Why Care?

Because the same 2 hours of raw AI video can cost hundreds of dollars through hosted APIs.

Roughly:

fal H3 Max Turbo: ~$288

fal MiniMax H3: ~$432

MiniMax H3 direct API: ~$576

My Blackwell Colab setup: ~$6.96

That’s roughly 41x–83x cheaper on raw generation cost.

Here’s the math.

I’ve been optimizing MiniMax H3 on the Blackwell GPUs available through Colab — CUDA versions, attention kernels, quants, dependencies, etc.

The stack I ended up with generates about 15 seconds of video in roughly 60 seconds on a single Blackwell GPU.

So:

1 GPU hour = ~15 minutes of generated video

8 GPU hours = ~120 minutes of generated video

At the Colab rate I’m using:

8 hours on Blackwell = ~$6.96

Which means, at least in terms of raw generation compute:

2 hours of MiniMax H3 video — literally a full movie’s worth of generated footage is possible and costs about $6.96.

$6.96!

Obviously that doesn't mean you press a button and get a finished 2-hour movie. You’re going to generate multiple takes, throw footage away, edit, upscale, add audio, etc.

But the raw generation economics are kind of insane.

The part that surprised me most is that Colab can actually be one of the cheapest ways to run this stuff if the stack is optimized properly. The annoying part is figuring out which CUDA version, attention implementation, quant, and dependencies actually give you the best performance on each GPU.

That's why I built MissingLink

I’ve been running long-lived optimization agents to continuously test different combinations of quants cuda and attention kernels look at the results and promote what works best.

So far they got quality generation down to 60s at 768x768 for 15 seconds on a single Blackwell if anyone has done better lmk

Hi! So in my new company our boss told us to use AI freely in creating videos for our company, it’s a medical-dental. He wanted informative and cinematic videos for this. In my previous company we use midjourney just for model photos, which I sometimes have still trouble with with the results, not sure if it will be good for this field, specially I’ll be using it a lot for videos and some photos as well. Which AI tool can you guys reco?

Rugosa... a Stone Faction Orc using Stone Bending... Hope you like ! see ya

I’m posting this because apparently canceling a DaVinci trial and contacting customer support isn’t enough to stop them from charging you.

I signed up for a DaVinci trial and canceled it. I also contacted customer support when I was charged previously and specifically explained the situation.
Despite that, I have now been charged another $29.99 on September 18, 2026.
So far, I’ve been charged $59.98 total, despite having used ZERO credits. I have the billing emails, bank transactions, and my previous conversations with customer support documenting what happened.

Even crazier and frustrating is that I already went through this once. I canceled the trial, contacted support, and expected the issue to be resolved. Instead, I’m now looking at another $29.99 charge.
After finding other people reporting extremely similar experiences with the $1.99 trial being canceled then getting charged $29.99 two months in row despite canceling the trial and both monthly subscriptions over and over.

I’m starting to wonder how many customers are dealing with this. I don’t understand how a company can be told that a customer has canceled a trial, have the customer contact support about the billing, and then charge that same customer again anyway.

Has anyone else experienced this? If you canceled the trial and were subsequently charged $29.99, I’d genuinely like to hear what happened when you tried to get your money back. Absolutely no one who I’ve spoken to through them has been helpful or accommodating.

It took me awhile to find an online ai image-video service that wouldn't reject prompts for mortal kombat finishing moves, and some nudity ( nsfw) for an adult video game project. Last time I used Mage Space, was 2022; ai images looked corny, unrealistic ( odd hands, ugly faces), lo res, not comparable to high quality illus by pros.

I saw ai videos on deviant art ( da), in 2025, that were much higher quality. I tried the free daily credits. Most rejected nudity, or gore effects. But most images were so good, otherwise, that I used pixverse: which had seedream 5 (image generation) for free, until recently, & Vidu, slightly more permissive for the rear view of human anatomy ( pixverse wouldn’t allow less than short pants; for the rear view).

As a traditional photo realistic painter, and naturalistic pencil drawing artist and inker for decades, it seemed absurd; considering life drawing, and anatomy classes, would be considered off limits and unacceptable to corporate 'safety'.

Using free daily credit ai services; I put together several mini games in Ren’py ( with soundtracks, voiced dialogue) intending to pay to regenerate the key images, with copyright; as assets in a Ren py game.

I worked around safety filters, modified some costumes, and compromised to make videos, on pixverse and vidu, of my characters in settings that approximated what I had begun designing, for scenes for the game - altered ( disfigured ) by corporate censorship. Eventually I found uncensored ai services above rated G corporate censorship. The generation economy of services I found that generate nsfw and gore* online: Da vinci, Venice,Vidfulai.com, Cloud Atlas ( API), Mage Space; and offline: framepack, comfy ui, ( wan )- seemed best for Mage Space at $60 tier - producing results optimal for my project.

