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Render Styles

Render Styles define the overall visual aesthetic of your production. They control color grading, film grain, contrast, saturation, lens character, and mood — everything that makes a video feel like a polished film rather than raw footage. Choosing the right render style before you generate shots locks in a consistent visual identity across your entire project.

What a Render Style Controls​

A render style is a combination of visual parameters applied at render time:

  • Color grade — warm vs. cool tones, teal-and-orange, desaturated, high contrast
  • Film emulation — grain texture, halation, vignetting, lens falloff
  • Contrast curve — flat and cinematic vs. punchy and high-contrast
  • Saturation level — hyper-vivid, natural, desaturated, bleach bypass
  • Shadow detail — crushed blacks vs. lifted, detail-preserving shadows
  • Highlight rolloff — how bright areas transition to white (film-like vs. digital)
  • Lens character — sharpness, aberration, bokeh quality

Render styles work in combination with your lighting setup and cinematography choices. Lighting sets the physical illumination in the scene; the render style applies the film-grade treatment on top.

Walkthrough: Applying a Render Style​

Step 1 — Open Style Settings​

From the project sidebar, click Style. This opens the Style Panel where you manage render styles for the entire project and for individual shots.

Step 2 — Choose a Base Style​

The Style Panel shows a gallery of preset styles organized by genre and aesthetic. Browse the presets or use the search field to filter by keyword (e.g., "noir," "documentary," "sci-fi").

Click any preset to see a live preview applied to the current shot's still frame.

Available style categories:

CategoryDescription
CinematicFilmic color science, latitude, and grain for narrative work
DocumentaryNeutral, naturalistic, high clarity with minimal processing
HorrorDesaturated, pushed contrast, green or teal shadows
Sci-FiCool blue/cyan ambient, high sharpness, clean highlights
Period / HistoricalWarm amber grades, faded saturation, soft grain
AnimationVivid saturation, clean edges, stylized contrast
CommercialBright, clean, punchy — optimized for product and marketing
Social / VerticalHigh saturation, warm skin tones, short-form optimized
NoirDeep shadows, hard key light, black-and-white or near-monochrome
FantasyRich warm/cool contrast, golden-hour base, cinematic latitude

Step 3 — Apply to Project or Shot​

Project-level application (recommended for consistency):

  1. In the Style Panel, select your chosen preset
  2. Click Apply to Entire Project
  3. All rendered shots will use this style unless overridden at the shot level

Shot-level override:

  1. Open a specific shot
  2. In the shot settings, click Style Override
  3. Select a different style for this shot only

Use shot-level overrides sparingly — for dream sequences, flashbacks, or scenes that intentionally feel different from the rest of the project.

Step 4 — Adjust Style Parameters​

After selecting a preset, you can fine-tune it:

  • Intensity — Blend between 0% (no style applied) and 100% (full preset strength)
  • Color temp shift — Push warmer or cooler along the Kelvin scale
  • Contrast — Adjust the tone curve globally
  • Grain — Control the amount of film grain overlay
  • Vignette — Add or remove corner darkening

Your adjustments save as a custom style variant. You can name and save it for reuse across other projects.

Step 5 — Preview Before Rendering​

Before submitting to the Render Queue:

  1. Click Preview Frame to apply the style to a still from your shot
  2. For motion preview, click Draft Render — this generates a low-resolution clip with the style applied at minimal credit cost
  3. Compare styles by splitting the preview window: original on the left, styled on the right

Draft renders with style applied are the fastest way to confirm a look before spending credits on full resolution.

Step 6 — Render with Style Applied​

Once your style is confirmed:

  1. Add shots to the Render Queue
  2. In the Render Queue dialog, confirm the selected style shows correctly in the job summary
  3. Submit — the style bakes into the final render output

Style is applied as part of the generation process — the AI rendering engine incorporates the style directives into the video output, not as a post-process filter.

Custom Style Presets​

You can create and save your own style presets:

  1. Adjust any existing preset using the parameter sliders
  2. Click Save as New Preset
  3. Name the preset and assign it a thumbnail shot
  4. The preset becomes available in your Organization's style library

Custom presets are available to all projects in the Organization. If you are building a TV series, create one custom preset for the series and apply it to every episode project to maintain visual consistency across the run.

Style and AI Engine Interaction​

Different AI rendering engines respond to style directives differently:

  • Google Veo 3.1 — Highest style fidelity. Responds to detailed color and mood descriptions. Best for cinematic and narrative work.
  • Grok Video — Strong stylistic interpretation, especially for artistic and distinctive looks. May push styles more aggressively than described.
  • Wan 2.1 — Style application is functional but lighter. Good for previsualization; recommend Veo 3.1 for final style-critical output.

For style-critical projects, generate draft shots in Wan 2.1 to approve composition and timing, then regenerate final shots in Veo 3.1 with the full style applied.

Adding Style to Your Shot Prompt​

You can also describe the visual style directly in your shot prompt to reinforce the style preset:

  • "Teal-and-orange color grade, cinematic 2.39:1 ratio, slight film grain, shallow depth of field"
  • "Desaturated, high contrast, noir lighting, deep shadow detail"
  • "Clean commercial look, natural warm skin tones, bright and open"
  • "Cool blue sci-fi grade, sharp and clinical, lens flare from practical lights"

Style prompt language and the preset work together — the preset sets the foundation, the prompt description reinforces specific elements.