Generate videos

Use @video to make a short video with Seedance. Start from words alone, from pictures, from a clip that sets the motion, or from a clip you want to change or continue.

Make a video

1. Click Video in the composer, or type @ and pick @video under Capabilities. A @video chip goes into your message, and the send button reads Generate video.
2. In the video settings, pick a Method and add what it asks for. See Choose a method.
3. Describe the video: what happens, the camera, the style.
4. Check the price and the usual wait next to the send button, like Uses 49 prompts · 2 min, then click Generate video.

Your words go to the video model as you wrote them. The agent doesn’t run, rewrite the prompt or touch your scene. A message makes one video. A message uses one generator: turning on Video removes an @image chip.

Typing @video followed by a space also makes the chip. To turn video generation off, click Video again or delete the chip.

Your prompt and the pictures, clips and audio you add are sent to a media generation provider to make the video. See the Privacy Policy .

Choose a video model

The Model menu in the video settings picks the model. Each option shows how many prompts it uses. You can also set it in Plugins → Video Generator → Video model.

When you switch to a model that can’t use a setting, the setting changes and the video settings say what changed, like Resolution set to 720p.

Choose a method

The Method menu sets how the video is made. The video settings show only the inputs that method uses, and only those are sent. The other inputs keep their files for when you switch back.

Edit clip, Extend and Draft need Seedance 2.5. With another model, the menu shows them with Needs Seedance 2.5.

Frames and reference images don’t go together: use First frame or First → last for frames, and References or Draft for reference images. When you switch methods, 3D-Agent moves your pictures across and tells you, like Moved your frames to References.

3D-Agent remembers the last method you used. If you drop an image while Prompt only is chosen, the method switches to First frame. Click Use as a reference instead to move the image to References. A second image becomes the last frame, and a video clip switches the method to References.

If a method is missing an input when you send, 3D-Agent holds the message and says what to add, like Add the opening image first.

Add pictures, clips and audio

Click a slot in the video settings, then click Upload, drop a file in, or pick one from this chat. To start from an image you made, click @video under it and pick Reference, First frame or Last frame. See Use the image you made.

Hover an input to see what it’s for. The inputs you add stay with their chat until you send, even if you switch to another chat and come back while the app is open.

The composer checks each file when you add it. If it can’t take a file, it says why, like Reference images can add up to 30 MB in all.

Reference images show the video’s subjects, characters and style. They aren’t first or last frames: the model decides where each one appears. With two or more, the order matters: drag an image to move it, or select it with Tab and press ← or →.

Files attached to the chat aren’t sent to the video model. If your message has attachments, the composer shows Image and Video don't use chat attachments. Remove them, or add the pictures in the slots above.

Name and mention reference images

To name an image in your prompt, type @ and pick it under Reference images, like Make @hero walk into @kitchen and wave. Its name comes from the file name: Hero Shot (final).png becomes @hero-shot-final. To rename it, click its name under Images. A name can have up to 32 lowercase letters, numbers, - or _. You can’t use image or video.

• In the @ menu, images you already mentioned show In prompt. Pick Add reference… to add another one.
• If you remove an image the prompt still mentions, its chip turns red. Pick another image or delete the mention before you send.
• If you mention a reference image while another method is chosen, 3D-Agent holds the message until you choose References or delete the mention.

Set length, shape and sound

• Duration: Auto makes 5 seconds. Pick 5, 8, 10, 15 or 30 seconds where the model allows it, Match · 8 s to use the motion clip’s length, or Custom for any whole number of seconds the model makes. Edit clip keeps its clip’s length.
• Aspect ratio: Auto uses the model’s default, or the first frame’s shape when you add one. With Seedance 2.5, First frame and First → last always take the first frame’s shape, and Edit clip and Extend keep the clip’s shape.
• Resolution: 720p by default. Each option shows how many prompts it uses.
• Audio off / Audio on: whether the model adds sound. It’s off by default.

On Auto, a setting shows what it picks, like Auto · 5 s or Auto · 4:3.

Draft first, then make it final

A draft is a quick 480p version of your video that uses a fraction of the prompts, so you can check the motion and framing first.

1. Pick Draft under Method. Add reference images, a motion clip or audio if you want them, or send words alone. You get a quick 480p video.

2. Under the draft, click Make 1080p final. The composer shows Final · 1080p with the draft’s length, like Final · 1080p · 5 s, and the prompts the final uses. Nothing is sent until you click Generate video.
3. Send it. The final keeps the draft’s words, inputs, length and shape, at 1080p.

To go back without making the final, click Cancel final.

A draft can be made final for at least 7 days. After that, the card says This draft has expired. Make a new one.

How long can the prompt be?

A @video message can have up to 2,000 characters. Near the limit, the composer shows a count. Over the limit, you can’t send it, and the composer says how many characters to cut.

While the video is made

The video card shows the step it’s on, about how far along it is and the time left. Videos usually take a few minutes. A longer clip, a higher resolution or a slower model takes longer.

The percentage, like About 52%, is an estimate based on the usual wait, because the provider doesn’t report how far along a video is. It doesn’t go past 95% until the video is done. When a video runs past the usual wait, the card says Taking longer than usual.

You can keep working or switch chats. The sidebar marks the chat with Generating a video, then Video ready, and a message says Your video is ready with View. If you restart 3D-Agent, the card picks the video up again.

Finished videos can be downloaded for 24 hours. After that, the card shows Expired and offers Generate again.

Right after you start a video, Generate video waits a moment before you can start the next one, and the composer counts down, like You can make another video in 42 s.

Use the video you made

The video plays in the chat, and it’s saved in the chat’s own folder. Next to its title:

• Try again puts the same request back in the composer. Nothing is sent until you send it.
• Save as… saves a copy wherever you choose.

Under the video, the chips Chat, @image and @video ready your next message, and nothing is sent until you send it. @video uses the clip as a Motion reference, for Edit clip or Extend, or for a Next shot that starts on its last frame. See Build on a generated video.

Under a draft, Make 1080p final comes first. See Draft first, then make it final.

Library in the sidebar shows the images and video clips from every chat. See Where images are saved.

Put a person in a video

To animate a person or a face with Seedance 2.5, make the picture with Seedream 5.0 from a description alone. Images of people made with GPT Image 2 don’t work in Seedance, and neither do photos or clips of real people.

1. Make an image with Seedream 5.0 from a description alone, without reference pictures. See Generate images.
2. The image shows Works for people in Seedance. Under it, click @video and pick Reference or First frame.

What does a video cost?

Each video uses prompts from your monthly plan. The number depends on the model, resolution and length. A motion clip’s length counts too, and Edit clip counts its clip twice. The composer shows the number next to the send button before you send. If no video is made, the prompts go back to your plan, and 3D-Agent says so, like 6 prompts are back in your plan.

On Basic, videos are 480p and up to 5 seconds long, with a motion clip of up to 5 seconds. Pro and Ultra make longer and sharper videos. See Plans and limits.

Prompts per second of video

A video uses prompts for each second it makes, at a rate set by the model and resolution. The count is rounded up.

Prompts per second of video, rounded to two decimals:

A video with a motion clip uses a lower rate per second, but the motion clip’s own seconds count too, up to 30:

Reference images, frames and audio don’t add prompts.

Prompts for each feature

Examples for a 5 second video on Seedance 2.5:

If a video isn’t made

The video card says what happened and what to do:

Many cards have a button for the fix, like Edit prompt, Replace image, Turn audio off or Create in Seedream. Still stuck? Get help and include the card’s text.

Next steps