Why Are Transitions and Lip Sync Not Visible in Preview?

Overview

Transitions are the visual effects that play between slides, such as Fade or Slide Left. If you have applied them and they do not play while you are previewing your work in the editor, nothing is wrong with your video. Transitions are built into the video during rendering, so they appear only in the finished file.

Avatar lip sync behaves the same way. Elai generates the voiceover and matches the avatar's mouth movement to it during rendering, not while you are editing, so the avatar stays silent and still in both the slide preview and the video preview. This applies whether you typed your script into the speech field or uploaded your own audio file.

What the Previews Show and Hide

Elai gives you two ways to review your finished project before you spend a single render minute. Both play your video as you built it, with your full slide design, timing, and layout in place, so you can catch anything you want to change while changes are still free. Transitions and avatar lip sync are the only things they leave out, because Elai generates those during rendering.

The slide preview plays the single slide you have open on the canvas. 

The video preview plays all of your slides in order from start to finish.

Both previews show you:

• Slide design: Your text, images, videos, shapes, icons, stickers, and Lottie animations, exactly as they are arranged on the canvas.

• Element timing: When each element appears and disappears on the slide.

• Slide animations: The entrance and exit animations you have applied to a slide or to an individual element.

• Backgrounds and branding: Your slide background, logo, colors, and fonts.

• AI avatar: The avatar you selected, in position, at the correct size, and with the frame and outfit you chose.

• Slide order: In the video preview, the sequence your slides will play in.

• Approximate duration: An estimate of how long the finished video will run.

Neither preview shows you:

• Transitions between slides: Your slides cut straight from one to the next.

• Avatar speech and lip sync: Your avatar stays silent, and its mouth does not move.

Because the previews leave these out, treat the duration you see as an estimate. The finished video can run slightly longer once transitions are applied.

Open the Slide and Video Previews

1. Click the play icon on the canvas toolbar beneath the slide to watch the slide you have open.

2. Click Preview in the top bar to watch the whole video from the first slide to the last.

Note: You can always return to the editor to adjust anything that does not look or sound right.

Render Your Video to See Transitions and Lip Sync

Rendering produces the finished file, with your transitions, avatar speech, and lip sync all in place.

1. Click Render in the top bar.

2. Check Approximate video duration against Minutes left to confirm you have enough render minutes.

3. Choose your subtitle, resolution, and navigation settings, then click Start render.

4. Open My videos and wait for your video to show the Ready badge.

5. Hover over the video card, click the three dots, and choose Preview to play the finished video.

Note: The preview page plays the final video with everything in place, including your avatar speaking and the transitions between your slides.

FAQ

Is my transition saved if I cannot see it?
Yes. Transitions are saved to your project as soon as you apply them. The preview simply does not play them back.

Why does my avatar not speak in the preview?
Avatar speech and lip sync are generated during rendering, in the same way transitions are. Both appear only in the rendered video.

Why is the final video a different length than the preview suggested?
The duration shown in the editor is approximate. Transitions add time to the finished video, so the rendered file can run slightly longer.

Do I need to render again if I change a transition?
Yes. Any change you make in the editor after rendering requires a new render before it appears in the finished file.