Hailuo 02 on eroq — cinematic physics and dramatic light from Hobby

Hailuo 02 is MiniMax's video engine, and on eroq it is one of the two premium engines that unlock from Hobby, the $15 tier (the other is Seedance 1.0 Lite). Its reputation is for cinematic physics and dramatic light — things that fall, splash, swing and collide, lit hard. It renders 6 or 10 seconds at 720p, and it is SFW only. This guide is about pointing it at the shots it is good at.

The numbers

• Length: 6 or 10 seconds.
• Resolution: 720p.
• Price anchors: 100 credits at 5 seconds, 180 at 10 seconds — so a 10-second clip is 180 credits, about $1.80 at the entry pack, where a credit is roughly a cent.
• Formats: 16:9, 9:16, 1:1.
• Plan: Hobby ($15, 1,800 credits) and every plan above it.
• Content: SFW only; the provider moderates upstream. Mature fiction is Motion One's job.

A Hobby month, spent entirely on 10-second Hailuo clips, is ten of them. Failed renders refund automatically, plan credits roll over, and the 15-second clip cap on Hobby never comes into play here because the engine tops out at 10.

What "cinematic physics" buys you

An engine with good physics renders cause and effect. Something pushes; something moves in response, with the right weight and timing. That is a narrower strength than it sounds, and it points at specific shots:

• Liquids. A pour, a spill, a wave hitting a wall.
• Cloth and hair under force. Wind, a turn, a fall.
• Impacts. A punch on a bag, a ball off a wall, a door slammed.
• Smoke, dust, sparks. Things that respond to air.
• Weight. A heavy object set down, a body landing.

The trick is to write the force into the prompt, not just the result. "A glass shatters" is a result. "A glass tips off the edge of the counter and shatters across the tiles" has a cause, a fall and an impact — three things the engine can render in sequence. Six seconds is enough for one physical event; ten seconds fits a cause and its consequence.

Dramatic light — use the rack

The second half of Hailuo's reputation is light, and the Video tool has a rack built for it. The Director's rack folds these into your prompt server-side:

• Lighting: Silhouette, Practicals, Window light, Overhead fall, Contre-jour, Soft cross, Neon glow.
• Palette: Neon noir, Blood & gold, Industrial fog, Monochrome, Bleach bypass, Twilight and others.
• Film type: Film noir and Horror are the two that lean hardest on shadow.
• Tempo: Tense or Chaotic, when the physics should feel dangerous.

For Hailuo, pick one hard light source and name it in the prose too — "a single overhead lamp", "contre-jour from one window". One source gives the engine a clear shadow direction; three soft sources give it nothing to work with.

Prompting Hailuo

The register is the same one every engine on eroq prefers: one flowing paragraph, subject, motion, camera, light, mood, 30–80 words. For this engine specifically:

1. Name the force. Wind, gravity, a hand, a hit. The cause should be in the first sentence.
2. Name the material. Glass, silk, chalk dust, wet concrete. Physics is material-specific and so is the render.
3. One light source, named. Then let the rack set the palette.
4. Keep the camera simple. Static, Close-up, Handheld and Slow pan from the 17 camera moves suit physics shots; the motion should come from the subject, not the rig. Written directions ("static low angle") are detected in the prompt as well.
5. Pick 6 seconds by default. Go to 10 only when there is a consequence to show.

Rough draft? Enhance rewrites it into a director-grade prompt for free, and "Surprise me" invents one if you are testing the engine cold.

Example prompts

A 10-second, 16:9 shot with a cause and a consequence:

A glass of red wine tips off the edge of a marble counter in slow motion, the liquid stretching into a crimson sheet before it shatters across black tiles, droplets catching a single overhead lamp. Static low angle at counter height, macro lens, overhead fall lighting, blood and gold palette, tense and inevitable.

Settings: 10 s, 16:9, Camera move Static, Lens Macro, Lighting Overhead fall, Palette Blood & gold, Tempo Tense.

A 6-second, 9:16 impact shot:

A boxer in a dim gym drives a heavy bag with three hard hooks, chalk dust bursting from the leather on each hit, the chain above jerking and settling. Handheld close-up circling the bag, contre-jour from a single window behind him, industrial fog palette, tense and physical.

Settings: 6 s, 9:16, Camera move Handheld, Lighting Contre-jour, Palette Industrial fog. This one is a natural fit for music visuals — three hits, one chain, done.

Hailuo versus Kling, and when to move up

Hailuo and Kling are the pair people compare most, and the split is clean: Kling 2.5 Turbo for people — fluid motion, faces, 1080p, Creator plan — and Hailuo 02 for physics and light at 720p from Hobby. If your shot is a performer, read /compare/kling-vs-hailuo before you spend. If it is a thing falling through hard light, you are already in the right place.

Move up when the job changes: Kling when a face needs 1080p, Seedance 2.5 when a shot needs more than 10 seconds or a fixed end frame, Veo 3 Fast when the clip needs sound. Everything above Hobby is on /pricing, and the engine page at /models/hailuo-02 keeps the current spec.

FAQ

Which plan do I need for Hailuo 02 on eroq?

Hobby ($15 a month, 1,800 credits) and up. Hobby also unlocks Seedance 1.0 Lite; Creator adds the rest of the roster.

How long and how sharp are Hailuo 02 clips?

6 or 10 seconds at 720p, in 16:9, 9:16 or 1:1. For 1080p you would move to Kling 2.5 Turbo, Seedance 1.0 Pro or Seedance 2.5 on Creator.

What does a Hailuo 02 clip cost?

The anchors are 100 credits at 5 seconds and 180 at 10 seconds, so a 10-second clip is 180 credits, roughly $1.80 at the entry pack. Failed renders are refunded automatically.

Open the Video tool, pick Hailuo 02 and write the force into the first sentence — /studio/video.