How to Animate in Google Earth (like Jon Bois!)

This is a comprehensive tutorial on how to animate in the style of Jon Bois, using Google Earth. It's meant to be watched front-to-back, but I have timestamps below if you want to skip to a specific section.
The Rise, Lies and Demise of Jan Hendrik Schon: • The man who almost fak...
Some of Jon's videos:
- The Bob Emergency: • The Bob Emergency: a s...
- Every NFL Score Ever: • Every NFL Score Ever |...
- The Search for the Saddest Punt in the World: • The search for the sad...
This is a link to a zip file containing the images for my calendars, and my 3D cylinders. Feel free to import these into Google Earth and play around with them: drive.google.com/file/d/1y_Sf...
Google Earth Studio Tutorials by Google: • Google Earth Studio - ...
0:00 Intro & Software List
1:03 Google Earth Pro or Google Earth Studio?
3:23 Setup and Keyboard Shortcuts
4:38 Adding Images, Text, 3D Models, etc.
8:34 Choosing Camera Angles & Animating
11:18 Storyboarding & Organization
12:41 Rendering your Movie & Cropping the Watermark
16:14 Tips on Planning & Miscellaneous Advice
My Twitter: @bobbybroccole

[@BobbyBroccoli]

It was pointed out to me that the best way to animate scrolling (without zoom outs and zoom ins) is not actually to use a path! Paths have some weird camera restrictions. The easier and more versatile method is to just record yourself manually pressing the arrow keys to scroll.

[@lilnayr1]

Your the goat for this video

[@HabladorDesignado]

When Jon said that he used Google Earth for his videos, I thought he was joking. But man, this is amazing. Excellent video man, thank you ❤️

[@TheXeeman]

As an animator by trade, i had no idea you could do motion graphic stuff with google earth. Mind blown

[@mariohernandezjr1391]

I agree. This is an amazing zero-budget solution. As long as you are making a '3d PowerPoint' it's more capable than I expected.

[@ENCHANTMEN_]

This is like finding out that one of the best tools for analyzing digital radio signals is NES Tetris

[@trumanhanks1818]

Holy smokes I feel like I hit the jackpot. I remember a few years ago searching for something like this and there was nothing. Then I searched today and here you are, having uploaded this just 5 days ago?! You rock, man. Thank you.

[@BobbyBroccoli]

Glad it can help! Let me know if you need any more tips.

[@acaciaenator]

i didn't know that jon bois animated *everything* in google maps, that's crazy :O

[@oxygala]

If you gave me 500 tries to guess the software for those videos, I still wouldn't say Google Earth

[@captaindoctor2952]

this is one of the best tutorials for an incredibly specific thing that i have ever seen. i just have one question though: how do you think jon made the sea level rise in 17776? there's nothing in google earth to do that. if it wasn't for the curvature of the earth, you can kinda use polygons to do that, but for now i'm lost.

[@BobbyBroccoli]

You could potentially make a really large blue square, make it slightly transparent, and you could animate it by taking a snapshot of a single location, then rising the height of the square slightly, essentially making stop motion.

[@cashnelson2306]

So funny to see this! When I watched your Schon videos I thought "damn, this guy must use the same system Jon Bois does"

[@BananaButtPower]

I cannot even begin to describe how shocked this video has me. I can't believe you made the Jan Hendrik video on google earth. I am just o_o Honestly, it's impressive

[@ChillFuel]

Just went down the rabbit hole of all your videos and was wondering this the entire time. Really appreciate this video and Im gonna give it a go with my next video! I think you implement this editing style amazingly.

[@BobbyBroccoli]

I've been using Blender since the Bogdanoff series to be clear, this is out of date!

[@rwall514]

@@BobbyBroccoli Huh. I could have sworn you were still using Earth. How do you emulate Google Earth so well in Blender?

