Soul v2 vs Soul Cinema

The short answer

Soul v2 and Soul Cinema come from the same family of cinematic models, and they get compared because they share a look. The split is simpler than the naming suggests: Soul v2 is built for motion, Soul Cinema is built for the frame.

If the deliverable has to move, animate a cast or show a camera move, you want the motion model. If the deliverable is a poster, a cover, key art, a look test, a storyboard frame or a still that has to sit next to a photograph, Soul Cinema is the right side of the family, and the definition of it is on What is Soul Cinema?

Most projects end up using both, in that order: settle the look on a still, then take the frame that works and give it time.

Same family, different jobs

The shared part is the lighting. Both models are tuned to keep a motivated key, hold neon without clipping it, and keep skin texture at close range. That is why frames from the pair sit together convincingly in one deck.

The difference is what the model is asked to keep steady. A motion model has to hold a face, a wardrobe and a light across time, which is where temporal consistency comes from and where the compute goes. A stills model holds the same things across a sequence of frames, but every frame is decided independently, which is what lets you push resolution, lens and palette further per image.

Where Soul Cinema differs

Soul Cinema is built around one frame at a time, and every control in it is there to make that frame specific rather than to make it move.

• A console that asks for the shot, the look, the aspect ratio and the resolution before it renders.
• Soul ID, which locks a face and wardrobe reference across a sequence of up to six frames.
• Palette lock, which pins a hex value so a colour survives a re-render at a new angle or size.
• Exports up to 8K at the size the model produced, with no re-encode and no watermark.
• Credits spent per frame, so a look test costs a fraction of a motion render.

Where Soul v2 fits

Soul v2 earns its place when the shot has to breathe: a two second camera move, a performance in a locked-off frame, a sequence that has to read as one continuous take. It is the model for a finished clip, a title sequence, a social cut or a reference for a real shoot.

It is also the more expensive place to experiment. Every change to the lighting or the palette costs a full render, so the cheap iteration happens on stills. That is the practical argument for settling the look on a frame first, then handing that frame to the motion model as the reference.

Soul v2 is not rendered on this site. Soul Cinema renders stills only, which is why the Soul Cinema console on the home page has no timeline and no frame rate.

How to choose

Pick by deliverable, not by novelty. The plan tiers then follow from volume and resolution rather than from the model you chose, and both are covered on the Soul Cinema pricing page. Plans start at $12/month and can be cancelled at any time, so a look test can be run on Basic before you commit to a bigger tier.

• Poster, cover, key art, thumbnail or campaign still: Soul Cinema.
• Look development before a shoot, or a frame to hand to a motion model: Soul Cinema.
• A clip that has to move, or a sequence with a camera move: Soul v2.
• A set that mixes stills and motion: render the stills first, then animate the frames that work.