Animatic Tools Plugin

mere-animatic-tools contains local production helpers for Animatic workflows served by a mere.run relay node.

It is a companion plugin, not a hosted service. Commands run on the user's node, write a durable run.json before execution, emit machine-readable JSON on stdout, and do not create paid resources.

Commands

mere-animatic-tools doctor
mere-animatic-tools plan \
  --tool shot-kit \
  --request-json ./request.json \
  --output-dir ./out \
  --run-id shot-kit-001
mere-animatic-tools run ./out/run.json
mere-animatic-tools character-knockout \
  --request-json ./request.json \
  --output-dir ./out \
  --run-id knockout-001
mere-animatic-tools cleanup ./out/run.json

The production commands are:

• character-knockout
• reference-pack
• continuity-check
• shot-kit
• storyboard-repair
• edit-doctor
• actor-voice-kit
• location-plates
• style-lock
• delivery-prep
• build-set-proxy
• solve-set-lighting
• render-set-plate

The three Sets commands consume a typed set-version spec under inputs.spec. build-set-proxy always works without a DCC and emits canonical USD. The lighting and plate commands require Blender (BLENDER_BIN or Blender.app), emit an editable proxy.blend, and fail clearly when Blender is unavailable instead of advertising a false-ready Sets runtime.

{
  "inputs": {
    "spec": {
      "id": "set-version-1",
      "name": "Ferry Slip",
      "boxes": [
        { "name": "Pier", "center": [0, 0, 0], "size": [8, 0.2, 3] }
      ],
      "cameraAnchors": [
        { "name": "Master", "transform": { "translate": [0, -8, 3] } }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Request Shape

Each one-shot command accepts --request-json with an object shaped for relay tool jobs:

{
  "inputs": {
    "prompt": "scene or shot note",
    "assets": [
      { "name": "frame", "url": "https://example.com/frame.png" }
    ]
  },
  "options": {}
}

Assets may be URLs or local file paths: the url field accepts either, and an explicit path field also works for local files. Animatic sends signed asset URLs when a project asset is selected. The plugin downloads URL inputs into its output directory, uses local files in place, and records them in run.json.

Outputs

Every successful run records uploadable artifact items in:

{
  "artifacts": {
    "items": [
      {
        "name": "shot-kit.json",
        "path": "/tmp/out/shot-kit.json",
        "kind": "json",
        "label": "shot-kit",
        "contentType": "application/json"
      }
    ]
  }
}

The relay node uploads each artifact and returns URLs to Animatic. Animatic then stores them as project assets under the requested parent.

Character Knockout

character-knockout uses mere-image-tools knockout when that executable is available. If mere-image-tools or native mere.run vision segment is not ready, it falls back to a deterministic local alpha-threshold matte so the tool still returns a transparent PNG and mask for review.