📼 Completed Guide to RunwayML: Mastering Video Generation | Part 1

Imagine having a magic art tool that lets you create like never before. That's RunwayML! It's a special tool that helps artists and designers use the latest computer tricks without being tech professionals. With RunwayML, making cool digital art becomes a breeze. It's like having a helpful friend who knows both art and computers really well.

I. Introduction to RunwayML

What is RunwayML?

RunwayML is a cloud-based creative platform that enables anyone to create professional-looking video content using artificial intelligence (AI). It offers a wide range of tools for video editing, post-production, and visual effects, all of which can be accessed and used directly in a web browser.

RunwayML is particularly well-suited for creators who do not have access to expensive video editing software or who are not familiar with complex editing techniques. The platform's AI-powered tools make it easy to achieve professional results with minimal effort.

Recently, Runway raised $141 million in a Series C extension from top tech firms, reaching a $1.5 billion valuation. Total funding now stands at $237 million. With this value, Runway is now considered a Unicorn.

Why you should use RunwayML?

RunwayML is a game-changer for video creation. It's user-friendly, making professional video editing accessible to everyone. With its AI-enhanced tools, you get top-notch results without the hefty price of traditional software. Plus, it's all online, so you can work from anywhere and always have the latest features at your fingertips.

II. Getting Started with RunwayML

Creating an account

If you haven’t had an account with RunwayML, you can go to its website and press the “Sign up” button and you can create an account in a few seconds.

You can try RunwayML for free?

RunwayML offers you five pricing plans and there is the Basic Plan which is free forever with the basic features of RunwayML, you can try this plan before deciding to buy any other paid plans. Here are the pricing plans with features of Runway ML.

After creating an account and choosing the plan, you can now start exploring the new world with RunwayML

III. Quick Mention: Image Generation with RunwayML

Before diving deep into video generation, it's worth noting that RunwayML isn't just about videos. The platform also offers powerful tools for image generation. Whether you're looking to transform photos, create unique digital art, or even generate images from textual descriptions, RunwayML has your back.

This feature harnesses the power of AI models to produce high-quality images tailored to your needs. Even though this article focuses on discussing video generation, don't forget that RunwayML's image creation tools can enhance your video tasks too.

IV. Generating Video With RunwayML

RunwayML is well-known for its video generation capabilities. It provides strong tools using AI to produce impressive videos, becoming a preferred choice for many creators. Now, let’s dive into the new world with RunwayML!

1. Gen 1: Video to Video Generation

Gen 1 of RunwayML marked the first step in using AI to create videos. In this version, users could generate one video with another style or look. It was like giving your video a makeover by using AI.

Let’s try to use Gen 1 together. First, you need to go to the Home page and choose the “Try Gen-1” button.

And this is the interface of the website that will appear after you press the button:

The next step you need to do is to “drag and drop the file (video)” there. The video should be shorter than or exactly 15 seconds. If your video is longer than 15 seconds, the first 15 seconds will be used by default. However, the number for a free plan user is 4 seconds per clip and a 15-second video is for paid users.

For example, you choose this short video and you want to make an animation cat based on the original video.

After uploading the file to RunwayML, you now can start to decide the style, and the character of your video by using the “Style reference” panel on the right.

Here, you can choose the style through an image, or using the presets that RunwayML has prepared for you or you can use text description (prompt) to do that. Here, we use the short prompt “animation cat” for example.

Before you commit to generating a video, RunwayML lets you preview the style to ensure it meets your requirements, saving you credits on multiple attempts.

If you feel satisfied with the preview style, you can go ahead and generate your own video. With the prompt “animation cat”, this is one of the results you will get.

And there you have it, your very first video created using RunwayML.

1.1. Some Advanced Settings of Gen 1

Of course, beyond the basic features, RunwayML offers a range of advanced settings. These allow for deeper customization and fine-tuning, giving you the flexibility to really make your videos stand out.

• Structural Consistency: Adjust this to control how much the output video differs from the original structure. Keep it between 0 to 5 for best results.

