Brett Lindenberg
Our January 2024 update added seven features to Mindstamp, led by Spotlight Mode, the AI question builder, and Cards. Six of the seven are still in the product in October 2026. We retired the Panopto import, and two others changed a lot: the AI question builder now writes up to 20 questions instead of 10, and in August 2026 we replaced the original Cards with a Show Card click action that opens an info, media, or product card. Each section below says how the feature works today and how to set it up.
Spotlight Mode
Spotlight Mode highlights an interaction when a viewer points at it. The rest of the video frame darkens, the interaction grows slightly, and other buttons, hotspots, and images on screen fade back. The effect needs a mouse or trackpad, so viewers on a phone or tablet see the interaction without it.
To turn it on, open a button, hotspot, text, or image in the editor, expand Settings, and switch on Spotlight Mode. Each interaction has its own switch, so you can spotlight the four products on a shelf and leave the navigation buttons plain.
Use it when the viewer explores a scene, such as a product wall, a machine, or a room in a property tour, and you want each choice to stand out as the pointer reaches it. Touch screens do not show the effect, so give mobile viewers another cue. A hotspot attention effect, such as Pulse or Glow, set under Styling, draws the eye without a pointer. On desktop, a hover tooltip can also say what a click will do. See clickable hotspots for more on building explore-the-scene videos.
AI question builder
The AI question builder turns a video into a quiz from its transcript. In the editor, select Create Quiz in the interaction list, choose how many questions you want (1 to 20), and start. The builder writes multiple-choice questions, each with one correct answer, and places them through the video. You review the list, remove any question you do not want, and save the rest. After that, each one is an ordinary question that you can edit, move, or delete. The 90-second recording below shows the whole flow.
The builder needs a transcript, and Mindstamp makes transcripts for uploaded videos and MP4 links. If the builder says a transcript is required, select Create Transcript first. Read every draft before you save it, because the builder reads only the spoken words in the transcript and misses anything that appears only on screen. Our guide to turning any video into a quiz with AI covers the steps and how to check the drafts. To try the idea without an account, paste a transcript into our free video quiz generator.
Cards
The Cards interaction from 2024 combined text, images, and buttons in one overlay, mainly for shoppable video. We retired it and released a new version on August 31, 2026. A Card is now a panel that opens when a viewer clicks a button, hotspot, text, or image that has the Show Card click action. It does not cover the whole video, and it resizes for desktop and mobile on its own.
Each Card uses one of three layouts:
- Info, for a title and a short text
- Media, which adds an image
- Product, which adds an image and fits a product name, details, and price
A Card can have up to two action buttons. An action can do most things a normal click can do, such as open a link, start a download, or add a product to a Shopify cart. By default, the video pauses while the Card is open and continues when the viewer closes it. The Cards release note and our post on Cards, hotspot effects, and the timeline editor have the details. For product videos, see shoppable video.
Question editor
The 2024 redesign rebuilt the question editor, and you still build every question there. Move the playhead to the moment you want, select Question in the interaction bar, choose a type, and write the prompt and answers. The video pauses when the question appears and continues after the viewer answers.
There are now 13 question types. Six of them, including multiple choice and free response, can be scored, and others collect video, voice, or drawing responses. Each question also has its own settings:
- Allow skipping and Allow Rewinding
- Provide Hint
- Time Limit, from 2 to 90 seconds
- Repeat Until Correct, for a scored question with skipping turned off
- Speak Question and Speak Answers, which read the text aloud
The help article on adding questions to a video covers every setting, and our guide to interactive video question types shows when to use each type. To build a scored quiz from start to finish, read how to create an interactive video quiz. For quizzes in workplace training, including live and form quizzes, read how to create online quizzes for corporate training.
Capture Lead on an interaction
Lead capture shows a form that asks the viewer for details such as name, email, and phone. You set the fields and the timing in the video's Lead capture tab: at the start, at the first interaction, at a set time, or on one interaction.
The Capture Lead switch adds another trigger. Open a button, hotspot, text, or image, expand Settings, and turn on Capture Lead. Every time a viewer clicks that interaction, the video pauses and the form appears, even if the viewer filled it in earlier in the same video. Use it when one video makes more than one offer, for example a free sample in the middle and a demo booking at the end, and viewers should opt in to each one. The form uses the fields from the Lead capture tab, so set those first. Our help article on capturing a name, email, or phone number explains each timing option, and the lead capture page shows how the form looks to viewers.
Panopto import
The 2024 update let you import a Panopto video by pasting its link. Mindstamp no longer offers the Panopto import. If you have the original file of a Panopto recording, upload it to Mindstamp or link it from another supported host (see which videos you can use). Then add questions, buttons, and other interactions as you would to any video.
Our original Panopto integration announcement describes the import as it worked in 2024. If you are deciding between the two products, read our Mindstamp vs Panopto comparison.
Genie AI
Genie AI is an assistant inside the player that answers viewer questions about the video. It answers only from the video's transcript and the supplemental information you add, so its answers stay inside your own content. Viewers open it from the Genie button in the player controls, or from any interaction that has the Open Genie AI click action.
To turn it on, open the video's Genie AI tab and switch it on. The switch appears only when the video has a transcript. To have Genie read its answers aloud with an AI voice, turn on Speak Genie answers aloud in the video's Settings. The Genie AI tab lists every question viewers asked, with Genie's answer, so you can see what viewers still wanted to know after watching. Genie AI is on Core and higher plans. The Genie AI page and the help article What is Genie AI? have more.
What came after this update
We publish later releases in the Mindstamp changelog. Two later product posts cover 2026 releases: the April 2026 product update and certificates, offline mode, custom audio, and the MCP server. To try any feature on this page with your own video, start a 14-day free trial with no payment card, or see what each plan includes on our pricing page.
