Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNET
A growing number of AI sites and services are able to generate short videos based on your descriptions or still images. Now, you can add Midjourney to the mix.
On Wednesday, the popular AI image creator announced that users can now animate their images into five-second videos. The new feature is available to all Midjourney subscribers, including those on the $10-per-month Basic plan, and offers a variety of ways to cook up cool videos.
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Adopting an image-to-video approach, you can create a video from an image already generated through Midjourney or one you upload from your computer. From there, just select the Animate button, and the transformation begins. But there's more to it based on how you want to direct the video.
An automatic setting creates the motion prompt for you and then devises the video on its own. Otherwise, a manual setting allows you to revise the prompt to describe the video as you want to see it.
You can also choose between low motion and high motion. Low motion is better for ambient scenes in which the camera remains mostly stationary and the subject moves slowly. High motion is ideal for scenes in which you want both the camera and subject to move.
After the initial video has been generated, you can extend it around four seconds at a time and for as many as four times. That means your five-second video can turn into a relatively full-length production at just over 20 seconds.
For now, the video generation is available only on the Midjourney website, not through any other avenues. And there's a cost in terms of credits and minutes.
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