Custom Templates

Custom Presets let you save your own Motion Director and AI Transitions recipes as reusable cards. Instead of rewriting the same camera move or transition prompt every time, you can create a named preset, add an optional thumbnail, set a recommended duration, and reuse it from the workflow picker.

Custom presets are for repeatable creative direction. Use them when you have a camera move, transition style, brand look, or editorial trick you expect to use more than once.

Where Custom Presets Work

Custom presets are currently available in:

Workflow
What You Can Save
Extra Field

Motion Director

A reusable image-to-video camera prompt

None

AI Transitions

A reusable two-frame transition prompt

Optional negative prompt

Custom presets are workflow-specific and only appear in the workflow they were made in.


When to Use Custom Presets

Use custom presets when the built-in cards are close, but not specific enough.

  • Save a branded motion style you use across a channel or client

  • Create specialty camera moves that are not built into Motion Director

  • Build custom transition recipes for a series, template pack, social format, or edit style

  • Keep duration choices consistent for repeatable deliverables

  • Add transition negative prompts when a custom transition keeps producing the same artifact

  • Turn successful experiments into reusable cards after you find a prompt that works

Custom presets are not meant to replace the built-ins for normal work. Built-ins are still better when you want the workflow to analyze the image or frames and fill in the prompt automatically.


The Most Important Difference

Built-in presets and custom presets behave differently.

Preset Type
What Happens

Built-in Motion Director presets

The workflow analyzes the image, detects the subject, builds a movement-specific prompt, adds identity and stability language, and uses preset-specific generation settings

Custom Motion Director presets

Your saved prompt is sent directly as the motion prompt

Built-in AI Transition styles

The workflow analyzes the start and end frames, fills a transition template with subject/start/end/environment details, and adds quality-lock instructions

Custom AI Transition presets

Your saved prompt is sent directly as the transition prompt, with optional negative prompt if you saved one

How to Create a Custom Preset

  1. Open Motion Director or AI Transitions

  2. Click the movement or transition card to open the preset picker

  3. Click Custom

  4. Add a Name

  5. Optional: upload a Thumbnail

  6. Write the Prompt

  7. For AI Transitions only: optional Negative prompt

  8. Set the Recommended duration

  9. Click Save

After saving, the custom preset appears in that workflow's picker alongside the built-in cards.

Editing and Deleting

Custom preset cards include an edit icon.

Use it to:

  • Rename the preset

  • Replace the thumbnail

  • Update the prompt

  • Change the recommended duration

  • Add or revise a transition negative prompt

  • Delete the preset

Deleting a preset is permanent.


Template Fields

Field
What It Does
Notes

Name

The card title in the preset picker

Keep it short and recognizable

Thumbnail

Optional image preview for the card

Useful for branded looks or visual transition types

Prompt

The exact instruction sent during generation

Required

Negative prompt

What AI Transitions should avoid

AI Transitions custom presets only

Recommended duration

The duration selected when the preset is chosen

3-15 seconds

The name is for you. The prompt is for the model. The duration is for the workflow.


Use duration as part of the creative design.

Duration
Best For

3-4s

Whip moves, punchy transition hits, fast camera accents

5-6s

Product reveals, subtle motion, most social edits, clean transitions

8-10s

Morphs, time passage, orbit-style moves, complex reveals

10-15s

Slow atmospheric shots, long camera travel, complex scene transformations

If a prompt requires a lot of physical change, give it more time. If the move is just a hit, wipe, or quick camera accent, keep it short.


Motion Director Custom Presets

Motion Director custom presets are for image-to-video camera direction.

Use them when you want to save a camera language that the built-in movement list does not cover exactly.

How to Write Motion Director Prompts

A good Motion Director custom prompt should include:

  • Camera behavior: what the camera does over time

  • Subject lock: what must stay unchanged

  • Scene dynamics: optional motion inside the frame

  • Stability instructions: what should not morph, drift, or appear

  • Shot tone: documentary, commercial, cinematic, atmospheric, handheld, etc.

Because the custom prompt is used directly, write the prompt as a complete instruction.

Good structure:

Avoid:

  • Placeholder-only prompts like [Subject] moves forward

  • Asking for a new outfit, new location, or new character

  • Combining too many camera moves at once

  • Writing a still-image prompt instead of a video/camera prompt

Pro tip: custom Motion Director prompts should name the camera, not just the vibe. "Slow parallax drift with foreground movement" is better than "cinematic and premium."


Motion Director Example Presets

Micro Parallax Product Hero

Field
Value

Recommended duration

5s

Best for

Products, key art, thumbnails, polished commercial inserts

Why it works: it asks for a small motion with clear preservation rules. Use it when a normal dolly-in feels too plain but you do not want an aggressive camera move.

Luxury Tabletop Turn

Field
Value

Recommended duration

6s

Best for

Beauty, food, jewelry, tech products, tabletop ads

Why it works: it defines the camera rig, direction, and product-preservation needs.

