# Choose a Generation Route and Adapt Source Material ## What You Will Do A new service or powerful model is not automatically the right route for your task. An airplane is faster than a bicycle, but taking it to the next street feels a little anxious. First determine the required result, then the inputs you actually have, and only then look for a route that can accept them. In this lesson, you will name the task, verify that the required route is actually available in your selected tool, and prepare a fallback for expensive, urgent, or critical work. Then you will transfer useful mechanics from another prompt or guide without copying its scene. ```learner-callout {"stable_id":"aiv-c070-task-before-tool","role":"key-point","title":"Key point: task before service name","body":"Do not ask “Which model is best?” Name the required result, mandatory inputs, what must not change, and a visible sign of readiness. The choice can then follow compatibility rather than a loud name."} ``` If your route starts from an image, the image-prompt and verified-frame lesson can help prepare the actual anchor. It is a recommendation, not a condition for this page. --- ## Name the Job First “I want to make a video. Which AI tool should I use?” is too broad. A stronger version is: “I have an accepted product start frame. I need one product movement, a stable camera, and an exact final position within an available duration.” The second version lets you inspect routes instead of guessing from service names. Different jobs include creating a new image; editing part of an existing image; animating an accepted frame; creating video from text only; carrying action between exact start and end states; altering an existing video; and creating sound, voice, music, titles, or another separately added element. They have different inputs, risks, and completion criteria. | What you have | What you need | Route to look for | |---|---|---| | An idea or text only | A new clip where variation is acceptable | Text to video | | An accepted start frame | Animate that frame | Image to video | | Exact start and end states | Carry action between them | First and last frame | | Existing video | Change part of it | Video editing | | Several materials with different roles | Build a scene from anchors | Multi-reference route, if verified | ```learner-callout {"stable_id":"aiv-c070-route-technique","role":"technique","title":"Technique: look for a route through inputs and output","body":"The selection map does not promise that every tool has the function you need. It narrows the search: first your actual material and required result, then a verified route between them."} ``` ## Route Selection Record Fill this in before the first serious run. ```template Task: Existing inputs: Required result: What must not change: Required route: What the current interface actually accepts: Visible criterion for a usable result: Fallback route, if failure is expensive or the deadline is critical: Interface check date: ``` For example, the bottle-on-water task is to animate an accepted start frame. Its inputs preserve correct shape, lighting, and composition. The result is one nearby falling drop, one ripple, and a stationary bottle. Shape, lighting, background, and empty space on the right must remain. Look for image to video; a usable result is visible: the drop and ripple read clearly, the bottle is not deformed, and the right-side space remains. A fallback is to remove camera movement or choose another verified image-to-video route. ## Check the Current Interface Routes, input counts, durations, prices, and limitations change. A feature name in an old review does not prove it exists today. In the current interface, check whether the route exists, accepts your actual materials, offers the required duration or a clear alternative, has the needed settings, and can export the result in the required form. Separately, use an official page to check rights, terms of use, price, limits, and regional availability. ```learner-callout {"stable_id":"aiv-c070-interface-caution","role":"caution","title":"Caution: a button and terms are different evidence","body":"A button in an interface does not prove legal terms, and a marketing page does not prove the feature is available in your account. If a mandatory input is not accepted, a prettier prompt cannot repair the problem: change the route, tool, or task."} ``` ## Minimum Input Set Every material needs a clear job. A character image preserves appearance; a product image preserves shape and details; a location image preserves space; a movement reference shows path or pace; a final frame defines an exact end state. Do not upload everything you can find. Extra inputs may conflict: one controls lighting, another accidentally changes wardrobe, and a third imports an unrelated composition. Start with the smallest sufficient set and add the next material only after a specific failure. ```learner-callout {"stable_id":"aiv-c070-input-observation","role":"observation","title":"Observation: material without a role does not add control","body":"If you cannot finish the sentence “this file controls…,” it should not enter the task yet. A pile of unassigned materials forces the route to guess what matters most."} ``` --- ## Adapt Someone Else’s Prompt A strong prompt from another author is not a ready-made scene. It is a source of mechanics. First find what makes it work: input type, main action, event order, camera movement, transition method, end state, and the constraint that keeps the result stable. Preserve the mechanics—path, rhythm, movement structure, camera behavior, and method of appearance or transition. Replace the content—the other character, face, clothing, brand, location, props, dialogue, story, and final meaning. ```template Source mechanic: What it does structurally: Our scene: What we preserve: What we replace or do not transfer: Required route and inputs in the current interface: Small test: ``` In the example, the source technique moves a character through readable architecture, the camera holds the path, and the final frame locks the pose. A useful adaptation transfers only that mechanism: a courier walks between warehouse shelves, passes a cart, and stops at the correct storage slot. Movement direction, work clothing, and warehouse layout remain; the other character, Gothic architecture, stunt, and source story do not transfer. ```learner-callout {"stable_id":"aiv-c070-adaptation-technique","role":"technique","title":"Technique: transfer the method, not the other result","body":"Adaptation is complete when your version works without knowledge of the source scene. If a viewer recognizes the other identity, brand, architecture, or final meaning, you replaced too little content."} ``` ## Use a Guide or PDF Treat a guide as a source of limitations for the selected route, not as an incantation. Extract only verifiable information: supported inputs, required fields, available durations and settings, explicitly stated limitations, and the verification date. Do not turn a promotional example into a universal rule. Separate the author’s claim from the interface you can access, then run one small test of your own. ## Readiness Check ```learner-callout {"stable_id":"aiv-c070-route-practice","role":"practice","title":"Practice: assemble the route before the test","body":"Follow the chain: task -> real inputs -> verified route -> small test -> usable result. For an ordinary first test, you may write: “No fallback needed yet; if this fails, I will simplify one action first.”"} ``` ```learner-callout {"stable_id":"aiv-c070-route-checkpoint","role":"checkpoint","title":"Checkpoint: accept the choice and adaptation","body":"A route is ready when mandatory inputs exist, the selected route accepts them now, and the result criterion can be checked by sight or sound. Expensive, urgent, or critical work needs a fallback genuinely different from the first route. An adaptation is ready when its borrowed mechanic is named, foreign content did not enter the work, and it does not require an absent route."} ``` If the check fails, do not add more text. Name the exact break: unsupported input, conflicting materials, oversized action, or borrowed content. Correct one cause and repeat. **Takeaway:** tool names change. The route `task -> real inputs -> verified route -> small test -> usable result` remains useful.