Photos and videoIn closed beta
Make a hero video from a listing's photos, change its length, quality and phone framing, edit it, and sharpen or retouch photos.
A hero video is a short, silent video that plays on a loop at the top of your listing page. You pick between three and seven photos, and each one becomes a few seconds of smooth camera movement. Outdoors, leaves, water and clouds may move a little. Indoors, only the light changes.
Make a hero video
Before you start
- Use landscape photos. Portrait photos are greyed out and marked Landscape only, because every clip in the video has to be the same shape.
- Pick three to seven photos. Each one stays on screen for 2, 2.5 or 3 seconds, so the video runs between about 6 and 21 seconds.
- Use the property's own photos. Neighbourhood photos are not offered.
If the listing has no photos yet, Studio says This listing has no photos yet. Add some first. See photos and media.
Create it
Open the listing and select Studio, then Create a hero video.
Pick the photos. Tap the photos in the order they should play. Each one shows its number. Tap a photo again to take it out. Studio starts you off with your cover photo and the ones after it.
Under Each photo stays for, choose how long each photo stays on screen. You can change this later for free.
Select Create hero video. It stays greyed out until you have picked at least three photos.
While it renders
Creating your hero video shows one tile per photo. As each clip is made, Studio checks it against your photo:
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Checking… | The clip is being compared with your photo. |
| Matches | The clip shows the room as photographed. |
| Re-rendering | Something looked different from the photo, so the clip is being made again. |
| Review this scene | Studio could not confirm that the clip matches your photo. The clip is kept, so watch it before you share the video. You can trim or remove it in the editor. |
Select a finished tile to watch that clip full size while the others render.
This can take a few minutes — you can leave and come back. Your video keeps rendering. To check on it, open the listing's Studio and select Your video is rendering…, or open My videos and select View progress.
Why each clip is checked against your photo
A buyer who visits the property should find the room the video showed them. So Studio compares every clip with the photo it came from, and makes it again if the room itself seems to have changed. When the video starts, Matchai sets aside enough Energy for a couple of these second tries. Whatever is not used comes back to you when the video is done.
Stop a video
Select Cancel render. You pay only for the photos already rendered, and the rest of the Energy comes back to you. Once every photo is rendered, the button reads Finish now instead: it puts the video together from the clips you have.
When your video is ready
Your hero video is ready plays the video, and it is already on your listing. It plays silently on a loop at the top of your listing page.
If the listing already had a hero video, the new one takes its place at the top. The older one moves to the video section further down the page. To take it off the listing, use the media manager (see photos and media).
Under the video:
- Edit video opens the editor. See Edit a video.
- On your listing means this video is the one playing at the top of your listing. For a video that is not, Add to listing puts it there.
- Download saves the video to your device.
- Make another takes you back to Pick the photos.
Videos for this listing shows every hero video you have made for this listing. Select one to open it. All videos opens My videos.
Change the length and the quality
You can change a finished video without making it again.
- Each photo stays for changes how long each photo stays on screen. It is free, and a length you have used before switches instantly.
- Quality makes a sharper version: 1080p or 2K. The video is first made at 768p. A sharper version uses Energy once for each length, and the button shows what it costs. It takes a few minutes, and you can keep working. Your listing keeps its current version until the new one is ready, and the sharper version is used on phones too. If it fails, your Energy comes back.
Every version you make is kept. Your listing shows the one you select, and switching back to a version you already have is free. In My videos, Versions switches which one your listing shows.
Frame it for phones
On a phone held upright, visitors see a tall slice of your video rather than the whole wide frame. Studio chooses where that slice sits on each photo. To change it, use Phone framing under your video.
For each photo, choose Hold to keep the phone on one part of the room, or Slide to glide from one part to another.
Drag the window to what buyers should see, or tap the photo to move it there. With Slide, the solid window is Where the shot starts and the dashed one is Where it ends. The preview beside it plays the result.
Select Save phone framing. Updating the phone version is free and takes about a minute.
To go back to Studio's own choice, select Reset to automatic.
Edit a video
Select Edit video on a finished video, in Studio or in My videos. The editor shows your video as a row of clips.
- Reorder by dragging a clip.
- Trim by tapping a clip, then dragging its handles. Select Done when it looks right. Your original clip is always kept, so you can drag a handle back to undo.
- Remove a clip. The notice that follows offers Undo.
- Keep a good clip by starring it. It goes to My clips, where you can reuse it.
Select Save changes to make the edited video. Editing is free, because it only reuses clips that are already made.
Saving an edit does not change your listing on its own. To show the edited version, open the video again and select Add to listing.
