Exporting from the iPad
The Procreate Handbook puts everything under Actions > Video:
- Time-lapse Recording, the toggle that has to be on while you paint. Procreate records at the resolution and quality set for the canvas.
- Time-lapse Replay, which plays the recording inside Procreate.
- Export Time-lapse Video, with two options. Full Length saves the whole process as a sped-up video; the handbook notes that its length depends on how long you worked. 30 Seconds drops frames to produce a short highlight, keeping more frames from the early stages where the most changes happen.
When the export fails
Procreate doesn’t give many error messages for time-lapse, so the fix is usually about the iPad rather than the file:
| Symptom | What to try |
|---|---|
| Export Time-lapse Video is grayed out | Recording was off for this canvas, or the recording was reset by a canvas change. Nothing to export |
| The export spins for a long time | Full-length exports of long sessions take minutes. Wait, or try 30 Seconds first |
| The export fails or the app closes | Free up storage; Procreate’s help recommends keeping about 15 percent free. Restart the iPad and try again |
| The video is enormous | That is normal for Full Length. Use 30 Seconds, or trim the video in Photos or iMovie afterwards |
| The video starts partway through | The recording was reset earlier, usually by a crop or resize that Procreate warned about |
The recording lives inside the .procreate file
This is the part most guides leave out. The handbook’s Share page says that sharing an artwork as a Procreate file embeds the video data in the file. Inside the ZIP, the recording sits as one or more MP4 segments, which is why .procreate files get so large: a long session can add hundreds of megabytes of video. The file too large page has the details.
A PSD, PNG, JPEG or PDF export never carries the recording.
Getting the video out without the iPad
If you have the .procreate file and no iPad, the video is still in there. Drop the file on the toPSD converter. When a recording is present, it shows a Time-lapse label and a Time-lapse video button. Select it and the MP4 is saved on your computer, free and without an account. Nothing is uploaded.
Procreate stores a recording as a series of short MP4 clips, often dozens of them. toPSD joins them into one video in your browser. It copies the recorded frames as they are, without re-encoding, so the quality and the length match what Procreate recorded.
Two cases work a little differently:
- If parts of a recording were made with different video settings, such as a different frame size, they can’t share one video without re-encoding. toPSD then saves a ZIP with one MP4 per part, numbered in the order they play, and tells you so.
- If a clip inside the file is damaged, toPSD leaves it out and tells you how many clips were skipped, instead of handing you a video that won’t play.
If the file has no recording, toPSD says so: “This file has no time-lapse. Procreate only records one when Time-lapse Recording is on.”
The MP4 plays in any video player and uploads to YouTube or Instagram as is.
Seeing the rest of the file
While the file is open in toPSD you also see the full artwork and every layer, and can save a full-size PNG for free. The file viewer page describes what the viewer shows; the file format page explains how the video, layers and settings sit inside a .procreate file.