Luma Labs released its Dream Machine artificial intelligence video platform last month, enabling Sora-level quality video output with impressive motion realism.
Since its release, the company has added a variety of new features, including the ability to extend clips, keyframes that let you define the first and last frames of a five-second initial generation, and looping capabilities.
Looping is accessible via a checkbox below the prompt window, and when enabled, a five-second clip will be generated with the first and last frames back-to-back – much like a good GIF or TikTok video.
I’ve done about 30 loop prompts and found that depending on the prompt you use, it can be either a success or a failure. Being descriptive and specific helps, and starting with an image rather than a text prompt often works best.
What are the advantages of loops?
Today we’re releasing Dream Machine loops to help you stretch your imagination. Get started here: https://t.co/G3HUEBEAcO
1/6 #LumaDreamMachine pic.twitter.com/HxRjCaeqxnJuly 22, 2024
Looping is especially useful when creating animations using AI: it creates a way to create long segments without using multiple clips, like in classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons where it looks like a character is running for a long time but in reality it’s just a looping background.
A good example of this from Luma Labs was an animation of a spaceship flying through subspace, with the background appearing to be constantly moving – I tried to recreate that but had a hard time getting a consistent frame from start to finish.
Another big potential use case is creating moving memes: AI video has been a boon for the meme community, and looping makes creating GIFs even easier.
To test out the new looping feature, I created five fun prompts and ran them through the Dream Machine to see how they performed.
1. Music Waves
(Image source: Luma Labs/Future AI)
First, I basically used Prompt to create the perfect screensaver, which looks like something Apple is releasing as the default on new Macs. The idea is to generate something that can be included as a piece of music.
Prompt: “Colorful sound waves morph into abstract shapes, pulsating and intertwining in response to an invisible melody.”
2. The Bubble Returns
(Image source: Luma Labs/Future AI)
My 3 year old son loves chasing bubbles. Imagine a bubble that plays infinitely every time it pops. Now you can loop your ideas in the form of a video.
Prompt: “A soap bubble floats upwards, catching an iridescent reflection, then pops just before it leaves the frame.”
3. The never ending market
(Image source: Luma Labs/Future AI)
When creating AI video content, it can be difficult to get “joiner” type shots as the AI doesn’t always do exactly what you ask it to do. I checked this out on a loop some more just to see what would happen, and it worked better than I expected.
Prompt: “A bustling street market at dusk, with stallholders selling colorful fruits and vegetables. Paper lanterns hanging from the stalls sway gently in the breeze, casting a warm, flickering light over the crowd, while street musicians play soothing melodies in the background.”
4. Cat on the Railroad Tracks
(Image source: Luma Labs/Future AI)
This is technically a fail as there is no unicycle in the picture, but instead there is a cat riding a skateboard, but I included it because it worked as a loop.
Prompt: “A cat riding a unicycle on railroad tracks.” It might have worked better if I’d explained the unicycle more clearly, but this was my first attempt at a loop.
5. Pip the Pixel Dog
(Image source: Luma Labs/Future AI)
Finally, here is Pip the pixel dog. I’ve collected all the loops of Pip from the same source photo. Pip is wagging his tail, panting, and doing all sorts of other things. In this loop, Pip is hopping.
Prompt: “The pips bounce up and down, with pixel blocks separating slightly in the air and rejoining when they land, creating a seamlessly looping bouncy compression and expansion effect.”
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