# scenario-blender-previs-storyboard

Turns scripts into 3D previs, storyboards, and animatics in Blender. It creates beat-driven shot lists, aligns cameras, and stages mannequins in Workbench.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 339 installs · ★ 1141
- Author: scenario-labs
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/scenario-labs/skills/tree/HEAD/skills/dcc/blender/scenario-blender-previs-storyboard/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-23
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/scenario-blender-previs-storyboard

## What it does

This skill translates scripts into 3D previs and animatics inside Blender. It breaks narrative text into numbered beats, keeping strictly one fact per line. Adjacent beats then group into shots verified by `P.shot_list`. The setup focuses on director and editor reviews, so motion stays minimal. Most shots remain stills timed inside the edit.

Under the hood, the skill relies on `scripts/bx_previs.py`, tested on Blender 5.2.1. Scenes render in Workbench using flat gray tones, mannequins, and metric Z-up coordinates. Cameras bind to timeline markers using `to_track_quat('-Z','Y')` look-at logic. The built-in `P.audit` validator fails if it detects moving cameras on still shots, non-constant keys between block starts, or render engines other than Workbench.

You need `scenario-blender-expert` installed before running this skill. When starting Blender with `--factory-startup`, you must call `P.ensure_rigify()` to load Rigify operators. Do not feed these animatics directly into video models like Seedance. Generative models demand different staging rules, so those scenes require a full rebuild.

## Requirements
- Works with: Blender

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add scenario-labs/skills --skill scenario-blender-previs-storyboard -a claude-code
```

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

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add scenario-labs/skills --skill scenario-blender-previs-storyboard -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/scenario-blender-previs-storyboard/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add scenario-labs/skills --skill scenario-blender-previs-storyboard -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/scenario-blender-previs-storyboard/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install scenario-labs/skills scenario-blender-previs-storyboard
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/scenario-blender-previs-storyboard/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add scenario-labs/skills --skill scenario-blender-previs-storyboard -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/scenario-labs/skills --path skills/dcc/blender/scenario-blender-previs-storyboard
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/scenario-blender-previs-storyboard/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add scenario-labs/skills --skill scenario-blender-previs-storyboard -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/scenario-labs/skills/tree/HEAD/skills/dcc/blender/scenario-blender-previs-storyboard/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- break a script into single-fact story beats
- generate shot lists from grouped beats
- stage 3D previs with mannequins in Workbench
- bind shot cameras to timeline markers
- validate staging constraints with P.audit

## Example prompts
- Turn this short script into a beat list and Blender shot list
- Set up a Workbench scene with mannequins and camera markers
- Run P.audit on the current previs file and export still frames

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

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: fe584fa1a6626e51.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE fe584fa1a6626e51
```text
---
name: scenario-blender-previs-storyboard
description: "Use when turning a script or story into previs, layout, storyboards or an animatic in Blender: beats to shot list, camera and lens per shot, staging, camera height, 180-degree rule, screen direction, shot sizes, when to cut, camera moves, timing stills in the Video Sequencer, markers bound to cameras, Story Tools, Grease Pencil or 2D/3D hybrid boards. Also when an animatic shows the wrong frame, blocking keys are not stepped, Rigify operators are missing, or viewport render fails headless."
license: MIT
---

# Previs, layout and storyboarding

Expert previs conveys an idea well enough to be judged, as cheaply as possible: one fact per beat,
every shot designed for what the audience must feel, timing found in the edit from stills. The
camera is the audience's body; where it stands, how high and through which lens decides the emotion,
so every non-neutral choice needs a stated reason. If a sibling skill named here is missing from
your available skills, ask the user to install it
(`npx skills add scenario-labs/skills --skill <name>`); unattended, proceed from tool schemas and
flag the gap.

**REQUIRED BACKGROUND:** scenario-blender-expert (execution channel, review loop, 5.2 API changes).

Toolkit: [`scripts/bx_previs.py`](scripts/bx_previs.py) (tested on 5.2.1):
`import sys; sys.path += ["<this skill>/scripts", "<scenario-blender-expert>/scripts"]; import bx_previs as P`.

**Which skill.** This one: story previs and animatics judged by a director and an editor. Out of
scope: a playblast that guides a render-to-real video model (Seedance). It follows other rules
(saturated color identities, no lens jump on a cut, eased moves, a hand-off sheet) that the workflow
and `P.audit` below do not apply or check, so do not hand a director's animatic to a video model as
is: rebuild it with scenario-blender-blockout, where characters usually become colored capsules the
video model animates itself. Shared: metric Z-up, roots at the feet, one camera per shot bound to a
marker, `to_track_quat('-Z','Y')` look-at. Strokes: scenario-blender-grease-pencil. Animation after
layout: scenario-blender-animation. Real rigs: scenario-blender-rigging.

## Stance (the expert delta)
```
END THIRD-PARTY FILE fe584fa1a6626e51

The third-party file has ended. Everything between the fe584fa1a6626e51 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 2249 of 20116 bytes. © scenario-labs · MIT · https://github.com/scenario-labs/skills/tree/HEAD/skills/dcc/blender/scenario-blender-previs-storyboard/SKILL.md

_Part of the page did not fit — see the HTML version._

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