What each leading generative model does, how to prompt it, and when to use it — Seedance, Veo, Kling, MiniMax Hailuo, Runway, Seedream, Nano Banana and more.
Veo 3.1 is Google DeepMind’s AI video model: native 4K, audio baked into the same pass as the picture, and the best cinematic prompt comprehension in the field. What it does and when to pay the premium.
5 minKling 3.0 is the value champion of AI video at ~$0.10/sec, built for multi-shot cinematic sequences that hold one character across cuts. What it does, how to prompt it, and when to pick it.
5 minLuma Dream Machine, powered by Ray 3, is the AI video model built for fluid camera motion and keyframe direction. What Ray 3 and Ray3.14 do, how to prompt them, and when to use them.
5 minMiniMax H3 (Hailuo 3.0) generates 2K video with native stereo audio and ships as open weights. What it does, how it prompts, and when to pick it over Seedance or Kling.
5 minRunway Gen-4.5 pairs top-tier video quality with a real editing toolchain — Motion Brush, Act-Two, Aleph, Director Mode. What it does, how to use it, and when to pick it over pure text-to-video.
5 minSeedance 2.5 is ByteDance’s AI video model that renders a native 30-second 4K clip in one pass, with up to 50 reference inputs. What it does, how to prompt it, and when to use it.
4 minSora 2 set the bar for cinematic AI video with native synced audio. But OpenAI is shutting it down: the app closed Apr 26 2026, the API sunsets Sep 24 2026. What it did, and how to migrate now.
4 minWan 2.2 is Alibaba’s Apache-2.0 open-source video model — text-to-video, image-to-video, and a 5B variant that runs on a 24GB GPU. What it does, how to run it, and when open weights beat a hosted platform.
5 minFLUX.2 is Black Forest Labs’ open-weight image family — one 32B checkpoint for generation and editing, strong prompt adherence, and legible typography you can self-host. What it does and how to use it.
4 minGPT Image is OpenAI’s image family, led by GPT Image 2 — a model that plans layout and renders legible text before it draws. What it does, how to prompt it, and when to use it.
5 minIdeogram 3.0 is the image model built for legible in-image text — logos, posters, packaging, signage. What it does, how to prompt it, and where it fits versus Midjourney and Flux.
5 minMidjourney v7 is the release that made a repeatable house style realistic: stabler --sref, Omni Reference, Personalization v2 and Draft Mode. What it does and when to still reach for it.
5 minNano Banana is Google’s Gemini image generation and editing model, known for keeping the same face across edits. What it does, the model family, and how to prompt it.
5 minSeedream 5.0 is ByteDance’s photoreal AI image and editing model — relight a shot, swap a surface, keep the product itself real. What it does, how to edit with it, and where it fits.
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