Advanced Prompting Techniques

Prompt Weighting: Emphasizing What Matters

Sometimes, the AI might ignore a key part of your prompt or focus on the wrong detail. Prompt weighting allows you to increase or decrease the "importance" of specific words or phrases. While different AI models use different syntax, the concept is universal. A common syntax involves using parentheses and colons with a numerical value.

Standard Prompt: A knight fighting a dragon in a forest.

(The AI might generate a huge forest with a tiny knight and dragon.)

Weighted Prompt: A (knight fighting a dragon:1.3) in a (forest:0.7).

In this example:

• (knight fighting a dragon:1.3) tells the AI to pay 30% more attention to the fight.
• (forest:0.7) tells the AI to make the forest 30% less prominent.

This helps you focus the composition on the most important action. You can use this to emphasize a character's clothing, a specific action, or a mood.

Negative Prompts: Removing What You Don't Want

Negative prompts are one of the most powerful tools for cleaning up your videos. They allow you to specify what you want to *exclude* from the scene. This is incredibly useful for fixing common AI errors or removing unwanted elements.

Most AI platforms, including Vidu, provide a separate input box for negative prompts.

Use Case 1: Fixing Common Artifacts

AI models can sometimes produce strange results, like characters with extra fingers or distorted faces. A standard negative prompt can help prevent this.

Positive Prompt: Close-up shot of a beautiful woman smiling.

Negative Prompt: ugly, deformed, disfigured, extra limbs, bad anatomy, extra fingers.

Use Case 2: Controlling the Environment

Imagine you want a desert scene, but the AI keeps adding plants.

Positive Prompt: A lone wanderer in a vast desert at noon.

Negative Prompt: trees, plants, cactus, oasis, clouds, water.

Use Case 3: Refining the Style

You can use negative prompts to steer the visual style away from certain aesthetics.

Positive Prompt: Photorealistic portrait of a queen.

Negative Prompt: cartoon, anime, 3d render, painting, illustration, blurry.

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The Art of Iteration

Mastering these advanced techniques is a process of trial and error. Start with a simple prompt, see what the AI generates, and then use weighting and negative prompts to refine the result. Each generation gives you more information about how the AI interprets your words. By iterating, you can slowly guide the model toward your exact vision.