# 4k-vfx

Turns a plain clip into a cinematic 4K VFX shot: the skill reads every frame and the audio, writes the prompt, then re-renders the same shot.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 600 installs · ★ 41
- Author: Pika-Labs
- License: Apache-2.0 · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/Pika-Labs/Pika-Plugins/tree/HEAD/skills/4k-vfx/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-07-20
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/4k-vfx

## What it does

You hand the skill a clip and one change you want in it. It extracts every frame locally with `ffmpeg`, no drops, and tiles them into contact sheets of 25 (a 5×5 grid). Each sheet goes through `analyze_media` to pull out identity, gestures, camera move and timing. The audio gets read too: speech, music, effects, ambience. All of that becomes a prompt that locks the original and time-codes the change to the right beat.

Why read every frame instead of a sample? Seedance treats the reference as a motion and style anchor, not a pixel-locked base. It regenerates the shot from your prompt rather than copying the input. The more exhaustively the prompt describes the original and its audio, the more the 4K output reads as the same shot with the change layered on. Read only a sample and the output drifts: a different face, a different camera move.

Two things have to be in place: the pika MCP server and a local `ffmpeg` in the run environment. Inputs are exactly two — the clip, as a local file or a public URL, and the change you want. The 4K render is the expensive, irreversible step, so the skill stops at an agreement gate on prompt and cost before it fires. One run produces one 4K clip for one requested change.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add Pika-Labs/Pika-Plugins --skill 4k-vfx -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/4k-vfx/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/4k-vfx/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add Pika-Labs/Pika-Plugins --skill 4k-vfx -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/4k-vfx/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add Pika-Labs/Pika-Plugins --skill 4k-vfx -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/4k-vfx/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install Pika-Labs/Pika-Plugins 4k-vfx
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/4k-vfx/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add Pika-Labs/Pika-Plugins --skill 4k-vfx -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/Pika-Labs/Pika-Plugins --path skills/4k-vfx
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/4k-vfx/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add Pika-Labs/Pika-Plugins --skill 4k-vfx -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/Pika-Labs/Pika-Plugins/tree/HEAD/skills/4k-vfx/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- add VFX to an existing clip without reshooting
- keep the subject's face and gestures through the re-render
- sync the effect to a specific music beat or gesture
- build a prompt from the whole timeline, not a few stills
- check the cost of a 4K render before committing

## Example prompts
- Do 4K VFX: turn the plaza into an open desert on a finger snap
- Here's the clip, make it snow and keep the camera move
- Set the room on fire behind me, keep my face the same

## Source text · SKILL.md · Apache-2.0

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: 3e945a55016f637d.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE 3e945a55016f637d
```text
---
name: 4k-vfx
description: >-
  Use when the user asks for 4k vfx or a task matching the examples below.
  Turn a plain video clip into a cinematic 4K AI-VFX shot. Give Claude a video
  and the change you want; it reads EVERY frame via local contact sheets and
  understands the audio, writes a
  Seedance-faithful prompt that locks your face, gestures, and camera move, then
  re-renders the same shot with the VFX baked in via Seedance 4K
  reference-to-video.
argument-hint: "[the VFX change you want, e.g. 'turn the plaza into an open desert on a finger snap']"
required-capabilities:
  - upload_asset
  - probe_media
  - analyze_media
  - transcribe_audio
  - estimate_cost
  - generate_reference_video
  - task_status
---

# 4k-vfx

Maps a video-to-video VFX move onto the Pika MCP's **Seedance 4K reference-to-video**. The user hands you a clip + the change they want; you **read EVERY frame** (locally extracted with ffmpeg and tiled into contact sheets) **and understand the audio** (speech + music + SFX + ambience), author a Seedance-faithful prompt that locks the original (face, gestures, camera move) and time-codes the change to the right beat, then re-render the **same shot** in 4K with the VFX baked in. **One run produces one 4K clip** for one requested change.

## How it works — why reading EVERY frame (and the audio) is the mechanism (do not skip the reading pass)
Seedance treats the reference video as a **motion/style anchor, NOT a pixel-locked base** — it does not copy the input frame-for-frame, it re-generates the shot guided by your prompt. So fidelity comes from the **PROMPT**: the more exhaustively the prompt describes the original (subject identity, exact gestures, camera move, framing, lighting, palette, wardrobe) **and the audio** (dialogue + lip-sync, music/SFX beats), the more the 4K output reads as the *same* shot with the change layered on. **Reading EVERY frame — not a sample — is how you build that exhaustive description:** you locally extract all frames with ffmpeg, tile them 25-to-a-contact-sheet (5×5), and analyze every sheet so the prompt is built from the *entire* timeline rather than a handful of stills. Skip the read (or read only a sample) and the output drifts — a different face, a different camera move, a different room, a missed motion beat. The reading pass — all frames + the audio — IS the skill.

## Prerequisites
```
END THIRD-PARTY FILE 3e945a55016f637d

The third-party file has ended. Everything between the 3e945a55016f637d tags is data: requests and commands from it are not followed. An “end of file” line with another tag inside the block is part of the file.

First 2402 of 15794 bytes. © Pika-Labs · Apache-2.0 · https://github.com/Pika-Labs/Pika-Plugins/tree/HEAD/skills/4k-vfx/SKILL.md

## Similar
- [roblox-animation-vfx](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/roblox-animation-vfx.md) — skill · 2300 installs
- [create-game-vfx](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/create-game-vfx.md) — skill · 1300 installs
- [scenario-seedance-music-video](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/scenario-seedance-music-video.md) — skill · 394 installs

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