AI Motion Control

Animate any image using the motion from a reference video

Trusted by teams at

meta
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cisco
deel
shopify
decathlon
dallas-mavericks
pittsburgh-pirates
tala
dyson
dazn
wsc-sports

How AI Motion Control Works

1
Upload your reference video

Upload your reference video

Upload the video that contains the motion you want to transfer. Use clear footage with visible movement and minimal camera shake for best results. Supports MP4, MOV, and WebM up to 60 seconds.
2
Upload your image

Upload your image

Upload a still image of the person or subject you want to animate. This defines who performs the motion. Supports PNG, JPG, JPEG, HEIC, WebP, AVIF, JP2, TIFF, and BMP.
3
Generate and download

Generate and download

Click generate. Magic Hour applies the motion from the reference video to your image and creates an animated output video. Download and use in your workflow.
Animate Your First Image

AI Motion Control Use Cases

See how Motion Control can be used in different scenarios.

Animate your AI influencer

Upload your AI influencer or Character as the image and use any reference video as the motion source. Create dancing, walking, or gesturing content without filming anyone.

Upload a trending dance or challenge as your motion reference and apply it to any portrait or AI-generated persona instantly.

Generate video content of a person moving without them ever needing to film. Use any reference video for the motion and any still image for the subject.

Produce motion-driven content for TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts from a single still image and a motion reference clip.

Animate a brand mascot, product character, or illustrated figure using real-world motion references — no rigging or animation software required.

Apply performance motion — singing, dancing, instrument playing — from a reference clip to any portrait for music-driven video content.

Test how a character or talent looks in motion before committing to a full shoot. Explore different movement styles quickly.

Animate a still headshot or presenter image with motion for walkthroughs, explainer videos, and training content.

Why Creators Love Motion Control

Animate any still image with motion from any reference video. No VFX timeline, no rigging, no filming required — just an image and a clip.

No filming required

Create animated video content of any person or subject without them ever needing to be on camera.

Motion from any video

Use any reference clip with visible movement — a dance, a walk, a gesture, a performance. Any motion, any subject.

Works with your saved Characters

Select a Character from your Characters library as the image input and animate them with any reference motion.

Recreate any movement instantly

Upload a trending dance, a walk cycle, or any motion you want to mirror and apply it to your image in seconds.

Consistent with your existing content

Pair with Characters to keep the same face and identity across every animated clip you generate.

Testimonials

Hear what our users have to say

"Magic Hour is the fastest way I've found to go from an idea to a polished image or video. It's simple, the results are consistent, and it's easy to iterate. It feels like a real creator tool."
Profile photo of Vishal Sankhat
Vishal Sankhat
Instagram Creator (534K followers)
"Magic Hour is a powerful AI tool for creating video, photo, and even voice content all in one place. Being able to generate videos up to 60 seconds from a single prompt is something most similar platforms still don't offer."
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Daniel Davidson
Youtube Creator (194k subscribers)
"Magic Hour is one of the few AI tools I genuinely trust. Most tools are hit or miss, but Magic Hour feels reliable. I know what I'm going to get, which makes it easy to use regularly for social content."
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Nasion Patriotik
Social Media Creator (1.8M followers)
"Most AI tools look impressive at first, but they're hard to rely on once you use them regularly. Magic Hour has been different for me. It's easy to use, the results are consistent, and I can get something polished without spending time fixing or redoing things. It fits naturally into how I create, which is why I keep coming back to it."
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Lisa Li
Multimedia Designer at Rakuten Viki

AI Motion Control Features

Animate any still image with video motion.

Transfer motion from any reference video

Use any video with clear movement as your motion source — a trending dance, a performance, a walk cycle, or any clip you own. Supports MP4, MOV, and WebM.

Works with Characters

Select a saved Character as your image input. The same reference identity used across your other tools carries through into the animated output.

No VFX workflow needed

Skip rigging, keyframes, and animation timelines. Upload an image and a reference video, generate, and download.

One image, many motions

Apply different reference videos to the same still image to create multiple animated variations for different content needs.
Animate Your First Image

AI Motion Control FAQ

Motion Control lets you animate a still image using motion from a reference video. Upload any video with the movement you want — a dance, a walk, a gesture — and a still image of your subject. Magic Hour transfers the motion onto the image and generates an animated output video.

Videos with clear, visible movement and a single subject work best. Stable camera footage, consistent lighting, and full-body or upper-body visibility produce the cleanest motion transfer. Fast cuts, heavy camera shake, or heavily obscured subjects may reduce quality.

Yes. You can select any saved Character from your Characters library as the image input and animate them with any motion reference video.

No. The reference video just provides the motion — it can be any video with the movement you want. You do not need to film yourself or your subject.

Yes. Upload the viral video as your motion reference and a portrait or AI influencer as the image. Magic Hour applies the dance movement to your subject.

The background in the output comes from your uploaded image, not the reference video. If you want to keep the original video's background and swap the character instead, use Character Replace.

PNG, JPG, JPEG, HEIC, WebP, AVIF, JP2, TIFF, and BMP.

MP4, MOV, and WebM.

Reference videos can be up to 60 seconds.

Frame inconsistency is more common with fast motion, heavy blur, low-quality reference footage, or images with partial face/body visibility. Using clear, well-lit footage and a high-quality image input will improve results.

Yes. Motion Control is free to use with daily credits. Paid plans include more generations and higher volume.

We Value Your Privacy & Data Security, Always

Commercial use, training, deletion, retention (1 day), and security. Retention:1 day
Commercial use
Paid plans permit commercial use of outputs. Free users can preview and test.
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No training
We do not use your uploads or outputs to train our models.
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Delete anytime
You can delete your content or account at any time. Deletion removes content from active storage immediately.
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Security
Encrypted in transit and at rest. Access is restricted for operations and support.
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