/motion-method

name: motion-method
description: "Use when starting or resuming any motion film (launch video, product promo, social ad, README GIF, social loop) — locks the six-block brief (inputs, direction, structure, build, gotchas, start = G0; genre ad|demo), builds the dense beat map (a gesture every 0.5-1 s, ≤ 0.75 s gesture-free, CTA still ≤ 1.2 s), routes the G0 art-direction board, and runs the staged pipeline (one still per beat) with its owner gates."
versions:
  fuse-motion: "1.0.0"
user-invocable: true
references: references/brief-lock.md, references/ad-genre.md, references/reference-styles.md, references/beat-map.md, references/stage-gates.md, references/exit-contract.md, references/templates/brief.md, references/templates/beats.md
related-skills: motion-art-direction, motion-craft, motion-assets, motion-render, motion-review, fuse-design:design-motion

<objective> The pipeline owner for every fuse-motion film. It turns a request ("make a 15 s launch video") into a locked brief at `.motion/brief.md` with `genre: ad | demo`, a timed beat map whose beats sum to the film's DURATION, an owner-approved art direction (G0: `.motion/refs/board.png` + `.motion/look.md`), and a staged render path — stills, draft, master — with an owner gate between each stage.

The other skills point here for order and gates: `motion-art-direction` locks the visual system before any scene code, `motion-craft` decides how each beat looks and moves, `motion-assets` supplies the real screenshots, `motion-render` produces the frames and files, `motion-review` judges them. This skill decides WHEN each of them runs and WHEN to stop.

Gates G1 (stills → draft) and G2 (draft → master) are owner approvals. They are enforced by the harness `motion` scope (`hooks/hooks.json`) and specified in `references/stage-gates.md`: draft and master renders are denied until the owner types `MOTION-APPROVE stills|draft <code>`. The agent still stops at each gate on its own. G0 (board + `look.md`, before scene code) is an owner step, not a harness gate: the agent stops and waits, never self-approves. </objective>

Motion Method

Agent Workflow (MANDATORY)

| Step | Who | What | |------|-----|------| | Before the brief | `fuse-ai-pilot:explore-codebase` | Find the product's real tokens, screens, copy, existing `.motion/` state | | Named style unknown | `fuse-ai-pilot:research-expert` | Verify what the named reference style actually looks like (no guessing) | | G0 tone | `fuse-ai-pilot:challenger` | Blind-locks one of 3 text tone sketches (`motion-art-direction`) | | Draft rendered | `motion-critic` | One review pass per round via `motion-review`; at most 2 fix rounds | | Scripts written | `fuse-ai-pilot:sniper` | Validate scene/render scripts (code only) | | Before "done" | `fuse-ai-pilot:challenger` | Challenge the "master verified" claim |

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Overview

| Stage | Output | Stop? | |-------|--------|-------| | 1 Brief lock | `.motion/brief.md` — `genre: ad` or `demo`, `<inputs>` (with defaults), `<direction>`, `<structure>`, `<build>`, `<gotchas>`, `<start>` | Ask ONE question if an input has no default; `genre: ad` → owner confirms the message | | 2 Beat map | `.motion/beats.md` — one row per beat (0.5-1 s), its primary gesture, details, words, 3D reason; DURATION = sum of beats; ≤ 0.75 s gesture-free, CTA still ≤ 1.2 s, ≥ 1 beat change/s; key action on the drop | — | | 2b G0 art direction | brief → 3 text sketches (tone candidates) → `fuse-ai-pilot:challenger` locks the tone blind → reference board → `.motion/look.md` (dials) + 3 key frames → owner sees the key frames → scene code (`motion-art-direction`) | **STOP — G0**, owner approves; never self-approve | | 3 Assets | real screenshots + `.motion/assets.json` (see `motion-assets`) | — | | 4 Scene | Built from the `motion-art-direction` templates first — cut-rhythm, composition-grid, kinetic-type, objects.md — then `motion-render` for seek/capture/encode only (`window.seek(t)` / DURATION / FPS, `?t=` and `?capture`) | — | | 5 `--stage stills` (default) | one still per beat + contact sheet | **STOP — G1** | | 6 `--stage draft` (540p) | draft mp4 → `motion-critic` (≤2 fix rounds) | **STOP — G2** | | 7 `--stage master` | master file, verified with ffprobe + frame diff vs approved stills | — | | 8 Validate | sniper on scripts, challenger on the "done" claim | — |

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Critical Rules

1. **No code before the brief is locked** — every section filled, or defaulted and marked "default — owner skipped". One question at a time. Shape from field template (ultimaxbt, 2026-10-07). For `genre: ad` the agent never self-locks: the owner confirms the message. 2. **No scene code before G0** — pipeline: brief (genre ad|demo; owner confirms an ad's message) → beats (on a tempo grid) → **G0**, in this exact order: brief → 3 text sketches (tone candidates) → challenger locks the tone blind → reference board → `look.md` (dials) + 3 key frames → owner sees the key frames → scene code. Then stills (G1) → draft + critic (G2) → master. No `.motion/scene/*` file is written before `look.md` and the key frames exist; never self-approve G0. This is a prose rule — the harness does not enforce G0 yet. `genre: ad` also applies [ad-genre.md](references/ad-genre.md). 3. **A named reference style, never an adjective** — "Linear launch", not "premium/modern". See [reference-styles.md](references/reference-styles.md). 4. **Facts on screen come from a facts file only** — no invented feature, metric, or UI state. 5. **DURATION = sum of beats** — the scene's DURATION constant is derived from `beats.md`, never typed separately. 6. **Omitted `--stage` means `stills`** — the pipeline never jumps to draft or master by default. 7. **Stop at G1 and G2, never lean on the deny** — the harness enforces both; the owner approves by typing `MOTION-APPROVE`, never the agent. `.motion/project.json` is owner-managed: if missing before the first draft, STOP and give the owner its content (see [stage-gates.md](references/st