AI video generation can produce an impressive clip from a simple prompt. The harder part often comes when a project needs more than one creative input.
Maybe the same character needs to appear in several scenes. Maybe a product has to remain recognizable while the setting changes. Or perhaps the movement from one video, the look from an image, and the timing of an audio track all need to influence the final scene.
That is where reference-driven video generation becomes useful.
Seedance Omni is now live on Kumba, bringing a multi-reference workflow associated with ByteDance's Seedance 2.0 and 2.5 video models to creators exploring more controlled AI video generation. Instead of relying on text alone, the workflow can combine multiple images, videos, and audio assets to provide additional context for a generation.
What Is Seedance Omni?
Seedance Omni is a multimodal, multi-asset video generation capability associated with ByteDance's Seedance 2.0 and 2.5 models. Its defining idea is simple: creators can use several reference assets together to guide a video rather than relying primarily on a text prompt or a single image.
The supplied Seedance workflow supports up to 12 reference assets simultaneously, including images, videos, and audio.
That matters because a written prompt has limits. You can describe a character's appearance, clothing, location, movement, and sound, but describing all of those elements precisely in words isn't always the easiest way to communicate visual intent.
Reference assets provide another layer of direction.
For example, a creator could provide an image of a character, another reference showing clothing, an image of a location, a video demonstrating movement, and an audio track containing dialogue. The prompt then explains what should happen in the scene.
The goal isn't to guarantee that every detail will be reproduced perfectly. Rather, the additional references give the model more information to work from.
How Does Seedance Omni Work?
Think of the workflow as assembling a small creative brief for the model.
Suppose you're creating a short scene in which a character walks through a particular environment and speaks a line of dialogue.
Instead of describing everything from scratch, you could provide:
A character image to establish appearance.
A clothing reference to guide what the character is wearing.
An environment image to establish the setting.
A video reference to provide movement or camera direction.
An audio reference containing dialogue.
The prompt can then describe the scene, action, and desired result.
This is the basic idea behind multimodal video generation: different types of inputs contribute different kinds of information.
Images can communicate appearance and visual details. Videos can provide movement or physical-action cues. Audio can provide dialogue, music, sound, or timing information.
Seedance Omni's multi-asset approach is particularly relevant when those elements need to work together in the same concept.
What Makes Seedance Omni Different?
A conventional text-to-video workflow might look something like this:
Prompt → Generate → Review → Rewrite prompt → Generate again
That approach can work well for many ideas. But when a project has specific visual requirements, the creator may need to communicate much more than a description can comfortably capture.
A reference-driven workflow looks more like:
Images + Video + Audio + Prompt → Generate
The difference is context.
Instead of only telling the model what the scene should look or sound like, you can show it some of the visual and audio direction you're working from.
This can be especially useful for projects involving recurring characters, recognizable products, specific environments, planned movement, or audio-driven scenes.
It doesn't mean references eliminate iteration. AI video generation can still require review and refinement. The advantage is that the generation starts with more creative context.
What Can You Create With Seedance Omni?
AI short films
Short films often need characters and locations to remain recognizable from one shot to another.
Multiple image references can provide additional guidance for a character's appearance, clothing, environment, or visual style. Video references can then contribute movement or camera direction.
For narrative projects, this makes a multi-reference workflow worth considering when several visual elements need to coexist.
AI commercials
An AI commercial may need to keep a product at the center of the scene while changing the environment around it.
A product reference can provide visual guidance for the item, while additional images can establish the setting and overall direction. The prompt can describe the action, composition, and story of the shot.
This can be useful for early commercial concepts where the product's visual identity needs to remain part of the creative brief.
Ecommerce videos
Product-focused content has a similar challenge: the item should remain visually recognizable even when the concept introduces new backgrounds, actions, or settings.
Using product images as references gives the generation more information about what the item should look like. Creators can then build a scene around that reference instead of relying entirely on a textual product description.
Music videos
Music-driven projects naturally involve both visual and audio direction.
With audio references, creators can incorporate music or other sound into the generation workflow. Visual references can establish characters, locations, styling, or other creative elements.
For concepts involving character speech or multiple characters, audio can also contribute to lip-sync-related direction.
Social media videos
Short-form creators often work from a specific visual idea: a character, outfit, product, location, or movement they want to preserve.
Multiple references can help turn that idea into a more controlled generation brief. Instead of repeatedly trying to describe the same visual details, creators can provide reference assets alongside their prompt.
Character-driven videos
Character consistency is one of the clearest reasons to use reference images.
A creator might have several images showing a character, clothing details, or a particular visual style. Using multiple references can give the model more information about the character that needs to carry through the scene.
It is best understood as additional guidance—not a guarantee of identical results in every generated shot.
VFX and cinematic concepts
Complex scenes can involve elements that are difficult to describe precisely with text alone.
