Quick Start

Secret Studio AI uses Google’s Gemini as its primary AI engine.

Gemini powers almost everything inside the software:

Writing video scripts
Generating voice overs
Transcribing audio
Creating storyboards
Generating images
Converting images into motion clips

Models used (the latest):

Text: Gemini 3 Flash.
Image Generation: Nano Banana Pro
Motion Generation: Veo 3.1

Getting Your API Key

To use Secret Studio, you need a free API key from Google AI Studio.

Log in or create an account.
Click “Get API Key” (bottom left).
Click “Create API Key” (top right).
Give it any name.
Copy and store the key somewhere safe.

Inside Secret Studio:

Go to System Settings
Paste the API key
Click Test
Save

That activates all standard features.

Important: Read the next section before creating your first video.

Rate Limits & $300 Free Credits

When you first create your API key, you’ll be on Gemini’s "Free Tier".

The Free Tier has strict daily limits (approximately 10 images per day and no image-to-motion generation). It’s fine for testing, but not practical for creating full videos.

See: Google Rate Limits.

Unlocking Higher Limits

To remove that restriction, connect billing through Google Cloud Console.

You will receive US $300 in free API credits. $300 in credits is enough to create several hundred videos with Secret Studio AI (depending on your settings).

These credits are used before you are charged anything.

Find the "Free Tier" setting for your API key and convert to "Paid Tier 1". You wont be charged.

Tip: Set a low billing quota - for example $5. If you ever use all your free credits, your maximum charge will be limited to that amount.

Increasing Rate Limits Further

For most users, “Paid Tier 1” is more than enough.

If you plan to generate large volumes of images or motion clips very quickly, you can move to higher tiers:

$250 spend → Paid Tier 2
$1,000 spend → Paid Tier 3

Important: There is no limit inside Secret Studio itself. If you hit errors during image or motion generation, it is almost always a rate limit issue with your API key — not the software.

The higher your paid tier, the more you can create simultaneously.

Costs To Create A Video

The cost to create a video depends on how many images and motion clips you include.

Each image generation (or regeneration) costs $0.01...

Script & audio generation & transcribing audio, costs less than $0.005.
A short video with 10 images / scenes will cost $0.10.
A long video with 100 images / scenes will cost $1.
Every time you click to animate an image it costs roughly $0.15 (5 second clip).

..these costs are bound by the API charges and related to using the Gemini API and are estimates only. Your $300 free API credits are enough to created hundreds of videos.

In short you can produce a full 60-second cinematic video for roughly $1.80 to $2.50 in API credits, whereas other AI tools would cost between $10 and $20 for the same output.

Creating Your First Video

A complete video requires:

A script
A narrated audio track
Transcription (for caption timing)
A storyboard
Images (and optional motion clips)

Secret Studio automates most of this process.

Projects & Productions

How we organize things.

Projects

Projects are containers used to organize your videos.

For example:

One project per YouTube channel
One project per client
One project per niche (e.g., “Car Reviews”)

Inside each project, you create individual videos called Productions.

Create a New Project

Go to the Projects tab.
Click New Project.
Add a name and optional description.
Click Open Studio.

Create a New Production

Click New Production.
Give it a meaningful name.
Click Create Entry.

You’ll see it appear in the Current Workflow section.

Important: The production name is passed to the AI and influences the topic. “Cats” is fine. “Ginger Cats” is better if that’s what you’re making. You can also inject the topic into prompts using the [TOPIC] tag.

Start Production

Click Start Production.

You’ll see three options:

AI Scriptwriter
Audio Vault (upload and transcribe an existing audio)
Music Studio (music videos - coming soon)

For most users, start with AI Scriptwriter.

The AI Scriptwriter

This is where your video begins.

You can:

Write your script manually
Paste an existing script
Generate one using AI
Any language will work here (English, French, German etc.)

On the right side you’ll see:

Main Subject
Editorial Focus
Voice Talent

Editorial Focus (Custom Prompt)

This is where you instruct the AI how to write your script.

Target Duration

Choose a target duration for your video.

If you select "AI Auto-Duration", the AI will determine length based on your instructions.

Important: Do not give conflicting instructions.

If you set duration to 60 seconds but ask for a 5-minute script in your prompt, results will be unpredictable.

Drafting Strategy

This is your custom prompt.

It works like any AI prompt. Be specific. Be clear. Be intentional. Be detailed.

You can use [TOPIC] inside your prompt if you want the production name injected automatically.

You can also select custom prompt templates from the Templates library.

Generate AI Draft

Click Generate AI Draft.

The script will appear in the editor.

You can:

Accept it
Edit it
Modify your prompt and regenerate

Generation speed depends entirely on API response time.

Voice Talent (Generate Audio)

Once your script is ready, you can generate narration.

Voice Talents

Choose a voice from the dropdown.

Use the preview button to hear a sample.

Voice Direction (Optional)

You can guide tone and style:

“Speak in a calm documentary tone.”
“Energetic YouTube presenter style.”
“Soft bedtime storytelling.”

Results vary — this is experimental.

Generate Audio

Click Generate Audio.

Long scripts can take several minutes.

The AI will read your script exactly as written.

Tip: Remove unwanted formatting or unusual punctuation before generating voiceover.

Once complete, the Video Studio button becomes active.

ElevenLabs (Optional)

Secret Studio also supports ElevenLabs voice generation, giving you access to 3,000+ voices and voice cloning.

This requires:

A separate API key
Additional cost

Enter your ElevenLabs key in System Settings and select it as your Voice Creation service.

