PDF to video

Turn a document into a clear story.

Pick the passages of a PDF, report or guide that matter, and Shotmatic drafts a short script and builds a narrated video with visuals and captions.

Turn a document into a video Run it from the API

Reports, guides and handbooks are long; the video version should be the one-minute summary someone actually watches. Choose the passages that carry the point (the finding, the steps, the decision), paste them into the creator, and Shotmatic drafts a short script and builds narrated scenes with captions.

It uses the Link to Video format, the same one as article to video, so the same voices, styles and caption options apply.

Examples made in Shotmatic

Real outputs from Shotmatic's own account, with the settings behind each one and the credits it was charged.

Why is the ocean salty?

A 30-second vertical Link to Video short made from a NOAA article: weathered rock, a river, a hydrothermal vent and labelled ions, narrated by Nora with Viral captions.

Format: Link to Video
Visual style: Cinematic
Image quality: Standard
Voice: Nora
Captions: Viral
Length: 30 seconds
Aspect ratio: 9:16
Music: On
Credits quoted: 140

Script

Why is the ocean salty? Most of the salt comes from rocks on land. Rainwater is slightly acidic, so it slowly wears rocks down and releases minerals. Streams and rivers carry them to the sea. More comes from openings in the seafloor, where hydrothermal vents release hot water rich in dissolved minerals, and from underwater volcanoes. Sodium and chloride make up about 85 percent of the ions in seawater. On average, salt is about 3.5 percent of the ocean's weight.

Made by Shotmatic on its internal QA account from the text of a NOAA web article (a U.S. government work in the public domain); the narration summarizes it and the images are AI-generated illustrations. Nora is one of the creator's catalog voices and the music is the built-in track "science documentary".

Make one like this

What causes the aurora

A 53-second widescreen Link to Video explainer made from NOAA's aurora page: charged particles, the auroral ovals seen from space and curtains of light, narrated by Elise with Story captions.

Format: Link to Video
Visual style: Cinematic
Image quality: Standard
Voice: Elise
Captions: Story
Length: 53 seconds
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Music: On
Credits quoted: 140

Script

The northern and southern lights begin with electrons. They are energized in the space around Earth, then guided by its magnetic field down toward the polar regions. There they collide with oxygen and nitrogen in the upper atmosphere, about 80 to 500 kilometers up. Each collision passes energy to the gas, and when the atoms and molecules settle back down, they release that energy as light, much like a neon sign. The aurora usually forms two ovals centered on the magnetic poles. It often appears as tall rays that hang like folds of a curtain, and near midnight the arcs can twist and sway as if a wind were blowing them. During major geomagnetic storms, the ovals grow, and the aurora can be seen over much of the United States. To see it, you need clear, dark skies.

Made by Shotmatic on its internal QA account from the text of NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center aurora page (a U.S. government work in the public domain); the narration summarizes it and the images are AI-generated illustrations. Elise is one of the creator's catalog voices and the music is the built-in track "science documentary".

Make one like this

Choosing what to paste

Paste less than you think. One section of a report or the steps of a procedure makes a clearer 45-second video than a whole document. If the point is a chart, describe the number in a sentence, or upload an image of the chart for that scene.

How it works

01
Article or text
The passages of your document that carry the point, pasted as text.
02
Script and settings
Edit the script, then pick the voice, visual style, caption style and length.
03
Credit quote
The creator shows the price before you approve; nothing is generated until you do.
04
Explainer video
Shotmatic generates the scenes and narration and adds captions. Download the MP4 and post it on your channels yourself.

What you control

Your media: Upload images or clips and assign them to scenesScenes without your media are generated.
Aspect ratio4 options: Vertical 9:16 · Social portrait 4:5 · Square 1:1 · Horizontal 16:9
Length: 15 to 180 seconds on a paid planUp to 30 seconds without one.
Visual style6 options: Cinematic
Animated
Sketch Black&White
Classic Animation
Hand-painted Anime
Anime
Caption style4 options: Viral · Bold · Minimal · Story
Narrator voice12 options: Adam - Deep & Firm · Russell - British Narrator · Sawyer - Movie Trailer Voice · Kael - Energetic Presenter · Tyler - Young & Upbeat · Kira - Bright & Friendly · Elise - Soft & Gentle · Sloane - Polished Professional · Bella - Warm Storyteller · Darian - Grounded Narrator · Adam - Dark & Brooding · Nora - Warm & ClearPlay a sample of each in the creator.
Script language8 options: English · Spanish · French · German · Italian · Dutch · Portuguese · Portuguese (Brazil)
Music: 18 built-in tracks, or no music

Limits and availability

Direct PDF import is not currently offered in the creation workspace. Start by pasting an approved summary or script.
Drafting a script costs 20 credits. The video's price appears before you approve it, and no scenes, narration or captions are made until you do.
Generated scenes illustrate the script. Check every figure and claim against the document before you share the video.
Shotmatic doesn't post anything for you. Download the finished MP4 and upload it to your channel or ad account yourself.

What it costs

The two examples above were quoted at 140 credits each before they rendered. That quote is what the render charges; Shotmatic's own account is not billed.

With the default six scenes and AI images, a video costs 140 credits, or 100 when every scene uses your own media. Each script draft costs 20 credits.

See plan prices and monthly credits

Questions

Can I upload the PDF itself?

Direct PDF import is not currently offered in the creation workspace. Start by pasting an approved summary or script.

How much of the document should I paste?

One section, or the steps of one procedure. A short video needs one clear point, and the script draft follows what you paste.

Will the video show my charts or tables?

Only if you upload images of them for scenes; otherwise each scene is a generated illustration.

Which languages can the narration use?

Scripts can be written and narrated in 8 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese and Portuguese (Brazil).

Run it from code or an agent

The hosted MCP server and the REST API run the same creation steps. This is the plan_video call for this format; angle brackets mark your own values.

{
  "tool": "plan_video",
  "arguments": {
    "goal": "A 45-second summary of the safety section of our handbook for new staff",
    "script": "<the passages you chose, or your summary of them>",
    "duration_seconds": 45,
    "voice_id": "<voice id from shotmatic://voices>"
  }
}

Recommends a Faceless Short from your text (source.kind "script") with the brief_video archetype.

From code, Link to Video reads links rather than files, so this call sends the passages as a script.

Read the API and MCP guide