Mixed Media Creator
Draw on video. Export as animation.
Import footage, extract frames, draw on paper or screen, and export. The whole mixed media pipeline in one place.
Start freeWhat is mixed media animation?
It's when you blend real video with hand-drawn art. Think a-ha's 'Take On Me', the rotoscoping in 'A Scanner Darkly', or the painted frames in Loving Vincent. The look is unmistakable — but the process has always been brutal. Multiple tools, hundreds of hours, frame-by-frame tedium.
zlabz puts the entire workflow in your browser. Import a video, pull out the frames, print them, draw on the paper, scan it back — and the tool lines everything up for you. Or skip paper and draw digitally. Either way, you get a finished animation in minutes.
Draw on video, three ways
You're not locked into one workflow. Pick the approach that fits your project.
Digital
Draw directly on extracted frames with brush, pen, shapes, and text. No printer needed. Great for quick experiments or when you want precise control.
Print, draw, scan
Print frames as a contact sheet, draw on the actual paper with markers, paint, or collage — then scan it back. The tool auto-aligns everything. Real materials, real texture.
Hybrid
Start on paper for that handmade feel, then add digital refinements — or start digital and layer in scanned elements. Combine both for results neither approach can achieve alone.
40 hours becomes 15 minutes
The old way was slow because the tools weren't built for this. zlabz is.
The old way
- Export frames from After Effects or Premiere
- Arrange them for printing in Photoshop
- Print contact sheets at a shop
- Draw on each frame by hand
- Scan every page, crop and align manually
- Re-import into editor, sequence by hand
With zlabz
- Import video — frames extract automatically
- One-click contact sheet with registration marks
- Draw on paper or go fully digital
- Scan — auto-detection aligns everything
- Add effects and export as MP4 or GIF
01
Import your source
Drop in a video, a set of images, or a PDF. Trim to the segment you want. All major formats work — MP4, MOV, WebM, PNG, JPG. This is your raw material.
02
Extract the frames
Choose your frame rate — 2 fps for stop-motion, 12 for animation, 24 for cinema — and the tool pulls out every frame. Up to 600 per project. You pick which ones to keep.
03
Print a contact sheet
One click generates a PDF with your frames laid out in a grid. Each sheet has registration marks and finder patterns so the scanner can realign them later. Works on A4, Letter, or A3.
04
Scan it back in
After you've drawn on the printed sheets, photograph or scan them. The tool detects the finder patterns and automatically crops, rotates, and aligns every frame. No manual work.
05
Draw on the frames
Brush, pen, shapes, text, fill, eraser — everything you need. Onion skinning shows the previous frame as a ghost so your motion stays consistent. Undo and redo. Works with mouse, trackpad, or stylus.
06
Arrange the timeline
Drag frames into order. Set individual durations. Preview playback at any speed — slow it down, speed it up, loop it. What you see is what you export.
07
Effects and export
Film grain, vignette, color grading, paper texture, blend modes — all with live preview. Then export as MP4 up to 4K, animated GIF, or a ZIP of all frames. No watermarks.
People use this for
Not just for artists. For anyone who wants to add a hand-drawn layer to video.
Music videos
Hand-drawn visuals over live footage. The 'Take On Me' look — without the studio budget.
Social content
Doodles and drawings over real clips. Stands out in feeds, gets shared more.
Educational videos
Draw diagrams and annotations directly on footage. Clearer than slides, more engaging than voiceover alone.
Film and documentary
Rotoscoped transitions, animated overlays, artistic sequences. Bridges reality and illustration.
Art portfolios
Show your range — watercolor, ink, collage layered over video. Both analog and digital skills in one piece.
Storyboards
Sketch over reference footage. Plan camera moves, timing, and cuts before production.
Questions
Do I need to install anything?+
No. Everything runs in your browser. WebCodecs and FFmpeg WASM handle the encoding. Works on Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari.
How does the scan alignment work?+
The printed contact sheets include finder patterns — like small QR codes. When you scan or photograph the sheet, the tool detects those patterns and calculates exactly where each frame is, including rotation and scale. No manual cropping.
What should I draw with on paper?+
Anything bold — thick markers, acrylic paint, collage. Fine pencil lines can get lost in scanning. Thicker paper (120gsm+) handles wet media better.
What formats can I export?+
MP4 (H.264) up to 4K, animated GIF, or all frames as a ZIP. FPS from 2 (stop-motion) to 30 (smooth video). No watermarks on any export.
Does it work on mobile?+
Yes. The drawing tools work with touch and stylus. For the best experience with printing and scanning, use a tablet or desktop.
How many frames can a project have?+
Up to 600. At 12 fps that's 50 seconds of animation. At 4 fps stop-motion, about 2.5 minutes.
Can I work digitally only, without printing?+
Yes. Skip the print and scan steps entirely. Draw directly on the extracted frames with the built-in tools. The print-scan workflow is optional.
How is this different from After Effects?+
After Effects is a general video editor — powerful, expensive, steep learning curve. It wasn't designed for the print-draw-scan mixed media workflow. zlabz is a single tool built specifically for that: frame extraction, contact sheet printing, auto-aligned scanning, drawing, timeline, effects, and export.
Try it
Import a video, draw on the frames, export an animation. Takes about 15 minutes.
Open the editor