Create a video file from an animation

Many times, you’ll need to present your animation to others. Rather than playing the animation in the display of the ArcGIS application, you can create a video of your animation by exporting to an Audio Video Interleaved (.avi) or QuickTime (.mov) file. This is especially useful when working with large datasets where the refresh rate can be slow, and it enables you to share your animations with others.

Videos can take time to create, especially with large datasets, but once created, the video runs quickly.

To export an animation to an AVI file, click the Animation drop-down arrow and click Export to Video.

Navigate to the location where you want to create the video file and type a name (in this example it is “My_Population_Change”) in the File name text box. To save as the AVI file type, leave the default AVI (*.avi) in the Save as type drop-down list. AVI (*.avi). Click Options.

If you want to use your computer for other tasks while the animation is being created, check the box to Enable Off-Screen recording. Other applications that cover the ArcMap window should not interfere with the capure process.

When you export to video there are some parameters you can set to control the resolution, quality, and size of the video file.

The Video Compression dialog box lets you pick a compressor, or codec. There are two types of compressors: lossy and lossless. Using a lossy compression results in a smaller video size than using a lossless compression, but text and data can be less clear. In this example you see the Cinepak Codec by Radius, a lossy compressor.

It may take awhile to produce the video. The progress bar at the bottom left of the application will give an idea as to how much of the video has been created once you click OK. You can press Escape to cancel the export.

You can export animations from layout view in ArcMap, enabling you to export not only the display and the graph but also layout elements, such as the legend for the data in the display, a north arrow, scale bar, and so on.

When the video export is complete, quit ArcMap. Navigate to the place on disk to where you exported the video, and double-click it to play it in your default video player. If you didn’t export the animation to video, you can see what it would look like by double-clicking a video that was created for you (Population_Change.avi) to play instead.