While your video builds

When you press Make my video (or Make the skit), the build starts and you land on the Projects page. A card for your video shows its progress, and the preview player opens on its own when the video is ready.

You don't need to watch it. The banner at the top says: "Your video is being made. It usually takes a few minutes. You can close this tab: we'll email you when it's ready."

The building card

Your new video appears as a card with:

• A spinner and a short line about what is happening right now, or "Making your video".
• A thin progress bar. There is no percentage or time estimate.

While the video is building, the items in the card's … menu are disabled, with the note "Available when the video finishes generating". You can't edit, download, duplicate or share it until it is done.

When it finishes

The preview player opens automatically so you can watch the result. From there you can click Edit to open the editor, Share, or Download. If you closed the tab, open the video from the Projects page.

Free accounts can build and watch the video. Downloading the MP4 needs a paid plan or a one-time purchase of that video's export. See Downloading your video.

Pictures that are still arriving

For some videos, a few drawings can still be finishing when you open the editor. You may see a pill reading "Still drawing… X of Y drawings". Wait for it to reach the full count before judging or editing those scenes.

If a build fails

The card says "This one didn't finish" and shows a Retry button. Click Retry to run the build again.

• Credits for a failed build are refunded automatically.
• For an older build, you may see "This video is too old to retry automatically. Please regenerate it." In that case, start a new video from the plan. If you still have the plan, open it from Your plans.

Credits during the build

Credits are taken when the build starts, at 7 credits per minute of video. Deleting the video afterwards does not refund them. See Plans and credits.

What to do while you wait

• Draft your next plan. Drafting is free. See What you can give it.
• Read up on Editing a scene and Regenerating scenes and pictures, the two things most people do next.
• Close the tab. The build carries on without it.

If it seems stuck

Check the card. If it says "This one didn't finish", use Retry. If it is still building, leave it running. If you need help, use Send Feedback to tell us. See Your account and support.