Ovi is an audio‑video generator from Character AI, based on Wan 2.2 model.
Unlike most video models that generate silent clips, Ovi produces short videos (≈ 5 seconds at 24 FPS) accompanied by synchronized dialogue, sound effects and music. It accepts text‑only prompts or text plus a starting image (first frame), enabling both Text‑to‑Video (T2V) and Image‑to‑Video (I2V) generation. The system uses special tags to mark speech (<S>…<E>) and audio descriptions (<AUDCAP>…<ENDAUDCAP>) so that prompts describe what is said and the soundscape.
Overview of Ovi generation modes
Ovi offers two core modes designed for human‑centric storytelling:
Mode | Input | Description | Typical use cases |
|---|---|---|---|
Text‑to‑Video (T2V) | Text prompt only | Generates a 5‑second video with synchronized audio from a description. Videos can include large motion ranges, multi‑person conversations and a range of emotions. | Creating monologues, dialogues or action scenes entirely from imagination; testing script ideas without visuals. |
Image‑to‑Video (I2V) | First Frame + text prompt | Conditions the generation on a provided first frame; Ovi then animates the scene while following the text. This mode is referred to as Human‑centric AV Generation from Text & Image on the official site. | Anchoring the video to a specific character or scene design; continuing a story from an existing illustration or photo. |
Ovi also supports multi‑speaker dialogues and specialized audio tasks (sound‑effect generation or musical instruments) using similar inputs.
Key strengths
Synchronized audio
The standout feature of Ovi is its ability to generate video and audio simultaneously. The model learns to lip‑sync purely from data rather than requiring face bounding boxes, allowing precise mouth movements. Users can specify multiple voices using <S>…<E> tags for each speaker, and Ovi handles multi‑person dialogue naturally.
Contextual sound and effects
Ovi not only speaks but also creates contextual soundscapes. Prompts can include <AUDCAP> tags to describe background noise or sound effects (e.g., “dramatic music”, “rain and thunder”), and the model synthesizes these alongside the visuals.
Human‑centric motion and dialogue
Ovi excels at human‑focused scenarios: monologues, interviews, conversations and expressive acting. It can handle multi‑turn dialogue between speakers without explicit labels, delivering natural timing and gestures. The model also generates diverse emotional states and supports wide motion ranges, making it suitable for dynamic scenes like dance or action.
Use cases and applications
Application | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
Scripted storytelling | Compose short narrative scenes or cinematic vignettes by writing a textual description of the setting, actions and speech. Use | A detective interrogates a suspect under flickering neon lights; their conversation plays out with tense music in the background. |
Character animation from artwork | Start with a still character design or illustration and bring it to life using I2V. The model animates the figure according to the described action and speech. | Provide a painted portrait of a bard; Ovi animates the bard playing a lute and singing a ballad. |
Dialogue generation | Use T2V to generate realistic conversations between multiple speakers without any source image. Tag each speech segment separately. | A podcast host interviews a guest about AI ethics; both voices are synthesized, and their lip movements match the dialogue. |
Sound effects and music videos | Focus on audio by describing specific sound effects or music; Ovi will generate visuals that match the sound. | “A stormy night: thunder cracks and rain pours down” produces dark visuals with matching sounds. A “saxophone solo in a smoky jazz bar” results in a music performance clip with appropriate background ambience. |
Prompting guide
Crafting effective prompts for Ovi involves describing both the video and the audio. Follow these guidelines:
Use
<S>tags for speech. Place dialogue inside<S>and<E>markers to convert the text into spoken audio. For multiple speakers, write separate<S>…<E>blocks in the order you expect them to speak.Specify audio scenery. Describe background music, sound effects or ambient noise using
<AUDCAP>and<ENDAUDCAP>tags. For example:<AUDCAP>soft rain and distant thunder<ENDAUDCAP>.Describe the visuals clearly. Whether using T2V or I2V, write a concise description of the scene’s setting, characters, actions and emotions. For I2V, ensure the first frame (image) matches the described scene so the animation flows naturally.
Iterate and theme prompts. The model’s creators suggest modifying speeches within the
<S>tags according to a theme (e.g., “Humans fighting against AI”), using a language model to generate variations. Iterating prompts helps achieve the desired tone and pacing.Negative prompts for quality control. When running locally, Ovi’s configuration allows specifying negative prompts to avoid artifacts such as jitter or muffled audio.
Limitations and considerations
Visual quality inherits from Wan 2.2. Since Ovi’s video branch is initialized from the Wan 2.2 model, its visual fidelity depends on that model. Highly intricate details or tiny objects may not render crisply due to the spatial compression used for faster generation.
