Runway Review

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Runway AI runwayml.com is an AI company offering a bunch of tools for generating, editing, and enhancing digital media like videos and images using AI.

runway text to video in gen 3 alpha — Runway's Gen-3 Alpha Text-to-Video Example

Their latest model Gen-3 Alpha cranks up video-making with much better quality and consistency. It has features like text-to-video and - recently - image-to-video, plus advanced editing tools, so you can twist and turn your visual stories.

Runway’s made for everyone, whether you’re a newbie or a pro. You can whip up amazing digital content without needing a tech degree thanks to their user-friendly interface.

Runway can be used for all sorts of projects — filmmaking, music videos, and more. They even team up with industry big shots to tailor their tools for specific needs.

Runway's Gen-3 Alpha Video Examples

4 Text-to-Video Generations

In Runway, prompts were as follows:

A vibrant red hot air balloon rises gracefully into a clear blue sky, surrounded by lush, colorful landscapes. The scenery below is a patchwork of green fields, blooming flowers, and winding rivers. The overall atmosphere is dreamy and uplifting, with soft, pastel colors enhancing the serene and joyous feeling.

Tracking shot: A sleek sports car driving on a reflective wet road at night. Neon lights from nearby signs create vibrant reflections on the surface as the car speeds past, highlighting its movements and the glowing colors.

A calm, happy capybara swimming slowly in a hot infinity pool

Neon-lit cyberpunk market scene at night. Tracking shot of a man in futuristic attire navigates a bustling street crowded with neon signs and holograms. The urban dystopia is vivid with colors clashing against the dark, gritty background, highlighting the high-tech, low-life aesthetic of the cyberpunk genre. [from my list of cinematic prompts]

Runwayml Gen-3 Image-to-Video Tests

Some test I made in Runway image-to-video Gen-3 mode. Used Midjourney's images.

Aside from video generation, Runway offers lip sync, which works for both realistic and cartoonish characters. You can just enter your text, pick a voice, and click generate, and if your video features a person's face, it will have a voice!

Lip Sync Demo

Granted, the quality of lip movement is not as great as in Liveportrait, and you can see a lot of blur going on in the mouth area to conceal the lack of precision. Voice featured in the video is that of Kiana.

Lip Sync Joke

This one was a Gen-3 video for my text prompt "Low angle, slow-motion shot: A young woman with striking red hair emerges from the water at twilight, her wet hair clinging to her face. The camera captures the serene, reflective surface of the water and the soft, muted colors of the fading light. Tiny droplets of water glisten on her skin as she gazes intensely into the camera, creating a mysterious and captivating atmosphere." And it decided to give the woman pimples. Not too surprising, actually, another AI, Leonardo, also done that when generating an image for a similar prompt. Voice used: Rina.

Runway Gen-3 Video Pricing

Everyone can try free plan with 125 one-time credits, which do not renew. But the thing is you won't get to try the best and latest model - Gen 3 Alpha, and Gen 2 in my opinion isn't that great. But it's a great opportunity to learn the interface, the prompt structures, try out image generation and editing tools.

Next, if you'd like to try Gen-3 Alpha, you could spend $15 and get yourself 625 credits, which will give you 12 videos (5-second each). Purchasing of additional credits then also becomes available to you.

If you decide you'd like to make Runway your main AI video generation platform, you can consider the biggest plan for the cheapest per second rate.

RunwayML Unlimited Monthly Plan:
- Cost: $95 per month
- Credits: 2250 credits
- Gen-3 Alpha usage: 10 credits per second of video
Cost Calculation:
- For a 5-second video, you would need 5 seconds x 10 credits/second = 50 credits.
- With 2250 credits available, you can generate 2250 credits / 50 credits per 5-second video = 45 5-second videos.
Cost per 5-Second Video:
- Total cost for the plan is $95.
- Cost per 5-second video is $95 / 45 videos ≈ $2.11 per 5-second video.

Therefore, on RunwayML's Unlimited Monthly Plan, each 5-second video costs approximately $2.11.

runway-relaxed-mode-generations — Runway explore mode generations

Besides these guaranteed fast generations, there are technically unlimited generations in 'Explore Mode', but since none are guaranteed it's hard to include them, they're still limited by GPU availability, which who can tell how loaded it will be tomorrow? Still, heard some people been making great use of these. So if we take into account such possibility, the price of the 5 second video can actually be on par with what Luma is offering. For comparison: Luma Pro Plan costing $99.99 month provides 480 5-second video generations, so this will amount to ~ $0.21 per each video (10 times less for guaranteed fast generations, but no unlimited slow ones or the ability to top-up credits).

On yearly plans, you get -20% discount on all plans, and there's an even bigger Enterprice Plan.