Runway’s AI-powered video creation and editing service has added the promised video-to-video makeover feature to its Gen-3 Alpha model platform. The video-to-video tool lets you send a video and a text message to edit it. Changes can adjust settings, artists, or other elements of the video to match the text message or any of the preset style suggestions.
The video-to-video feature is the latest major addition to Runway’s video creation options. Runway already lets users start with text or images to define the look and motion of the video. Now, by starting with a real-world video, users can define the motion in advance and then use AI to alter the layout and aesthetic. Runway trained the feature on a large set of captioned videos and images with details to teach the AI model how to understand uploaded movies and cues to change them. It’s like watching a new video from another universe entirely. You can see how it works below.
“Video to Video represents a new control mechanism for precise movement, expressiveness and intention across generations,” Runway explained on social media. “To use Video to Video, simply upload your input video, point it in the aesthetic direction you desire, or choose from a collection of preset styles.”
Cinematic multiverse
When combined with the Gen-3 Alpha’s existing ability to handle complex transitions and expressive human faces and emotions, the results can be quite spectacular. Runway was quick to expand Gen-3 Alpha with new options. Most recently, the company showed off the Gen-3 Alpha Turbo version of its model, which sacrifices some features for speed. Along with the video-to-video morphing option, the tool also works with Motion Brush, advanced camera controls, Director Mode, and other more granular video editing features.
The Gen-3 Alpha is much more versatile and user-friendly than the Gen-2 model. That said, it does have limitations despite its impressive performance. Currently, it can output video clips up to 10 seconds long, which isn't exactly a feature-length film. Speed and quality can make up for that until it can go longer. However, Runway has more and more competition to overcome.
The most well-known model is OpenAI’s Sora, but it’s not the only one. Stability AI, Pika, Luma Labs’ Dream Machine, and others are racing to bring AI video models to the public. Even TikTok’s parent company, Bytedance, has an AI video creator named Jimeng.
If you want to try out Runway's video-to-video tool, Gen-3 Alpha is available to paid users starting at $12 per month.
