Preview an Animation
Watch your graphic loop live in the center stage while you edit — what you see in the preview is exactly what you'll export.
The center stage of HeyMotion is a live preview of your graphic. It plays your animation continuously while you work, so you can judge timing, wording, and brand look before you ever export. Crucially, the preview and the export are driven by the same engine — what you see is what you get.
#Overview
The preview stage renders your selected template at full 1920 × 1080, then scales it down to fit the studio window. It loops continuously: the animation plays start to finish, then plays again, over and over, so you never have to keep hitting play to review it.
#The Controls
- The stage — the center area, looping your current graphic.
- ↺ Replay — restarts the animation from the very first frame. Handy when you want to catch the opening beat, since a looping clip can be hard to time otherwise.
- The dimension menu (above the stage) — changes the canvas size; the preview reshapes to match.
#Previewing Changes Live
The preview is where all your edits show up:
- Content changes — type into the edit-panel fields and the preview updates after a brief pause (a short debounce so it isn't re-rendering on every keystroke).
- Brand changes — adjust a color, font, or background in the Brand panel and the whole graphic re-skins live in the preview.
- Dimension changes — switch aspect ratio and the stage instantly reshapes so you can see how the graphic sits in the new frame.
This makes the preview a fast feedback loop: tweak, watch, tweak again.
#Preview vs. Export — They Match by Design
A common worry with animation tools is that the preview and the final file won't look the same. In HeyMotion they do, on purpose.
The export renders the same 1920 × 1080 composition you see in the preview, frame by frame, using a virtual-time clock so every frame is exact. The preview is simply that composition scaled to fit your screen. Aside from the scaling, they are the same thing — so the preview is a reliable proof of the final result.
One thing to keep in mind: on non-16:9 dimensions the composition is currently scaled and centered rather than re-laid-out, and the preview reflects that exactly — so if you see spacing around a vertical graphic in the preview, you'll see it in the export too. See Canvas Sizes and Aspect Ratios for why.
#Best Practices
Type your real content before judging timing, so the preview shows your actual result rather than placeholder text. Use ↺ Replay to review the intro beat, which is easy to miss on a loop. And set your brand and dimension early, since both change how the graphic reads.
#Troubleshooting
If the preview stutters, freezes, or feels sluggish, it's usually a heavy image or a busy machine. See Troubleshoot a Slow or Frozen Preview.
#Related Articles
Happy with the preview? Move on to Export an MP4. If playback is choppy, see Troubleshoot a Slow or Frozen Preview.