Free effect · AI Creator Library
- Type
- Workflow
- Format
- 9:16 · 1080×1920
- Tool
- Claude Code · Opus 5.5
- Level
- Medium
- Video
- Example coming soon
Workflow · Free
Combine Effects, Fix Problems and Turn Them Into a Skill
Layer several effects on one timeline, fix what looks wrong one issue at a time, and save the setup as a skill.
Claude Code · Opus 5.59:16Medium
- Run the setup once
- Paste the prompt, fill in the [brackets]
- Approve the preview, get your MP4
New to Claude Code? Start with the beginner guide →
Want all 17 at once? Get the full pack →
The prompt
Look at words.json for input.mp4 and split the video into scenes. Build the final video with this plan:
[0.0 – 2.5 s] → Frame Break (opening)
[2.5 – 6.0 s] → Digital Zoom
[6.0 – 9.0 s] → Couch Wall
[9.0 – 12.0 s] → Checklist
[12.0 – 15.0 s]→ Doodle Boil
[15.0 – end] → Chart Grow
- Use the Zoom-Through Cut on scene transitions.
- The captions keep the same style through the whole video.
- Don't render each effect separately and join them; process them layer by layer on one timeline
so the transitions are smooth.
- Give me a quick low-resolution 540x960 preview first; if I approve it, render the final at 1080x1920.Fill in the brackets
| Placeholder | What to put there | Example |
|---|---|---|
[0.0 – 2.5 s], [2.5 – 6.0 s], [6.0 – 9.0 s], [9.0 – 12.0 s], [12.0 – 15.0 s], [15.0 – end] | The scene plan in the combine prompt: a time range in seconds and the effect for each scene. The plan shown is an example; replace it with your own ranges and effect names. | [0.0 – 3.0 s] → Orbit |
[EFFECT] | Name of the effect you are fixing, previewing or adding, as it is called in your project. | Couch Wall |
[X] / [Y] | In the Timing fix, [X] is the second where the effect starts now. In the Motion feel fix, [X] and [Y] are the current and the new duration in milliseconds. | 4.6 (Timing); 400 / 250 (Motion feel) |
[WORD] | The spoken word the effect should start on. Claude finds its exact time in words.json. | results |
[ELEMENT] | The on-screen item that moves badly, described in your own words. | the checklist ticks |
[S] | The moment, in seconds, where the problem shows, for the Mask problem and Preview fixes. | 7.5 |
More prompts
Tip: let Claude pick the effects
Read words.json, pick the 5-6 best effects for this video's content from the 17 in this guide, and suggest where to put each one as a table. Apply it if I approve.Fix: Timing
The [EFFECT] effect starts at [X] s; make it start exactly with the word "[WORD]".
Use the word time from words.json.Fix: Motion feel
[ELEMENT] moves too mechanically. Give it a 6% overshoot on entry (easeOutBack) and
a slight anticipation on exit. Change its duration from [X] ms to [Y] ms.
Don't touch anything else.Fix: Mask problem
The edges of the person mask flicker around [S] / my hair gets cut off.
In that part, smooth the mask more strongly over time, widen the edge by 1 px
and re-render only that range.Fix: Quality
The final render looks blurry. Use Lanczos for scaling, lower the CRF to 16,
set the bitrate to at least 20 Mbps and compare the sharpness with the source video.Fix: Preview (contact sheet)
Export a 5-frame contact sheet (frames side by side) PNG of the [EFFECT] effect at [S],
so we can look at the problem together.Bonus: Turn it all into a skill
Turn the effects toolkit we wrote in this project (fx.py, the effects/ folder, the caption style,
the render settings) into a reusable Claude Code skill.
- Skill name: video-effects
- Put SKILL.md and the scripts it needs under ~/.claude/skills/video-effects/
- In SKILL.md: when to use it, the setup steps, a short description of the 17 effects,
the parameters each effect takes, and my style rules
- When I say "add [effect] to input.mp4" in a new folder, it should run the setup automatically
When it's done, try the skill on a new test video and show me the result.About Combine & Fix
Combine & Fix is the workflow for finishing a video with several effects. One prompt asks Claude Code with Opus 5.5 to build every effect on a single timeline with smooth transitions and a low-res preview first. Short fix prompts correct timing, motion, mask and quality problems, and a final prompt saves the whole setup as a reusable Claude Code skill.
Use it when: You have tried a few effects one at a time and now want them in one finished video, or something in a render looks wrong.
Build every effect on one timeline
The combine prompt asks Claude to treat the whole video as one timeline instead of rendering each effect as its own clip. That difference shows at the joins. If Frame Break and Digital Zoom are rendered separately and then cut together, each clip starts and ends cold, the captions restart, and the transition has nothing to blend between. On a single timeline, Claude reads words.json once, splits the video into scenes, and draws every frame with all the layers active at that moment: the scene’s effect, the Zoom-Through Cut when one scene hands over to the next, and the captions on top in one consistent style.
The plan in the prompt is only an example. Replace the time ranges and effect names with your own, or send the “pick the effects” prompt first and let Claude propose a table based on what you actually say.
Start with a low-resolution preview
A 540×960 preview has a quarter of the pixels of the 1080×1920 final, so every frame is quicker to compose and encode. That size is right for decisions about timing, order and feel, which is most of what changes at this stage. Detail problems, such as soft edges or banding, are better judged on the final render or on a contact sheet of a few frames.