[@andyhighroller8217]

@@BobbyBroccoliI think I speak for the masses when I say, we’d love a short(as short/long as you have the time/patience for) video showing how to make videos like yours. I have ADHD, and I’ve never been able to lock onto content like yours & Jon Bois’. It’s just so mindmeltingly eye catching. Every camera swoop has a purpose. Every circle is a cylinder that ends up being a statistic or a point on a larger graph. It’s crazy, and looks incredibly difficult to even begin creating, though this video is one large glimpse behind the curtain that excites me. I’ve always had the itch of content creation in the back of my head, and I with I was in high school during the these days, as PowerPoints and video essays would’ve been something I’d take a lot more pride in making. I made several boring PowerPoints, but it was before I learned PowerPoints/video essays/etc can be un-ironically fun to watch(as opposed to random explosion gifs and what-not I experimented with as a high schooler in the early 2010’s.)

[@Quills64]

@@BobbyBroccoli please let us know how you're using blender!

[@stagyetivods]

Really, genuinely excellent work here. I recently watched your Schon series and I was curious how you and Jon Bois created animation like this. I *love* the use of something like Google Earth to create fantastic projects like this that the developers never intended it to do. Just great stuff, and thank you very much for sharing.

[@DIFB]

Wow! Just wow! I have been wondering for so long how Jon has been doing this and now thanks to you I know. Thank you sir!

[@SoupRS]

incredibly helpful, thanks!

[@Skiller71Studios]

Hi Soup Cx

[@anpeck464]

Thank you for continuing Johns style, no one else made a style quite as beautiful as his.

[@mpad4497]

Never thought my new fav KZbinr would be inspired by another KZbin I’ve loved for so long. How amazing thanks mate!

[@CullenCraft]

Omg I've been stumped on a project for months and this is the spark of inspiration that solves all of my roadblocks. Thank you, Mr. Broccoli!

[@celticguyph]

Thank you!! I've waited years for a proper tutorial making videos Jon Bois Style.

[@lisasolomey6334]

This is an incredible tutorial! i loved your series on Hendrick. You deserve more subscribers.

[@bowlofcereal7950]

I was so impressed by the google earth part of the jan hendrik videos and despite having google earth on desktop for so many years it had never occured to me its possible to do so much there omg? I'll definitely give it a try for fun now

[@skimmilkm]

Just watched the Bogdanoff documentary of yours, I could feel the Jon Bois inspiration! Incredible work.

[@CollinKeegan]

I know I'll probably be waiting a while if not forever, but oh how I wish for a Blender edition of this tutorial - love your style of animation and would love a blender tutorial that focuses on the tools needed for your animation style.

[@BobbyBroccoli]

Definitely coming this eventually!

[@grantkistel3411]

You are made for step by step explanation of topics 😭😭man could explain anything to me and I’ll have a better shot at getting it than if anyone else had

[@thunderb00m]

Man i miss those jon bois videos, glad to find the style lives on.

[@michaelcarrig627]

I was gonna ask and then you answered with a video. Thank you, the Bois style is fantastic.

[@JonathanCabot]

this is the best tutorial I have ever seen for anything

[@andyhighroller8217]

From the moment I saw a Jon Bois video, I’ve been both eager to create something similar & incredibly curious as to how to do it. And, while I am _still waiting_ on Discovery Channel’s season 33 premiere episode _“How It’s Made: The Bob Emergency”,_ *THIS* is a fantastic worldwide contribution to aspiring creators or those interested in learning the steps & skills to create. Thank you SO much!

[@SethLovestoTalk]

This is so cool! I have been looking for a tutorial like this for a while and this is incredibly well done and informative. I've used Google Earth but this perfectly lays out how to use it in the ways I wanted. My next video is on 20020 and I'll definitely be using this to make an intro

[@BobbyBroccoli]

Oh nice! Is it a video essay on 20020? What's the topic?