If a video stops before it finishes
If you cancel a video, or it stops on its own, Studio keeps every clip it made. You see Render stopped or Render failed, and how many photos were rendered.
- When every photo has a clip, select Finish video from these clips. Finishing is free and takes about a minute.
- When some photos are missing, the video cannot be finished. Download the clips you have with Download clip, or choose Start again to pick photos again. Your last picks are kept.
You pay only for the photos that were rendered. If none were, all your Energy comes back. A stopped video shows Stopped · clips saved under Videos for this listing, and View clips in My videos, so you can come back to it later.
My videos
My videos holds every video you have created, for all your listings. Choose All or Ready to filter them.
Each video shows its listing, when you made it, and whether it is Ready, Rendering, Cancelled or Failed. A hero video shows Hero and its quality. Select the picture to play it. Depending on the video, you can then:
- Edit video, Download or Add to listing a finished video.
- View progress on one that is still rendering.
- View clips on one that stopped, to finish it or download its clips.
- Retry one that failed.
My clips
My clips holds the clips you starred in the editor, grouped by listing. Use them to put together a new video.
Open Studio, then My clips.
Select the clips in the order they should play. A video uses clips from one listing, so choosing a clip from another listing starts a new selection.
Select Create video. It is free. The new video opens in the editor, and you find it in My videos.
To start your selection over, choose Clear. To save a single clip to your device, use Download clip.
Put a video on a listing
A finished hero video goes on its listing by itself. For any other video, or to bring back one you removed:
- In Studio or My videos, select Add to listing.
- In the listing's media manager, under Listing videos, pick one from Your Studio videos and choose Add.
Only finished videos go on a listing. Clips are building blocks. See photos and media.
Sharpen or retouch a photo
The Matchai Assistant can improve a photo that is already on one of your listings. To furnish an empty room instead, see AI staging.
Open Assistant. Type @ and pick the listing, then say which photo and what you want. For example: "sharpen the kitchen photo" or "replace the grey sky in the front photo".
The assistant can look at your photos to find the one you mean, or to suggest what would help. Looking is free. If it is not sure which photo you mean, it asks you.
A card shows the photo and how much Energy the edit uses, then waits. Approve it to start.
Edited photo shows Before above After. Choose Add as new photo, Replace original or Discard.
If you chose to add or replace, a second card shows exactly what changes on your listing. Approve it. This step is free.
Nothing on your listing changes until you approve that second card. Add as new photo puts the photo at the end of the gallery. Replace original puts it in the original's place. Discard leaves your listing as it was.
What you can ask for
| Ask for | What it does |
|---|---|
| Sharpen | Makes a small or soft photo larger and crisper. If the photo is already large enough, the assistant tells you sharpening would not help. |
| Declutter | Clears loose clutter, such as cables, dishes and papers, and keeps the furniture. |
| A new sky | Replaces a flat or grey sky. |
| Better light | Opens up dark shadows and brings back the windows. |
| Enhance | A careful all-round correction. |
| Time of day | Dusk, golden hour or night. |
| Weather | Clear, overcast or just after rain. |
| Season | Spring, summer, autumn or winter. |
| Mood | Warm, cool, or cosy with the lights on. |
| A touch of life | A couple, a family, a dog or a few guests, kept small in the frame. |
| Your own words | Any other change to the light, the sky, the weather or the mood. |
The photo editor is instructed never to change what is built: walls, windows, doors, floors, fixtures, the room itself or the view. Look at the result before you add it.
Labels on edited photos
A photo you sharpened carries no label. Every other edit shows AI-edited on your public listing page and in the media manager. The result card tells you which one before you add it.
Why sharpened photos are not labelled
Sharpening only makes the photo you took larger and crisper. It adds nothing the camera did not see. Every other edit changes what the picture shows, such as the sky, the season or who is in the room, and a buyer deserves to know which conditions were chosen afterwards.
Put the original back
Ask the assistant to put the original photo back. It shows you the photo on your listing now and what comes back, then waits. Approve it, and your listing page changes straight away. It is free, and the edited version is kept under Studio in Matchai Cloud.
Common questions
They are portrait photos. Hero videos use landscape photos only for now, so every clip in the video is the same shape.
No. One hero video renders at a time for each listing. If you try to start another, Studio says A hero video is already rendering for this listing. You can make videos for other listings in the meantime.
No. Hero videos are silent. They are made to play on a loop at the top of your listing page.
There is a daily limit on how many hero videos you can start. It protects you from starting the same video twice by mistake. Try again tomorrow.
Your video keeps rendering. Open the listing's Studio to see its progress or the finished video.