personality, clarity, and movement even without facial features.

This opens the door for many more experiments in character-based learning, interactive tutorials, and AI-driven storytelling within the AIO community.


Continue exploring AI workflows with us by joining the AIO Community: https://community.ai-officer.com/feed

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