[@SethLovestoTalk]

@@BobbyBroccoli It is indeed! Here it is (Didn't end up taking the time for my own flyover, but will definitely use your tutorial for future stuff!) kzbin.info/www/bejne/jaPPlqJsqKadfbM

[@andaimb]

Just want to say that this video came in clutch for my final project for my comp class. Thanks for the tutorial!

[@Crow1911]

Extraordinary person. Wish you the best man.

[@oopsmuby3727]

top tier tutorial, thank you for this

[@shucklesweep7457]

This channel gonna blow up at this rate

[@n-lytics2053]

This is so cool, thanks for explaining this!

[@LambHoot]

yes! Been playing this week with the browser app to make simulated drone shots this week. Psyched to try the desktop app sometime

[@Sakanakao]

This is so weird and interesting and oddly practical. Thank you for sharing it.

[@jackg1135]

This was a fantastic tutorial! Thank you!

[@AdamRules420]

So stoked I found your channel

[@benrach7]

Wow. Worlds are colliding!! Great crossover episode

[@AwesomeAcousticsEnglish]

As both a content creator and someone who's not an animator but interested in learning about animation techniques, this is super interesting. I always wondered how you managed such dynamic camera movements in your videos

[@MarquisdeSuave]

Dude, I totally couldn't figure out where you got your video animation style and now I realize its a nice ode to his Lonnie Smith video. Nice work btw.

[@tapiomakinen]

The whole time I was watching your 'Schön series', I was wondering :' how on EARTH did he make this?'

[@syystomu]

Thank you so much! This could be what I've been looking for, or at least it seems promising!

[@marcinmiszczyk]

I was looking for this video for the last five years.

[@thegetbacker]

This awesome information and well thought out. Really appreciate it!!

[@thegetbacker]

Can anyone tell me how to make the earth blank? I am having trouble figuring that out. Thanks in advance!

[@BobbyBroccoli]

So the Earth can't really be made blank, but you can turn off terrain and 3D buildings, and put a giant black image over it to just make a void like I did in my video.

[@thegetbacker]

@@BobbyBroccoli awesome. Thank you for getting back to me. Again, awesome video!

[@z50king29]

Jon Bois needs more recognition for his beautiful

[@wnbadata]

thanks so much for this! I'm def going to have fun experimenting

[@warpdrivefueledbyinsomnia8165]

Bobby, you are a saint.

[@elsandro2702]

Love this, thank you some much!

[@theena]

Thank you for sharing this.

[@TheStringBreaker]

*Phenomenal Video! Subbed!*

[@BigBrezzy]

This tutorial is Pretty Good.

[@Vrunnn]

This is so helpful. Thanks!!

[@a100enbajada7]

this is super helpful, thank you

[@KingRevvi]

This is cool. I’ll never use it now… but if I was in school, I totally would. Tbh if this use case gets popular, they’ll definitely lean into it

[@sinfinite7516]

Great video!

[@HarmsFootball]

Brilliant! Thanks, man!

[@usernameusername4037]

Amazing tutorial.

[@BasedChe]

I was watching your video that just blew up and I was like this looks exactly like a Jon bois video

[@MultiSciGeek]

Very interesting. I'm gonna try this. Thanks!

[@michaeljonesmedia]

Wow... I just assumed he used Prezi... Amazing work, thanks for this!

[@insightfool]

This is so great, thanks

[@patrickrauh996]

Dude , i doesn't even make Videos and this is fantastic anyway .. the fact that you Share your wisdom With Others 💓

[@TheInfectous]

I'd kind of recommend, just sorta, learning blender. You'll have to do a bit more setup and extra stuff but it'd likely be worth it in both the quality and additional freedom you have to do creative things.

[@BobbyBroccoli]

I have! That's what the Bogdanoff series was made in

[@XoXFaby]

​@@BobbyBroccoli That makes sense, I was really confused why someone would use Google Earth over Blender or similar.

[@doug9176]

@@BobbyBroccoli I am glad haha

[@thisbox]

While I'm not much of an editor, it's still a nice video for what it is.