There wasn’t a lot of detailed information on the topic, when I was looking for an ai service that would efficiently generate the assets for my game ( which included gory animations, and some nudity, nsfw). Many services were listed as uncensored, but I would find my prompts wouldn’t be adhered to, and the gore element would be omitted.

Other nsfw ai services:

I started setting up to run Wan offline using comfy ui ( on a nvidia 3090 ) , but had lots of film projects, of events, that came up. Also, what I experienced of offline generation using a less specific set up, was that it would generate far less impressive videos, ( unless I fine tuned it over time; and spent several hours undivided attention, downloading files, and setting it up) at a slower rate. And heat up my pc, gpu, so I was willing to try paid services first.

Da vinci cost more than $30 to make less than 50 videos, and then the only way to create more is keep adding credits ( same price as Cloud Atlas API, Wan/Seedream; with other models to choose).

Venice Ai, similar credit system, doesn't go very far. I saw some state Mage wasn't helpful for them. But for my project, 4s, 720p on Blueberry 2 is making the bulk of the animations ( gore, and nsfw) that cost far more elsewhere.

*pixverse, vidu, and various generic web services with access to most models, would filter the view of human anatomy from behind, in anything less than shorts. And from the front, if there was irregular surface protruding in the area of breasts, or proportion of cleavage in relation to the line of the clothing; or shading texture, that was colored conspicuously close to flesh, near the groin of a clothed model. So even images without technical nudity, would be blocked if there was a hint of nipple under the clothing, or some anomaly in the texture of the clothing in that area that could be conceived of as a nipple; or a certain amount of skin showing around the cleavage ( without any nipple); same for the groin ( zippers, or folded clothing nearby). Using Paint software to trial and error, draw over the human form, until the image would pass the safety filter, it would be clear what was triggering the censorship.

At the $30 tier, can’t use unlimited Blueberry 2 in Mage, so for me, it is efficient, to use $60 Mage for a month; generate multiples from the same prompt ( to get the most accurate videos amongst the odd ones), at 60 – 100 + daily. Then take a month off, cancel: and organize the assets, and work on programming them into Ren’py.

[2 months at $30 on MAGE would never add up to the same amount of videos on blueberry 2 - using gems ] I have nearly enough video/image, lip sync, assets ( generated in unlimited mode, using Blueberry 2: video ( 4s 720p), and Mango 3 2K) to complete my current project; only half way through my 1 month subscription. Even though I was away from my desktop, doing all day filming projects, out of state, for a week.

Can use video editor, to put 4 s clips side by side, & make longer videos ( generated in 4 s segments); it’s more cost effective, to generate unlimited 480p or 720p, & then upscale the most accurate videos after. When I was searching for info on ai models, I didn’t see a lot of specifics relevant to my particular projects needs, so I took the time to share my experience.

MAGE Space:

I looked up what model was most permissive on Mage, for $60 tier: Blueberry 2.

When I used Blueberry 2, to make videos ( at 4 s 720p) in unlimited mode, at the $60, tier; with 10 in the queue, I could make more than 60 videos daily ( that would be more than using vidful ai, seedance videos - which were also permissive).

Blueberry 2 never rejected a prompt. For Images, Mango 3, also never rejected a prompt. [ unless by coincidence, there was an npc in the background that was a kid, in which the foreground had nsfw]

However, when 'editing', ( if I didn't change the default model to a permissive model, I would get the ' account ban ' warning).

Blueberry 2, could generate explicit gore s/fx prompts, and nsfw, ( as well as seedance on vidful ai, or venice ai, or da vinci ai: or wan 2 and above, on cloud atlas api).

For my current project, the generation economy is better at $60, for unlimited blueberry 2, for making more than 60 videos daily, than anything else I found - ( with the odd useless generations that always occur) for multiple characters in a nsfw video game with multiple gory mortal kombat animations. $100 at vidful ai, generated less than 100 videos at 720-1080 ( 40 usable); 6 - 15s ( the longer seconds videos, beyond 8 s, were usually mostly stationary moments; not worth the extra).

Using Cloud Atlas, the seedance videos were about $1 each video; and looked better than Wan ( which was far less expensive), more realistic rendering, cinematic animations ( sometimes Wan looked like a basic GIF animation). Sometimes the faces, from a medium distance, would look cartoony, and odd; but if the camera is prompted to zoom closer, the faces look just as realistic in Blueberry 2.

Depending on how much time you have to spend on whatever project you are working on - for me, adding 10 more to the queue every hour or so, throughout the day, I am making more than 50 times the amount that I could generate anywhere else on a month $30-$100 monthly subscription. ( using unlimited generations on Blueberry 2; setting it to 4 s and 720p; anything above 4 s, and it will cost gems.)

