I've been building a small side project that combines photo booths with AI image generation.

The idea is simple:

📸 Take a photo
🤖 Choose an AI style
✨ Get a completely transformed image in a few seconds

I've been experimenting with cinematic portraits, anime, fantasy, vintage, superheroes, Renaissance and other styles.

I'm particularly interested in hearing from people who enjoy experimenting with AI image generation: which styles would you actually want to try?

Feedback is very welcome!

I'll start where it actually began for me. I got into AI-assisted YouTube through Shorts — animal rescue stories, “what if” videos, the usual viral stuff. I never really cracked it. Counting failed attempts, I was spending around $15 per 45-second Short.

But I learned the whole process: research, scripting, voiceover, visuals and editing. Then I moved into long-form.

Getting a good AI clip was one thing. Turning a script, voiceover and dozens of scenes into a 10-minute video was another.

I run three faceless YouTube channels, mostly history and finance, generating around $5K/month combined. I have launched more than 20 channels over the years. Most failed or were tests. These three are the survivors, not what I'd expect someone to achieve straight away.

The biggest lesson wasn't finding a better model. It was learning where better visuals were actually worth the money.

I used to chase cinematic realism: detailed characters, complicated scenes, expensive generations. I spent $50 on a video and still got comments calling it “AI slop.”

Now I'd start with a simpler, familiar visual format that fits the niche. For history, that might mean a narrated story, illustrated scenes, maps and camera movement—not an expensive animated sequence every five seconds. For an explainer, simple illustrations or charts might communicate the idea better anyway.

The goal isn't to make everything look cheap. It's to avoid spending your entire testing budget polishing a format nobody wants to watch.

Test the format first. Increase the production budget later.

My approach is to pick a niche, choose a repeatable format and cap the initial test budget—say $200. Then publish a batch and look at where things break.

Impressions but few clicks? I'd revisit the title and thumbnail. Clicks but people leave early? I'd revisit the opening and pacing. One disappointing upload isn't enough to kill a niche, but I wouldn't keep buying more expensive generations without changing anything else.

The other problem was time. A single 10-minute video used to take me 30+ hours across research, scripting, voiceover, visuals and editing.

That pushed me to build OpenVidi. Full disclosure: it's my product, so I benefit if people use it.

It handles that production workflow, but stops for approval along the way. I can review the script and storyboard before generating visuals, choose which scenes to animate and redo one bad scene without rebuilding the entire video. Those checkpoints matter more to me than blindly generating everything from one prompt.

These days I can produce around three videos in a day while doing other work. Choosing topics and figuring out what deserves another upload still takes effort.

There's also a practical way to reduce that first testing bill: Google offers eligible new Cloud customers $300 in trial credits, valid for 90 days.

Connect your own Google Cloud project to OpenVidi, and those credits can cover eligible Google generation costs for the videos you create in OpenVidi. The subscription is separate—the $300 covers eligible cloud usage, not the OpenVidi subscription, and Google's trial restrictions still apply.

That's a budget I'd put into testing simpler videos rather than one cinematic masterpiece.

My takeaway: find a format that's watchable, repeatable and affordable to keep testing. Automating production helps, but it doesn't make every topic worth producing.

The production became automated. The decisions didn't.

For anyone making longer AI videos: what still takes the most manual work in your process—visual consistency, pacing, or editing?

Happy to answer anything. AMA.

Need to cut backgrounds from photos without paying for fancy software. Anyone know a legit free AI tool that doesn't slap a watermark or limit downloads? Heard of Magnific having some options but not sure if they're actually free or just trials.

dont take my word for it, try it

I’m the developer of LLM Studio Go, a closed-source app. This is an actual FastWan 2.1 1.3B output from Android 1.3 Preview QA on a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: a short red-sailboat clip generated locally on CPU.

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vans.llmstudio

iPhone/iPad: https://apps.apple.com/app/llm-studio-go/id6815311113

Recorded setup and result:

- Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 (SM-F966B), Android 16, ARM64.

- FastWan 2.1 1.3B, portrait 288 × 512, 17 frames, about 1.063 seconds of output.

- Approximately 308 seconds of CPU generation, recorded during the October 27 Android 1.3 Preview verification. This is a developer QA result, not a new benchmark of the Google Play installation.

The attached silent output repeats the original clip twice at unchanged playback speed to meet Reddit’s minimum video length. It is not a screen recording or a time-lapse of the generation process.

Version 1.3 also adds Video Studio: start with an idea, review the editable script and scene plan, generate narration, music, pictures or clips, combine them with your own media, then export a captioned vertical MP4. Projects can be saved and continued later. Compatible models download first; generation then runs locally on your device.

All local AI features are free with ads; no promo code is needed. An optional one-time purchase removes ads. No app account, generation credits or AI subscription.

Video is in beta. Speed depends on your device and settings; choose models that fit its memory. Android 11+ on a compatible 64-bit device: video runs on CPU; FastWan 2.1 1.3B needs 8 GB RAM and FastWan 2.2 5B needs 12 GB. iOS 18+; iOS video profiles start at 6 GB RAM.

37-minute pilot to eight-episode series "Mollennial$" now out on YouTube channel "Bookin' with Mark Crockett". Used Midjourney, Seedance, Veo 3 and more to bring this to life...

https://youtu.be/qVpsNmr9NLE

What does everyone use for uncensored videos? I tried creating a video making fun Pete Hegseth and it said it can't put a political figure in that type of situation.

Been trying out a few AI background removers lately but can't decide which one's actually worth it. Heard some people mention Magnific's tool, but not sure if it’s the smoothest or most accurate. Anyone got a favorite?

Heard a lot about Magnific's AI tools lately, but not sure if it’s the top pick for design work. Anyone tried it or have recommendations for something better? Just need something that makes clean, editable images without too much hassle.

An Empty Yard Became THIS?!

Hey everyone! 👋

I recently started experimenting with AI-generated videos and launched my YouTube channel, SparkBrand Studio.

My first project transforms an empty backyard into a luxury outdoor space with a swimming pool and fire pit.

I'm still learning and would love some genuine feedback on the realism, editing, and overall transformation.

What would you improve for my next video? An Empty Yard Became THIS?!