papercraft-stop-motion-explainer — Claude Code skill: paper animation
This skill turns a topic into a production plan for a papercraft stop-motion explainer: characters, sets, prompts and a storyboard.
npx skills add MiniMax-AI/MiniMax-H3 --skill papercraft-stop-motion-explainer -a claude-codeWhat papercraft-stop-motion-explainer does
The skill takes a topic, key points or source material and builds a plan for an explainer video. It pulls out the learning goal and visual metaphor, suggests creative directions, and designs paper characters, layered diorama sets and props. From there come preview concepts, image and video prompts, storyboards, camera movement, transitions and sound.
Work runs in phases with confirmation cards: after each stage the skill offers choices — continue, revise, switch direction, jump to a single asset, or stop. Ask for one asset and the full 18-step route stays out of the way: a single-image prompt needs steps 1, 2, 9 and 17, a storyboard needs 1, 2 and 12 through 16. The finished production document goes to the canvas, and chat gets a short summary plus the filename.
The skill requires the MiniMax Hub agent with its canvas workspace and MiniMax H3 generation, so it will not run on generic agent harnesses. Video generation defaults to MiniMax-H3 unless you pick another model. The look is fixed too: foreground, midground and background planes, visible paper thickness, hinges and pull-tabs, frame-by-frame movement. Smooth CG motion and flat vector backdrops break the effect, which is why standard 2D cartoons and live action are out of scope.
What it helps with
- turn a topic and key points into an explainer video plan
- design paper characters and layered diorama sets
- write prompts for stills and short video clips
- break a scene into a storyboard with camera moves and transitions
- get a single asset without running the whole workflow
Example prompts for the agent
- Build a full explainer package about the water cycle for schoolchildren, 60 seconds
- Give me three creative directions for a video on how vaccines work
- Just the storyboard for a papercraft video about photosynthesis
How to install papercraft-stop-motion-explainer
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add MiniMax-AI/MiniMax-H3 --skill papercraft-stop-motion-explainer -a claude-code2Manually: put the files in place
~/.claude/skills/papercraft-stop-motion-explainer/SKILL.mdCopy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/papercraft-stop-motion-explainer/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add MiniMax-AI/MiniMax-H3 --skill papercraft-stop-motion-explainer -a codex2Manually: put the files in place
.agents/skills/papercraft-stop-motion-explainer/SKILL.mdFor all projects use ~/.agents/skills/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add MiniMax-AI/MiniMax-H3 --skill papercraft-stop-motion-explainer -a cursor2Manually: put the files in place
.cursor/skills/papercraft-stop-motion-explainer/SKILL.mdCursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/
1GitHub CLI
gh skill install MiniMax-AI/MiniMax-H3 papercraft-stop-motion-explainer2Manually: put the files in place
.github/skills/papercraft-stop-motion-explainer/SKILL.md1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add MiniMax-AI/MiniMax-H3 --skill papercraft-stop-motion-explainer -a gemini-cli2Platform CLI
gemini skills install https://github.com/MiniMax-AI/MiniMax-H3 --path skills/papercraft-stop-motion-explainerManually: put the files in place
.devin/skills/papercraft-stop-motion-explainer/SKILL.mdThe legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works
Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add MiniMax-AI/MiniMax-H3 --skill papercraft-stop-motion-explainer -a opencodeClaude.ai
Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills
Step by step, with commands for each platform: How to install skills in Claude Code: five ways
Questions about papercraft-stop-motion-explainer
How do I install papercraft-stop-motion-explainer in Claude Code?
Run npx skills add MiniMax-AI/MiniMax-H3 --skill papercraft-stop-motion-explainer -a claude-code. The skill file lands at ~/.claude/skills/papercraft-stop-motion-explainer/SKILL.md.
What does papercraft-stop-motion-explainer do?
It builds a production plan for a papercraft stop-motion explainer: creative directions, character and set design, prompts, storyboards, camera movement and sound. Output is a full package or selected assets.
What are the limitations?
It needs the MiniMax Hub agent with a canvas workspace and MiniMax H3 generation, and will not work on other agent harnesses. The style is limited to paper art: 2D cartoons, live action and explainers without a paper look are not its case.