A reference video can help communicate movement, while images can establish the appearance of characters, objects, or environments. This can be useful for concepts involving explosions, spacecraft, fantasy effects, environmental changes, and other cinematic VFX ideas.
Why Do Multiple References Matter?
The simplest way to think about multi-reference generation is this:
Instead of describing every part of a scene from scratch, you can show the model more of the direction you have in mind.
Imagine asking someone to design a scene from a verbal description. You might explain the character, clothing, location, camera movement, and soundtrack.
Now imagine giving that person reference images, a short movement clip, and an audio track as well.
The second brief contains more context.
That's the role multiple references can play in Seedance Omni. Each asset can contribute a different piece of information to the generation.
The Seedance workflow can organize these inputs through references such as @Image1–@Image9, @Video1–@Video3, and @Audio1–@Audio3. The exact combination depends on what the creator is trying to make.
Seedance Omni on Kumba
Seedance Omni is now live on Kumba.
That gives creators a place to explore this multi-reference approach to AI video generation without treating the technology as a purely theoretical concept.
The useful question isn't simply, "Can I generate a video?"
It's increasingly, "What information can I give the model so the video moves closer to the creative direction I have in mind?"
Seedance Omni is designed around that second question.
Because the workflow can bring together image, video, and audio references, it can be relevant to projects where a single prompt doesn't fully describe the intended result.
How to Use Seedance Omni on Kumba
A straightforward workflow is:
Open Kumba.
Select the relevant Seedance Omni workflow.
Add the reference assets that matter to your concept.
Describe the scene, action, and desired direction in your prompt.
Generate the video.
Review the result and iterate where necessary.
You don't necessarily need to use the maximum number of references. Start with the assets that communicate the most important parts of the idea.
For a product video, that might mean a product image and an environment reference. For a character scene, it could be character and clothing references plus a movement clip. For an audio-led concept, an audio reference may be central to the workflow.
The right references depend on the shot.
Seedance Omni vs. Traditional Text-to-Video
This isn't a claim that one workflow is always better than another. Text-to-video remains useful when a creator wants to describe an idea quickly.
Seedance Omni becomes particularly interesting when the project benefits from more visual and audio context in a single generation workflow.
Who Is Seedance Omni For?
Seedance Omni can be relevant to several types of creators.
Filmmakers and storytellers can use character, environment, and movement references when developing narrative scenes.
AI video creators can combine different media to provide more specific direction than a text prompt alone.
Marketers and advertisers can use product and environment references when developing commercial concepts.
Ecommerce teams can provide product imagery as part of a video brief where the product needs to remain recognizable.
Music video creators can bring audio and visual references into an audio-driven concept.
Social media creators can use controlled references when developing recurring characters, products, or short-form visual concepts.
Agencies can use multi-asset references when a client concept already comes with visual materials that need to inform the generation.
The common thread is simple: these projects often start with more than words.
FAQs About Seedance Omni
What is Seedance Omni?
Seedance Omni is a multimodal, multi-asset video generation capability associated with ByteDance's Seedance 2.0 and 2.5 video models. It is designed to combine multiple reference assets—including images, videos, and audio—to provide additional guidance for video generation.
What is Seedance Omni used for?
Seedance Omni can be used for AI short films, commercials, ecommerce videos, music videos, social content, character-driven scenes, and VFX concepts. Its multi-reference workflow is particularly useful when a project needs additional visual, motion, or audio context.
How many reference assets can Seedance Omni use?
The supplied Seedance information describes support for up to 12 reference assets simultaneously. These can include images, videos, and audio. The useful number of references depends on the project and the specific details the creator wants to communicate.
Can Seedance Omni use multiple images?
Yes. Multiple image references can be used to provide guidance for elements such as characters, clothing, products, environments, and visual style. Using several relevant references can give the model more visual context than relying on a single image.
Can Seedance Omni use video references?
Yes. Video references can provide guidance related to movement, camera direction, physical action, and scene dynamics. This makes video references useful when motion is an important part of the intended result.
Can Seedance Omni use audio?
Yes. Audio references can be incorporated for dialogue, music, sound, and lip-sync-related direction. This makes the workflow relevant to scenes where sound or character speech needs to be part of the creative input.
Can Seedance Omni help maintain character consistency?
Multiple character and clothing references can provide additional visual guidance that may help maintain character consistency across generated scenes. However, consistency is not guaranteed, so creators should review outputs and iterate when necessary.
Is Seedance Omni available on Kumba?
Yes. Seedance Omni is now live on Kumba, where creators can explore the multi-reference AI video generation workflow and use reference assets to guide their video concepts.
Try Seedance Omni on Kumba
AI video generation is moving beyond the idea of simply writing a prompt and pressing generate. For more involved projects, the references you provide can be just as important as the words you write.
Seedance Omni is built around that idea: bring together images, videos, audio, and text to give a generation more context.
Seedance Omni is now live on Kumba. Explore the workflow and see how multi-reference generation fits into your next video project.