JAYANTCH1797/animate-skill

A Claude Code skill that makes short animated films entirely in code, soundtrack included.
Give it reference images or videos and a rough idea. It studies the style, plans the shots, draws every frame, writes the music, checks its own work and hands you an MP4. No AI video model, no animator.
## What it can do
Animate an image: cut a picture into layers and bring it to life.
Repaint a scene: redraw a reference as a moving scene.
Make a new film: take a topic or story and animate it in the look of your references.
It works best on illustrated styles: watercolour, line art, paper cut, risograph, flat vector, anime backgrounds. It isn't for photorealism, and it's weak at acting faces.
## Install
The easy way is to paste this into Claude Code:
text
Install the skill from https://github.com/JAYANTCH1797/animate-skill into ~/.claude/skills/animate, set up its Python packages in a .venv inside that folder, and make sure ffmpeg is installed.
Or do it yourself. You need Python 3, ffmpeg and Google Chrome.
bash
git clone https://github.com/JAYANTCH1797/animate-skill ~/.claude/skills/animate
bash
cd ~/.claude/skills/animate && python3 -m venv .venv && .venv/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt
No Chrome? Run .venv/bin/playwright install chromium as well.
## Use it
Start a new Claude Code session, attach your references, and type:
text
/animate a 15-second vertical explainer on how octopuses think, in the style of these references
Set effort to high. A full film can take around an hour, because it reviews and redraws its own work. Your project ends up in animations/ /, with the MP4 in out/.
## Tips
Pick references with a clear style. More references are fine, as the skill gives each one a job, like texture from one and pacing from another.
Name the part you like: "the first 12 seconds of this reel".
Ask for changes afterwards: the skill ends with a few specific tweaks you can request.
Claude can't hear the soundtrack or watch at full speed, so check both yourself.
Use references you have the right to use, and take the style rather than copying someone's work.
## What's inside
| Folder | What it holds |
| SKILL.md | The process Claude follows |