Imagen 4: lock this still before you buy motion (4K, 4cr)
Imagen 4 is the stills row. Animate after approval. Do not generate the pack inside the video model.
Imagen 4 is the stills row. Animate after approval. Do not generate the pack inside the video model.
Imagen 4 is Google's catalog line for photorealistic results, and the description is blunt: text-only. Four credits. 4K. Category is text-to-image, not image-to-video, not a silent clip you hope to freeze later. If the job is a hero still — product plate, key art, a face the brand already signed — this is the generate. Motion is a later row.
Photoreal is a still, not a pack
A pack is a set of frames that have to match. A still is one approved picture. Imagen 4 is built for the second thing. The catalog does not list durations because there is nothing to time. There is no audio field because there is no soundtrack. requires_image is false: you type, you get a 4K photoreal file.
That is the whole job. Teams burn the four credits inside a video model because the video UI is already open. Then the first frame is a compromise, the product lettering smears, and the "pack" is six almosts. The stills row exists so you do not do that.
Run Imagen 4 from the text-to-image tool when the brief is a picture. Google's other families sit on the Google roster. None of those pages turn this row into a clip generator.
Text-only is the constraint
"Text-only" is not a slogan. It is a pipeline rule. You do not upload a reference still into this row and expect it to lock identity. You describe the shot. Photoreal is the listed strength — Realistic / Artistic / Anime sit on the style list, with output quality up to 4K — but the input is a prompt.
If you already have a locked plate and you need a change, you are not on Imagen 4. That is an edit-image row. If you need the plate to move, you are not on Imagen 4 either. That is image-to-video after the still is signed.
The mistake is using a video model as a "better Imagen" because it happens to emit a first frame. A first frame is not an approved still. It is a side effect.
Four credits, 4K, then stop
Quote the catalog and stop inventing a second product:
- 4 credits per generate
- 4K max output
- text-to-image only
- no duration list
- no native audio
- no required upload
Aspect ratios on the row include 16:9, 4:3, 1:1, 3:4, 9:16, and auto. Pick the ratio the pack will actually ship. Do not generate square and crop later if the plate is a 9:16 hook. The still you lock is the still you animate.
Four credits is cheap compared with a motion pass you will throw away. It is not cheap if you treat Imagen as a sketch pad for a video model that will ignore the sketch. Generate, pick, freeze. The ranked stills list is best AI image generator if you are still choosing a family. This page assumes you already chose photoreal.
Approve before you animate
Approval is a human step. A client, a brand lead, or you-on-Monday looking at you-on-Sunday. Until that happens, do not spend a video row on the file.
When it is signed, the motion prompt should describe only motion: camera, steam, a hand, a slow push. Do not re-describe the product. The still already is the product. That is the image-to-video contract.
If the still is wrong, regenerate Imagen 4. Do not "fix it in Kling." You will pay for seconds of a plate nobody wanted. The catalog is sitting there with a four-credit door on purpose.
Imagen 4 is not a studio. It is the photoreal still. Keep it in that lane.
FAQ
Can I skip Imagen 4 and prompt the video model for the same look?
You can. You will not get a signed still. You will get a clip whose first frame is a guess, and every extra second is that guess in motion. If photoreal product work is the job, lock the still first.
Does Imagen 4 take a reference image?
Not on this row. The catalog marks requires_image false and describes the model as text-only. If you need to edit a file you already have, pick an edit-image model. If you need to animate a file you already have, pick image-to-video.
Why is there no duration or audio on the spec?
Because it is an image model. Durations and native audio belong to video rows. Asking Imagen 4 for an eight-second take is a category error, not a missing setting.
When should I leave Imagen 4?
When the still is approved and the next job is motion, an instruction edit, or a different look (illustration, lettering, a cheap ideation pass). The stills row did its work. Change the row, not the prompt into a video-shaped paragraph.