How to Use Photo Animation in PhotoDirector
Draw arrows on a still photo to say where it should move, then export it as a clip.
Updated Sep. 4, 2026 · 5 min read
In a hurry? Use the Photo Animation quick guide instead.
Photo Animation turns a still photo into a short clip, and you decide what moves. You draw arrows over the parts that should flow and pin the parts that should not, so a waterfall keeps falling while the cliff either side of it stays exactly where it is. Nothing is generated from scratch: it is your own photo, moving.
- In PhotoDirector, open Guided & GenAI, then Effects, and pick Photo Animation under Animation Effects.
- Draw motion arrows over everything that should move, straight or curved.
- Switch to Anchor points and pin the areas that must stay still.
- Set the Speed slider, and tick Background music if you want a track.
- Click Export, match the Aspect ratio to your photo, and click Produce.
Steps to Use Photo Animation
Step 1: Open Photo Animation
From the PhotoDirector launcher, choose Guided & GenAI. That is the room holding the step-by-step tools, as opposed to the manual editing in Library & Adjust.
In the rail down the left, click Effects. Photo Animation is the first entry under Animation Effects, with Dispersion below it.
Step 2: Draw the Motion Arrows
The row of tools at the top of the panel is the whole interface. The first two draw movement: Add motion arrow for a straight path, and Curve motion arrow for one that bends. Both carry the same instruction, to add motion path arrows to the area you want to animate.
A fourth tool sits at the end of the row. The three covered here are the ones that do the drawing.
Drag from where the movement starts to where it should go. On a waterfall that means short arrows straight down the fall itself, then curved ones spreading outwards across the pool, because water leaving the base does not keep traveling in a straight line.
Arrows are direction and length, not speed. How fast any of it moves is one slider, further down, and it applies to everything at once.
More arrows, not longer ones. Several short arrows following the real direction of the water read better than a few long ones, because each arrow only describes the flow immediately around it. Always show animation marks keeps them visible while you work.
Step 3: Pin What Should Stay Still
This is the step that decides whether the result looks like a photo moving or like a photo melting. The third tool, Anchor points, adds points to keep areas still, and without them the movement bleeds into whatever is next to it.
Click along the boundary between what moves and what does not: the rock either side of the fall, and the far edge of the pool. The anchors appear as small diamonds.
Step 4: Set the Speed and Add Music
The Speed slider runs from Slower to Faster and applies to every arrow at once. Falling water suits the middle of the range; drifting cloud sits lower.
Tick Background music to load a track. The panel then shows a Duration underneath it, and that duration is the clip's length, so the track you choose decides how long the result runs.
Step 5: Export the Clip
Export at the top opens Photo Animation Production. Pick a format first: MPEG-4 for a video file, WMV, or GIF for something that loops in a message or a page without a player.
Match the Aspect ratio to your photo. It does not follow the source on its own. The clip at the top of this article is a portrait photo produced at 16:9, which is why it has black bars down both sides. Set the ratio to match the shape you started with and they disappear.
Profile sets the resolution, Duration is already filled in from the music, and the dialog shows how much disk space the file needs before you commit. Produce writes it out.
Haven't got PhotoDirector yet? One photo you already have is the whole input, and Photo Animation sits in the same Guided & GenAI room as the rest of this series.
Download PhotoDirector Free →FAQ About Photo Animation
As long as the background music you load. The panel shows a Duration under the track, and the export dialog arrives with that same length already filled in.
Not enough anchor points. Arrows spread their movement into the area around them, so anything you have not pinned is free to drift. Add anchors along the edge between what should move and what should not.
Yes. GIF is one of the three formats in the Production dialog, alongside MPEG-4 and WMV. A GIF loops on its own wherever it is posted, which a video file will not always do.
No. Clear at the bottom of the panel removes the marks so you can draw again, and Always show animation marks keeps them on screen while you work so you can see what you already have.