Atmospheric Establishing Drift

Field
Value

Recommended duration

8s

Best for

Environments, concept art, landscapes, cinematic scene openers

Why it works: it gives the model permission to animate atmosphere while protecting the world layout.

Documentary Handheld Portrait

Field
Value

Recommended duration

5s

Best for

Character portraits, gritty realism, interviews, behind-the-scenes looks

Why it works: it uses handheld as texture, not chaos.

Slow Suspense Push

Field
Value

Recommended duration

6s

Best for

Horror, thriller, dramatic reveals, tension beats

Why it works: it creates tone without asking the model to invent a new event.


AI Transitions Custom Presets

AI Transitions custom presets are for bridging a start frame and an end frame.

Use them when you want a transition style that is not covered by the built-ins, or when you have a very specific brand or editorial language.

How to Write Transition Prompts

A good custom transition prompt should include:

  • Start anchor: how the shot begins

  • Transition mechanism: what physically or optically hides the change

  • End anchor: how the shot resolves

  • Camera behavior: locked, push, pan, whip, fly-through, rack focus, etc.

  • Quality lock: what must stay stable and what should not appear

Good structure:

Avoid:

  • "Make a cool transition"

  • Asking for a normal cross-dissolve

  • Ignoring the end frame

  • Asking for multiple transition mechanisms at once

  • Prompts that require text or logos to stay perfectly legible


Negative Prompts for Custom Transitions

AI Transitions custom presets include an optional negative prompt field.

Use it when the same artifact keeps appearing:

  • ghosting

  • double exposure

  • visible cuts

  • flicker

  • warped faces

  • melted hands

  • fake overlays

  • camera shake

  • unstable background

  • text artifacts

  • watermarks

Do not use the negative prompt as a second creative prompt. Keep it short and failure-focused.

Good negative prompt:

Weak negative prompt:

AI Transitions Example Presets

Glass Reflection Flip

Field
Value

Recommended duration

5s

Best for

Music videos, nightlife, city edits, creator transitions

Prompt:

Negative prompt:

Lens Pass Obstruction

Field
Value

Recommended duration

4s

Best for

Invisible cuts, location changes, documentary edits, travel transitions

Prompt:

Negative prompt:

Film Burn Reveal

Field
Value

Recommended duration

5s

Best for

Nostalgia, fashion, music videos, analog title sequences

Prompt:

Negative prompt:

Glass Reflection Flip

Field
Value

Recommended duration

6s

Best for

Fashion, product, beauty, interior scenes, reflective environments

Prompt:

Negative prompt:

Ink Wash Transformation

Field
Value

Recommended duration

7s

Best for

Art channels, title sequences, poetic scene changes, stylized reels

Prompt:

Negative prompt:

Practical Flash Pop

Field
Value

Recommended duration

3s

Best for

Fast social edits, camera flashes, event videos, fashion reels

Prompt:

Negative prompt:


Best Practices

Name presets by the result

Use names like "Micro Parallax Product Hero," "Film Burn Reveal," or "Lens Pass Obstruction." Avoid names like "Test 1" or "Cool Move."

Use thumbnails for visual memory

A thumbnail is optional, but it makes custom cards easier to recognize later. Use a small image that represents the motion or transition style.

Keep prompts complete

Because custom prompts run directly, include the camera behavior, preservation rules, and quality lock inside the prompt itself.

Save only reusable ideas

If a prompt only works for one project, keep it as a one-off. Custom presets are better for moves and transitions you expect to use again.

Start from built-in language

If you like a built-in style but need a variation, read the built-in page for that workflow and borrow its structure: anchor, movement, physical transition, quality lock.

Do not overload a preset

One preset should do one job. "Whip pan, smoke reveal, light trails, film burn, and morph" is too much for a reusable card.


Troubleshooting

My custom preset ignores the source image more than a built-in preset Built-ins use workflow-specific analysis and prompt construction. Custom presets run directly, so add stronger preservation language: "preserve the subject, clothing, pose, lighting, background, and composition."

My Motion Director custom preset does not use my one-off action notes Put the full reusable instruction in the custom template prompt. Custom Motion Director presets are designed as complete recipes.

My transition custom preset does not adapt to the exact subject Write the prompt around "the start frame," "the end frame," "the subject shown in the first frame," and "the final frame" instead of relying on automatic placeholder replacement.

The same artifact appears every time in a custom transition Add a short negative prompt that names that failure mode: ghosting, double exposure, hard cut, flicker, warped face, unstable background, etc.

The custom card is hard to find later Rename it with a result-focused name and add a thumbnail.

I accidentally made a bad preset Open the picker, click the edit icon on the custom card, then revise or delete it.


Next: Use Motion Director to build custom camera movement recipes, or use AI Transitions to turn custom transition prompts into reusable bridge styles.

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