MiniMax H3 Text to Video: 2K Clips With Sound From a Prompt

Last verified: October 19, 2026

MiniMax H3 turns a written prompt into a 2K video clip and generates its sound in the same pass as the picture. That means one description sets both what the scene shows and what it sounds like. In MiniMax H3 Text to Video, the prompt is your only input: the model builds the shot from scratch out of a text description, and the only settings you choose are the clip's length and frame shape.

MiniMax says creators are now describing their intent in full natural language instead of typing a simple visual prompt. In text-to-video, that description is all the model has to work with. Your prompt has to act as the storyboard, the shot list and the sound brief all at once, so write it the way you would brief a crew, not as a caption.

The form follows the same split. The Prompt box holds the whole brief, and the Enhance Prompt button under it can turn a rough idea into fuller suggestions. Video Duration sets how much time the scene has to play out, and Aspect Ratio sets the frame for wherever the clip will be posted. Your words decide what happens; the two settings decide how long it runs and what shape it has.

Explore more text to video

Text To Video About MiniMax H3 Use in Image To Video Use in Reference To Video Use in First To Last Frame PixVerse 5.5 Text to Video Flux 3 Seedance 1.0 Pro Veo 3.1 Fast Kling O3 Kling 3.0
Capability Snapshot

MiniMax H3 Settings at a Glance

The input, clip lengths, frame shapes and output this generator works with.

Input

A text prompt of up to 2,048 characters

Video Duration

4 to 15 seconds

Resolution

2K

Aspect Ratio

1:1, 3:4, 4:3, 9:16, 16:9

Output

1 video per run

Prompting Techniques for MiniMax H3

Lay Out the Prompt as Shots, Soundscape and Music

MiniMax's prompt guide for text-to-video splits every prompt into three labeled sections. Copy that skeleton into the Prompt box so the picture, the ambience and the score each have their own place. The integrated_multimodal_description section carries the picture in playback order, opening with [Shot 1], then the look (the guide's example starts with Live-action, cinematic), the framing and the action. The overall_soundscape section lists the physical sounds of the scene. The non_diegetic_music section describes the score, and the guide's own example does this by instrument and tempo. Keeping the three apart also makes revisions easier: you can rewrite the music line without touching the shots.

Write Camera Moves as Type, Amplitude and Speed

The guide defines a complete camera move in three parts: the motion type, the amplitude (how far the composition changes) and the speed of that change. Amplitude is written as small or large and speed as slow or fast, all inside an ordinary sentence. For example: the camera pushes in with small amplitude at slow speed toward the violin. When the camera should stay put, say so in the same way, by asking for a static shot. On the shorter Video Duration settings, stick to one move per shot, because a large, fast move has little time to finish.

How to Make a Video With MiniMax H3

Four steps take you from a written scene to a downloaded MiniMax H3 clip.

When to Use Text-to-Video vs. Other H3 Workflows

Starting from a prompt compared with H3's workflows that also take images or clips, for the same kind of shot.

Starting material Everything in the shot, including people, place, light and sound, comes from the words you write in the Prompt box. MiniMax H3's reference-to-video mode adds media to the prompt and accepts up to nine reference images and up to three video clips in one request. Stay with text-to-video if you are inventing a scene from nothing; use reference-to-video if you must match an existing person, product or look.
Exact opening or closing frame The first and last frames take shape from how you describe the framing, where the subject sits and where the camera is placed. MiniMax H3's first-and-last-frame mode takes zero, one or two images that set where the shot starts and ends. Choose first-and-last-frame when a shot has to start or end on a specific approved image, such as a packshot, and text-to-video when a described composition is close enough.
Start with text-to-video when the idea exists only in words. Switch to H3's reference or first-and-last-frame workflows when an existing image, character or product has to appear exactly as it is.

Common MiniMax H3 Problems and Fixes

What usually goes wrong with prompt-only H3 clips, and what to change before the next run.

The cuts land at the wrong moment, or a shot I wrote never shows up

MiniMax's prompt guide sets strict rules for timed cuts. The first shot gets no timestamp, later shots are numbered in order, and each one opens with a cut time that is later than the one before and falls within the video's duration, written like [Shot 2] At 00:02.500, the camera cuts to a close-up. A cut time past the end of the clip has nowhere to go. Either raise Video Duration until it covers your last cut or move the times earlier, check that they only ever increase, and run it again.

The wrong character says the line, or the speech comes out garbled

This usually happens when the prompt doesn't make clear who is speaking and what exactly they say. MiniMax's text-to-video example marks the speaker with an ID such as (S1) next to a short description of the voice, then gives the exact words after a language tag, for example: the old man with a gravelly voice (S1) says: [English] Hear that? Give every speaking character their own ID, keep each line short enough to be spoken within the clip, and generate again.

My full structured prompt doesn't fit in the Prompt box

The Prompt box has a fixed character limit, and a shot-by-shot prompt with separate sound and music lines reaches it quickly. Cut repeated adjectives first, fold minor details into a single clause, keep the soundscape and the music to one sentence each, and drop a shot if the clip is short anyway. Paste in the shortened version and generate; you don't need to change any settings.

I need a video longer than a single clip allows

Each run is capped at the longest Video Duration option, so a longer piece has to be built from several clips. Split the story into segments that each make sense on their own and generate them one at a time with the same Aspect Ratio. Use the same wording for the character, wardrobe, location and lighting in every prompt so the segments cut together, then join them in your editor.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will Enhance Prompt overwrite what I've already written?

No. Enhance Prompt takes your rough idea and offers fuller prompts as suggestions, and your text stays as it is unless you pick one. A good way to use it: start from a one-line idea, choose the suggestion closest to what you pictured, then add the details only you know, such as exact cut times, the camera move or a character's line.

What makes one MiniMax H3 generation cost more than another?

The credit cost of a run is calculated from the options you choose and shown above the Generate button once you are signed in. On this generator, the cost changes with the Video Duration you pick. Using Enhance Prompt does not use credits.

Does MiniMax H3 follow long, detailed instructions?

Yes. MiniMax lists instruction following as one of the strengths early testing showed for H3, so a dense brief is worth writing. The practical limit is the Prompt box's character count. Spend those characters on the things you would otherwise leave to chance: who is in frame, what they do and in what order, how the camera moves and what can be heard. Stacking adjectives is a poor use of the space.

Can MiniMax H3 show readable text or a brand name in the video?

MiniMax says early testing shows H3 is strong at accurate text and brand rendering. Write the exact words you want and say where they appear, whether on a sign, a product label or a screen, so the model has a specific target instead of a vague request for text.

References

Sources and citations used to support the content provided above.

Updated: 2026-10-19 23:32:09 3 Sources

www.minimax.io

Source Link
https://www.minimax.io/blog/minimax-h3

platform.minimax.io

Source Link
https://platform.minimax.io/docs/guides/video-generation

huggingface.co

Source Link
https://huggingface.co/MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-H3/blob/main/docs/VIDEO_PROMPT_WRITING_GUIDE_base_en.md