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The AI media tech provider Runway has announced the release of Frames, its latest generation text-to-image model, and it is won early praise from users for creating highly cinematic visuals — a fitting compliment given Runway is primarily known as an AI video model provider. Can Frames dethrone Midjourney as an option for AI filmmakers and artists?
Announced in November 2024Frames was first made available to select Runway Creators Program ambassadors and power users over the past few weeks.
Right now, it's available to everyone Runway's Unlimited and Enterprise subscription plans, which costs $95 per month/$912 when paid annually or, in the case of the Enterprise plan, $1,500 annually. The company also posted a showcase of new images generated by Frames users on its website hereunder the name “World of Frames.”
Users can generate still images with it turned on The Runway website in app.runwayml.com — if they subscribe to the appropriate plan — and then with one click, use the images as the basis for movies created using Runway's image-to-video models like Gen-3 Alpha Turbo.
According to Runway, Frames provides an advanced level of stylistic control and visual fidelity, making it a versatile tool for industries such as editorial, art direction, pre-visualization, brand development, and production.
As Cristóbal Valenzuela, co-founder and CEO of Runway, wrote in a post on social network X: “Frames are built from scratch for professional creative work. If you are in editorial, art direction, pre-vis, brand development, production, etc., this model is for you.”
Valenzuela added that the model's induction system allows for precision and depth, allowing users to achieve nuanced, naturalistic and cinematically composed results.
Users seem to agree, at Writing by @GenMagic on X: “Very high quality, lots of stylish controls, and you can animate your runway photos very quickly. I always wanted to see some 90s aesthetic mall nostalgia, and Frames did not disappoint.”
Or as user @AIandDesign put it: “@runwayml Frames are insane. I can't help it.”
Creativity meets consistency
Frames allow users to design worlds with specific points of view and aesthetic qualities. Its ability to maintain stylistic consistency while offering a wide exploration of creative variation over previous models, which were often more random and “roll the dice” in terms of user experience.
With Frames, users can establish a unique visual identity for their projects and reliably build variations that stay true to the specific style.
In addition to enabling custom stylistic designs, Frames at launch includes a library of 19 preset visual styles that users can select from and further customize:
1. Bright
2. Blazingly Hot
3. Vivid Cool
4. High Contrast
5. High Contrast Warm
6. High Contrast Cool
7. B&W
8. B&W Contrast
9. Muted Pastels
10. Dreamscape
11. Nordic Minimal
12. Light Anime
13. Dark Anime
14. Painted Anime
15. 3D Cartoons
16. Sketch
17. Low Angle
18. In Motion
19. Terracotta
These worlds showcase the wide range of creative possibilities that Frames offers, making it the perfect tool for artists, designers and filmmakers looking for stylistic precision.
Designed for creative pros
Frames offer several enhancements tailored for professional users.
The model excels at rendering advanced textures, natural light and complex composition, providing greater flexibility and departure from the rigid outputs of previous image generation models.
This release marks the first version of Frames, and Runway has outlined a clear roadmap for future updates, including more tools and style controls.
Safety and ethical considerations
Runway continues to prioritize safety and ethical responsibility in its generative AI tools. As part of the company Foundations for Safe Generative Media initiative, Frames includes powerful content moderation features to prevent misuse.
The company's in-house visual moderation system detects and blocks harmful or inappropriate content, balancing creative freedom with safety.
To address concerns about misinformation and misuse, Frames embeds invisible watermarks in all AI-generated content. These watermarks adhere to provenance standards set by the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), allowing users to track whether a media item was generated by AI.
Additionally, Runway is committed to improving fairness and representation in its generative models. Efforts are made to reduce bias in visual outputs and to support diverse demographics and languages.
However, Runway remains a party to a lawsuit from human artists who accuse the company and others like Stability AI and Midjourney of practicing their artwork without permission, infringing copyright. the case, Andersen v. Stability AI Ltd. (3:23-cv-00201)remains unresolved for now, but is making its way through the courts.