The person mask and the transcript come from the setup and are reused, so neither the preview nor the final pays for them again.
Fix one thing at a time
Each fix prompt targets a single kind of problem: when an effect starts, how an element moves, a flickering mask edge, overall sharpness, or a contact sheet so you and Claude look at the same frames. Sending them one at a time keeps cause and effect clear. If you ask for five changes in one message and the result gets worse, you cannot tell which change did it.
Be specific about where: name the scene, the element and the second. The quality fix lowers CRF to 16 and asks for at least 20 Mbps, which makes files larger, so keep it for the final export rather than every preview.
Save the setup as a skill
A Claude Code skill is a folder with a SKILL.md file that tells Claude when and how to use the scripts stored beside it. Without one, every new video starts with the setup prompt and a fresh explanation of your style. The skill prompt packages fx.py, the effects folder, your caption style and render settings into ~/.claude/skills/video-effects/, along with a short description of each effect and the parameters it takes.
After that, in a fresh folder with a new input.mp4, a line such as “/video-effects add couch wall” is enough: Claude reads the skill, runs the setup and applies the effect in your saved style. The prompt ends by testing the skill on a new video, which is the quickest way to find a step it forgot to package.
Questions
Does this work in the claude.ai chat without Claude Code?
Only partly. In a chat, Claude can write the code, but processing your video frame by frame and rendering it needs Claude Code running on your computer, with access to your folder, ffmpeg and Python. You can plan scenes in a chat if you like and do the actual work in Claude Code.
My computer is slow and renders take ages. What can I do?
Ask for a low-resolution 540×960 preview while you work, and render at full resolution only for the final version. The person mask is extracted once during setup and saved, so later renders skip that step and run faster than the first one.
The effect did not turn out how I wanted. Is that normal?
Yes. A first attempt is rarely exactly right. Fix it in small steps, one change per prompt, naming the scene and the element each time. Attaching a screenshot from a video whose feel you like, with a short note, also helps Claude understand what you are after.
Do videos with a plain wall behind me work better?
Yes. A simple background and good lighting give a much cleaner person mask, and most effects here rely on that mask. Effects that trace or layer around your outline, such as Frame Break, Doodle Boil and Glass Type, show the difference most directly.
Step by step
Plan the scenes
Decide which effect goes where, using your transcript or a quick watch-through. If you are unsure, send the 'let Claude pick the effects' prompt and review the table it suggests.
Send the combine prompt
Replace the example plan with your own time ranges and effect names and send it. Claude builds everything on one timeline and gives you a 540×960 preview.
Fix one problem at a time
Watch the preview, choose the most visible problem and send the matching fix prompt. Repeat until it looks right, then approve the 1080×1920 final render.
Save it as a skill
Once the project works, send the skill prompt. Claude saves the setup and effects under ~/.claude/skills/video-effects/, and in a new folder you can type '/video-effects add couch wall'.
You need: Setup prompt (run once) · Word timestamps · Effects you have run at least once · A scene plan
Tips
- Run each effect on its own at least once before combining, so its script already sits in effects/. If an effect is new to the project, paste its prompt together with the plan.
- The 'pick the effects' prompt mentions the 17 effects in this guide. Claude only knows them if the effect scripts or the video-effects skill are in place; otherwise paste the list of effect names from this site.
- Name the scene and the element in every fix, for example 'Couch Wall, the third card', rather than 'it looks off'.
- A screenshot from a video whose feel you like, attached with 'match this feel', often explains more than a long description.
- End your own notes with 'change nothing else', like the Motion feel fix does, so approved parts stay as they are.
If it goes wrong
Transitions between scenes jump, flash or restart the captions.
The effects were probably rendered as separate clips and joined. Repeat the line from the combine prompt: process everything layer by layer on one timeline, then render a new preview.
Captions change style partway through the video.
Ask Claude to draw the captions once, as the top layer of the shared timeline using the style from the setup, rather than inside each effect script.
A fix changes something you had already approved.
Ask Claude to undo the last change, then resend the fix naming the scene, the element and the second, with 'Don't touch anything else' at the end.
The skill does not run in a new folder.
Check that ~/.claude/skills/video-effects/SKILL.md exists and that its description says when to use it, then call it directly with /video-effects followed by the effect name.
What it does not do
- A full-resolution render of a long video with several effects runs frame by frame on your computer and can take a long time on a slower machine. The low-res preview saves time while you iterate, but the final render still has to run.
- Claude checks frames as still images, so it can miss problems that only show in motion, such as rhythm or flicker. Your notes cover what it cannot judge from stills, which is why the contact-sheet prompt exists.
- The skill stores your scripts and style rules, not your judgement. Each new video still needs a scene plan, a preview and usually a round of fixes.
- A skill in ~/.claude/skills/ lives on one computer. To use it elsewhere, copy the folder or put it in a project's .claude/skills/ folder.
Sources
- Agent Skills in Claude Code — Anthropic. Accessed October 21, 2026.
- Claude Code overview — Anthropic. Accessed October 21, 2026.
- H.264 encoding guide — FFmpeg Wiki. Accessed October 21, 2026.
- ffmpeg filters documentation — FFmpeg. Accessed October 21, 2026.
Want the whole library?
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