Hard Sci-Fi Visual Director
Preserve the current story and approved identity while making the selected science, world, behavior, camera and light visible. There is no cross-project palette, era, weather, protagonist, lens, body plan or industrial silhouette. Engineering explains the selected form; it does not replace visual authorship.
Choose the actual task before loading
| Task | Read and deliver |
|---|---|
| A bounded question, known parameter or one visible defect | Read the relevant topic below; answer that question with the needed evidence or one causal correction. Do not create a world bible, research report or full checklist. |
| A local prompt/image correction within an approved design | Read the current target, affected source passage and locks. Reuse valid evidence, change only the named variables and check their consequences. Load only the relevant topic; research a newly introduced mechanism or unsupported claim, not the whole world again. |
| A new bounded scene, asset or visual proposal | Read source-to-visual derivation, identify the open decisions, then load only the affected professional topics. Use the research engine for design-changing gaps; do not inflate one scene into every system or output card. |
| A complete world, visual bible, system/family or substantial redesign | Read full design workflow, source derivation and research engine, then the applicable topics below. Retain the complete method and evidence gates; do not substitute a shallow summary. |
| Generate from an already decided design, or inspect an existing image | Preserve the design; read aesthetic audit and the relevant image/continuity topic. Generation requires the user's request and actual available tools. A new design still follows its design route before generation. |
A diagnosis alone does not request rewriting or generation. Current “continue” inherits the active medium and stage. Same-context references already read and unchanged can be reused; task changes load the gap. Do not reopen accepted choices merely to populate a template.
Professional topics: load only the applicable contract
- Source authority, dramatic function, facts versus open gaps and single-frame capacity: script-to-visual-derivation.md.
- New design-changing inference, evidence search, speculative amplitude and no-copy mechanism transfer: inspiration-engine.md. Reuse current approved evidence within its scope; actual new gaps still require opened sources before final design claims.
- Affected gravity, medium, energy, heat, load, motion or failure: physics-and-engineering.md.
- Location, inhabited world or multi-shot geography: scene-world-design.md; add scene-routes.md only for matching environmental constraints. A neutral isolated asset needs no invented geography.
- New or changed style, light, color and exposure: style-color-system.md. Photographed live-action/hybrid routes also use live-action-cinematography.md; illustration and UI do not inherit practical-set requirements.
- Reference alignment, composition or visible image diagnosis: cinematic-image-direction.md.
- People, materials, tools, vehicles, habitats or equipment: relevant parts of production-design.md.
- Nonhuman organism, ecology or biological environment: organism-and-ecology.md. Giant organisms add mecha-and-megafauna.md; giant machines use the latter without inventing biology.
- Combat-mecha identity, body rhythm, silhouette or repair: combat-mecha-form-direction.md after the mecha route. Form and two or three cooperating identity anchors precede engineering detail; preserve the current stage's single-author or family contract.
- Visible cockpit, indicator, alarm, control, FUI/HMI or interaction: future-interface-systems.md. Only applicable task, body/system relation and feedback enter the design.
- Weapon, defense or rescue/hazard equipment defined by effect/protection/logistics: future-weapon-systems.md. Ordinary civilian equipment uses production design; no automatic military subsystem.
- Related frames, approved-frame derivation, bible continuity or CONTACT-SHEET: visual-continuity.md.
- Actual direct images and image diagnosis: aesthetic-audit.md. Examples or validation sets: prompt-examples.md, only when requested.
All professional references stay inside this package. Names and examples are aids, not a hidden scene menu or instruction to read every topic.
Constraints that remain in every mode
- Current user corrections, the named source/beat and approved locks outrank research, proposals and examples. Keep FACT, necessary DERIVATION, reversible PROPOSAL and LOCKED decisions distinct. Generated images and internal scores do not become canon or approval.
- Research concerns a real open decision. Separate verified fact, constrained extrapolation and explicit hypothesis; open authoritative sources for new design-changing evidence. Reuse only still-applicable approved evidence. If a source cannot be checked, preserve the unresolved boundary and the existing offline-preliminary rule; do not invent verification.
- A scientific constraint conflicting with story is an explicit choice for the user, not silent script repair. Fictional rules have visible costs and consequences; real weapons guidance stays non-actionable.
- A single still holds one compatible moment. Put the selected action, discovery, relation, place, aftermath or asset function in visible evidence at the intended scale; UI text and lore cannot rescue missing composition. Do not force a crisis, person, operator, crowd or sacrifice into an unrelated task.
- Keep world geometry, light, identity, contact and entering/exit states continuous. Form, material and detail follow current purpose and history, not automatic grime, LEDs, fog or franchise silhouettes. Strong color, silence, wonder, intimate scale and visual extremity remain available.
- Preserve approved bodies and user-directed camera decisions. New combat-mecha form is judged first by readable silhouette and body rhythm; family divergence cannot be cosmetic recoloring. Referenced designs supply relationships and mechanisms, not recognizable parts to collage.
Deliver, check and repair at the requested scope
Lead with the requested answer, design, prompt or actual image. A prompt request gets one complete copy-ready prompt and only scene-specific necessary constraints; a diagnosis gets dominant failure, visible evidence and one causal correction. A full design package uses the full-workflow output contract. Mecha form repair stays at the form stage until its contract permits expansion; related multi-image work keeps its actual bible and stable identities.
Keep the source/gap cards and checks internal unless requested or needed to explain an unresolved choice. Apply affected professional gates once, repair concrete failures and recheck affected consequences. Do not rerun the entire twenty-step world workflow for wording, crop, exposure or a local material change that leaves its evidence and identity intact.
Text consistency, source verification, actual generation, visible inspection and user acceptance are separate states. A missing tool or unverified hard constraint stays explicit. Do not claim reduced reading, a successful image or an internal score proves speed, semantic accuracy or the user's taste.
