u/Agile_Refrigerator58

I was wondering if anyone has used aggregators and then switched to local models—is it much more cost-effective and flexible? I recently started looking into this topic and am still using aggregators for now, but for some reason it seems to me that it’s all very expensive. I also create images and videos.

Hi! I’ve been experimenting with AI image generation for a while and now want to move into video. Would love advice from people who’ve tried Runway, Kling, Luma Dream Machine, Pika, Hailuo, Gen-3, etc.

Main struggles:

• Keeping the same character consistent across video frames (face, body, style)

• Creating longer videos (more than 5-10 seconds) without weird artifacts

• Good camera movement and natural motion

What tools/workflows are best right now for photorealistic or stylized video? Any good techniques for character reference / motion brush / first frame + image-to-video? Worth training custom models?

I’m doing this as a hobby and want to create short stories or character animations. Any tips, prompts, or “avoid this mistake” stories would be super helpful!

Thanks in advance! ❤️