# MotionCanvas: Cinematic Shot Design with Controllable Image-to-Video Generation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.04299 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.04299/

## Key facts

- Cited by 50 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Video generation, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models.
- Builds on 44 of its 58 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 6 Feb 2025.

## Placed in

- Diffusion models / [Video generation](https://mlsanity.com/diffusion/video-generation/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 44)

- [Scalable Diffusion Models with Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.09748/) (2022)
- [Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.12598/) (2022)
- [Flow Matching for Generative Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.02747/) (2022)
- [SAM 2: Segment Anything in Images and Videos](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.00714/) (2024)
- [InstructPix2Pix: Learning to Follow Image Editing Instructions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.09800/) (2022)
- [Stable Video Diffusion: Scaling Latent Video Diffusion Models to Large Datasets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.15127/) (2023)
- [RAFT: Recurrent All-Pairs Field Transforms for Optical Flow](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.12039/) (2020)
- [CogVideoX: Text-to-Video Diffusion Models with An Expert Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.06072/) (2024)
- [Movie Gen: A Cast of Media Foundation Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.13720/) (2024)
- [LTX-Video: Realtime Video Latent Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.00103/) (2024)
- [MotionCtrl: A Unified and Flexible Motion Controller for Video Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.03641/) (2023)
- [VideoCrafter1: Open Diffusion Models for High-Quality Video Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.19512/) (2023)
- [DynamiCrafter: Animating Open-domain Images with Video Diffusion Priors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.12190/) (2023)
- [CameraCtrl: Enabling Camera Control for Text-to-Video Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.02101/) (2024)
- [Lumiere: A Space-Time Diffusion Model for Video Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.12945/) (2024)
- [YOLOv11: An Overview of the Key Architectural Enhancements](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.17725/) (2024)
- [ViewCrafter: Taming Video Diffusion Models for High-fidelity Novel View Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.02048/) (2024)
- [InstaFlow: One Step is Enough for High-Quality Diffusion-Based Text-to-Image Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.06380/) (2023)
- [SynSin: End-to-end View Synthesis from a Single Image](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.08804/) (2019)
- [MoGe: Unlocking Accurate Monocular Geometry Estimation for Open-Domain Images with Optimal Training Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.19115/) (2024)
- [Infinite Nature: Perpetual View Generation of Natural Scenes from a Single Image](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.09855/) (2020)
- [Stereo Magnification: Learning View Synthesis using Multiplane Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1805.09817/) (2018)
- [Motion-I2V: Consistent and Controllable Image-to-Video Generation with Explicit Motion Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.15977/) (2024)
- [CamCo: Camera-Controllable 3D-Consistent Image-to-Video Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.02509/) (2024)
- [DragAnything: Motion Control for Anything using Entity Representation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.07420/) (2024)
- [VD3D: Taming Large Video Diffusion Transformers for 3D Camera Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.12781/) (2024)
- [AC3D: Analyzing and Improving 3D Camera Control in Video Diffusion Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.18673/) (2024)
- [Make-Your-Video: Customized Video Generation Using Textual and Structural Guidance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.00943/) (2023)
- [3D Ken Burns Effect from a Single Image](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.05483/) (2019)
- [Boximator: Generating Rich and Controllable Motions for Video Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.01566/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 50)

- [Controllable Video Generation: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.16869/) (2025)
- [MotionStream: Real-Time Video Generation with Interactive Motion Controls](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.01266/) (2025)
- [Towards Understanding Camera Motions in Any Video](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.15376/) (2025)
- [Lyra: Generative 3D Scene Reconstruction via Video Diffusion Model Self-Distillation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.19296/) (2025)
- [MultiShotMaster: A Controllable Multi-Shot Video Generation Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.03041/) (2025)
- [OneStory: Coherent Multi-Shot Video Generation with Adaptive Memory](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.07802/) (2025)
- [Training-Free Efficient Video Generation via Dynamic Token Carving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.16864/) (2025)
- [VerseCrafter: Dynamic Realistic Video World Model with 4D Geometric Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.05138/) (2026)
- [VidCRAFT3: Camera, Object, and Lighting Control for Image-to-Video Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.07531/) (2025)
- [DreamRelation: Relation-Centric Video Customization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.07602/) (2025)
- [Generative Video Motion Editing with 3D Point Tracks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.02015/) (2025)
- [Bidirectional Sparse Attention for Faster Video Diffusion Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.01085/) (2025)
- [OmniVCus: Feedforward Subject-driven Video Customization with Multimodal Control Conditions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.23361/) (2025)
- [Model Reveals What to Cache: Profiling-Based Feature Reuse for Video Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.03140/) (2025)
- [VFXMaster: Unlocking Dynamic Visual Effect Generation via In-Context Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.25772/) (2025)
- [AniCrafter: Customizing Realistic Human-Centric Animation via Avatar-Background Conditioning in Video Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.20255/) (2025)
- [Frame In-N-Out: Unbounded Controllable Image-to-Video Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.21491/) (2025)
- [PAI-Studio: Cinematic Video Background Replacement with Camera-Aware Motion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.01399/) (2026)
- [ShotVerse: Advancing Cinematic Camera Control for Text-Driven Multi-Shot Video Creation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.11421/) (2026)
- [LiveLight: Real-time Streaming Video Relighting with Interactive Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.01771/) (2026)
- [FlexTraj: Image-to-Video Generation with Flexible Point Trajectory Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.08527/) (2025)
- [Motion-Aware Caching for Efficient Autoregressive Video Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.01725/) (2026)
- [UnityShots: Memory-Driven Multi-Shot Audio-Video Generation with Boundary-Aware Gating](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.21661/) (2026)
- [DiffCamera: Arbitrary Refocusing on Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.26599/) (2025)
- [Physics-Grounded Motion Forecasting via Equation Discovery for Trajectory-Guided Image-to-Video Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.06830/) (2025)
- [VHOI: Controllable Video Generation of Human-Object Interactions from Sparse Trajectories via Motion Densification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.09646/) (2025)
- [Controllable Egocentric Video Generation via Occlusion-Aware Sparse 3D Hand Joints](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.11755/) (2026)
- [DreamVideo-Omni: Omni-Motion Controlled Multi-Subject Video Customization with Latent Identity Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.12257/) (2026)
- [InstanceV: Instance-Level Video Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.23146/) (2025)
- [V-Warper: Appearance-Consistent Video Diffusion Personalization via Value Warping](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.12375/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This paper presents a method that allows users to design cinematic video shots in the context of image-to-video generation. Shot design, a critical aspect of filmmaking, involves meticulously planning both camera movements and object motions in a scene. However, enabling intuitive shot design in modern image-to-video generation systems presents two main challenges: first, effectively capturing user intentions on the motion design, where both camera movements and scene-space object motions must be specified jointly; and second, representing motion information that can be effectively utilized by a video diffusion model to synthesize the image animations. To address these challenges, we introduce MotionCanvas, a method that integrates user-driven controls into image-to-video (I2V) generation models, allowing users to control both object and camera motions in a scene-aware manner. By connecting insights from classical computer graphics and contemporary video generation techniques, we demonstrate the ability to achieve 3D-aware motion control in I2V synthesis without requiring costly 3D-related training data. MotionCanvas enables users to intuitively depict scene-space motion intentions, and translates them into spatiotemporal motion-conditioning signals for video diffusion models. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our method on a wide range of real-world image content and shot-design scenarios, highlighting its potential to enhance the creative workflows in digital content creation and adapt to various image and video editing applications.