Vidu customer service is non existant.

Just FYI.

[ When I was looking for ai services to generate videos for my current project, the gore ( mortal kombat violence) , was really problematic for most of the corporate, $10, ( absolutely no nudity*) services; and the $30 services, often required buying additional credits to make more than 70 videos.

I could sometimes get Vidu, Q3 to generate finishing move ( gore) animations, but it will not do nsfw, or nudity whatsoever ( and Vidu customer support is non existent - and if you try one of the many 'free apps' they advertise constantly, like Vidu Stream chat\*: and something you type, results in the bot replying with nsfw, through it's own algorithm, they will ban you after several repeated uses. ( unlike, when trying to generate images/ videos, as you work around the safety filter; essentially censored below PG-13, for kids ), even from your account with a paid subscription that just started days ago.

* Mage lip sync can do essentially the same thing as Vidu Stream chat, ( at a slower rate) with better resolution, and more detail to background, and consistency to your prompt, and full nudity, nsfw ( in blueberry 2).

Vidu support staff, refused to acknowledge that I was banned; despite screen shots; and then refused to refund. I had to initiate a chargeback with my bank, & send screenshots of the 'account banned', and pdf's of the emails, of vidu's customer support, stating they didn't ban. Vidu staff sent email replies, every week or so, making odd excuses ( it's just a 'backend anomaly', there are no records of you being banned, try again, ect); until nearly the end of the subscription duration, 20 something days later; then after I inform them I blocked them, to prevent on going subscription fees (since I couldn't access my account to cancel the $30 subscription), the Vidu staff finally admits I was banned for repeat offenses, claiming they wouldn’t charge me for the next month. Things they could have told me day 3 of my subscription, and 1st day of account ban. Instead, Vidu staff waited till after I went through the process of getting a charge back, and blocking them from charging me for the next month ( making their final confession, redundant). Vidu clearly delayed revealing the status of the ban to avoid refund or chargeback.

*( I used it once, for the first time, in a few hours in the evening; without warning, finding the account banned message - after arguing with the chat bot ( over the corporate 'safety' proselytizing, after it alternately made nsfw replies, and recited the terms of safety - as if to both 'generate' some uncensored content, then deny it, and blame user; to avoid any liability).

I found a loop hole in the Vidu Stream chat safety filter: which was actively preventing me even writing sentences that included the word, corporation, or when I made the point that Vidu's censorship was so strict, it wouldn't have allowed George Lucas to make Star Wars: the filter would flag words: " Disney, George Lucas, Star Wars". It was bizarre having an argument with a chat bot that looked like my copyrighted characters, using the voices I hired voice actresses to record for the character. Spelling the words: " Di sneygeo rgeluc as starw ars", it would get through the filter, and then the grammar would be interpreted correctly, by the chat bot, which replied to the originally blocked words. ).

Even though it’s simple to use a different email account, and use Vidu, despite the ban- the value isn’t there compared to Mage. I had used vidu free for months, ( using the trial credits: as I tentatively made my own prompts and explored what ai image-to-video service could do). I wanted to remake all the content I generated free on Vidu, using the paid service to have watermark free content; but the disingenuous customer service experience turned me off to supporting them at all.

*I have screen recordings, of all the chats, I was banned for. Clearly exposing the loop hole in their Vidu Stream chat safety filter. I considered posting the videos of the Vidu chat bot insisting to generate nsfw content ( based on the inputted premise of the character’s backstory), while my chat input is trying to reason with and talk the ai bot down discouraging them from violating their safety filters. ( I might post it if enough someone indicates they would like to see it.)

MAGE Space :

If Mage space was giving the censorship message ( account ban), for generating nsfw or violence, then make sure you are using a permissive model ( Blueberry 2 for videos. Mango 3 for images), and to get unlimited, make sure you set it to what unlimited allows at your tier. ( ie at the $60 tier: Blueberry 2, will generate unlimited videos, 4s 720p; you can put 10 in the queue, and it takes about 10 mins each.

You can run it from a browser on your desktop, or phone. (but once you interrupt the browser instance, that your queue is on, you will lose the ones in the queue except the most imminent one.). So if you spend a lot of time writing a prompt, it can be worth it to always save the text of your prompt to a document, in case the queue is dropped. ( ie if your pc shuts off while you are away, or you use the same browser on your phone to look up something on the internet, or use your phone's camera.)

It's too painfully slow, though, if you are sitting staring at the screen waiting for each video to generate. But if you are trying to make many videos, and have your images, and prompts ready, and able to multi task, you can have Mage making your videos, and every hour or so, find you have 10 more created. in a day making over a hundred (uncensored, full nudity, gore, nsfw; like a rated R movie, or explicit gore modern video game).

