How to use Wan2.1 VACE for free?
Forget juggling Adobe, CapCut, or Filmora. What if one AI model could generate videos from scratch and edit them like a pro — with zero switching, no plugins, and no drama?
Say hello to VACE (Video All-in-one Creation and Editing), the newest powerhouse from Alibaba’s Wanx2.1 model. It’s open-source, lightning fast, and packed with features that’ll make even seasoned video editors raise an eyebrow.
And it’s completely open-sourced.
What Is VACE?
Data Science in Your Pocket – No Rocket Science
VACE stands for Video All-in-one Creation and Editing — and guess what? It actually lives up to that name. This isn’t just another AI that spits out random video clips from prompts. VACE is more like a production studio in your browser. Here’s what it can do:
- Generate videos from text prompts
(“a cat playing piano in space” — yup, really) - Edit specific parts of a video
(change the sky, recolor clothes, alter facial expressions) - Expand or extend scenes seamlessly
(think: turning a 5-sec clip into a cinematic 20-sec story) - Use image or video references to guide generation
(like animating your pet or a character sketch) - Combine all of the above in one go
And the best part? You don’t need to switch tools or export/import a dozen times. One model. One interface. One workflow.
Under the Hood: Meet Wanx2.1
Behind VACE’s wizardry is Wanx2.1 — officially known as Wan-T2V-14B. This is the heavy-lifting brain that turns your imagination into full-motion visuals.
Why Wanx2.1 is unique:
- Up to 720p resolution (already crispy, and likely to scale up)
- Longer video sequences with less frame-jumping and more smooth transitions
- Handles complex tasks like object replacement, lighting changes, pose animation
In simpler terms? Wanx2.1 is like having a team of VFX artists, animators, and editors… in one model.
Show Me the Features (With Real-World Use Cases)
Let’s get specific. Here’s what VACE can actually do, in plain language:
1. Text-to-Video (T2V)
Just describe your scene, and VACE animates it
Prompt: “A cyberpunk city skyline at night with flying taxis.”
Output: A slick 10-second animated video that looks like a scene straight from Blade Runner.
2. Video-to-Video Editing (V2V)
Upload a video, describe what to change, and boom — it’s done
“Turn this daytime beach scene into a sunset.”
VACE re-renders the whole thing, lighting and all.
3. Masked Editing (MV2V)
Point to a specific object in the frame and tell VACE what to do
“Remove this guy from the background.”
Poof. It’s like he was never there.
4. Reference-to-Video (R2V)
Upload a pic (your dog, your friend, your cartoon sketch), and VACE animates it doing cool stuff.
“Make this golden retriever dance salsa.”
Yes, it’s as funny and amazing as it sounds.
5. Compositional Tasks
Stack multiple features into one complex job.
“Animate this still image, extend the scene, and add a character from this photo.”
All-in-one output. Zero manual merging.
How does it Work?
At the heart of VACE is something called a Video Condition Unit (VCU). Sounds fancy, but here’s a better way to picture it
Imagine a recipe card. It lists:
- The main ingredients (your text prompts, reference images/videos)
- The parts to change
- The parts to leave alone
VACE uses this “recipe” to whip up a result where everything just fits. No janky edits. No jump cuts. Just buttery-smooth, intelligent video output.
But Does It Deliver?
Oh yeah. VACE was put head-to-head against other top-tier models across 12 video editing and generation tasks — like inpainting, pose transfer, depth-aware motion, and more.
Spoiler: It crushed it.
- Higher quality frames
- Better motion consistency
- More accurate to your input prompt
- Fewer artifacts and weird glitches
Even human reviewers preferred VACE’s results over its rivals.
How VACE Stacks Up (Mini Comparison Chart)
TL;DR: VACE doesn’t just generate — it edits, composes, and understands context. That’s rare.
Why It Matters (And Not Just for Creators)
Right now, video creation is kind of a mess:
- Multiple tools
- Steep learning curves
- Big production budgets
VACE simplifies all that.
Who wins with this tech?
- Content Creators → Go from idea to video in minutes
- Marketing Teams → Auto-generate variations, A/B test visuals
- Developers → Build flexible apps with one API
- Educators & Animators → Create teaching content or motion clips in a snap
What’s the Catch? (Honest Talk)
VACE is amazing — but not without its limits:
- Currently capped at 720p
- High compute demand (you’ll need some GPU muscle)
- Some tasks might still need light human touch for polish
That said, it’s early days. And if this is the baseline… buckle up.
How to use Wan2.1 VACE?
Weights are open source and are present on Hugging Face.
Wan-AI/Wan2.1-VACE-14B · Hugging Face
Final Thoughts: One Model to Rule Them All
VACE isn’t just another AI gimmick — it’s a true glimpse into the future of video creation: modular, multimodal, and magical.
Whether you’re animating from scratch or giving old footage a glow-up, VACE + Wanx2.1 makes it feel like the creative process just got an upgrade.
VACE: The First Open-Source AI Video Editor was originally published in Data Science in Your Pocket on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
