How to Make a Day to Night Real Estate Video (Virtual Twilight)

TL;DR: A day to night transition — also sold as virtual twilight — takes two steps in Pedra, and both start from the daytime photos you already have. First, open a photo, click Sky Blue in the Edit with AI menu, choose Night and click Generate; the night version comes back in about 15 seconds with the property's lights on. Then in Create video, click Sky on that frame and pick the edited version — that is what makes the shot transition. Generating returns both a horizontal and a vertical cut. Whole thing runs in under five minutes.

Try it: pedra.ai/video-for-real-estate

What a day to night transition is, and why it sells listings

It is the shot where the same property appears first in daylight and then lit up after dark, with the windows glowing. It is the single most shared moment in a listing video, and it is why photo editors sell the still version as virtual twilight as a paid add-on.

The reason most agents never use it is the cost of getting it. Done with a camera, it means going back to the property after sunset, setting up a tripod in the same position as the daytime shot, waiting for the light, and then matching the two in an editor. That is a second trip, a second setup, and an hour of editing — per property.

You do not need any of that. The night version can be generated from the daytime photo, and the transition can be applied when the video is built.

What you need

• The normal daytime photos of the property. Photos from a phone work; they do not have to come from a photographer.
• At least one exterior shot — day to night reads strongest on a façade or a terrace, where the sky and the windows both change.
• A Pedra account: pedra.ai/video-for-real-estate
• About five minutes.

Step one: generate the night version of the photo

1) Open the property and pick an exterior shot

Open the property in Pedra and select the daytime exterior photo you want to start from — typically the façade, since that is the first frame of the video.

2) Click "Sky Blue" in the Edit with AI menu

With the photo selected, open Edit with AI and click Sky Blue. The options include Night, Dusk and Dawn, among others.

3) Choose Night and generate

Click Night, then Generate. It is one click, and the image comes back in about 15 seconds.

The result has the property's lights on and reads as a real photograph — the kind of shot a professional real estate photographer would come back at dusk to take. You now have two versions of the same photo, day and night, framed identically. That identical framing is what makes the transition work.

4) Do a second one, if you want two transitions

Pick another exterior — a terrace works well — and run the same steps with Dawn instead of Night. Two different transitions in one video is more interesting than the same effect twice.

Step two: turn it into the video

This is the step people get stuck on. Generating the night photo is not enough on its own — you have to tell the video which frame transitions to which.

5) Open Create video and select your photos

Go to the Video section and click Create video. Select the original images — not the night versions — and click Next. The edited versions are attached to the frame in the next step; adding both would just show the same shot twice.

6) Put the exteriors first

Move the exterior photos to the front. That is the hook of the video, and the transition is what stops the scroll.

7) Apply the Sky effect

On the first exterior frame, click Sky, then choose the sky-edited version of that same photo and confirm the selection.

This is the step that creates the transition. You are telling Pedra that this scene starts on the daytime photo and resolves to the night one. Repeat on the terrace frame with the Dawn version.

If you want the transition to breathe a bit longer, expand the duration of that frame.

8) Generate

Click Generate and wait a couple of minutes for the render.

You get back both a horizontal and a vertical version — the horizontal for portals like Rightmove and ImmoScout24 and for your own site, the vertical for Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Download them and they are ready to publish.

Tips for a better day to night transition

✔ Start from a good daytime exterior. The generated night version inherits the framing, the composition and the resolution of the original. A crooked or dark original gives a crooked, dark night shot.

✔ Exteriors transition better than interiors. The effect reads through the sky and the windows. A living room with no window in frame has nothing to change.

✔ Lead with it. Put the transition in the first few seconds. It is the reason someone stops scrolling, so spending it at the end of the video wastes it.

✔ Two transitions, not six. Night on the façade and dawn on the terrace is a rhythm. The same effect on every frame is a gimmick.

✔ Keep the original in the video too. The transition only means something if the viewer sees the daytime state first.

✔ Stage the photos before you generate the night version if the property is empty, so the lit windows show a furnished interior. See virtual staging.

Common questions

How long does it take to make a day to night real estate video?

Under five minutes end to end. The night photo generates in about 15 seconds, and the video render takes a couple of minutes. The rest is choosing photos.

Do I need to go back to the property at night?

No. That is the entire point. The night version is generated from the daytime photo you already have, so there is no second visit, no tripod and no waiting for the light.

Is this the same thing as virtual twilight?

Effectively yes. Virtual twilight is what photo editors call the still image — a daytime exterior converted to a dusk or night shot. A day to night transition is that same conversion used as a moving transition inside a video, so the viewer sees both states.

Can I use photos taken with a phone?

Yes. The demo uses photographer shots, but the process is identical with ordinary phone photos of the property.

What times of day can I generate?

Night, dusk and dawn are the ones used here, and there are further options in the Sky Blue menu. Dawn on a terrace and night on a façade is a good default pairing.

Do I get a vertical version for Reels and TikTok?

Yes. Generating returns a horizontal and a vertical cut of the same video, so the portal version and the social version come out of one render. The vertical can be re-cropped if you want the scene tighter.

Why doesn't my frame transition?

Almost always because the Sky effect was never applied to that frame. Generating the night photo puts it in your library; it does not attach it to a scene. Open the frame in Create video, click Sky, and pick the edited version.

Can I publish these on portals?

Yes — the horizontal cut is made for portals and for your own listing pages, and the vertical for social. Check each portal's own video specs for length limits.

From one daytime photo to a listing video

The whole sequence is: a photo you already have → a night version generated with Sky Blue in about 15 seconds → the Sky effect applied to that frame in Create video → a horizontal and a vertical cut, a couple of minutes later.

No second visit, no tripod, no editing skills, and no videographer.

More on building the video itself in how to make a real estate video with AI.

Make your day to night video →