Create an Animated Reel

Use Animated Reel to turn your story into a vertical MP4. This tool is available with Pro and above plans.

The Reel uses your For Stories frame order, photo layouts, and crops. Check those frames before you create it.

Choose the motion

1. Open your story’s share page and select Animated Reel.
2. Choose Slide, Frame, Fade, or Zoom.
3. Set the timing, easing, and direction.
4. Watch the looping example on the right, under Animation example. It shows the motion with example shapes, not your finished story.

Style	What moves
Slide	Images and text enter and exit with directional movement.
Frame	The whole page moves together and scales down as it exits.
Fade	Images and text change opacity.
Zoom	Images and text use a zoom effect.

For Slide and Frame, choose Up, Down, Left, or Right. Direction is not used for Fade or Zoom.

Set the timing

All timing values are in seconds.

• Page duration controls how long a page stays in the Reel.
• Entry controls the time for elements to enter.
• Exit controls the time for elements to leave.
• Stagger between items controls the delay between elements. Frame style moves the page together and does not use stagger.

Text follows the images. Text lines can enter separately. Long passages use a shorter stagger so there is time to read. The cover has a shorter pause than content pages.

Choose Gentle, Smooth, Spring, or Linear under Easing. The curve and dot show how the motion changes speed. The default is Slide, with Up direction and Gentle easing.

Create and preview

1. Select Create Reel in the bottom toolbar.
2. Keep the page open while the Reel is generated. The Generating Reel window shows its estimated length. Select Cancel to stop it.
3. Play the finished Reel in the preview. The preview label changes from Animation example to Your Reel.
4. To try different settings, select Start Over. Then set the motion again and select Create Reel.

The Reel above is a finished export of a 13-page story. It is a vertical MP4, and it plays without sound.

Keep this tab in front while the Reel is generated. If you change to a different tab, generation pauses and the page shows Generation paused. Return to this tab to continue. Come back to the tab and generation continues. It does not fail.

Video covers play without sound. Review the motion and give readers enough time for the text before you share the result.

Download or send

Select Download MP4 to save the finished file on your computer.

To save it on a phone or send it to someone else, select Send to yourself or others. Wait for the upload, then select Copy Link in the Share your Reel window. Exposure also emails the link to your account email address.

Anyone with the link can access the Reel for seven days. A new Reel send replaces the previous Reel link. It does not replace your Story frame link. Closing and reopening the modal keeps the current link.

On the shared page, the Reel starts loading automatically. You can watch it before you save it. The page shows Your Reel is ready to preview. when you can play it.

To keep the file, select Download reel. The button shows Preparing download… while it gets the file ready, then shows Download reel again. Supported mobile browsers open the share sheet so you can save the video; computers download it. Check your photo library before posting.

The shared page shows how long the link stays available and the file size. It adds the video length when the Reel loads. If the Reel does not load, select Retry.

Need help?

Use the Exposure contact form.