Let’s be real—most AI video tools focus on single movements like pans or zooms. But what if you could combine them seamlessly? That’s where Alibaba’s Wan 2.1 Control Camera 1.1 comes in. Unlike Recam Master, which tweaks existing footage, this model generates videos from scratch with programmable camera paths. Here’s how it works and why the lightweight 1.3B version surprised me.
How Control Camera 1.1 Works
This isn’t just another image-to-video tool. The key difference is the control embed system, which lets you chain multiple camera movements into a single generation. For example:
- Pan left while tilting up
- Zoom in followed by a slow dolly out
- Custom trajectories with up to two control points
I tested it using the One Videos wrapper in ComfyUI, modifying the default workflow to support dual poses. The visualization tool shows the full path before rendering, which helps avoid awkward transitions.
Model Options: Balancing Quality and VRAM
Alibaba offers two versions:
- 1.3B model (3.2GB): Runs on consumer GPUs (~6GB VRAM)
- 14B model (33GB): Higher quality but demands pro hardware
Models are Here:
- Wan2_1-Wan2_1-Fun-V1_1-14B-Control-Camera_fp8_e4m3fn.safetensors · Kijai/WanVideo_comfy at main
- alibaba-pai/Wan2.1-Fun-V1.1-14B-Control at main
- Wan-AI/Wan2.1-T2V-1.3B at main
For most users, the 1.3B model is the sweet spot. I generated 480p clips on a mid-range GPU with these settings:
- 40–80 frames per movement
- Tile Control LoRA at 0.3–0.5 strength for detail recovery
- Free noise enabled for longer sequences
Real-World Results
Test 1: Rain Scene with Dual Zoom
I fed the model a static image of a woman holding an umbrella. With two control points—zoom out (40 frames) → secondary zoom (41 frames)—the output had:
- Natural rain motion
- Stable subject despite camera movement
- Clean upscaling via Tile LoRA
Test 2: Complex Pan + Zoom Combo
A zoom-in → pan-left sequence kept the subject centered while the background flowed smoothly. The Anime Diff nodes handled interpolation automatically, avoiding the jittery cuts common in Recam Master.
Advanced Techniques
For longer clips, the video context options (uniform loop, static standard) let me push to 200+ frames. The system maintains consistency better than I expected—even at 400 frames for video-to-video workflows.
Pro tip: If details get fuzzy during zooms, a second pass with the Tile Control LoRA sharpens textures without overprocessing.
Why This Matters
The Wan 2.1 Control Camera democratizes pro-grade motion design. No rigs, no post-processing—just direct control over AI-generated footage. For ComfyUI users, it’s a leap beyond basic AnimateDiff workflows.
Want to try it? Grab the model from Alibaba’s Hugging Face repo and drop it into your existing Wan 2.1 ComfyUI setup. No extra installs needed.
