How a run works
The five minutes that make every other page in this handbook obvious.
Every tool in the console works the same way. Learn it once here and the rest of this handbook is just the details of each one.
1. You fill in a form
Each tool asks for what it needs and nothing more.
- A prompt is a sentence describing what you want. Plain English. You do not need special words, and you do not need to write in keywords.
- A picture is something you upload, or something already in your gallery.
- The settings are things like shape and size, how long a clip should run, and how many versions you want.
You can leave most settings alone. Every one of them has a sensible default, and the defaults are what most people use.
2. It quotes you first
Before anything runs, the button tells you two things: roughly how long it will take, and what it will cost in time from your balance.
That estimate is not a guess. It is measured from real runs of the exact settings you have chosen, so it gets more accurate the more that setup is used. Change the size or the length and the estimate changes with it.
You are never charged more than the quote
If the work runs longer than the estimate, you pay the estimate. The overrun is ours.
The one switch worth knowing
The two video pages carry a Process faster switch, and it changes the cost of a run more than any other control on the screen.
Leave it on while you are finding the shot: quicker, cheaper, good enough to judge an idea by. Turn it off for the take you are going to publish. The button shows you both prices before you press, so the decision is never blind.
3. It queues, then it runs
Busy times mean a short wait before your work starts. Waiting is free. The meter only starts when the work actually starts.
You do not have to sit and watch. The console keeps going while it works, and you can close the tab entirely; it carries on without you.
4. You get versions, not a version
Most tools let you ask for several results from one press. This is the single biggest difference between people who get good results and people who do not.
Ask for four, look at them together, keep the one that works. How many you can ask for at once depends on your plan, from two up to twenty.
5. It lands in your gallery
Finished work goes to your gallery automatically. Nothing is lost if you close the tab, and nothing needs saving.
From there you can download it, use it as the starting point for another tool, or delete it. See Your work.
When something goes wrong
It failed. You are not charged. Press again. Most failures are momentary.
It is taking longer than the estimate. You are still only charged the estimate. You can cancel from the job list; a cancelled run costs the time it actually used.
The result is not what you wanted. That is normal and it is not a fault. Change one thing in the prompt and run it again. The tool pages in this handbook each end with the changes that make the most difference.
What you cannot do
There are rules, and the console enforces them rather than trusting everybody to read them. It will refuse work that is illegal, sexual material involving minors in any form, anything built to impersonate a real person in order to deceive, and material aimed at harassing someone. A refused run costs nothing.