The Sandbox

The Sandbox is for making one thing at a time, quickly, without a project around it. Everything you make there is kept on the page — ready to run again, download, or send into a project.

Make something

1. Click Sandbox in the menu on the left of your account pages, or Open the Sandbox on your Projects page.

2. Under What do you want to make?, choose Image, Video, Sound FX, Music, 3D or Voice.

   

   

3. Describe what you want in the prompt box. The Model menu chooses what will make it; you can change it at any time, before or after you write the prompt.

4. Click Generate. While it works, the button reads Generating. The result appears in Your sandbox, below the composer.

Generate stays unavailable until there is a prompt, and until any reference the model needs is attached. If the job would cost more than your balance, the Sandbox says so beside the button.

Shape the result

What the composer offers depends on what you are making and on the model you chose.

• A reference. Some models accept a picture to work from: Add a reference image for an image, Add a first frame for a video, Build from a picture for a 3D object. Sound made for a video needs Add the video. Click Remove this reference to take it off again.
• Engine. Presets such as Standard and Quick trade speed against detail. Each preset offers its own Estimated cost when you hover over it.
• Shape, Duration and Resolution set the size and length of the result.
• How many makes several images from one prompt. The estimate multiplies with the count.
• Lyrics for music, and Delivery for a voice line.
• Advanced holds the Seed. Leave it empty for a new result each run, or reuse a seed to get close to an earlier one.

Editing a video

Under Video, Start from switches between writing a prompt for a new video and changing an existing clip.

• Set Start from to A video to edit, then click Video to edit and choose a clip — an MP4, MOV or WebM, of any length or size. MOV and WebM, and any clip too large to send as it is, are converted to MP4 in your browser before anything is uploaded; if your browser cannot do that conversion, export the clip as MP4 and try again.
• Under What should change?, describe the change you want, in place of the usual prompt.
• The clip sets the length and size, so Model, Shape, Duration, Resolution and How many are hidden while you edit a video.
• Click Generate. The result is a new 720p video — your original clip is kept.

Longer clips

The clip can be any length. If it is 15 seconds or longer, a trimmer appears under it: drag the highlighted part, or its two handles, to choose up to 14.5 seconds, use Play the part to check it, then click Use this part. Only that part is converted, priced and sent — so a shorter part costs less. Change the part takes you back to the trimmer.

What is sent must be under 50 MB once converted. A part that is still larger is not sent: the trimmer stays open and asks you to Choose a shorter part.

Generate's Estimated cost appears once your clip has finished preparing, and is priced by the clip's length. The edit itself is charged for the length of the video it produces, which is normally the same length as your clip.

Every video result also offers Edit this video, which opens this mode with that clip already loaded — see Your sandbox, below.

Sound FX from a video

Under Sound FX, set Make sound for to A video, then click Add the video and choose a clip — an MP4, MOV or WebM, any length. MOV and WebM are converted to MP4 in your browser before anything is uploaded; if your browser cannot do that conversion, export the clip as MP4 and try again.

If the clip is 60 seconds or longer, a trimmer appears under it: choose up to 59.5 seconds and click Use this part. Only that part is converted, priced and sent, and Change the part takes you back to the trimmer. What is sent must be under 100 MB once converted; a part that is still larger asks you to Choose a shorter part.

• Duration is hidden while you score a clip — the clip sets the length, so there is nothing to choose.
• Describe the sound (optional) lets you steer the result — "footsteps on gravel, distant thunder". Leave it empty and the sound is made from the clip alone.
• Click Generate. The result matches what the clip shows.

Generate's Estimated cost appears once your clip has finished preparing, and is priced by the clip's own length.

A result scored from a video offers no Run again, Tweak or Variations — it has no clip of its own to run again. To score it again, open the video it was made from and use Add sound there instead — see Your sandbox, below.

Your sandbox

Everything you make is listed under Your sandbox. Search your prompts, filter by type, and switch between Grid view and List view — the list shows each result's prompt, engine, shape, seed and cost.

Click a result to open it. The preview shows the prompt and what it was charged, and offers:

• Run again — the same settings, a new result. It starts a new paid job straight away. An edited video offers Edit this video instead, and a result scored from a video offers Add sound instead, since neither recipe has a clip to resubmit.
• Tweak — the same settings, loaded into the composer for you to change. Also absent from an edited video or a result scored from a video, for the same reason.
• Variations — four more images close to this one. It starts straight away, and is paid.
• Animate this and Make it 3D on an image, Add sound and Edit this video on a video. These fill the composer with the result as the reference; nothing is charged until you click Generate.
• Download — save the file to your computer.
• Remove — delete the result from your sandbox. There is no undo.

Use the left and right arrow keys to move between results, and Esc to close the preview.

Send a result to a project

1. Open the result and click Send to project, then choose the project.

It arrives in that project's assets, ready to place on a timeline. You can also go the other way — from inside the editor, see Bringing media in.

Share with the community

Tick Share with the community beside Generate to offer the result to the Community gallery as soon as it is made. You can also share a result afterwards, from its preview. See Community gallery.