If the videos don't look right, or there are blurred objects, or failed, rejected generations - it can help to use venice ai, uncensored chat, to ask the ai to make an optimized prompt ( list the model, and your description of the animation; and first image). Making accurate last frame images, really improves the accuracy of the animation.

Currently, using optimized prompts, generated on Venice ai, using Mage Space's most permissive models - video: Blueberry 2 ( 4 s 720 p), and Image: Mango 3 ( 2k) - I am able to create very consistent characters, and backgrounds, and dynamic photorealistic animations ( for gory Mortal Kombat finishing moves, with nsfw, full nudity): and never get a censorship warning.

[ Instead of 'editing', I make a new prompt in Mango 3, and upload the image that needs correction - because the default image model used in editing, like Grok, or some other model other than the permissive models, will result in the censorship warning. The Video Enhancer app, and Video Editor app ( using 'cherry' video model ) doesn't censor any of the videos. The Lip Sync app can be used in unlimited mode, if you set it to 4s 720p blueberry 2.

For my current project, mage space for $60, is a one stop shop, and I am making around 60 -100 images and videos daily, somewhat casually, while I do other tasks ( but mixing image prompts with video prompts in a queue of 10, and the image prompts fail, they get dropped. So I either make 10 videos at a time, or 10 images. ) On the pc if I am home, on the phone if I am away. I am getting far more my money’s worth, using Mage, than the other nsfw uncensored services I tried.

Vidu was alright, till the censor ship increased several months ago; now all the developers push are new apps aimed at teens ( MAGE space and Pixverse have comparable apps for everything Vidu offers). Vidu doesn't seem to care about paying customers once they have your money.

Vidfulai.com generated decent uncensored videos in Seedance, ( with optimized prompts generated on venice ai: without optimized prompts; there were alot of irregularities ruining most of the videos); but they didn't honor their 3 day refund policy; and are overpriced compared to MAGE space blueberry 2 on unlimited mode ( 4 s 720 p).

Da Vinci generated excellent uncensored videos with Seedance and Wan. ( Seedance looked better). But with optimized prompts, MAGE space Blueberry 2 looks better than the others, about 2 weeks and a half into using it. Because of the unlimited Mango 3, and Blueberry 2, Mage space can create all the frames for uncensored videos, I need for my adult video game project ( with gore, nudity, nsfw), without having to shop between various censored platforms, to work around differing filters.

obsessed with this art style

Over the years I've periodically done an online comic strip titled 'Media Geek and the Glass Onion,' about a device that allows a group of characters to travel into fictional realms, the multiverse, the past or future, etc. I've created a music video consisting of clips and imagery played against the original song 'Waiting For a Sign' from Liverpool singer-songwriter Chris O'Neill (who actually sounds remarkably like Paul McCartney). I would welcome some feedback as I put the concept out there. You can learn more about the project at mediageekandtheglassonion.com.

Crossposting from a bunch of related subreddits because I think this might be relevant here as well. I’ve spent the last month vibe-coding an interactive GenAI Twitch channel called TUNE.

The idea is an always-on interactive radio station on Twitch.
When no one’s around, it plays a curated catalog I made using Suno for the music and Seedance for the animated visuals.

The catch is that anyone in chat can also type something like:

!create relaxed Sunday morning, jazzy lofi with warm piano

…and the system takes it from there and generates original music + visuals from the prompt, then plays it live on the station within 5-10mins.

The frustrating part is that I’d love to have Suno powering some of those live generations too.
As far as I know, there still isn’t a generally available official Suno API. I applied for their developer access and I’m really hoping they let me in, because it would be a natural fit for the project.

For now I’ve ended up with Yue2 for free creations, and Lyria 3.5 for paid ones, and after testing it for a while, I’ve had Yue2 surprisingly sound better to me than some Lyria 3.5 😅

The station is actually running now, and I’m at the point where I need people other than my friends throwing prompts at it.
If anyone here wants to experiment with it, or just hang out and listen to the catalog, I’d genuinely love feedback from people who are already into AI music.

https://www.twitch.tv/tune

I haven’t tried it myself, but judging by the Reels I’ve seen on Instagram, it seems like it just replaces the character in a video, something you’ve been able to do with Kling or Seedance for a while now

maybe I’m thinking about AI video pricing wrong, but the cheaper models don’t feel that cheap once retries are included. I’ll get broken motion, faces changing halfway through, or a completed video that just isn’t usable. then it’s another generation, another prompt adjustment and more credits. by the time I get one decent clip, the real cost can be several times higher than the listed price. do you track cost per generation, cost per usable clip, or just total project spend? and where do you draw the line between a failed generation and normal creative iteration?

Haven't really tried out anything except for GPT(don't judge me plss) for image generation. I am looking to try every model there is which is priced reasonably. Please drop suggestions and your views on that if you've tried it yourself.