Ollama for Image & Video Generation: A Practical Guide

8/12/2025

So, you’ve been hearing all the buzz about Ollama & you're probably wondering, "Can I use this thing to make cool images & videos?" It's a great question, & the answer is a little more interesting than a simple yes or no. Honestly, it’s one of those "yes, but..." situations.

Here’s the thing: Ollama is, at its core, a framework for running large language models (LLMs) locally. Think of it as a super-powerful engine for text-based AI. Its main gig is to help developers & enthusiasts run models like Llama 3, Mistral, & others right on their own computers. This is HUGE for privacy & for anyone who wants to tinker without being tied to a cloud service.

But what about visuals? Let's break it down.

The Real Deal with Ollama & Image Generation

Ollama itself isn't an image generation model like Midjourney or Stable Diffusion. You can't just type

ollama run "make me a picture of a robot dinosaur"

& have it spit out a masterpiece. It's designed for text. However, and this is a BIG however, it's all about the models you run with Ollama.

This is where things get pretty cool.

Multimodal Models are the Key: Meet LLaVA

The magic happens when you use multimodal models. These are special AI models that can understand more than just text; they can also work with images. The star player here is LLaVA (Large Language-and-Vision Assistant).

LLaVA is a vision model that you can run using Ollama. It can analyze images, answer questions about them, & yes, even generate images based on text prompts. So, while Ollama is the platform, LLaVA is the artist.

Getting started is surprisingly straightforward:

Install Ollama: First, you need to have Ollama set up on your machine. The process is pretty simple for macOS, Windows, or Linux.
Pull the LLaVA Model: Once Ollama is running, you open your terminal & pull the LLaVA model from the Ollama library. It's as easy as typing:
1ollama pull llava
Start Generating: After the model is downloaded, you can start giving it prompts. You’d run a command like:
1ollama run llava "a photorealistic image of a cat wearing sunglasses"

The beauty of this is that it's all happening locally on your computer. Your prompts & the images you create stay private.

Crafting the Perfect Prompt for Ollama

Just like with any AI image generator, the quality of your output depends heavily on the quality of your prompt. Here are a few tips to get the most out of it:

Be SUPER Descriptive: Don't just say "a car." Say "a vintage red convertible from the 1960s driving down a coastal highway at sunset." The more detail, the better.
Set the Style: You can guide the artistic direction. Try adding things like "in the style of a watercolor painting," "as a retro pixel art," or "a cinematic 4K photo."
Guide the Vibe: Want a specific mood? Use words like "serene," "chaotic," "dreamy," or "dystopian."

Using Web UIs for a Friendlier Experience

If you're not a fan of the command line, don't worry. There's a whole ecosystem of web interfaces (UIs) that make using Ollama for image generation much more user-friendly. Tools like Ollama WebUI, Open WebUI, & Lobe Chat provide a graphical interface where you can just type in your prompt, select your model, & click "generate."

These UIs are often open-source & can be installed locally, so you still get the privacy benefits of running everything on your own machine. They make the whole process feel more like using a commercial AI art tool, which is a big plus for many people.

What About Integrating with Other Tools like Stable Diffusion?

This is another popular route. While Ollama doesn't run Stable Diffusion directly, you can create a workflow where they work together. For instance, you could use a powerful text model running on Ollama to brainstorm & refine incredibly detailed prompts. Then, you feed those master-prompts into a local installation of Stable Diffusion or ComfyUI to generate the images.

This approach lets you use the best of both worlds: Ollama's text generation prowess & Stable Diffusion's specialized image creation capabilities. It’s a bit more advanced to set up, but for those who want maximum control, it's a fantastic option.

Here's where a shameless plug for Arsturn comes in, but it's genuinely relevant. If you're building a workflow like this, you might be looking for ways to streamline your creative process. Arsturn helps businesses create custom AI chatbots trained on their own data. Imagine having a chatbot on your website that can help users generate creative prompts for their AI art projects, answer questions about different models, or even guide them through setting up their local AI environment. It’s a great way to engage with your audience & provide instant support 24/7.

Now, Let's Talk About Video Generation

Okay, so what about video? This is where things get even more indirect. As of now, you can't just ask Ollama to generate a video. There isn't a "Stable Video Diffusion" equivalent that runs directly through the standard Ollama framework.

But that doesn't mean it's impossible. It just requires a bit more creativity & some extra tools.

The Workflow: Ollama for the Script, Other Tools for the Visuals

The primary way people are using Ollama for video generation is by leveraging its strength: text generation. The process generally looks like this:

Idea to Script: You use a powerful LLM running on Ollama (like Llama 3 or Mistral) to generate a video script, a storyboard, or a series of detailed scene descriptions. You can have a conversation with the AI, refine the plot, develop characters, & get every detail down in text.
Text-to-Audio: The generated script is then fed into a text-to-speech (TTS) service to create a voiceover. There are plenty of options out there for this, some of which are also open-source.
Image or Video Clip Generation: Here's the crucial step. The scene descriptions from your script are used as prompts for an image or video generation model. This could be Stable Diffusion for creating a sequence of images or a dedicated video generation model like those mentioned in some community projects.
Stitching it All Together: Finally, the generated visuals (images or short clips) are combined with the audio track in a video editor to create the final product.

Community Projects Leading the Way

The open-source community is where the REAL innovation is happening. There are projects on GitHub like ccallazans/ai-video-generator that automate this entire pipeline. This particular project uses Ollama to generate a story based on a user's prompt, converts that story to audio, generates captions, & then merges it all into a video.

Another tool making waves is MoneyPrinterTurbo. It’s designed to create short-form videos with minimal effort. You give it a theme or a keyword, & it uses AI (with support for Ollama models) to generate the video script, find background media, create subtitles, & synthesize the final video. It's a fantastic example of how Ollama can be a critical component in a larger creative workflow.

So, while Ollama isn't doing the video rendering itself, it's acting as the "brain" of the operation, providing the creative direction & narrative structure.

So, What's the Bottom Line?

Can you use Ollama for image & video generation?

For Images: Yes, absolutely! By using multimodal models like LLaVA, you can generate images directly through Ollama. Or, you can use it in a powerful workflow with tools like Stable Diffusion. It's flexible, private, & gives you a ton of control.
For Videos: Indirectly, but yes. Ollama is an AMAZING tool for the pre-production phase of video creation—writing scripts, developing ideas, & creating detailed prompts. You'll need to pair it with other AI models & tools to handle the actual video synthesis, but it can be the creative engine that drives the whole process.

Honestly, the fact that you can do all of this on your own machine is pretty mind-blowing. It opens up a world of possibilities for artists, developers, & content creators who want to experiment with AI without relying on expensive cloud services.

As this space evolves, we'll likely see even tighter integrations & more powerful multimodal models become available through Ollama. For businesses looking to leverage this kind of technology, the applications are endless—from generating unique marketing visuals to creating engaging video content. And for managing those complex workflows & customer interactions, a tool like Arsturn can be a game-changer, helping you build a no-code AI chatbot trained on your own data to boost conversions & provide personalized experiences.

Hope this was helpful! It's a super exciting time to be playing with this stuff, so go download Ollama, grab a model, & start creating. Let me know what you think