[@joelsmith3473]

Your image scaling tip at 7:00 is your leg up over Bois. Many times his graphs and self-made graphics suffer from being terribly low-res when there isn't a good reason for them to be. If only Google Earth supported svg overlays. However, a compromise is to use one level of quality for wide shots and a high level of quality in areas you are going to zoom on. Using gif and png images for this will preserve those hard edges where needed and facilitate blending of the two quality grades. Running the video through an anti-aliasing filter can really help here, too. Another thing Bois' videos suffer from that I did not notice in yours is the delay in terrain/building rendering. This might be down to how Bois renders his videos, perhaps doing it live rather than through Earth's internal rendering. You got a new sub and I look forward to your continued growth!

[@BobbyBroccoli]

Yeah a lot of these problems are inherent to Google earth. I've since switched to blender and it has built in SVG to mesh objects functionality. Any PNGs like my calendars I make in something huge like 8k dimensions.

[@keenanirwin6702]

That's just tactical crustiness, and is jon bois most powerful tool.

[@torphedo6286]

Wow, I didn't even know there was a Google Earth client app, or that it supported animations / video export, or that you could import 3D models. I assumed you were using Blender or your own custom demo program to render everything. Nice.

[@AlDimond]

when i saw the jan hendrik schon videos i came real close to leaving a 'this video is pretty good' comment but thought it might be taken wrong, so ... i'll do it here: this video is pretty good.

[@pederpbsds]

Pure madness

[@ahmu.k6282]

love it!

[@Fanaro]

Dope!

[@rm_steele]

i thought the Hendrik series seemed quite similar to the Pretty Good series graphics, cool to see how it works!

[@Draaack]

underrated

[@DropOfMidnightOfficial]

i thought that your series' visuals reminded me a lot of football 17776 ! turns out there was a reason! :D

[@NigelMelanisticSmith]

15:38 Just Incase anyone else is doing this in VEGAS, you don't need to screenshot, there are tutorials online on how to "freeze frame", which lets you prolong the final frame to make a pause, without screenshoting

[@analytical768]

yeeeeesssss finally

[@v3g7nlif37]

This is genius and stupid at the same time. i like it.

[@RichoRosai]

Remembering when it was actually called Keyhole before Google bought it sure makes me feel old--or rather realize that I am. Yep, and back before Sony bought Vegas from Sonic foundry, ver. 1. Back in those days we actually had to gather kindling from the forest to render our videos. True story.

[@williamchamberlain2263]

Nice!

[@Z33N_THE_HEDGEHOG]

I've only now realized that you picked up this animation style from him AFTER I Discoverd Secret Base 2 years or so after discovering your Channel. And I said "Hey! These Secret base guys have videos like Bobbybroccoli, I wonder if they Drew inspiration from him" only to find out they made the style of animation first like OHHHHHHH

[@maksiksq]

Thank you

[@jlo9993]

duddeee so this is why watching/reading 17776 reminded me of you so much!!!

[@monkingflame9493]

That is insane. like you rvideos look awesome and are in the top 1% of things I found on youtube. Using google Earth for it just sounds insane. I thought you created 3D models put them into a scene in Blender mapped out a camera path and had it moving. syncing your voice over to that and than have blender render the animation as individual png und with the image sequencer than render the video with the audiotracks avoiding any reprocessing and licencing fees for videoediting software. While I respect your workflow and you are probably fast doing it, I wonder if you could cut down on compute time using Blender for the entire thing instead of creating the models in x loading them to google earth, animating it, rendering a video, rerendering it in handbrake to get rid of the watermark and than editing and rendering it again in smth like aftereffects. But hey, the product is good, so as long as there is no harm done while production I don't mind how you make them.

[@nomorefielders]

My first video was compared to Jon Bois and now I have to live up to that comparison. That was super helpful. Thank you

[@BobbyBroccoli]

Let me know if you have any specific questions!

