Length, shape and aspect ratio

On the create screen, the Length and shape row sets how long the video runs and whether it is landscape or vertical. The story shape, which decides how the video is organized, is in the Fine-tune drawer.

All three are chosen before you draft the plan.

Length

The slider reads About N min (for example "About 2 min") and goes from 1 to 20 minutes. The default is 2 minutes. Next to it you see roughly how many scenes that length gives you, for example "~4 scenes".

A few things to know:

• Length is a target. Once the scenes are written, the Make my video button on the plan step shows the estimated minutes for the plan as it stands.
• Long pasted text gets a suggestion. If your text would run long when read aloud, you see a note such as "Your text runs about N min read aloud." with a Use N min button to match it.
• Keep my wording has no slider. When your pasted text is the script, the length comes from your text, and the screen says so.
• Cartoon skits have no slider either. A skit runs one to four minutes.

Length and credits

Building costs 7 credits per minute of video. If the length you pick needs more credits than you have, a note under the slider says how many minutes your balance covers, and offers ways to get more. Drafting the plan is free whatever the length. See Plans and credits.

Story shape

Open Fine-tune and find Story shape. It tells the AI how to structure the video:

Pick Walkthrough for a process or system, Versus for comparing two options, and Evolution for a history or a design that grew over time. If you're unsure, leave it on Explainer.

Aspect ratio

The toggle next to the slider has three options:

• Auto (default): openCanviz reads your brief. If it mentions 9:16 or 16:9, TikTok, Reels or Shorts, or "vertical video", it follows that. Otherwise it uses 16:9.
• 16:9: landscape, for YouTube, slides and most screens.
• 9:16: vertical, for phones, Shorts, Reels and TikTok.

The plan step shows the result as Landscape 16:9 or Vertical 9:16. If you left it on Auto, hover the chip to see why it chose that shape. If the shape is wrong, click the chip (or Back to topic) to return to the create screen, pick 16:9 or 9:16, and draft again. Drafting again writes a new plan.

There is no square option on the create screen. In the editor, the Canvas style panel has size presets, including 1:1. See Fine-tuning the style.

Checking your choices

Before you draft, the You will get panel shows a sample frame and a one-line summary of your format, length, aspect ratio and voice. Use it as a last check before pressing the draft button.