Free Video Effect
Orbit Effect: Cards That Circle You in 3D
Screenshots and video cards circle around you in 3D, passing behind and in front of you.
Claude Code · Opus 5.59:16Medium
- Run the setup once
- Paste the prompt, fill in the [brackets]
- Approve the preview, get your MP4
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The prompt
effects/orbit.py: add an "Orbit" effect between [START S] and [END S].
- Turn the [5] images in the assets/orbit/ folder into cards with rounded corners (24 px),
a thin white border and a soft shadow.
- The cards orbit on a tilted ellipse centered at my chest height
(horizontal radius 42% of the screen, vertical radius 10%, the orbit tilted 12°).
- A real 3D feel: cards at the back of the orbit are at 70% size, slightly blurred and
BEHIND THE PERSON MASK; cards at the front are at 100% size, sharp and IN FRONT of the person.
- One full turn takes 6 s. The cards enter the orbit by opening out from the center in 0.4 s (easeOutBack).
- When "[ACCENT WORD]" is spoken, a bright [ACCENT COLOR] serif italic word appears
in the middle, with a small ✦ star sparkle next to it.
Render a 2-second preview first; if I approve it, render the whole thing.Fill in the brackets
| Placeholder | What to put there | Example |
|---|---|---|
[START S] / [END S] | Where the effect starts and ends, in seconds from the start of input.mp4. | 4.2 / 9.8 |
[5] | How many images Claude should take from assets/orbit/. | 5 |
[ACCENT WORD] | The spoken word that triggers the centred title. Claude finds its exact time in words.json. | everything |
[ACCENT COLOR] | Colour of the centred serif word, as a hex code. | #FFE14D |
About Orbit
Orbit is a talking-head video effect where screenshots, video cards or logos circle around you on a tilted 3D ellipse. Cards on the far side shrink, blur and pass behind you; cards on the near side pass in front. After the one-time setup, paste the prompt below into Claude Code with Opus 5.5 and Claude renders it from your own footage.
Use it when: You list several things in a row — projects, tools, results — and want them on screen at the same time.
What the Orbit effect does
Orbit puts a ring of cards around you and spins it. The cards travel on a tilted ellipse at chest height, so the ring reads as a 3D object rather than a flat carousel. As a card swings to the far side it shrinks to about 70% and softens, then slips behind your body; as it comes round to the near side it grows back to full size and sharpens, passing in front of you.
Your face stays the anchor of the shot. The ring of cards carries the extra information: the five projects you are naming, the tools you are comparing, the results you are listing. A serif accent word appears in the centre on the word you choose, which gives the moment a title without a separate graphic.
When it works and when it hurts
Orbit suits moments where you name several things in one breath: “I built this, this, this and this.” Viewers see every item while you keep talking, and the motion keeps the shot alive during a list that would otherwise be a static talking head.
It hurts when the cards carry detail the viewer has to read. A card on the move is visible for a second or two before it passes behind you, so small text on a screenshot will not land. Use images that read at a glance. It also competes with captions: if your captions sit at chest height, move them lower or shorten the orbit section.
How Claude builds it
Everything happens on your computer, inside the folder that holds your video. The setup prompt gives Claude three things it needs here: a word-level transcript (words.json), so the accent word lands on the exact frame you say it; a person mask for every frame, so the back half of the ring can go behind you; and a shared helper module with easing curves and motion blur.
For each frame, the Orbit script works out where every card sits on the ellipse, scales and blurs it by its depth, and draws the frame in three layers: back cards, then you through the mask, then front cards. ffmpeg writes the frames back into an MP4 with your original audio untouched.
Make it yours
The numbers in the prompt are a starting point. A slower revolution (8–10 seconds) feels calmer for explainer content; a tighter vertical radius flattens the ring into a halo. You can swap the cards for short muted video clips, swap the serif accent for your brand font, or let the ring appear on one word and leave on another. Ask for one change at a time, and look at the preview after each.
Questions
Do I need After Effects or another editing app?
No. Claude Code writes and runs Python and ffmpeg on your own computer: it reads the frames, layers the cards using the person mask and writes a new MP4. You describe the result and give notes; you do not touch a timeline.
Why do the cards pass behind me instead of over me?
The setup prompt cuts a person mask for every frame. The Orbit script draws back-half cards first, then you on top using the mask, then the front-half cards. That draw order is what makes the cards look like they travel around you.
Does it work on 16:9 video?
The numbers in the prompt are written for a 1080×1920 vertical video. On a horizontal video, ask Claude to reduce the horizontal radius and centre the orbit on you rather than the frame, then check the two-second preview.
Is the prompt really free?
Yes. The full prompt is on this page, with no sign-up and no email, and you can change it however you like. The paid library adds editing skills, long motion design prompts and studio concepts for your own photos.
Step by step
Run the setup once
Open the folder that holds input.mp4 in Claude Code, choose Opus 5.5 and paste the setup prompt. It installs ffmpeg, transcribes your words with timestamps and cuts a person mask for every frame.
Add your images
Put four to six images in assets/orbit/: screenshots of past videos, app screens or logos. Real images of your own work read better than stock.
Paste and fill in the prompt
Copy the Orbit prompt, replace the bracketed values with your start and end seconds, the trigger word and your accent colour, and send it.
Approve the preview
Claude renders a two-second preview first. Give notes in plain English, such as 'slower orbit' or 'keep cards off my face', then approve the full render.
You need: Setup prompt (run once) · Person mask · Word timestamps · 4–6 images
Tips
- Four to six cards is a good starting range: fewer looks empty, more turns into clutter on a vertical frame. Treat it as taste, not a rule.
- Start the orbit on the word where your list begins, so the cards arrive with the first item you name.
- Add the shared style block from the setup page if you want every effect to use your brand colours and fonts.
If it goes wrong
Cards flicker or cut into your shoulders as they pass behind you.
The person mask is unstable at those frames. Ask Claude to smooth the mask over time, widen its edge by 1 px and re-render only that range.
A card covers your face on the front pass.
Tell Claude to keep the face area clear: lower the orbit centre, shrink the horizontal radius, or fade cards out while they cross the face.
The motion looks mechanical.
Ask for a 6% overshoot (easeOutBack) on entry and motion blur on the fastest part of the orbit. Change nothing else.
What it does not do
- It needs a clean person mask. A busy background, hair against a wall of similar colour, or fast hand movement can make the edges flicker.
- The depth is a 2D composite: the cards only go behind you, not behind other objects in your room, and they are not lit by your room's light.
- Rendering runs frame by frame on your computer, so a long section can take a while on a slower machine. Preview at 540×960 first.
Sources
- Robust Video Matting (RVM) — GitHub — PeterL1n. Accessed October 21, 2026.
- Image segmentation guide — Google AI Edge — MediaPipe. Accessed October 21, 2026.
- Easing functions cheat sheet — easings.net. Accessed October 21, 2026.
- Claude Code overview — Anthropic. Accessed October 21, 2026.
Want the whole library?
Lifetime opens every AI Video Effect, AI Motion Graphic and AI Creator Concept, inside Claude via MCP, for one payment of $79.