[@Chris_Cross]

I had no idea any of that was possible. When I saw the title I was just like wtf

[@emilelachapelle6605]

''I recommend starting location where it is night time since the images you will import will block all the natural sunlight and may cause worldwide mayhem.''

[@JoelIvoryJohnson]

14:30 - For those to which this is useful, Davinci Resolve (Video Editor) is able to consume these video files just fine.

[@JaibaSSBM]

OOOOOOOOOOOH NOW I SEE

[@mariahatton7792]

Now that you animate using Blender, what are the similarities or differences to the workflow featured in this tutorial?

[@BobbyBroccoli]

It's a pretty significant overhaul, almost all for the better. Just a quick list: 1. You can import audio in and keyframe to that directly, meaning camera movements can be different lengths without stretching or squashing clips 2. All the 3D modelling can be done in Blender obviously, saving a lot of time and allowing for editing on the fly 3. Great lighting and shading 4. Built-in text!!! The most immediate downside is the lack of map data, but even then Blender has an add-on called OSM that incorporates it quite easily. Really no downsides besides a bit of a hefty learning curve

[@CringePoop]

i love using programs for things they wernt meant to do!

[@anaveragejoehanginground]

Follow-up suggestion: how to make charts & presentations like jon bois

[@BraxtonMeyer]

who is the Jon Bois guy, and why are your animations so much better than his?

[@hullinstruments]

I did not realize you were a fellow Protonix nerd. But more about that in a moment… if I remember correctly….John is from the Atlanta area? I recognized his accent the first time I found one of his videos a few years ago. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a sporting event or watched one on television. Considering I’ve never owned a television. But I eat up his content like crack rocks I’m from Chattanooga, and something I have in common with mr. broccoli, I am a fellow photonics nerd. I have my own small humble metrology lab and business specializing in component level board repair for test equipment … Mostly my clients are small labs and industrial folks. But as a hobby, I pretty much spent the last 10 years dumping all of my spare change into building a professional “academia quality” photonics laboratory. In the corner of my electronics lab. Hang around enough government and academia auctions, and you can get this stuff for pennies on the dollar basically scrap price if you’re in the right place at the right time. So Bobby broccoli if you’re around Chattanooga anytime give me a shout … I’ve usually got at least a few Kilowatts of optical output power in the lab at any given time. just a bunch of smaller to medium size sources I’ve picked up at auctions and stuff like that. Quite a few of them from eBay. I’ll never forget the first time I stumbled across a coherent brand “fap” 40W or 80W modules on eBay for under $100. That much optical output power!? Under $100?!? I went on a buying frenzy. everything from super rare wavelengths and topologies, to crazy high power fiber/Metal centering 3-D printing/cutting stuff. Even a few really nice and beefy green laser heads capable of outputting 5-10W of pure beautiful green output. check out starlight photonics eBay page he’s always got some incredible stuff. i’m sure you’ve been keeping an eye on the “breaking taps“ KZbin channel and has incredible foray into lasers and optics and what he shared with the community. There are so many great laser content channels like Les’s lab, zenodilodon, and others! Truly a golden age of photonics content and hardware readily available to anyone

[@doug9176]

First of all, this is fantastic, I absolutely love that you are using Google Earth in such an innovative way. I must ask though, why don't you just use Blender? You could achieve any 3d model or text and effects that you like from within the software itself, you could even edit the final video in blender, not to mention that the lighting and animation rendering options are endless compared to Google Earth. Is it just that Blender's interface looks a bit intimidating? Compared to Google Earth I would suggest that blender is at least logical. I admit it took me a while to get comfortable with it. It is free and open source too, which is a massive bonus. You videos look great and the mind boggles at the amount of time it would have taken to make all the text as image files, then import them and organise them in a convoluted storyboarding process.

[@BobbyBroccoli]

Been using Blender since the Bogdanoff series!