• Style Weight: Set this higher to focus more on the style rather than the original video's content, with an ideal range of 7.5 to 12.5.

• Frame Consistency: Modify this to control the temporal consistency of frames. A setting of 1.0 to 1.25 is recommended for coherent frame-to-frame transitions.

• Remove Watermark: Opt for this to eliminate the Gen-1 watermark from your video. (Only for paid plans)

• Affect Foreground/Background Only: Choose to apply effects exclusively to the foreground or background, preserving the other part of the video as is.

• Compare Wipe: Use this feature to swipe between the original and the transformed video to compare changes directly.

• We will discuss seed numbers and upscaling features in later sections
  

  For more information and deeper insight, you can check out here

2. Gen 2: Text/Image to Video

RunwayML's Gen 2 feature is quite impressive because it can create videos from just text or images. This means you can type out a description or upload a picture, and RunwayML will use that to make a new video.

It's a must-have tool for people who want to quickly bring their visions to life without needing a lot of video footage, time, or technical skills to start with. This feature is handy for making demonstrations or bringing concepts to life in a visual way.

With this feature of Gen 2, we can generate a 4-second video for all plans.

Why don’t you start using this new generation right now?

2.1. Image to Video

First, you need to press the button “Start with Image” on the Homepage of RunwayML

And here is your interface to start with. You can upload an image that you want to transfer into a video. For example, if you want this man in this image to walk and the scene changes along his walk, let’s try to do this.

After a few seconds, a movie scene has been made by RunwayML.

With Gen 2’s features, you can make your videos longer. You have the option to add extra time, up to 16 seconds, by extending your video three times, with each extension adding 4 seconds. This way, you can make your video scene longer and it will look like one smooth video.

For example, we can take the video we just made and make it longer using this feature.

NOTE: Gen 2 of RunwayML is still under development so sometimes it might make mistakes or create videos that don't seem very realistic. If that happens, please make another video.

2.2. Text to Video

If you only want to transfer a scene from your head but have no image to describe it, then just tell RunwayML by text descriptions.

For example with this short prompt, let’s see how RunwayML will deal with this:

A girl with long dress is walking on the grassland in a windy day, only showing her back

A stunning scene will appear in front of your face:

2.3. Image + Description

Besides Text only and Image only, there is still one prompt mode left, it is Image + Text description. In this mode, the video will match the image, and RunwayML will create a scene based on your description.

You want the scene here to look more realistic by making the cloud and the zebra move, it’s as easy as eating one piece of cake for RunwayML with the image and short prompt:

The zebra and the cloud are moving

And here is your result:

V. Some Important Features of Video Generation

1. Upscaling (For Paid Plans Only)

If you're working with Gen-1 or Gen-2 and need higher-quality outputs for professional editing or personal projects, the upscaling feature is designed to enhance the size and clarity of your generation. Remember, you need to choose upscaling before starting to generate a video, or else your video will stay at the smaller export size.

For Gen 1, you can click on the “Advanced Setting” and choose Upscale

With Gen 2, you need to click the little button at the lower left corner to open the adjust settings and choose Upscale

2. Seed Numbers

If you want to create a new video with the same vibe you have created before, RunwayML lets you work with Seed numbers to do this function. This function plays an important role in creating as many videos as you want.

When you start with Gen 1, the seed is random, but you can change it to stay the same for all your videos by changing “Randomized” to “Fixed”

With Gen 2, the Seed is a little bit harder to find, you need to go to the Advanced Settings, and if you want to create a similar video, you need to click to make sure that RunwayML will use a fixed seed between generations:

Conclusion

This is the first part of our journey into RunwayML's video generation capabilities, where we've explored the basic features. Keep an eye out for Part 2, where we will focus on advanced features that can take your video projects to the next level. Stay tuned!

To Be Continued…

If you are interested in other topics and how AI is transforming different aspects of our lives, or even in making money using AI with more detailed, step-by-step guidance, you can find our other articles here:

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• Earn Money Using the Best Free AI Art Generator

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• Master Client Onboarding: A Quick Guide for Welcome Emails Using AI Tools*

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