Pull frames from a locked clip, not from a miss you will overwrite
extract_video_frames returns stills from a video. Grabbing a contact sheet off a throwaway take, or extracting before picture lock, produces photos of a performance you will replace.
extract_video_frames pulls one or more frames as image URLs — a moment as a photo, a reference for generate_image_from_image, a first frame for a new motion pass. Quality is capped by the source. A low-res miss becomes a low-res still. A new take has new moments. Extraction of a dead clip is a contact sheet of a ghost.
Turn a video into still photos is the job. Billed per extraction. estimate_cost if you are pulling many frames from a long file. The narrow sibling is generate a thumbnail: same tool, one representative frame.
Stills are children of a parent you trust
People extract first because they want "hero images from the video" before they have a video they like. They will extract again from the regen, and they will have already fed the old frames into an upscaler and a carousel. That is three tools on a miss.
If you needed a designed graphic, describe it to text-to-image. Extraction does not stylize. It samples pixels that exist.
Evenly spaced frames from a locked product turn are a real pack. Evenly spaced frames from a talking-head maybe are six versions of the wrong eyes.
Order
- Approve the clip.
- Extract the moments you can name (or a small even set from a keeper turntable).
- Upscale a still only if that still is the still.
- Do not caption a video to "help" the stills. Type on the images if the stills are the deliverable.
The AI video generator is the parent. Frames are a harvest.
FAQ
Can I extract from a 480p preview to save credits?
You will harvest 480p. If the still is the deliverable, extract from the master you will ship, after lock.
How is this different from a thumbnail?
Thumbnail is one chosen moment for a poster. This page is one or several stills as assets. Same extractor. Same wait.
Should I extract before I trim?
Trim the keeper first if the stills should come from the posted range. Extracting the whole miss then picking a frame from the part you would have cut is extra bill plus a bad habit.
Can I feed extracted frames back into a generate to "fix" the take?
You can use a keeper frame as a reference. Using a miss frame as a reference trains the next generate on the miss. Harvest keepers.