Runway for animate a still product shot: What Worked, What Embarrassed Me
A small, repeatable animate a still product shot routine in Runway that pays back the time it takes to set up.
I would rather wire two tools together than do one task by hand.
Start in Runway and do the smallest version of the task you can. ships editing tools like rotoscoping and motion tracking, so the first pass is faster than doing it by hand.
The workflow I ended up with: Tighten the output before you trust it. The model gives you a draft, not a verdict, and the part that looks finished is usually the part you should read twice.
The automation that stuck: Save the result as a reusable starting point. The second time you do this it should take a third of the time, because you are editing, not inventing.
The mistake I made: I treated the first result as final. the generation credits burn fast, so I now build in one review pass before anything ships.
Ship the boring version first.