Create a Chart
Animate your data — bars, lines, donuts, gauges, progress rings, and more, drawing on as the clip plays.
Goal: turn a data point into an animated chart that draws on screen. Expected result: a short animated MP4 of your chart. Required plan: Right now (beta): everything is free and unwatermarked. Nothing below is charged yet. Required assets: none — just your values and labels. Estimated time: about 5 minutes.
#Overview
Chart templates animate data — bars grow, lines draw, rings fill — so numbers feel alive instead of static. They live in the Data category. This guide covers nine:
- Bar chart — values as growing bars.
- Line chart draw — a line that draws across the plot.
- Donut percentage — a single percentage as a donut.
- Progress rings ×3 — three ring meters.
- Gauge/speedometer — a needle sweeping to a value.
- Trend arrow — an up or down trend indicator.
- Dot matrix (X in 100) — "X in 100" shown as filled dots.
- Leaderboard — a ranked list of entries.
- Progress up/down — a value moving up or down.
#When to Use It
Use Bar chart or Line chart draw to compare or show change over time. Use Donut percentage, Progress rings ×3, or Gauge/speedometer for proportions and single percentages. Use Dot matrix (X in 100) for "X out of 100" framing, Leaderboard for rankings, and Trend arrow or Progress up/down for direction.
#Before You Begin
You'll export an MP4, so use a Chromium browser — Google Chrome (desktop) is recommended. No account is required. Have your values and labels ready.
#Step-by-Step Instructions
- Open the studio at https://heymotion.io/app.
- Under Data, pick the chart that matches your data shape.
- In the edit panel, enter each value and its label.
- Set Clip length (seconds) so the chart has time to draw fully and settle — the animation reads best when it isn't rushed.
- Press ↺ Replay to watch it draw, then click ⬇ Export MP4.
#Options and Settings
| Control | Where | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Value fields | Right edit panel | The numbers plotted |
| Label fields | Right edit panel | Axis / series labels |
| Clip length | Bottom of edit panel | Duration (1–20s) |
| Brand panel | 🎨 Brand button | Chart colors and fonts |
On portrait canvases (9:16, 4:5), simpler charts — Donut percentage, Gauge/speedometer, Trend arrow — read better than a wide Bar chart or Leaderboard. See Canvas Sizes and Aspect Ratios.
#Example
A growth stat: choose Line chart draw, enter your monthly values, set the clip to 5 seconds so the line has time to draw across, and export. Cut it in as you narrate the trend.
#Best Practices
Give the chart enough clip length to finish drawing before the clip ends. Keep the number of series small so the chart stays legible. For a single percentage, a Donut percentage or Gauge/speedometer is cleaner than a full bar chart.
#Common Mistakes
Too many bars or lines make the chart unreadable — simplify. A clip that's too short cuts off the draw animation. Chart colors come from your brand kit, not per-chart controls, so adjust them in the Brand panel.
#Related Articles
Pair a chart with a single-figure Stat Card, and pick the right canvas in Canvas Sizes and Aspect Ratios.