How do I make an animatic from storyboard frames with AI?
Put your storyboard frames in story order, hold each one on screen for its beat, and lay scratch dialogue and music underneath so you can judge pacing before you generate any video. On Gulab, wire the frames into a Concat node to join them into one video (each still is held for 3 seconds), add AI voice from a Text to Speech node and music from a Music node through Audio Mix, then Export. When the timing works, swap individual stills for animated clips one shot at a time.
Why make an animatic first
An animatic is a storyboard played back in time with sound. It shows whether the story reads, whether a beat drags and where a cut lands, while every shot is still a cheap still image. Fixing pacing at this stage costs a re-arranged board, not a stack of re-generated video clips.
Step by step on Gulab
- Get the frames. Generate one Image node per shot from your shot list (see AI shot list generator), or bring in drawn boards with image uploads. Attach character and location references so faces and sets stay consistent from frame to frame.
- Order them. Wire the frames into a Concat node. Concat joins its inputs in their place on the board, top to bottom and then left to right, and holds each still image for 3 seconds in a 1280x720 video. Want a beat to last longer? Duplicate that frame node and place the copy right after it.
- Add scratch audio. Write the dialogue into a Text to Speech node for temp voice, add a Music node for a temp score and a Sound Effects node for key effects, then lay the audio over the Concat output with Audio Mix.
- Label it. Use Text Overlay to burn in shot numbers or captions, which makes review notes easy to give ("shot 7 is too long").
- Export and review. The Export node renders MP4, WebM or GIF, in the original frame or as 16:9, 9:16 or 1:1.
Upgrading the animatic to motion
Concat accepts both images and video clips, so the animatic can grow into the film one shot at a time. Connect a frame to a Video node to animate it: the frame becomes the first frame and the prompt describes only what moves. On models with a first and last frame mode, wire this panel as the start and the next panel as the end to animate between them. Video nodes can also extract the last frame of a finished clip as a new image, so the next shot can start exactly where the previous one ended. Swap the still for the clip in the Concat wiring and the rest of the animatic stays as it is. The full workflow is in AI storyboard to video.
Smoother transitions
For a softer animatic, wire the frames into a Crossfade node instead of Concat. It joins clips in the same order with a dissolve between them (half a second by default, adjustable).
Pricing
Gulab bills per generation from one credit balance, and every plan includes every model. Current plan and per-model prices are on gulab.ai/pricing, which is always the live source.
FAQ
What is an animatic?
An animatic is a storyboard played back in time, usually with scratch dialogue and music, used to check story and pacing before shooting or generating final video.
Can I make an animatic from still images on Gulab?
Yes. Wire your storyboard images into a Concat node. It joins them in board order and holds each still for 3 seconds in a 1280x720 video, which you can then export.
How do I add voice and music to an animatic?
Use a Text to Speech node for temp dialogue and a Music node for a temp score, then lay the audio over the joined frames with an Audio Mix node before exporting.
Can I replace stills with animated shots later?
Yes. Concat accepts both images and video clips, so you can connect any frame to a Video node, animate it, and swap the clip into the same Concat without rebuilding the rest.
What formats can I export an animatic in?
The Export node renders MP4, WebM or GIF, at the original framing or reframed to 16:9, 9:16 or 1:1.