You can switch back to Gemini at any time.

The Video Studio

This is where your visuals are created.

The main workspace is called the Director’s Floor.

1) Setup

This is where most of the "visual" magic happens.

Video Orientation

Choose:

16:9 (YouTube)
9:16 (Shorts, Reels, TikTok)

Set this first. It affects image generation aspect ratio.

Visual Bible – Global Art Style

This defines your image style only.

Examples:

Cinematic documentary
Watercolor illustration
Hyper-realistic photography

This does not control objects or characters — only style.

Visual Bible – Character / Setting

Optional, but powerful.

This defines the overall environment.

Example:

“Ancient swamp at twilight with mist and visible full moon.”

All scenes will follow this setting.

Visual Bible – Production Cast

This lets you inject consistent characters and objects you’ve created.

If you’ve created a character called [FROG], it will appear consistently across scenes.

Visual Bible – Negative Exclusions

Use this to prevent unwanted results.

Examples:

“Do not include text.”
“No borders.”
“No watermarks.”

Pacing Engine

Controls how many scenes your video has.

Relaxed → 12–15 seconds per scene
Standard → 5–8 seconds
Hyper → 2–4 seconds
Custom → Set exact number

The pacing is based on your audio length.

Example: 60-second audio + 10 scenes = new scene every 6 seconds (approx.).

Generate AI Storyboard

This breaks your script into timed scene cards.

Each card includes:

Image prompt
Motion prompt
Caption timing

Secret Studio analyzes your script, audio, and settings to build this automatically.

2) Sync (Captions)

This section is optional.

If captions are enabled, this allows you to fix transcription mistakes.

Example: If “frog” was transcribed as “dog,” you can correct it here.

You can also merge or split caption timing blocks.

3) Design

These settings control overall movement and transitions.

Motion Engine

Auto Drift → Random Ken Burns effects
Directional → Controlled motion
Static → No motion

Most users can leave Auto Drift enabled.

Film Stock / Lenses

Optionally apply stylistic filters like black and white or vintage grain.

Transitions

Set to random by default.

You can:

Choose a specific transition
Adjust duration
Turn transitions off

Captions

Enable or disable captions.

Customize:

Font
Size
Color
Position
Karaoke highlighting

The Storyboard

This is where your video comes to life.

Each scene card includes:

Image slot
Image generation prompt
Motion generation prompt

Generating Images

Hover over a scene’s image slot and click Generate.

The result is based on:

Global Art Style
Character / Setting
Scene-specific prompt

If you don’t like the result, edit the prompt and regenerate.

Tip: Finalize your Global Style before bulk generating all images.

Click Generate All Images to render the entire storyboard at once.

Motion Strategy (Optional)

Converts images into 5-8 second motion clips.

Important: Each generation costs approximately $0.15. Regenerating repeatedly increases API usage / cost.

You can edit the motion prompt before generating.

Hold vs Loop

Motion clips are 5-8 seconds.

If your scene is longer:

Hold → Static image first, then motion
Loop → Motion repeats

Looping can look unnatural in some cases.

Rendering the Final Video

Click Export Final Video.

You’ll see two options:

Station Focus → Render inside the software
Background Pipeline → Render in background

Background mode allows you to continue working. An "Activity Hub" will appear in the sidebar. Click it to reveal progress.

You can re-render as many times as needed.

Where Videos Are Stored

Videos are saved to:

Documents → Secret Studio → Projects → Project Name → Exports

After rendering, a play button appears in your Production Hub for this production.

You’ll also see:

Export folder icon
Image assets folder icon

Characters & Objects (Consistent Assets)

This section lets you create reusable characters and objects.

Best Practice for Characters

Generate characters on a clean white background with no props.

Important: If you create “Red Panda standing on a tree branch,” that branch may appear in every scene.

Keep descriptions neutral and distraction-free.

Slug System

Each character gets a slug:

Example:
Character name: Tom
Slug: [TOM]

You can use this inside prompts:

“[TOM] is driving [REDCAR] through the desert.”

LookDev Lab

This is a playground for testing image styles outside production.

You can:

Test prompts
Experiment with styles
Generate motion clips
Save successful combinations

All results are stored in The Vault.

Prompt Library

Contains predefined system prompts for:

Video scripts (Not tested, examples only)
Image styles
Character settings

These are read-only and updated over time.

Use them as starting points.

Preferences

Save your own custom prompts here.

They will appear throughout the software for quick access.

Recommendation: Also back up your prompts outside Secret Studio - i.e. inside a Word or text document.

System Settings

This section contains important system settings.

If you modify anything here make sure to save your settings.

Credentials

Here you can enter your API keys for the supported platforms.

Intelligence Orchestrator & Performance Tuning

This section controls two important things:

Which AI engine handles each task
How fast Secret Studio sends requests to those engines

Intelligence Orchestrator

You can choose which provider handles:

Voice Creation (TTS)
Transcription (STT)
Visual Synthesis (Images)

If you have multiple API keys connected, you can route tasks between them.

This allows you to optimize for:

Cost
Quality
Speed
Rate limits

If one provider slows down or hits a limit, you can switch instantly.

Performance Tuning (API Pacing)

Warning: Only modify these if you know what you are doing. If you hit rate limit errors (regardless of what "tier" your on) your API key might get blocked for 24 hours.

These sliders control how many seconds Secret Studio waits between API calls.

This is extremely important for batch generation.

When generating many assets at once, Secret Studio spaces out requests to prevent: