popnow
PricingSign inStart creating

A moving light draws a butterfly, which opens its wings and flies into the night with fading trails. The renderer writes the wing paths in order, articulates the wings, and samples earlier positions to form a long-exposure trail and a reflected glow. Reuse your own material, or quote missing images and optional sound through PopNow before generation.

Uses PopNow for
Images · Music & voice
Needs
Python 3 · FFmpeg

The skill is free. Optional AI images, video and sound are quoted for your approval before generation. API-key calls use your separate API balance in USD; generation through ChatGPT or Claude connected via OAuth/MCP uses your website credits.

v1.0.0 · Updated Oct 25, 2026 · 3.7 MB · Use it for personal and client work; please don't resell or share the package.

What you get

  1. An editable 6–12 second 720p MP4; the included example lasts 8 seconds and is silent.

  2. The renderer writes the wing paths in order, articulates the wings, and samples earlier positions to form a long-exposure trail and a reflected glow.

  3. A six-frame contact sheet and render receipt with actual duration and hashes.

Good for

  • Original creative shorts and visual motion studies
  • Testing a reusable animation mechanism with your own inputs

Not for

  • The included procedural rig is a butterfly. It does not generate arbitrary creatures from a text prompt or animate objects already present in your background.
  • Automatic feature-length films or unreviewed asset-rights claims

How to use it

You say

  • Use the PopNow skill "Light Painting Butterfly" (light-painting-creature) for this: Render the supplied 8-second example, then change one control to make a second version. Quote any missing assets before generating.

Then try

  • Use my own inputs and keep the project editable.

  • Show the changed frames and explain which setting caused the difference.

What to have ready

  • One dark, uncluttered local background image; a light color and preferred wing span.
  • wing_span (160–330), trail_seconds (0.12–0.9), flight_rise (60–210), color (#rrggbb)
  • Python 3, Pillow, NumPy, FFmpeg and ffprobe

Similar skills

View all →

Ratings

No ratings yet. Installed it? Be the first to rate it.

Rate this skill

Questions

Is the trail just an overlay on a video?

No. The butterfly is drawn and animated locally. Its past positions create the trail; changing the flight settings changes both the creature and the emitted light.

Can I use a daytime background?

You can, but a dark image with empty space in the center makes the emitted light much easier to read.

What does the local renderer check?

It checks input ranges, required images, frame size and encoded duration. The self-check also tests a changed input and a rejected invalid case. You still need to watch the result.