Act-One by Runway

What if your simple video input could breathe life into any digital character?

RecommendedAct-One revolutionizes character animation by transforming simple video inputs into expressive digital performances, making advanced animation accessible and efficient for creative professionals.

Act-One is a state-of-the-art tool within Runway's Gen-3 Alpha that enables the creation of compelling character animations. It uses video and voice performances as inputs, simplifying traditional facial animation pipelines and preserving emotion and nuance from reference footage.

Visit Act-One by Runway

Key Features:

Generates expressive character performances from simple video inputs.
Translates eye-lines, micro-expressions, pacing, and delivery faithfully.
Works with a wide variety of reference images and preserves realistic facial expressions.
Robust across different camera angles while maintaining high-fidelity face animations.
Enables the creation of multi-turn, expressive dialogue scenes from a single actor and camera setup.

Pros

Animators seeking to quickly generate expressive character performances from live-action video.
Filmmakers and content creators looking to create multi-turn, expressive dialogue scenes with generative video models.
Artists and storytellers who want to transpose an actor's performance into a 3D model or generated character with ease.

Cons

Requires a paid Runway plan to access Act-One (Act-Two is available for all paid plans).
Primarily focused on character performance generation, not full-body animation.
Relies on Runway's Gen-3 Alpha, so performance and capabilities are tied to that model.

Pricing

freemiumFree tier

Starting at:$12/month billed annually ($15/month monthly) for Standard

Free tier:Free forever plan with 125 one-time credits to explore Runway's AI tools.

Price verified on the live site 2026-07-12 · pricing page

Categories:

Video & Animation Design & Creative

Tags:

character animation generative video AI performance capture facial animation video to animation

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Quick Decision

Try if: You are a filmmaker, animator, or content creator looking for an innovative and efficient way to generate expressive character performances from live-action video, especially if you're already using Runway's Gen-3 Alpha.

Skip if: You need extremely precise, manual control over every aspect of facial animation, or if you are not interested in using generative AI for character performance.

Not for: Users who require highly detailed, frame-by-frame manual control over facial animation.; Individuals or teams without access to Runway's Gen-3 Alpha or paid plans.

Trust Signals

Team Size
large

Compliance

SOC 2 Type IIGDPR ReadinessCCPA/CPRA Controls

Notable Customers

OmnicomAmazon (House of David)History Channel (Eggplant Picture & Sound)Under ArmourLionsgate

Tech Details

Platforms

webapi

AI Model
Gen-3 Alpha

Open Source

Support

Channels

emailhelp centerRunway dashboard

Company

Name
Runway AI, Inc.
Location
New York, San Francisco, Seattle, London, Tel Aviv, Tokyo

Runway is building AI to simulate the world through merging art and science, pioneering general-purpose multimodal simulators and creating expressive and controllable tools for artists.

FAQ

What is Act-One and how does it work?

Act-One is a tool by Runway that generates expressive character performances. It uses simple video inputs of an actor's performance to animate generated characters, capturing nuances like eye-lines, micro-expressions, and pacing without complex motion capture equipment.

What are the benefits of using Act-One compared to traditional animation methods?

Act-One simplifies the facial animation pipeline by directly translating an actor's performance from a simple video input, eliminating the need for motion capture equipment, multiple references, or manual face rigging. This preserves emotion and nuance more effectively and opens up new possibilities for creative character design and multi-turn dialogue scenes.

Is Act-One available to all Runway users?

Act-One is available for Gen-3 Alpha users. Act-Two is now available for all paid plans. Free users have limited access to Runway's tools and would need to upgrade to a paid plan to fully utilize Act-One's capabilities.

Use Cases

Animators seeking to quickly generate expressive character performances from live-action video.
Filmmakers and content creators looking to create multi-turn, expressive dialogue scenes with generative video models.
Artists and storytellers who want to transpose an actor's performance into a 3D model or generated character with ease.