Guide a glowing paper lantern through five editable landscape stops and home to a lit village. Five ordered stops define the lantern’s path and the scenery beside it. Layered hills travel at different camera rates while the lantern follows the authored heights; its ribs, tassel and emitted light remain attached to the same moving object. Optional new music can be quoted through PopNow after the picture is approved.

Uses PopNow for
Music & voice
Needs
Node.js · FFmpeg · Chrome · Python 3

Generation is optional when you have suitable input material.

v1.0.0 · Updated Oct 26, 2026 · 133 KB · Use it for personal and client work; please don't resell or share the package.

What you get

  1. A 20-second native landscape or portrait MP4 and editable composition.

  2. Five ordered stops define the lantern’s path and the scenery beside it. Layered hills travel at different camera rates while the lantern follows the authored heights; its ribs, tassel and emitted light remain attached to the same moving object.

  3. A poster, contact sheet and local render receipt.

Good for

  • Quiet illustrated greetings and seasonal stories
  • A reusable light-led travel sequence

Not for

  • This is a layered illustrated world with authored motion, not a fluid, flight or lighting simulation. It does not import arbitrary landscapes.
  • The scene does not automatically generate narration or sync its path to speech.

How it works

Includes a local renderer

  1. Plan the passage

    Set five stops with a beginning, crossing, climb and arrival. Change the heights and scenery in the supplied JSON.

  2. Follow one light

    Build the local paper world and keep the route, moving camera, lantern and tassel on the same twenty-second clock.

  3. Inspect the journey

    Watch both native layouts; inspect every crossing and the final village hold before adding optional sound.

How the workflow runs

How Paper Lantern Journey works

Five ordered stops define the lantern’s path and the scenery beside it. Layered hills travel at different camera rates while the lantern follows the authored heights; its ribs, tassel and emitted light remain attached to the same moving object.

What's inside the skill

What you can change

  • route: five increasing x positions from 0 to 1, heights from 0.3 to 0.65 and scenery kinds.
  • Scenery: grove, river, mountain, village or clouds at each stop.
  • wind: 0.1–1 changes sway and tassel motion; lanternColor sets the paper color.

What to review before delivery

  • The validator rejects unordered stops, missing endpoints and unsupported scenery.
  • The input test changes a route height and a scenery kind separately.
  • Manually inspect lantern clearance, title fit and the final arrival in both aspect ratios.

See the package files

These are selected working files from this edition, with their actual role. The complete download also contains instructions and applicable license notices.

  • The scene model, input validation and actual animation.

    scripts/composition.mjs
  • A complete working scene brief.

    examples/project.json
  • Protected project assembly and external HyperFrames export.

    scripts/render.mjs
  • Supported controls, asset placement and limits.

    references/inputs.md

Why use this skill

Start with this package

The route, paper landscapes and attached lantern rig are already implemented. Editing stops changes the actual journey instead of asking a video model to preserve an object across separate shots.

What PopNow adds

Use PopNow for the missing Music & voice in this workflow. Keep adequate material you already own, then bring new assets back into the editing and assembly steps described here.

Compare the options

A prompt, your own skill, or this workflow?

Start with a prompt

Your agent can create from a plain request. The brief, visual rules, asset choices, output format and review process still need to be established for that project.

Write your own skill

You choose and maintain the reusable instructions, defaults, file structure and checks. This is useful when your process needs different rules or integrations.

A workflow created for PopNow

This workflow was built for PopNow. Its source files, included dependencies and applicable notices are part of the package; the scope described below belongs to this edition.

Guide reviewed Oct 25, 2026

What will this cost?

The supplied scene renders locally without generated media. A new music or ambience bed is optional and requires its own PopNow quote and approval; sufficient owned audio can be reused. Local rendering still uses your computer and installed tools.

Generation is optional when you have suitable input material. Free skill. New media is quoted before it runs.

The skill package

Free to install under your account's download allowance. The package license covers your own and client work; redistribution is excluded.

Existing assets and local work

Reusing suitable assets, editing files and running local assembly do not call a PopNow generation model. Your computer and any required runtime still do the work.

New AI images, clips or sound

Quoted for the actual model, inputs, count, duration and resolution. Extra alternatives, revisions or optional enhancement passes can add generation requests.

Your agent and hosting

Any subscription, hosted computer, deployment or other provider fee belongs to that service. Installing this skill does not include those services.

Check the cost of your version first

Your assistant can inspect the available models and quote the exact request first. You choose which optional passes to include and approve spending before generation.

Ask your assistant

  • Use the PopNow skill "Paper Lantern Journey" for my project. List the inputs you can reuse, quote only the missing media, show the quoted total and flag any unpriced steps. Separate optional enhancements, and wait for my approval before starting anything paid.

How PopNow billing works

Connections using a PopNow API key, including API-key MCP connections, spend from the separate API balance in USD. A ChatGPT or Claude connection authorized through OAuth spends website credits. These balances are separate; the quote shown by your connection is the approval basis.

Download allowances and current account conditions apply. A free package does not mean unlimited free generation.

How to use it

You say

  • Use the PopNow skill "Paper Lantern Journey" (paper-lantern-journey) for this: Make the lantern cross a river, climb toward the moon and arrive at a village. Move the second stop higher, then render both native layouts. Quote any optional new media first.

Then try

  • Replace the mountain stop with another grove and show how the journey changes.

  • Reduce wind to 0.3 and keep the same route.

What to have ready

  • Node.js 22.12+, the pinned dependencies, Chrome and FFmpeg.
  • A short original story and the documented JSON inputs.
  • The new film examples use ASCII text. Accents and other scripts need a suitable font plus input and layout adjustments.

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Questions

Can I replace the scenery order?

Yes. Each of the five route stops chooses a supported scenery kind and height; changing those values changes the camera journey.

Does the lantern react to real wind physics?

No. The wind control changes a deterministic sway and tassel curve. It is an authored paper animation.

Can I supply a generated background image?

There is no background-image slot in this version. The scenery is procedural; optional PopNow music is mixed after rendering.

What is already packaged in Paper Lantern Journey?

The scene model, input validation and actual animation. A complete working scene brief. Protected project assembly and external HyperFrames export. Supported controls, asset placement and limits.

Which parts of Paper Lantern Journey can add a charge?

The supplied scene renders locally without generated media. A new music or ambience bed is optional and requires its own PopNow quote and approval; sufficient owned audio can be reused. Local rendering still uses your computer and installed tools. Connections using a PopNow API key, including API-key MCP connections, spend from the separate API balance in USD. A ChatGPT or Claude connection authorized through OAuth spends website credits. These balances are separate; the quote shown by your connection is the approval basis.

How does Paper Lantern Journey differ from writing a prompt or my own skill?

The route, paper landscapes and attached lantern rig are already implemented. Editing stops changes the actual journey instead of asking a video model to preserve an object across separate shots.