[@doug9176]

@@BobbyBroccoli Silly me, I just noticed you had said that in another reply. I love the videos, it is the same sort of guilty pleasure as JCS criminology for me. Keep up the great work. I'm just in the process of deciding whether to go on to a masters in electrical engineering or in astro physics instead. Any advice? X

[@BobbyBroccoli]

@@doug9176 I'm obviously going to be biased towards electrical since that's what I took (eng physics specifically, but close enough). Look up the courses that you'll take in each degree and see which one has more that sound cool

[@Rammkard]

I knew you videos looked like john bois I'm not crazy

[@wanderingknight10]

Bobby broccoli ….niiiiiiiiiiicccccceeeeeee!!!!

[@krank23]

Gotta be honest, I figured you were just using Blender or something. But Google Earth? That's… impressive. Kinda weird, but impressive.

[@StormCrownSr]

I have now watched a man not only show that Google Earth can be used as a video editor, but taught me how to do so too. So how come I still don't believe it's real?

[@necrolavigne]

i watched this just to watch because i enjoy your videos, but i feel you could accomplish the same effect with less restrictions if you just used blender :p not that this is a bad in anyway, just that the workarounds you had to do, such as text with custom font, is something blender can do. but i can understand if editing in google earth is an easier approach if you have more background in video editing

[@BobbyBroccoli]

Blender is a great tool, just not one I have experience in! I specifically went with Google Earth because I was drawing inspiration from Jon Bois' work, and there was significant interest in his fanbase to know how he actually does it. There's actually a decent amount of automation in the camera movements for Google Earth, which makes it a tad easier to get into, plus the advantage of satellite imagery if you're doing anything with geography.

[@necrolavigne]

@BobbyBroccoli true! the satellite images are definitely a feature unique to Earth lol. and i guess i didn't think about it, but yeah the automated camera movements are much quicker to use i imagine!

[@BobbyBroccoli]

I will look into Blender as a backup though, I'm sure there are some benefits of using it.

[@BobbyBroccoli]

lmao I'm using blender now, the long term benefits are worth the learning curve

[@necrolavigne]

@@BobbyBroccoli oh nice!!! yeah it's definitely hard to get into but the uses of it are incredible. also funny, i got notified of your reply while i was rewatching your pajama sam videos lol

[@diggpen1249]

This video is great but I have one question that don't think was answered in the tutorial. How do you get the earths surface to render all black like at 16:40? I'm way more interested in the way the camera can operate to do transitions and stuff with just a dark background but can't figure out how to black out the earth.

[@BobbyBroccoli]

That's pretty easy, I just imported a fully black PNG and stretched it all over the Earth. Turn off terrain and 3D building for a fully flat environment

[@diggpen1249]

@@BobbyBroccoli Thank you for the quick reply!

[@oceanflan_]

thanks so much for this! i was wondering, though, is there a way to make that black background cover the earth besides just taking a black image and stretching it out manually?

[@BobbyBroccoli]

No unfortunately not, it was the easiest method I found. Remember to turn off 3d terrain and buildings if you want a flat black canvas, otherwise they might clip into it

[@oceanflan_]

@@BobbyBroccoli oof alright. really appreciate the reply though, thank you! another question though that i thought of, while i’m here: how do you do the time of day / star and sun movement? i remember there was a part in the schön series (and i know i saw jon do it in bob emergency as well) where you had like a “timelapse” of day-to-night-and-day-to-night and i’m not sure how you get that.

[@BobbyBroccoli]

@@oceanflan_ There is a time of day/date menu in the buttom toolbar. If you turn it on it lets you keyframe the time/date into the viewpoints as well as the location. It's kinda finicky though and it took forever to get something that looked nice

[@oceanflan_]

@@BobbyBroccoli alright, noted. thank you again :)

[@tonyturner4602]

😂watched a couple of other videos before this, I was like “hey, this blokes ripping off Jon Bois….”