The success of eLearning depends on the broad availability of educational materials that provide a high-quality delivery of high-quality content. One approach for high-quality delivery is to rely on a computer animated instructor avatar that not only speaks, but that also gestures to elucidate novel concepts and to convey an engaging personality that captures and maintains the learners’ focus. The traditional approach of manual key frame animation does not scale, as it requires a substantial time investment as well as artistic talent. We have developed a system that allows animating an instructor avatar quickly and without the prerequisite of artistic talent through a text script. In this paper we quantify the speed/quality tradeoff made by our scripted animation by comparison to manual animation.