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Ozu exports your project in three formats, each aimed at a different downstream use. Pick whichever one matches where the work is going next.

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The three formats

PDF Storyboard

A printable booklet with one beat per panel — scene/shot/beat tags, frame image, and captions. The traditional deliverable for directors, clients, and pitch meetings.

ZIP Frames

Every generated frame as a separate image file, organized by scene/shot folder structure. For reviewing frames individually, importing to another tool, or archiving the visual assets.

MP4 Animatic

The full Timeline rendered as a video — H.264, with audio, color, transitions, and effects baked in. Editable in Premiere, Final Cut, DaVinci Resolve, or any standard editor.

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PDF Storyboard

The PDF Storyboard is a print-ready document. Every beat in your storyboard gets its own panel, with:
  • The rendered frame image at the top of the panel
  • Beat tag (Scene.Shot.Beat) for structural reference
  • Scene and shot headings that group panels together
  • Beat description below the image (what’s happening in this moment)
  • Optional dialogue and stage directions underneath
Panels are laid out in scene/shot order. The PDF is sized for letter or A4 and prints legibly with one beat per page (or several per page in a grid layout, depending on settings). Use PDF Storyboard when:
  • Showing a director or client the sequence before committing to animation
  • Running a pitch meeting from a printed deck
  • Archiving the visual plan alongside the script
  • Handing off to a production team that works in print

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ZIP Frames

ZIP Frames is a compressed archive with every generated frame as a separate image file. Inside the ZIP:
Each image is named with its beat ID and lives in a folder path that mirrors scene/shot structure. Easy to browse, easy to import into another tool. Use ZIP Frames when:
  • Importing frames into a different storyboarding or animation tool
  • Editing individual frames in Photoshop or Figma
  • Archiving the raw visual output alongside the project
  • Sharing frames with a collaborator who doesn’t have Ozu access

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MP4 Animatic

The MP4 Animatic is the full Timeline rendered as a video — an H.264 MP4 you can play in any video player and open in any video editor. Everything you built in the Timeline bakes into the MP4:
  • Primary Video and Alternate Frames — composited together with overlays in place
  • Dialogue and Music — mixed into the audio track
  • Transitions — fades, dissolves, wipes rendered between clips
  • Color grades — global presets and per-clip grades applied
  • Keyframe animations — pans, zooms, rotations, Ken Burns moves
  • Captions — rendered on top of the video at the positions you set
Markers don’t export (they’re editorial-only). Use MP4 Animatic when:
  • Reviewing pacing and timing (this is the only format that plays)
  • Sharing the animatic with a client, director, or festival
  • Continuing the edit in Premiere, Final Cut, or DaVinci Resolve
  • Uploading to a video platform for distribution

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How to export

Export happens from the Timeline Node, regardless of which format you pick.
  1. Open the Timeline Node (double-click or press Space).
  2. Click Export in the Inspector.
  3. Choose a format — PDF Storyboard, ZIP Frames, or MP4 Animatic.
  4. Configure format-specific settings (range for MP4, panel layout for PDF, etc.).
  5. Click Export. The file downloads when the render completes.

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In/out points control the MP4 range

The MP4 renders only the range between your in point and out point on the Timeline. By default that’s the whole timeline. Set tighter in/out points to export a single scene or a specific beat range. This makes it easy to ship a 30-second teaser from a 5-minute animatic without rebuilding anything. Playback controls →

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Filenames are auto-sanitized

Ozu generates a filename from your project name, stripping characters that cause trouble on filesystems:
  • "Kael's Journey — Scene 2" becomes kaels-journey-scene-2.mp4
  • Spaces become hyphens; quotes and em-dashes are removed
  • The format extension is appended automatically
Rename after export if you want a specific convention. The auto-sanitized name is meant to be safe, not pretty. For client delivery or archive, rename to your preferred format — Project_v03_FINAL.mp4 or whatever your pipeline uses.

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Which to export

If you only ever export one thing, export the MP4. It’s the most complete representation of the work: timing, audio, and visual treatment all together. PDF and ZIP are supporting formats for specific downstream needs. For a typical project delivery:
  • MP4 for the client to watch
  • PDF for the client’s team to mark up on paper
  • ZIP for your own archive or if anyone needs the raw frames

Timeline Editor Overview

Where export lives — the Timeline is the export surface.

Playback Controls

Setting in/out points to control the MP4 range.

Color and Effects

How effects bake into the final MP4.

Asset Library Organization

The source of truth for everything that ends up in ZIP and PDF exports.

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FAQ

Can I export all three formats at once? Not in a single click — each format is a separate export job. Most users do all three at the end of a session, one after the other. What resolution does the MP4 export at? The MP4 matches your project’s aspect ratio and the native resolution of your Storyboard frames. Higher-quality source frames produce higher-quality video. Does exporting cost credits? No. Export is free and unlimited. You only spend credits on upstream generation (frames, dialogue, music). Can I re-open an exported MP4 in Ozu? No — once exported, the MP4 is a flat video file. Edits still happen inside the Ozu Timeline; the MP4 is an output, not a round-trip file. Why does my PDF look different from my Timeline? PDF exports the raw frames (no color grading, no keyframe animations — a grade is a moving-picture concept, not a still one). PDF shows what each frame looks like, not what the animatic looks like. Can I batch-export frames in a different format (not PNG)? Not at the moment. ZIP Frames exports PNGs. Convert in an image editor if you need JPG, WebP, or another format.