Use a frame from a video

Last updated: October 12, 2026

Take a single frame out of a video and use it as the image a new run starts from. Use it to continue a shot from where the last clip ended, so the two cut together, or to start an edit from the best moment of a clip.

Before you start

  • Have the clip on the session's board or in your library.
  • A frame can go into any slot that takes an image, such as First frame or Last frame in Create video. The steps below use First frame.

Steps

  1. In the side panel to the right of the board, under Tools, click Create video. If the panel shows a tool instead of the menu, click the back arrow at the top left of the panel first.

  2. Click the clip on the board, then click First frame in the form. Because the slot takes an image, a window opens on the Frame tab to pick which frame to use. You can also click First frame with nothing selected to choose the clip, or drop it onto the slot.

  3. Pick the frame: click First, Middle or Last, or scrub the player to any moment. The frame shown is the one used. To continue the shot, click Last.

  4. Click Extract. The window moves to Adjust, where you can reposition, crop or extend the frame to the output aspect ratio.

  5. Click Apply. The frame fills the slot.

  6. Describe what happens next in the prompt, for example: The warden plants her staff in the snow and looks out over the frozen valley, slow push in. Then click Create video.

Result

The slot holds the frame as an image, and the run uses it like any other first frame. The clip itself is unchanged. To pick a different frame, remove it from the slot and add the clip again.

Production tips

  • Chain shots. Make each new shot from the last frame of the one before, with the same model and look, and the clips cut together as one continuous move. For a fixed end point too, set Last frame; see Animate between a first and last frame.
  • Pick a clean frame. The last frame of a fast action is often motion-blurred. Scrub back a few frames to a sharp one before you extract it.
  • Frames at scale. To take frames out of many clips, or at set times, use the Extract Frame node in a workflow; see Extract a frame from a video in a workflow.
  • Thumbnails and key art. Pick the strongest moment of a clip as the start of an image edit, then finish it as a store thumbnail or a poster.

If something goes wrong

  • The frame window does not open. The slot takes video, not an image, so the clip goes in as it is. Use a slot that takes an image, such as First frame.
  • Extract stays greyed out. Wait for the clip to load in the player, then pick the frame again.
  • The new shot jumps at the cut. The frame you picked is not the clip's very last one, or the new prompt changes the camera or light. Click Last, and keep the camera and look the same in the prompt.
  • You closed the window without applying. The clip is taken back out of the slot. Select it and click the slot again.

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