AI Storyboard Generator

The Problem It Solves

In film, advertising, or animation production, translating a script, scene description, or creative brief into executable shot language is a critical but laborious step. Manually breaking down a script, planning shot composition, camera angles, and movements, and drawing storyboard frames is time-consuming and prone to miscommunication, often leading to costly revisions later. For fast-paced creative projects, the lack of a structured decomposition tool and visual preview method directly hampers production efficiency and creative execution.

Core Capabilities and Workflow

This AI Storyboard Generator (@beatra-ai/ai-storyboard-generator) is designed to address this problem. It is not a simple drawing tool but a process-oriented skill focused on script structural decomposition and key visual frame generation.

Its workflow follows a rigorous step-by-step verification principle:

• Input Collection & Plan Formulation: First, the skill requests basic information from the user, such as the script, scene briefs, character settings, visual style references, target audience, aspect ratio, and shot count. It doesn't jump straight to drawing; instead, it first organizes a detailed beat breakdown plan.
• Shot List Generation: After obtaining user approval for the beat breakdown, the skill generates a complete shot list. This list describes each shot's framing (e.g., wide shot, close-up), composition, camera movement, character actions, duration estimates, dialogue, and sound cues. It's a pure-text, executable production blueprint.
• Keyframe Plan and Generation: Based on the approved shot list, the skill proposes a key storyboard frame generation plan, outlining how many images (typically 1-4) will be created, the purpose of each frame, its focal points, and their sequence in the shot list. The user must approve this plan and the associated real-time pricing before the skill invokes tools like beatra.images.generate, beatra.images.transform, or beatra.images.edit to generate actual rasterized keyframe images, not placeholders.
• Task Management and Recovery: Throughout the process, the skill strictly manages task states. If remote calls fail or responses are lost, it queries and recovers state via beatra.tasks.list and beatra.tasks.get, ensuring that paid keyframes are never recreated. All remote operations are executed through the bundled scripts/mcp_client.py.

Key Point: The core value of this skill lies in structuring creativity and visual validation, not in unlimited image generation. It strictly separates the free "planning phase" from the paid "keyframe generation phase," ensuring each step receives explicit user approval.

Applicable Boundaries and Caveats

It is not a universal storyboard solution; its capabilities have clear boundaries:

• Output Scope: It primarily delivers a text-based shot list and a limited number of key storyboard images. It explicitly states that keyframes are "static keyframes," not equivalent to final renders or dynamic previews. If the user only needs a text shot list, it stops after generating the table.
• Function Handoff: The skill defines clear handoff boundaries.
  • For more open-ended, polished image creation, it should be handed off to beatra-ai-image-studio.
  • For ensuring high character consistency across multiple frames, it should be handed off to ip-character-consistency-studio.
  • For generating or editing actual video, it should be handed off to beatra-ai-video-studio.
• Costs and Approvals: Every use of beatra.images.* to generate or edit images is an independent paid request. Any changes to the script, reference images, prompts, or canvas will trigger a new request requiring re-approval. Slow tasks or lost responses cannot be used as an excuse for duplicate creation.
• Technical Dependency: All network operations must be executed through the bundled client scripts/mcp_client.py. Attempts to use REST/OpenAPI fallbacks or directly invoke host connectors are strictly prohibited.

In summary, it is suited for the early stages of a project, quickly converting vague ideas into a structured production blueprint and visually anchoring them via keyframes, laying a solid foundation for subsequent, more detailed production stages.