Generate and pick video takes

Make a video take for every shot, check each take, make a failing shot again, and keep the take you want.

A take is one video made for one shot. A shot can have several takes, and one of them is the pick, the take the cut uses. Your agent runs the Videos loop. You look at the takes and say which to keep.

Start after you approve the mock. See Make the mock. A video take made before the mock is approved prints a warning and is recorded. To go ahead anyway, add --reason with your words. Every command here needs a signed-in computer.

Make a take

1. Your agent makes the take for one shot from its folder:

minicut gen video episodes/ep01/clips/c01

This command uses credits. It shows what it will do and asks before it spends. After your yes it sends the job.

2. For many shots at once, your agent uses minicut gen batch. See Generate.
3. Your agent saves the finished takes into the project:

minicut jobs --wait 300

4. Each take is saved in its shot's folder as t01, then t02, and on. A shot has one job at a time. If the shot already has a job, the command names it. Add --again to make another take beside it.
5. To see where every shot stands, run:

minicut shots --episode ep01

A shot reads queued, running or saving while its job runs. It reads failed if the job failed. It reads unchecked until its take is checked, fail if the take failed, and done when the take is made. See minicut shots.

Check the takes

1. Your agent runs:

minicut loop run videos

2. For each shot, the loop checks the picked take. If the shot has no pick, it checks the newest take. A shot with no video take fails with no video take yet.
3. The loop prints one line for each failure, with its fix:

4. For a cut inside a take, the fix can be TRIM: keep this take, end the shot at N s. Your agent keeps the take and trims the shot where the line says.
5. For other failures, the fix is another take: minicut gen video on that shot, with take 2 of 3 in the line. Only that shot is made again.

Say what is wrong

When a take fails its look, your agent writes the problem into the shot's prompt, so the next take changes:

minicut fix episodes/ep01/clips/c01 --take t01 --frame 48 --object "the cup" --problem "the cup floats above the table" --instead "the cup rests on the table"

The shot then reads as changed, and the Videos loop runs again. To see a take in detail, your agent runs minicut check zoom on it. See Checks and loops.

To check one take without the loop, run minicut check take episodes/ep01/clips/c01. With --take t02 it checks that take.

Stop at the take limit

A shot gets 3 takes by default. At the limit, the failure line reads take cap reached (3 of 3): pick the best take of c01 and tell the user what is still wrong. You decide: pick the best take, or raise the limit. The limit is the takes key in series.json, such as "loops": {"takes": 5}. You can also run minicut loop run videos --max 5.

Pick the take to keep

1. Look at the takes for a shot in the MiniCut app:

minicut open rain-shop --episode ep01 --tab shots

2. When a take passes and the shot has no pick, the loop sets the pick to that take. It does the same when the pick is a mock picture. A pick you made stays.
3. To pick a take yourself, run:

minicut asset pick rain-shop ep01 c01 t02

4. Run minicut shots --episode ep01 again. Every shot shows done.

Approve the takes

1. Look at the picked take of every shot. When the loop passes, it prints PASSED, show the user: and the command to list the picks.
2. Say yes. Your agent runs:

minicut loop approve videos

3. To end the loop with a failure you accept, run minicut loop done videos --reason "Good enough, ship it".

Check it worked

Run minicut loop. The Videos loop shows as approved or done. The next: line names the next command, followed by a why: line. Continue with Edit an episode.

Errors

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