Photoshop Timelapse: 3 Ways to Record Your Painting Process

Photoshop has no built-in timelapse. Three ways to record one anyway: a canvas plugin, a free screen recorder or a timelapse recorder, and which to pick.

Photoshop can't record a timelapse on its own. There's no time-lapse button like Procreate or Clip Studio Paint have, so to get a speedpaint out of Photoshop you either add a plugin that records the canvas, or record your screen with a separate app.

Which one is right depends on whether you only ever paint in Photoshop, and whether you want your face or hands in the video too. I'll go through all three options, then the settings that make the result watchable.

Does Photoshop have a timelapse feature?

No. It's one of the longest-running requests on Adobe's own forum: a 2024 feature request asks for "a function that gives us the ability to record a timelapse of our work like in Clip Studio Paint", and it's still open for voting. A Community Expert's answer in that thread sums up where things stand: "most professionals use third party solutions to track time and do timelapse screen recording."

Photoshop's History panel stores your steps, but only a limited number, and it can't play them back as a video. So every option below is a third-party one.

1. A canvas-recording plugin

Plugins hook into Photoshop and save a snapshot of the canvas as you paint, then stitch them into an MP4. Because they read the document rather than the screen, the video shows only your artwork: no panels, no cursor, and it doesn't jump around when you zoom or rotate.

The options I found, with prices as listed in October 2026:

Pick a plugin if Photoshop is the only app you paint in and you want the cleanest canvas-only result. The trade-off is that it only works inside Photoshop: switch to Illustrator, Blender or Krita for part of a piece and that part isn't recorded.

2. A free screen recorder, sped up afterwards

The free route is to record your screen while you paint, then speed the recording up.

1. Install OBS Studio (free, Windows and macOS).
2. Add a source that captures the Photoshop window: Window Capture on Windows, or macOS Screen Capture set to a window on a Mac.
3. Record your session.
4. Speed the recording up in any video editor, or with ffmpeg: ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -filter:v "setpts=PTS/60" -an output.mp4 makes it 60× faster.

It costs nothing, but it's the heaviest option. A screen recorder captures 30 or 60 frames every second, so a three-hour painting session becomes a file of several gigabytes that you then throw most of away. I wrote up the trade-offs in how to speed up a screen recording.

3. A timelapse recorder

The middle option is an app that captures your screen at an interval — one frame every couple of seconds — instead of continuously. That's what I built Tau for.

1. Open Tau and pick screen as the source, then choose the Photoshop window or the whole display.
2. Set the session length and the interval. The setup screen shows the finished video's length before you start.
3. Paint. Tau captures in the background and stays out of the recording.
4. Add a timer overlay if you want viewers to see how long the piece took, then export to MP4, WebM or GIF.

Because it records a window or display rather than the document, the video includes Photoshop's panels and follows your zoom, unlike a canvas plugin. In return it isn't tied to Photoshop: the same recording works across Photoshop, Illustrator, Krita or Blender, and it can record your camera at the same time, so the video shows your hands or face alongside the canvas. It doesn't skip idle time automatically, so pause it when you step away. Tau runs on macOS and Windows and costs $16.99€14.99 once.

Which one should you use?

• Only Photoshop, and you want canvas only: a plugin. Process Recorder if you're on Windows and comfortable setting up FFmpeg; PSFlow or PixelRec Pro if you want it to just work, or are on a Mac.
• No budget, occasional speedpaints: OBS and speed it up afterwards.
• You switch between apps, want your camera in the shot, or post regularly: a timelapse recorder like Tau.

Settings for a good Photoshop speedpaint

Interval. Painting changes slowly compared with, say, typing, so 2–3 seconds between frames works for most sessions. A three-hour painting at one frame every 2 seconds is 5,400 frames, which plays back as three minutes at 30 fps. If you want a 30-second clip for social media instead, the time lapse calculator works out the interval for you.

Hide what you don't want seen. A screen or window recording shows everything in that window. Close panels you don't need, turn off notifications, and keep reference images or client files on a different screen if you're recording the whole display.

Vertical video. For TikTok, Reels or Shorts you'll want a 9:16 crop. Painting at a portrait canvas size makes that easier; I covered the details in vertical timelapse for TikTok and Reels.

For the bigger picture — posting process videos and growing an audience with them — see how to make an art timelapse.

Quick answers

How do I record a timelapse in Photoshop?

Photoshop can't do it by itself. Install a canvas-recording plugin such as PSFlow, PixelRec or the free Process Recorder, or record the Photoshop window with a screen or timelapse recorder.

Is there a free Photoshop timelapse plugin?

Yes. Process Recorder is free and open source, but it's tested on Windows only and needs FFmpeg installed by hand. Free screen recorders like OBS also work, with a speed-up step afterwards.

Does Photoshop on iPad have a timelapse?

Not that I could confirm. Adobe's drawing app Fresco does export time-lapses, and there's an open feature request for the same in Photoshop on mobile. If you paint on an iPad, Procreate and Fresco both record time-lapses built in.

How long is a 1-hour speedpaint as a timelapse?

At one frame every 2 seconds played back at 30 fps, an hour becomes one minute. At one frame every 5 seconds, it's 24 seconds.