Questions and answers

A map animation editor that runs in your browser. Frame views of a globe or a flat map, and the camera flies between them; add pins, routes that draw themselves on, and highlighted countries; then export a video. It does what map plugins for After Effects do, without After Effects.

No. You get finished MP4 or WebM videos straight from the browser. If you do work in After Effects, the After Effects export gives you the map and the pins/routes as separate layers, plus a script that builds the composition for you.

Recent Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari (17 or newer) on a computer. Chrome and Edge are the fastest for long or 4K exports and can save sequences straight into a folder. Phones and tablets work for small exports, but a computer is much faster.

No. The map is drawn and the video is encoded on your own device, and your project is saved in your browser. NavLayers's server only counts your clips and keeps your account. Use Project, then Save project, to keep a copy as a file.

Yes: in your own videos, for clients, on YouTube and on social media. The map data is from Natural Earth, which is in the public domain; a credit ("Made with Natural Earth") is welcome but not required.

Every export of a video (MP4 or WebM), a PNG sequence or an After Effects package. A single PNG still never counts. If you cancel an export or it fails, the clip is given back.

Free: 5 clips a month at up to 720p. Pro (€6.99 a month): 100 clips a month at up to 4K (2160p), at up to 60 fps. Both have every format, map look and feature.

On the 1st of every month (UTC). Monthly clips do not carry over to the next month.

Add 100 extra clips for €4.99 from the export window, your account page or the pricing page. They are used once the month's 100 are gone, and they never expire.

Pro gives 100 clips for the calendar month, including the ones you already used on Free this month.

From your account page (Cancel subscription), in Manage billing, or without signing in on the Cancel contracts here page. Pro stays until the end of the period you paid for; then your account is Free again. Extra clips you have left wait for you if you return to Pro.

Payments go through Stripe, which shows the methods available in your country. Invoices, your payment method and your subscription are under Your account, then Manage billing.

As a consumer in the EU you can withdraw from a purchase within 14 days; the Terms of Service explain how, and what you pay for the part already used. For anything else, write to us.

It depends on your computer, above all its graphics card. Every frame (600 for 10 seconds at 60 fps) is drawn at its exact camera, so the video is always smooth; only the waiting time changes. Try a short clip first, keep the tab in front while it runs (browsers slow down background tabs), and use 1080p when you need a result quickly.

MP4 (H.264) plays everywhere and is what YouTube and social media expect. WebM (VP9) files are smaller and fine for the web. If a browser has no H.264 encoder, the MP4 uses VP9 or AV1 inside, which browsers and most editors play too; the export tells you.

Yes, with a PNG still, a PNG sequence or the After Effects package: switch on Transparent around the globe, and the space behind the globe stays empty.

PNG sequences and After Effects packages are many files. In Chrome and Edge they can go straight into a folder you pick, so nothing piles up in memory and long 4K exports are fine. Other browsers build a .zip instead.

Try again with the tab in front, or a smaller size. If it keeps happening, write to support@navlayers.com with your browser's name and the export settings. A failed export does not use up a clip.

Unzip it if it is a .zip, then in After Effects choose File, Scripts, Run Script File and pick NavLayers import.jsx from the folder. It imports both image sequences at the right frame rate and builds a composition of the right size and length.

The map, the pins and routes on their own transparent layer above it, a null layer that follows every pin and the tip of every route (parent your own text or graphics to them), a Camera data layer with the longitude, latitude, zoom, bearing and pitch of every frame, and a marker where each shot starts.

CC 2015 or newer runs the script; the shot markers need CC 2017 or newer. Without the script you can import the two image sequences by hand; README.txt in the package explains how.

One cookie keeps you signed in. There is no advertising, no analytics and no tracking, and fonts and map data come from our own server. Your projects and the light/dark choice are kept in your browser's storage and never sent to us.

On your account page, under Delete your account. It removes your account and export history at once; a running Pro subscription ends straight away.