Digital Asset Management
Create videos (Beta)
Last updated: Nov-15-2023
Overview
Using Cloudinary's video generation feature you can programmatically create videos at scale. Create a manifest in JSON format to provide a flexible and reusable template allowing you to generate multiple videos using different assets, colors and text.
To create a video you need to supply a manifest_json to the create_video endpoint of the Upload API.
This is the manifest_json that was used to create the video above:
You can use the same manifest as a template from which to create new videos:
Try create_video in Postman
There is no SDK support yet for create_video so you need to call the REST API directly. To help you, you can use our Postman collection.
Key concepts
The key concepts are based on common video editing tools.
Tracks
You can think of a track as a layer of your video. A track can contain a number of clips, which play sequentially in time. You can control the position of a track in space and time using keyframes.
Clips
Clips are the media elements that sit inside tracks. Clips can be of type image, video, text or color. You can apply effects to clips, and transitions between clips.
Keyframes
Keyframes are specific moments in time within a track. For each keyframe you can specify an x,y position of the track, and its opacity. Using opacity, you can make a track visible or invisible, so it only appears at a particular time in the video.
Transitions
Video creation supports GL transitions, which specify how one clip blends into the next. Transitions can be used at the start and end of tracks as well, by using color clips with a transparent color.
Effects
Effects can be added to any clip. Currently, only the Ken Burns effect is supported, which allows you to zoom in and pan from a full frame to a new center, or zoom out to full frame.
Nested tracks
Tracks can be defined and nested as clips within a parent track. This allows you to apply transitions between tracks as if they were clips, and also to apply effects to tracks.
Create a manifest
To create a manifest you need to have an idea of what your end video will look like, then plan out what layers (tracks) you'll need.
The following instructions walk through how to create the video in the Overview section. To follow along, create a blank .json file and paste in the code snippets. Or, you could build on the blank template in the Side-by-side editor.
Specify the global video parameters
The global parameters specify the dimensions of the overall video, its duration in seconds and the frame rate:
Add the first two tracks
The first track is made up of one clip, a colored rectangle. This takes on the dimensions of the overall video, and is the bottom layer of the video.
The second track contains an image clip. This image is stored in our demo product environment, so if using the Side-by-side editor, ensure that in the Settings you set the Cloud Name to demo. Otherwise, you can upload the image to your own product environment, and make sure the public ID in the media array matches the one you've uploaded (i.e. replace docs/retirement with the public ID of the image in your product environment).
The image is resized using the fill cropping action to fill the dimensions of the track, and is positioned in the top left corner of the overall video. As its height is the same as the overall video, but its width is less, it appears to take up the area on the left side of the video, overlaid on track 1. The duration of the clip is set in the clipDefaults section for reasons that are explained in the next step.
Here's how the two tracks look together:
Add an effect to the clip
To make the image appear to zoom in and out, duplicate the clip and change the duration of each to four seconds. This is the reason for putting it in clipDefaults, so it doesn't need to be specified in each clip. Add a clipEffect to the clips that alternately zooms in and out for each clip.
Here's the video with the clip effect:
Add the third track
The third track is the rectangle that starts to appear after two seconds, and moves down for one second to its final position. Keyframes are defined to enable this animation.
Here's how the video looks now:
Add the fourth track
Next up is the text that goes inside the rectangle. This is animated in the same way as the third track, but five pixels lower.
Here's the video:
Add the fifth track
The fifth track is the text that says "Elder Care & Nursing Home". Again, this uses keyframes to make the text appear after one second and drift up for one second.
Here are the five tracks in the video:
Add the final track
The final track is the main block of text. For this, a textArea clip is used.
Here's the whole video with all six tracks:
Define variables
The video is now complete, but the manifest cannot yet be used as a template from which to create more videos. In order to unleash the full potential of this manifest, add variables so that you can change different elements of the video.
Define these variables before the tracks:
Now, replace the relevant values in the tracks, with variables. For example, bgColor in the first track:
Now you have your manifest, you can generate a video using the create_video endpoint of the Upload API, plus you can create a CLT template file from your manifest, and generate a different video using the variables.
Generate a video using the create_video endpoint
You can generate a video using the create_video endpoint of the Upload API.
For example:
You can use an unsigned upload preset instead of signing the request.
Create a CLT template file
To create a CLT template file:
- Copy your
manifest_jsoninto a file called CltManifest.json. - Zip up the CltManifest.json file. You can give the ZIP file any name, e.g., care-template.zip.
- Upload the ZIP file to Cloudinary as a video or auto asset type. If using the Media Explorer to upload the ZIP file, it will automatically be recognized as a CLT file, and uploaded as a video asset type, making its delivery URL of the form:
https://res.cloudinary.com/<cloud_name>/video/upload/<file_name>.clt.
Generate a video from a CLT template file
To generate a video from a CLT template file:
- Start with the delivery URL of the CLT template, e.g.:
https://res.cloudinary.com/demo/video/upload/docs/care-template.clt - Set the extension to a video format, such as
.mp4, e.g.:https://res.cloudinary.com/demo/video/upload/docs/care-template.mp4 - Optionally set any global settings that you want to apply to the video and any variables that you want to change using the
custom_functiontransformation parameter with the function type set to render (fn_renderin URLs), e.g.:fn_render:fps_25;vars_(bgColor_mediumpurple;imageUrl_oldhands;titleText_Loving%20and%20caring%20always%20go%20hand%20in%20hand)
For example:
/ character and prefix the value with s:. For example, if the above public ID was docs/oldhands, the syntax would be imageUrl_s:docs%252Foldhands.Side-by-side editor and viewer
You can try out some example templates and create your own, using the Side-by-side editor and viewer.
