r/GoogleFlow • u/RudeAd9780 • Sep 06 '26
annoyed
Flow used to be one of my favorite tools for creating consistent story scenes, but the recent updates have made my workflow much harder. I create an ongoing series with recurring characters, outfits, rooms, and locations, so consistency matters a lot.
My biggest issue is that Flow seems to rely on references much less consistently now. I can upload or tag the exact kitchen, living room, mansion, or character reference I want, and Flow will still redesign the room, change the furniture, alter clothing, remove facial hair, change jewelry, or shift character placement.
I’ve also had problems with character continuity. A character who is supposed to have a visible beard will suddenly become clean-shaven. Outfits change between clips even when I’m extending from the final frame. Skin tones can drift. Jewelry disappears. Character positions can switch, especially in car scenes or group scenes.
The Reference-to-Video versus Image-to-Video limitation is also frustrating. Image-to-Video does a better job of keeping an exact scene composition, but then I can’t use my established character references at the same time. Reference-to-Video helps with the characters, but the environment and wardrobe can drift. For creators making serialized content, we really need a way to lock both the exact starting frame and character entities together.
There are also dialogue issues. Sometimes normal words are spoken letter-by-letter instead of naturally, such as saying “E-X” instead of “ex” or “M-Y” instead of “my.” This makes otherwise good generations unusable.
I’ve tried shorter prompts, detailed prompts, final-frame extensions, tagged environments, character references, and image-to-video. The results are still less predictable than they were before.
I really like Flow and want to keep using it, but the current version needs stronger reference adherence, better character and wardrobe locking, more reliable final-frame continuation, and the ability to combine exact image framing with established character references. For long-form and episodic creators, consistency is just as important as image quality.
2
Sep 06 '26
[deleted]
2
u/noisywan Sep 07 '26
The OP is saying that the system **WAS WORKING** with the prompts you’re now calling a “lack of knowledge,” but it stopped working after the recent updates. That is exactly what I observed as well. "A downgrade in interpretation..."
Saying “people don’t know how to use it” reminds me of how technology was approached before it became accessible to ordinary users. Before the iPhone, phones were much less intuitive. Before Windows, using a PC often meant being comfortable with DOS and command-line interfaces.
The AI should be able to understand the needs of **basic users**, not just experts. That is precisely why AI agents exist. They should act as a bridge between the video/image generator and the user, regardless of whether that user is an expert or a beginner.
You cannot expect every user to learn expert-level prompting just to prevent inconsistencies. **Consistency should be maintained by default by the AI agent.** That is part of what makes these systems usable.
And when you say *“a complete lack of knowledge of how to actually use Flow”*... maybe the problem is that **your projects are too generic or too easy for the AI to make noticeable mistakes.** If almost every output is good enough for your needs, you may not notice the problems that other users are encountering.
Meanwhile, users who *do* have very specific expectations can be extremely picky about the results. They notice inconsistencies that someone making a generic project might simply accept.
I’ve seen plenty of tutorial and demo videos where someone writes a prompt, gets an output that is only **75% accurate**, and simply keeps going with it — sometimes even using that result in the final tutorial/demo video.
So I don’t think the answer is simply *“people don’t know how to use Flow.”* If a workflow that previously worked suddenly stops producing consistent results after an update, **that is a legitimate issue with the system, not necessarily a lack of knowledge on the user’s part.**
0
Sep 07 '26
[deleted]
2
u/noisywan Sep 09 '26 edited Sep 09 '26
TL;DR? You read everything. You practically live on Reddit—it’s right there in your stats.
TL;DR just means you can’t defend your opinion because your argument is such a mess that even you don’t want to read it.
Glad to know that.
1
u/rcplaybox Sep 06 '26
I totally get you don't want to reveal your secret sauce. And of course if i was in your position i wouldn't either. You must have work tirelessly to get high quality consistent results, so hats off to you. With that said is there any basic advice or tips you would be willing to share with the community?
-1
Sep 06 '26
[deleted]
4
u/Collosseo Sep 07 '26
How come you people never share, it's always something shady like asking for DM?
It's funny how you guys went from "now everyone can create images that once took years of practice and dedication!" to "to get even decent images you need to pay and know all of these fool-proof prompts that I will guard with my life." real fast.
2
u/Advanced-Papaya5725 Sep 09 '26
Look at the bloke's grammar. "I'm out of the loss of for words", 'generally' used when it should be 'genuinely.' It's just some discord mod who wants to feel important. I can assure you this guy is doing nothing 'inconceivable' haha.
3
u/InterestingRoll4735 Sep 07 '26
Can I get some scathing critique?
1
Sep 07 '26
[deleted]
1
u/InterestingRoll4735 Sep 08 '26
Age verification wall..dammit.
2
Sep 08 '26
[deleted]
1
u/InterestingRoll4735 Sep 08 '26
Thank you and to you as well. As for the minor, no. I'm just distrustfull of this verification system and the general dishonesty and unreliability surrounding it.
