Runway has added a precise camera control feature to its video platform allowing editors to pan, track, and zoom around AI subjects.
Advanced Camera Control began rolling out to Gen-3 Alpha Turbo users across the weekend adding to its Act-One feature announced just a few weeks ago which can transform an actor into a cartoon from just a single video.
On the social media platform X, Runway explains that Advanced Camera Control allows users to “choose both the direction and intensity of how you move through your scenes for even more intention in every shot.”
Advanced Camera Control is now available for Gen-3 Alpha Turbo. Choose both the direction and intensity of how you move through your scenes for even more intention in every shot.
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— Runway (@runwayml) November 1, 2024
The impressive features allow for panning around AI subjects, which keeps their consistency even as the camera moves. They also allow for zooming out to “reveal new context and story.”
Digital Trends notes that the Advanced Camera Control Feature is restricted to Gen-3 Alpha Turbo which costs $12 a month to subscribe to.
Or, move horizontally while panning to explore locations.
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— Runway (@runwayml) November 1, 2024
Dramatically zoom through locations.
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— Runway (@runwayml) November 1, 2024
Or quickly zoom out to reveal new context and story.
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— Runway (@runwayml) November 1, 2024
The new camera controls may be of interest to Hollywood. Runway partnered with Lionsgate — the film studio behind The Hunger Games, John Wick, and The Twilight Saga franchises — in a deal that gave Runway permission to train custom video models on Lionsgate’s extensive Hollywood catalog, thought to be over 20,000 films and TV shows.
Runway is positioning itself as a tool for filmmakers after the relase of Act-One last month which takes a video of someone talking — which can be shot on just a smartphone — and uses the performance as an input to create compelling animations.
Without the need for motion-capture or character rigging, Act-One is able to translate the performance from a single input video across countless different character designs and in many different styles.
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— Runway (@runwayml) October 22, 2024
But Runway CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela caused controversy last week after comparing the current state of artificial intelligence to the invention of daguerreotypes in the 19th century.