demo.Create a slideshow
Here's an example of a simple slideshow created with video generation:
This is the manifest:
Reference
Global video parameters
Global video parameters apply to the video as a whole.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| width | Required. The width of the video in pixels. |
| height | Required. The height of the video in pixels. |
| duration | The duration of the video in seconds. Default: 10. |
| frame_rate | The frames rate (frames per second) of the video. Default: 20. |
Example:
Track parameters
Track parameters specify the behavior of a track. Tracks can be thought of as layers. The first track in the manifest is the bottom layer, and the last track is the top layer.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| x | The horizontal position of the track in pixels relative to the top left of the video. |
| y | The vertical position of the track in pixels relative to the top left of the video. |
| width | The width of the track in pixels. |
| height | The height of the track in pixels. |
| startOffset | The time at which the track starts relative to the whole video. |
| endOffset | The time at which the track ends relative to the whole video. |
| radius | A value indicating how much to round the corners of the track. Specify the number of pixels (e.g. 100) or a percentage (e.g. 50%). |
| keyframes | See Keyframes. |
| clipDefaults | The default parameters to be used by all clips in the track. Specify any of the relevant clip parameters. |
| clips | See Clip parameters. |
Example:
Keyframes
Keyframes are specific moments in time within a track. Each keyframe is an object with a key specifying the time. Specify either:
- The number of milliseconds from the start of the track (e.g.
2000). - A percentage relative to the track duration (e.g.
40%).
If specifying keyframes, you must specify one for time 0.
The parameters of each key are:
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| x | The horizontal position of the track in pixels relative to the top left of the video. |
| y | The vertical position of the track in pixels relative to the top left of the video. |
| opacity | The level of opacity. 1 means opaque, while 0 is completely transparent. Range: 0 to 1. |
Example:
Clip parameters
Clips can be of type: image, video, text, textArea, color or nested.
The parameters to use in the clip depend on the type.
Image and video clip parameters
Use the image or video type for media clips.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| type |
Required. The type of clip. Possible values: image, video. |
| media |
Required. An object containing the URL or public ID of the image or video, the asset type (image or video), and the delivery type (e.g. upload or fetch). |
| transformation | A Cloudinary transformation in URL syntax. |
| clipDuration | The duration of the clip in milliseconds. |
| transitionDuration | The duration of the transition between clips in milliseconds. |
| transition | The name of the transitions (from GL transitions). |
| clipEffect | An object of effect parameters. |
Example:
Text clip parameters
Use the text type for short, one-line texts.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| type |
Required. The type of clip. Possible values: text. |
| text | The text to display. |
| textMaxWidth | The maximum width of the text (it will squeeze the text to fit the width). |
| textAlign | The alignment of the text within the maximum width. Possible values: left, right, center. Default: left (or center if invalid value). |
| fontSize | The size of the font in pixels. |
| fontType | The type of font. Google fonts are supported. |
| fontColor | The color of the font. Specify a name or hex code (e.g. #ffd). |
| textBgColor | The background color of the text. Specify a name or hex code (e.g. #ffd). |
| textBgRadius | A value indicating how much to round the corners of the background color rectangle. Specify the number of pixels (e.g. 100) or a percentage (e.g. 50%). |
| textPadding | The amount of padding to add to the background color rectangle. Specify the number of pixels. |
Example:
Text area clip parameters
Use the textArea type for multi-line texts.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| type |
Required. The type of clip. Possible values: textArea. |
| textAlign | The horizontal alignment of the text within the maximum width. Possible values: left, right, center. Default: left (or center if invalid value). |
| textVerticalAlign | The vertical alignment of the text within the maximum height. Possible values: top, middle, bottom. Default: top (or middle if invalid value). |
| fontSize | The size of the font in pixels. |
| fontType | The type of font. Google fonts are supported. |
| fontType.family | The same as fontType. |
| fontType.weight | The font weight. Possible values: regular, bold. A number is also supported 100 to 900. |
| fontColor | The color of the font. Specify a name or hex code (e.g. #ffd). |
Example:
Color clip parameters
Use the color type to create a colored rectangle.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| type |
Required. The type of clip. Possible values: color. |
| color | The color to fill the rectangle. Specify a name or hex code (e.g. #ffd). You can also specify transparent to make the rectangle unfilled. |
| border | the width of the border in pixels. |
| borderColor | The color of the border. Specify a name or hex code (e.g. #ffd). |
| radius | A value indicating how much to round the corners of the rectangle. Specify the number of pixels (e.g. 100) or a percentage (e.g. 50%). |
Example:
Nested clip parameters
Use the nested type to insert a track as a clip within a parent track. The nested track is defined at the top level of the JSON.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| type |
Required. The type of clip. Possible values: nested. |
| nested | The name of the top-level track to insert. |
Example:
Effects
You can apply effects to clips.
Ken Burns
The Ken Burns effect allows you to zoom in and pan from a full frame to a new center, or zoom out to full frame. It is used on images.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| name | The name of the effect: KenBurns. |
| easing | The type of easing. Possible values: linear, ease, easein, easeout, easeinout. |
| zoom | The level of zoom. |
| center | The coordinates to center the zoom [x, y], where x and y are floats representing a fraction of the width of height (e.g. [0.5,0.5] is the center of the image). |
| direction | The direction of zoom. Possible values:
|
Example:
Template vars
Using the vars key, you can specify variables that can be used in templates. Variables allow you to replace elements of your video, such as text, colors and media etc., to dynamically create new videos through the transformation URL.
The values set in vars are used by default if not overwritten by the transformation URL.
Variables are embedded in the manifest using the variable name surrounded by double curly braces.
Example:
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