Human‑centric bias. Training data focuses on humans, so Ovi performs best when generating people. Non‑human subjects or abstract scenes may produce less convincing results.
Variability across runs. The current release is pretrained only; without reinforcement learning or extensive finetuning, outputs can vary between seeds. Experiment with different random seeds for improved results.
Ethical considerations
The creators emphasize that all reference images and videos used in the demos come from public sources or are AI‑generated for demonstration. Users should respect personal likeness and avoid misuse of generated content. Contact the authors if any content causes concern.
Practical Examples
1. Fashion Confidence Walk (T2V)
In this Text-to-Video example, Ovi was prompted to create a cinematic slow-motion fashion clip. The result combines elegant movement, ambient soundtrack, and subtle sound design - footsteps echoing across marble floors and the soft pulse of electronic music.
Prompt:
A slow-motion walk down a marble hallway, a person adjusts sunglasses and smiles toward the camera. <S>Confidence — your best outfit.<E> <AUDCAP>Soft electronic beat, footsteps echoing, faint fashion-show ambience.<ENDAUDCAP>
This demonstrates how Ovi captures style, rhythm, and emotion, making it ideal for advertising, lifestyle content, and short cinematic sequences.
2. Neon Night Joy (T2V)
Here, the Ovi T2V model brings emotional expression to life through lighting and audio. The neon reflections and natural laughter sync perfectly with the rain ambience.
Prompt:
A medium close-up reveals a person with rain-soaked hair standing on a glistening street at night, bright red and blue neon signs reflecting vividly on the wet pavement behind them. <S>This rain can’t wash away my happiness!<E> <AUDCAP>Steady rainfall, distant car tires splashing, soft urban chatter, and a single burst of cheerful laughter.<ENDAUDCAP>
Ovi’s contextual sound generation - from rainfall to laughter - adds emotional depth, ideal for social media storytelling and music-video-style sequences.
3. The Inventor’s Triumph (I2V)
This Image-to-Video generation starts from an illustration of a joyful scientist. Ovi animates the character with excitement, perfectly matching the expressive dialogue and mechanical sounds in the workshop.
Prompt:
A warm shaft of golden light filters down onto an exuberant scientist with wild white hair and oversized goggles, standing confidently in a cluttered workshop. <S>Behold-my greatest invention yet!<E> <AUDCAP>Soft clinking of glass, faint mechanical whirs, the scientist’s gleeful voice echoing.<ENDAUDCAP>
By combining the starting image with descriptive text, Ovi preserves the visual design while giving it natural movement and synchronized voice - ideal for animated shorts and character showcases.
4. Samurai Focus (I2V)
In this example, Ovi I2V transforms an illustration into a cinematic shot, using subtle sound and motion to heighten mood and realism. The camera gently moves while the subject’s expression and breathing convey resolve.
Prompt:
A close-up frames a young woman with long dark hair holding a katana across her shoulder, her gaze calm and steady beneath the soft spring sunlight. <AUDCAP>Soft rustle of leaves, distant birdsong, faint whisper of a blade moving through the air.<ENDAUDCAP>
The combination of painterly visuals, delicate animation, and environmental sound creates a filmic portrait, showcasing Ovi’s strength in stylized realism.
5. Hummingbird in Motion (T2V)
This Text-to-Video example highlights Ovi’s ability to handle photorealistic motion and fine visual detail. The model produces a cinematic shot of a hummingbird in slow motion, with realistic depth of field and lighting that captures the delicate shimmer of its feathers.
Prompt:
“An ultra-detailed, cinematic shot of a hummingbird in slow motion, its iridescent feathers shimmering in the sunlight. The camera captures every minute detail of its wings beating, and the delicate way it sips nectar from a flower. The background is a soft, out-of-focus garden.”
This example demonstrates Ovi’s precision with natural movement and texture, producing graceful, nature documentary–style footage. It’s ideal for cinematic realism tests, wildlife visualization, or artistic slow-motion studies.
Conclusion
Ovi brings together advanced video diffusion and audio generation to create short clips complete with synchronized speech and sound. Its dual modes, T2V (text only) and I2V (text+image), allow both imaginative storytelling and animation of existing artwork. Key strengths include accurate lip‑sync, multi‑person dialogue support and contextual audio effects. While Ovi invites experimentation, users should note its limitations on detail, compute demands and human‑centric bias. By following the prompting guidelines and understanding its capabilities, creators can leverage Ovi for compelling short‑form videos that blend narrative and sound.
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