Exporting Designs

You only render to a flat file when you’re done iterating. Until then, every layer stays editable and motion replays from JSON, not from a baked clip. This page covers what you get when you click Export.

​

Static designs → PNG

For designs without animation:

1. Click Export in the top-right of the editor.
2. Pick PNG.
3. The file downloads at the artboard’s native dimensions (1:1 pixel ratio with what you see on the canvas).

PNG export happens instantly in your browser — no render queue, no waiting.

​

Animated designs → MP4

For designs with any layer animation:

1. Click Export in the top-right of the editor.
2. Pick MP4.
3. Your design is submitted as a render job — rendering happens in the cloud, not in your browser.
4. The renderer plays the same animation your canvas plays, captures every frame, and encodes the MP4.
5. The file lands in your project’s media library and downloads automatically.

Render time depends on duration and resolution. A typical 5-second 1080×1080 design renders in ~30-90 seconds.

​

What the MP4 captures

Everything on the canvas renders exactly as you previewed it — text layers with their fonts and styling, shapes, images, and every layer animation over the timeline. Because the renderer plays the same animation your canvas plays, the exported MP4 is frame-accurate to what you saw in the editor. There’s no drift, no “looks different in the export than on the canvas.”

​

Brand fonts in exports

Custom fonts you have added to your brand guide render in every server-side export: PNG export, MP4 export, saving a design to the Media Library, and the final render of an AI video storyboard. Google fonts always did; a custom font is a file only your account has, so the renderer is now handed its font rule alongside the design. A font can never fail a render. If a font file cannot be loaded (its URL is unreachable, or the rule fails the safety screen below), that text falls back to the family’s fallback stack and the export carries a warning naming the font. Check for that warning before you ship a PNG whose type looks off. What a custom font needs in order to render:

• The font files: .woff2, .woff, .ttf, .otf or .eot, up to 10 MB per file, registered under a family name with a weight and a style. Hiveku writes the @font-face rule for a font uploaded this way.
• A font registered through the API with your own CSS rule must be nothing but @font-face blocks: no @import, no selectors, no CSS escapes. Every src must be an http or https URL without embedded credentials, or an inline data: font, and the rule must stay under 512 KB.
• Per render: up to 40 font faces and 2 MB of font rules travel with one design. Beyond that, the extra families fall back and the warning says which.

​

What the MP4 doesn’t capture (current limitations)

• Audio — animated designs are visual only today. Audio tracks and voiceovers are on the roadmap.
• GIF format — MP4 only for now. Email teams who need GIF can convert via FFmpeg (-vf fps=15,scale=480:-1:flags=lanczos); native GIF export is on the roadmap.
• Multi-clip timeline — one canvas exports as one continuous MP4. Sequencing multiple designs into a multi-scene Reel is on the roadmap.

For these cases today, export to MP4 and finish in CapCut / Premiere / iMovie.

​

Recommended dimensions

The artboard size is locked when you create the design. If you’re not sure what to pick: The Animation panel shows total canvas duration in milliseconds. Set it to match the platform’s expected length before you export.

​

Versioning and re-export

Every design saves continuously to version history as you edit. The MP4 you exported is a snapshot at the moment of export — if you keep editing and want a new version, click Export again. Older MP4s stay in your media library; nothing is overwritten. This means you can:

• A/B export two variations of the same design
• Roll back to an older edit if something goes wrong
• Share the MP4 with a teammate while continuing to iterate

​

What’s coming

Roadmap items relevant to export: When these ship, this page updates.