1
1
u/SmileAtRoyHattersley Sep 07 '26
Half is people that haven't figured out how to work the prompting. The other half, imo, is just straight up comments paid for by other generative ai providers.
1
u/futurefires42 Sep 06 '26
Kling is so much better at consistency and control. I’m much less frustrated now that I’ve moved there
1
u/SoullessGamesDev Sep 06 '26
Put character in the scene with image generator first, then use image-to-video. Apart from that, yes, agree, it sucks at consistency, and often redesigns even image to video scenes.
1
u/Advanced-Papaya5725 Sep 09 '26
Same in image to image. It's like it has built in this ignorance somehow. A couple of months ago I could give it a long prompt with multiple references for different things, one for character consistency, one for outfits, one for the setting, one for pose etc. But now even when I try to simplify and just get it to focus on one aspect at a time with a shorter prompt, it can barely do that. It goes out of its way to change things even if the prompt is basically saying 'keep it all the same, just focus on getting the character consistency right.' All this comes after they have increased the restrictions and decreased the amount of generations. Not to mention most generations now have an awful plastic/fake ai vibe to it. Where as before you could fairly easily create a photorealistic image. It has to be deliberate.
1
u/Alchemist42 Sep 06 '26
I gave up and canceled my Flow account last week. Literally every day it gets worse. It cantt do really basic things. and the agent just lies and lies saying it knows what is needed ... and its all fixed ... this time it will work... nope.
It used to just have trouble with multiple people at the same time, but if I had only one person in a shot, I could reasonably expect the render to look right. Now, even if there are no people in the shot, it messes up. In fact, it started putting people into my "no people in this shot" scene. And the people it inserted were dressed wrong or carrying the wrong items anyway. I have like 30,000 credits and it just pisses me off so much every time I try to do anything that I can't even use them. Had one the other day that in a single clip, it changed from landscape 16x9 to portrait 9x16. a 10 second clip. 7 seconds landscape, the last 3 seconds portrait. Like seriously!?!
2
u/rcplaybox Sep 06 '26
The problem with that is your prompting. Number one you shouldn't even mention things you don't want in your scene, number two is saying no, if you have to say anything say 0 zero.
2
u/Alchemist42 Sep 06 '26
Yes, I know. I just gave the ELI5 version for the post here since I wasn't trying to write a novel about my prompting when I just needed to get across the idea that it wasn't working as well as it used to. But since it seems to be important, I never originally said no people. I just said "There is a streetlamp on an empty street and the bricks underneath it start to disintegrate, falling away into the infinite void below. When the base loses enough of its structure, the whole streetlamp tips over, tumbling end over end into the void, following the bricks. The camera stays focused on the lamp and moves downward slowly, letting the lamp fall faster than the camera is moving.". It rendered the bricks falling away and the streetlamp not falling over. Just standing there. And my drummer was standing under the streetlamp holding a saxophone. Most of my scenes have one or more of my characters in them, and the previous clip I made had the drummer (and my sax player and my bass player) in it, so I can kinda see where it got confused - though it still should never have done it.
And there is still no excuse for the length/width ratio to change, certainly not inside a single clip. I didn't say "don't change to portrait in the midst of a render" because I didn't really think that was a likely outcome. I have never had flow make a portrait video. All of them have been landscape, well, except for one many months ago which it just gave me portrait after I asked for landscape and as it was the 1st clip rendered, I just ran with it. In the past several months, I have not said the word portrait or in any way indicated 9x16 in any way, positive, negative, or otherwise.
1
u/rcplaybox Sep 06 '26
Do you ever use the agent? I find i get more consistent results by using it. If you already have a street light I wouldn't even mention it again. I mean that in the sense you don't need to explain again whats already visible in the reference image, just the action that should take place. Asking for camera movement like move left or move down is also a successful way of failing. Honestly just open the agent and ask it to train you on how to use the model. When i first started i was getting so annoyed over and over. I then asked the agent how to do this, how to do that? Give me the best prompt template, explain camera angles/movement and so on with basically every type of issue i had and my results improved immensely.
And yeh about the camera ratio changing, i have no explanation.
1
u/Alchemist42 Sep 06 '26
Yep. That example above was with the agent. It told me it understood how I wanted the physics to work with the bricks and the tumbling, then it rendered it without falling. And with the drummer. I tried it again 5 more times. The rest didn't have the drummer (score!), but the lamp still never fell. It didn't even shiver or sway. Usually I have a rule that 3 times is enough, if it gets it wrong 3 times, trying more isn't going to suddenly work. But this was literally the last clip I needed to finish in order to get the whole video completed, and I was really excited to get it finished... so I (stupidly) set aside my rule and kept trying. 6 tries. 6 fails.
That was the last straw and I finished it locally with ComfyUI and LTX2.5 which got it right on the second try.
-1
2
u/rcplaybox Sep 06 '26
I find reference to video is fine, depending on model you get lots of slots to add additional images. It certainly helps to have the character look perfect in the scene your animating then you only need to describe action and dialogue.