How to Add Orbit, Sweep and Overhead Camera Moves
A plain transition flies the camera from one slide to the next in a straight line. A camera move adds a shape on top of that trip: a full circle, a curved arc to one side, a rise to a top-down view, or a small overshoot on arrival. Every move starts and ends exactly on the slides you framed, so it adds motion without changing where the camera lands.
4 min read · Updated October 2, 2026
What you'll learn
- Find the Camera Move controls on a slide
- Choose between Orbit, Sweep, Overhead, and Bounce
- Set how long a move takes
- Add a ready-made shot with Add Camera Shot
Step-by-step guide
- 1
Open a slide's transition menu
In the Storyboard, each slide card has a wave icon in its header. Click it on the slide the move should start from. The menu lists Swoop and, below it, Camera Move. Easing has its own pill under the Duration box; see the guide on camera speed and easing. A move belongs to the transition that leaves a slide, so the last slide, which has nothing after it, has no transition to shape.
- 2
Choose a move
Under Camera Move, click one of Orbit ↻ (clockwise), Orbit ↺ (anticlockwise), Sweep Left, Sweep Right, Overhead, or Bounce. The wave icon turns blue and a small chip with the move's name appears in the bottom right corner of the card. Choose None to take the move off again.
- 3
Set how long it lasts
The move is spread over the whole transition, so the Duration number between the two slides decides how fast it plays. Type the seconds you want, from 0.1 to 20. The clip at the top of this guide uses a 6 second orbit, and the Orbit here shot in step 5 uses 8.
- 4
Pick the right move
Orbit turns the view a full 360 degrees while the camera travels, and if the slide is flat it tilts up to 45 degrees during the turn so it reads as circling. Sweep bows the camera out to the left or right and swings the heading by up to 30 degrees, like a crane shot. Overhead rises to a top-down view at the halfway point and comes back down. Bounce pulls in past the target during the last quarter of the transition and settles.
- 5
Add a one-click shot
If you would rather not build it by hand, open the three-dot menu on a slide and use Add Camera Shot. Orbit here turns the slide into an 8 second orbit and adds a copy after it that holds the same view, so the camera circles the spot and carries on. Push in adds a copy zoomed in by 1.5 levels, 4 seconds away. Pull out adds a copy zoomed out by 2.5 levels. Tilt reveal sets the slide top-down and adds a copy tilted to at least 60 degrees, 5 seconds away. The new copy keeps the transition that used to leave the slide, so the rest of the video keeps its timing.
- 6
Preview and export
Click Play Preview to watch the moves in place. The easing you chose for the transition still shapes an orbit, so Late Brake slows the last part of the turn, and Swoop, if it is on, stacks with the move. The exported video uses the same camera math, so it matches what you saw. Click Export Video when you are happy with it.
Interactive walkthrough coming soon
A visual step-by-step guide with annotated screenshots will be available here. In the meantime, follow the written steps above or watch the video tutorials.
Watch video tutorials →Pro tips
- To circle a place, use two slides with the same center and zoom and put an Orbit on the first. The camera turns a full circle and lands on the framing you started with, exactly like the clip at the top of this guide.
- Sweep bows out by 30 percent of the distance between the two slides, so it is dramatic on a long leg and subtle on a short one. Overhead flattens the tilt, so it shows most when the slides are tilted. On a slide that is already top-down it only zooms out slightly.
- Camera moves work in Timeline view too, which is a Pro feature. Each transition bar shows the name of its move, and right-clicking the bar opens the same Camera move list.
- Camera moves are free to use on any plan. They sit on top of the easing and Swoop you already chose, so if a move feels wrong, try changing the easing before you change the move.