How to Install and Use AnimateDiff Desktop UI (DiffEx)

Embark on an animation journey with DiffEx, a desktop UI for AnimateDiff.

This tool opens possibilities, allowing effortless video and image imports for your ControlNet map. Enjoy multi ControlNet and seamless IP Adapter support. DiffEx automates the import of Models, Motion Modules, VAEs, LoRAs, and Embeddings from your Stable Diffusion WebUI, eliminating manual setup hassles. Explore enhanced capabilities with SDXL and LCM support.

Precision reigns with LoRA mapping, isolating LoRAs to regions and modulating strength over animations. Elevate with the Refiner for upscaled animations. Introducing Stylize mode (vid2vid), DiffEx transforms videos into prompts, pushing the boundaries of animation, and automates the ControlNet setup.

For DiffEx to run smoothly on your computer we first need to install some dependencies. If you already have Stable Diffusion installed you can skip the python installation.

• Python: Before setting up DiffEx, make sure you have Python installed and added to PATH (check the box during installation). Download python from the official python.org website, the recommend version is 3.10.11.

• FFmpeg: Follow our detailed guide on how to install FFmpeg and add it to PATH.

How to Install FFmpeg on Windows 11

Go to the official DiffEx CivitAI page and save the file anywhere on your PC.

Once the zip file has been downloaded:

• Extract the files: Right-click the zip file, press “Extract all…”, and click “Extract” in the pop-up menu.
• You can delete the .zip file once all files are extracted; it's no longer needed.
• In the "diffexDesktopUIFor_v144" folder, find "animatediff-installer.bat."
• Copy and paste this file anywhere on your PC with enough storage space.
• Run the "animatediff-installer.bat" file you pasted and wait for the console to say the installation is complete. This creates a new folder named "animatediff-cli-prompt-travel."
• Now you can run DiffEx.exe, located in the "diffexDesktopUIFor_v144" folder.

To avoid permission issues, run DiffEx in Administrator mode: Right-click DiffEx.exe -> Run as administrator -> Yes.

When you first launch DiffEx, you need to connect it to your AnimateDiff CLI Prompt Travel folder. Click the "Link" button on the top right of the Setup page.

Then navigate to your AnimateDiff root folder (for example, S:\DiffEx\animatediff-cli-prompt-travel). Here you can also link your Stable Diffusion models, VAE’s & LoRA’s. When everything is linked, press “Apply”. If the linking is successful, the box next to the "Link" button will be checked, and the AnimateDiff console will start up.

If for some reason you receive an error here, make sure that you are running DiffEx in administrator mode.

Now the last thing we need to install is the motion module for AnimateDiff.

Go to the Huggingface AnimateDiff page and download the motion module. Right click the download button and click on “Save Link As”.

Now navigate to your motion-module folder and press save. animatediff-cli-prompt-travel\data\models\motion-module

Now you’re all set to run DiffEx, I recommend always running it as administrator, because when enabling new features it will sometimes require a download of a specific model for example IP-Adapter or Refiner. Running DiffEx in Administrator mode makes sure it has the permissions to download these models.

Now let’s create a video with DiffEx.

Setup

In the main menu, name your project.

• I named my project RealisticTest, since I want to test an animation with a realistic style.
• For the model I’ve chosen fantasticmix, this model requires a VAE which I also have selected.
• For the sampler I chose LCM, this is the fastest sampler and works great for testing, generating animations in just a few minutes! When using the LCM sampler make sure to check the LCM box, set Steps to 8 and CFG to 2.
• Make sure to select the motion module we downloaded earlier.
• I went with 12 FPS (Frames Per Second) for the video (I’m going to interpolate this later). Feel free to adjust these settings to your liking.

Prompt

Click the hamburger menu in the top left and navigate to the prompt tab. Here is where you want to fill in your prompt.

• I recommend filling in your main prompt next to frame 0.
• At the bottom you can write your negative prompt.

I recommend going to the CivitAI page of your model and look for a good prompt and adjust this to your liking, this results in getting the best output. You also have the option to add an image prompt, which I will cover in an other tutorial.

Execute

Click the hamburger menu again and go to the execute tab. Here you want to set the dimensions of your video and the length. Currently there is no build-in aspect ratio lock so you have to do some math yourself to achieve your desired aspect ratio.

• I went for a 9:16 ratio, setting the Width to 720 and the Height to 1280. However, when not using an SDXL model, going too high can give weird outputs.
• Keep the FPS at 12 and set the length to 60 for a 5 second video.

Now click on “Build & Run” to start your animation!

Now let's check out some of the examples using this method! You can find your animations in the output folder. animatediff-cli-prompt-travel\output