The Complete Guide to AI Explainer Videos

The complete guide to making explainer videos with AI

An explainer video does one job: it makes something easier to understand than text could. Done well, it shortens onboarding, lifts a landing page, and answers the same question once instead of fifty times.

This guide walks the whole process, from a blank page to a finished, on-brand file, using AI to remove the parts of production that never added clarity in the first place. It is written for teams that need explainers regularly, not once.

Table of contents

1. What makes a good explainer
2. Step 1: Start from the right input
3. Step 2: Write (or generate) the script
4. Step 3: Choose a voice
5. Step 4: Build the visuals
6. Step 5: Edit in the browser
7. Step 6: Brand it
8. Step 7: Review and share
9. Step 8: Export and deliver
10. Localize for every market
11. A reusable checklist

1. What makes a good explainer

Three things separate an explainer that works from one that fills time:

• One idea, clearly. A good explainer answers a single question. If you are explaining three things, make three videos.
• The right length. Most explainers earn their keep between 60 and 120 seconds. Past that, attention drops fast.
• A clear next step. End by telling the viewer what to do: try it, read more, sign up.

Hold these in mind through every step below. Most weak explainers fail not on production value but on focus.

2. Start from the right input

Interlace builds video from three kinds of input: a typed prompt, a pasted script, or an uploaded document (PDF, DOCX, PPTX, TXT, MD, or a URL). Pick the one that matches what you already have.

• Have a rough idea? Start from a prompt.
• Have approved copy? Paste the script.
• Have a document (a one-pager, a spec, a help article)? Upload it and let Interlace structure it.

If you upload a document, decide whether it is the Source of truth (stay faithful to the wording) or Reference & context (free to rephrase). Marketing explainers usually want reference and context; anything with compliance weight wants source of truth.

3. Write (or generate) the script

Interlace drafts a script from your input: an intro, a logical sequence, and a close. Treat the draft as raw material.

A few rules that hold up every time:

• Open with the problem, not the product. Earn the next ten seconds.
• One idea per sentence. Short sentences are easier to narrate and easier to follow.
• Cut the fine print. If a line reads like a disclaimer, it belongs in text, not narration.
• Read it aloud. If you stumble, the narration will too.

This edit pass is the highest-leverage ten minutes in the whole process.

4. Choose a voice

Pick a narration voice from the library. For a polished, studio-like read, use a premium voice. For internal content, the standard voices are usually plenty.

If you produce a series, keep the same voice on every video so your library sounds like a single program rather than a set of unrelated clips. Recording your own voice is in early testing, available soon.

5. Build the visuals

Interlace generates scene visuals to match the script. You are not stuck with the first result: regenerate a scene, swap an image, or upload your own diagram where a specific visual matters.

If you have defined a style (see step 6), the generated scenes follow it, so the look stays consistent across the whole video.

6. Edit in the browser

Open the in-browser editor. The panel on the left is a chat: say what should change, such as "Make scene 2 shorter" or "Warmer voice", and the editor does it. To change one part of a scene, press V (Select), click that part of the picture, then say what you want. From here you can:

• Fix copy. Ask the chat to rewrite a scene, or open the Scene tab at the top of the left column (or press P) and edit the narration yourself.
• Redraw a picture, or change one part of it.
• Replace a picture with your own image.
• Add background music. Ask the chat, or use Background music in the Video tab. Interlace loops it and ducks it under the narration automatically.

Nothing to install. You touch only the parts you would actually change.

7. Brand it

Apply a custom style to lock your logo, colors, fonts, and visual look across every scene. Set this up early and every future explainer starts on brand instead of starting from scratch.

8. Review and share

Share the video with a link. Stakeholders comment on the share page, and version history in the editor lets you compare and restore earlier cuts. Protect the link with a password so a client sees it privately before anything goes public. A formal approval workflow is coming soon.

This replaces the email-and-attachment review loop with one link.

9. Export and deliver

Click Export and pick the resolution and frame rate. This device renders the MP4 in your browser; Interlace servers renders it for you, so you can close the tab. For an LMS, choose SCORM 1.2 instead of MP4. For client work, white-label share pages deliver the video under your client's brand.

10. Localize for every market

Once the source explainer is finished, generate localized versions (voiceover and on-screen text) in 28 languages, without re-recording. Get the source right first, since every language inherits its structure. Then prioritize the markets that matter and let the rest follow. (For the full localization workflow, see our post on localizing video into 28 languages.)

11. A reusable checklist

Before you export, run this:

• One clear idea, 60 to 120 seconds.
• Script opens with the problem, not the product.
• Narration reads cleanly aloud.
• Visuals follow your defined style.
• Custom style applied.
• Reviewed by the people who sign it off.
• Exported at the right resolution.
• Localized versions queued for key markets.

Start your first explainer

You have the process. The fastest way to learn the rest is to make one.

Join now at interlacevideo.com.