Pitch: how far the camera tilts
Pitch is the tilt. A pitch of 0 looks straight down at the map, like a satellite. Higher values lean toward the horizon, up to 85 degrees, which skims almost along the ground.
Straight down is the clearest view for comparing sizes, showing borders and placing labels, because nothing is hidden behind anything else. Tilt gives depth and drama, and works well for one or two key moments.
- ›Use pitch 0 for most scenes in an explainer.
- ›Use 40 to 60 for a cinematic reveal of a coastline, city or mountain range.
- ›Use 70 to 85 sparingly for a dramatic opening or closing shot.
Hold motion: what the camera does while it waits
After the camera lands on a place it keeps moving gently, which stops the video feeling frozen. The options are orbit, push-in, pull-out, drift, tilt-up, tilt-down, sweep and still.
At pitch 0, push-in, pull-out, drift and sweep keep the straight-down look. Orbit turns the map, and tilt-up leaves the top-down view. Still holds a frozen frame, which is useful for a moment you want to read, but it is not the safe default.
Keep everything you need in frame
Items that travel across the map, such as boats or planes, are pinned to real places. A push-in crops the edges as it zooms, so the start of a route can slide out of view. Pull-out, a slow drift along the route, or your own camera path keeps the whole trip visible.
Leave the zoom out when you can. The studio frames the whole outline of the place, and every extra place you highlight in the same scene, automatically. Set a zoom only when you want a tighter or wider view than that.
Your own camera path
For full control, give a scene camera keyframes: a time after landing, plus any of position, zoom, pitch and bearing. The camera glides through them. This is how you build a reveal that starts wide and pushes in, or a camera that follows a ship along its route.