AI explainer video maker: explain a process in three animated steps

Write what you are explaining, who it is for, the three steps and the exact labels. Claude Opus 5.5 turns that brief into a short animated explainer built from cards, arrows, diagrams and text, and the site renders it as a 1080p MP4 of 15, 30 or 60 seconds. No editing skills or timeline needed.

  • 15, 30 or 60 seconds
  • 16:9, 9:16 or 1:1
  • 1080p, 30 fps MP4
  • Cards, arrows, diagrams and text drawn in code

Real sample · 15 s · 16:9

This sample explains how a video on this site is made, in four steps. Claude Opus 5.5 wrote the animation from the brief below, and the generator's own renderer turned it into the MP4. It was made for this site in a Claude Code session, not by a customer.

Brief: An explainer titled "How an Opus 5.5 video is made". Four steps light up one after another along a line: Prompt, Code, Frames, MP4. Give each step a small scene (a prompt being typed, code being written, frames filling a grid, a player with sound) and a one-sentence caption. Cream background, orange highlight, serif headings. End on "Prompt in. MP4 out." and opusvideogen.com.
Use this brief

What the sample shows and how to reuse it

The input is a paragraph of text: a title, the steps in order, what each step should show, the colors and the closing line. The output is a 15-second, 16:9 MP4 in which the steps light up one after another along a line. To explain your own process with it:

  1. Replace the title with the question your viewer has, such as "How a refund is processed".

  2. Replace the four step names with yours, in order. Three or four steps fit 15 seconds.

  3. Give each step one small scene and a caption of one short sentence.

  4. Keep the palette or name your own colors, and change the closing line to your takeaway.

Cut a complex process down to three steps

A short explainer works when the viewer can hold the whole process in mind at once. Before you write the brief:

Start from the outcome

Write the one thing the viewer should understand at the end, then keep only the steps that lead there.

Group sub-steps under three verbs

Ten small actions usually fall into three stages, such as Draft, Review and Publish. Name each stage with a verb or a short noun.

Fix the exact labels

Put every label, name and number in quotation marks and keep labels to about three words. Text appears as Opus 5.5 writes it into the code, so exact wording in the brief is what you get.

Leave out branches and exceptions

If the process has several paths, explain the main one. Use 30 or 60 seconds, or a separate video, for the rest.

Edit an explainer brief

Two suggested templates: a team workflow and a product feature explained from facts you supply. Each one states which labels appear in each scene, in what order and for how long. Fill in your details and read the brief before you take it to the generator; nothing is generated until you press Generate there.

Suggested briefs: neither template has been rendered yet, so this page has no video for them. Check the result against your facts before you use it.

Template
Your details

Empty fields use the example value. The example product and fact are made up; replace them with yours.

Brief that goes to the generator

A 15-second explainer: "How a blog post goes live", for new team members. Cream background, dark text and one orange highlight; flat cards, arrows and simple icons drawn from shapes; no people, no voiceover. 0–3 s: the title "How a blog post goes live" appears at the top. 3–12 s: three cards appear from left to right, about 3 seconds each, joined by arrows that draw before the next card: "Draft", "Review", "Publish". The current card is highlighted in orange while the others dim. Each card shows only its label and an icon. 12–15 s: all three cards stay on screen and the line "Every post is reviewed before it goes live" appears below them; hold it for 2 seconds. Use exactly these labels and add no other text.
Use this brief

Your edits stay in this browser tab; they are not added to the link or to analytics.

A 15-second explainer storyboard

Three beats are enough for most short explainers. The timings below are a starting point, not a measured rule; write them into the brief so Claude Opus 5.5 can check its preview frames against them.

  1. 0–3 s

    Name the question

    Show the title alone, such as "How a blog post goes live". Nothing moves except the title coming in.

  2. 3–12 s

    Walk through the steps

    About three seconds per step: the arrow draws, the next card appears and becomes the highlighted one. One label per card.

  3. 12–15 s

    Land the takeaway

    Keep all steps visible so the viewer sees the whole process, add one closing line and hold for about two seconds.

Explanations that fit, and ones that don't

Good fits

  • A workflow with three to five steps in a fixed order, such as an approval or an onboarding process.
  • How a product feature works, using facts and numbers you supply.
  • A concept that can be drawn: input to output, a cycle, a before-and-after or a simple chart.
  • A loop for a help article, a slide or a social post where the text has to stay readable.

Poor fits

  • Anything that needs a presenter, real footage or a recording of your actual screen.
  • A full tutorial: the longest video is 60 seconds.
  • An explanation that depends on narration while the site's voiceover option is switched off.
  • Diagrams that must match a technical specification exactly unless you check every label in the result.

Announcing a launch is a different job: a launch video introduces a product and asks for one action, while an explainer shows the steps of how something works. Write the brief for the job you need. See the product launch video maker

What an explainer video costs

You pay in credits for what Opus 5.5 actually uses. A video starts at 50 credits; a 15-second one never costs more than 200, typically around 40, and a 30-second one never more than 300. Credits charged ahead and not used come back, and a failed video is refunded in full. Videos from accounts without a purchase carry a moving watermark.

See credit plans and packs

Explainer video FAQ

How can I explain a process with a short animated video?

Reduce the process to three ordered steps with short labels, decide the one line the viewer should remember, and write both into a brief with timings: title, then each step for about three seconds, then the takeaway. Paste the brief into the generator, choose 15 or 30 seconds and a format, and press Generate. Claude Opus 5.5 writes the animation as code and the site renders the MP4.

Which tool can make an explainer video from a written brief?

This generator takes a written brief and returns a rendered MP4: Claude Opus 5.5 plans the scenes, writes them as HTML animation and checks preview frames, and the site renders the result. Template editors work the other way round: you start from a template and arrange scenes by hand. Choose by what you have; if you have the steps and labels in writing, a brief is the shorter path.

Can I add a voiceover to an explainer?

Only when the site has voiceover switched on. Then the Sound control offers Voiceover next to Music and Silent, and you write the narration in the brief. When the option is greyed out, choose music or silent and carry the explanation in on-screen labels.

Can I upload images, icons or footage?

No. Shapes, icons, arrows and charts are drawn in code. If a logo or diagram you want is on a public web page, link the page in the brief and Opus 5.5 can use public images from it.

Can I change a single scene or frame afterwards?

No. There is no timeline and no frame-by-frame or chat-based editing. Edit the brief, for example the label of step 2, and generate a new video. Each run is charged separately, and a failed run is refunded.

How do I keep the text short enough to read?

Keep each label to about three words and each caption to one short sentence, show one step at a time, and say "add no other text" in the brief. For 15 seconds, plan on a title, three labels and one closing line.

Should an explainer be landscape or vertical?

16:9 (1920×1080) suits help articles, slides and YouTube, and lets steps run left to right. 9:16 (1080×1920) suits Reels, Shorts and TikTok; ask for the steps to stack top to bottom. 1:1 (1080×1080) suits LinkedIn and X feeds. The format is chosen in the controls before generating.

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