Animated Loop

animated-loop — 5 Second Seamless Background Loop

A loop is the only video format that has to not have a beginning or end. The viewer sees it on the title screen for 30 seconds; if the seam between loop iterations is visible, the whole thing reads as broken. This skill exists to force the constraints that make seams invisible: take the shortest duration available, keep the motion ambient (no narrative, no big camera moves), use the cheap fast model (ltx), and prompt for a composition where the first and last frames are functionally identical.

Duration is not a dial here. summer_generate_video accepts only duration=5 or duration=10; the server coerces every other value to 5. So "drop to 3s to hide the seam" is not an option — 5s is the floor, and the seam has to be won in the prompt and the reference frame instead.

If the user wants a 5s punchy marketing shot, that's video/trailer-shot. If they want a 10s narrative cutscene, that's video/cinematic-cutscene. This skill is the one for video that has to disappear — atmosphere behind a logo, mood behind a menu, ambience behind a splash card.

When to use

• "Looping background for the title screen."
• "Animated backdrop behind the logo on the splash."
• "Menu background — torchlit dungeon, just flicker and motes."
• "Looping ambient video for the pause screen."
• "Splash loop — fog over a forest."
• "Need a video that loops behind the level select."

When NOT to use

• Marketing shot for a trailer (5-10s with punch) — video/trailer-shot.
• Narrative cutscene with a beginning and end — video/cinematic-cutscene.
• Static splash image — generate with 2d-assets/concept-art and use a TextureRect. A still is cheaper, lighter, and never seams.
• UI element animation (icons, button states) — those are GDScript Tween or sprite sheets, not video.
• A 10-second shot you want to "loop". That seam will be visible. Either accept a hard cut every 10s (ugly) or generate a 5s clip designed to loop.

Steps

1. Confirm the loop will be visible for a long time

> Quick check — this loop will play on a screen the user might stare at for 30+ seconds. That means the loop point must be invisible. I'll take the 5s minimum and prompt for ambient motion (drift, flicker, shimmer) rather than a narrative beat. OK?

If the user wants narrative motion (a character walking, a door opening), this is the wrong skill — route to video/cinematic-cutscene.

2. Pick the model — ltx first, always

For loops, ltx is correct ~95% of the time. It's $0.10, ~30s, and the constraints (short duration, ambient motion) are exactly the ones ltx handles best. Premium models add cost without adding loop quality.

This skill always passes imageUrl (step 3), which puts every call on the image-to-video route — and that route accepts only ltx, kling, and minimax. kling-turbo and veo3 are text-to-video only; pairing either with an imageUrl is a 400 invalid_model, not a silent downgrade.

| Model | i2v? | Cost | Speed | When | |---|---|---|---|---| | ltx | yes | $0.10 | ~30s | Default. Use this. | | kling | yes | $0.50 | 2-4 min | Only if the loop is the centerpiece of a premium splash and quality is visibly lacking on ltx | | minimax | yes | $0.25 | 2-3 min | Stylized / anime aesthetic loops | | kling-turbo | no | $0.30 | 1-2 min | Not reachable from this skill — text-to-video only | | veo3 | no | $1.00 | 3-5 min | Not reachable from this skill, and pointless for ambient loops anyway |

3. Lock the look with a reference still

The reference still doubles as the target loop frame. Generate it deliberately — the video model's first and last frames will gravitate toward the reference, which is exactly what you want for a closing seam.

summer_generate_image(
  prompt=", ambient atmospheric scene, cinematic lighting, painterly, wide 16:9 framing, balanced composition with no clear focal action",
  model="nano-banana-2"
)

summer_generate_image has no size or aspect argument — options.image_size is dropped without an error and every MCP image comes back at the server's 1:1 default. Ask for the framing in the prompt, or generate the reference in the Summer dashboard (which exposes aspect ratio) and pass its URL.

This matters more than usual here: on the image-to-video route aspectRatio is not applied at all — the clip inherits the reference image's framing. So a vertical mobile splash needs a genuinely 9:16 reference image, and setting aspectRatio="9:16" on the video call does nothing.

4. Prompt for loopable motion only

Loopable motion is continuous, ambient, directionless, or oscillating. Avoid anything with a beginning or end (a character entering, a sword swinging, a door closing).

Loopable verbs: drift, flicker, swirl, shimmer, sway, pulse, glow, rise, fall, wave, breathe, ripple.

Non-loopable verbs (avoid): walks, enters, appears, emerges, transforms, attacks, falls down, opens, closes.

summer_generate_video(
  prompt=", , slow continuous, looping, seamless, cinematic",
  model="ltx",
  imageUrl="",
  duration=5,
  options={ negative_prompt: "sudden movement, character action, narrative event, fade to black" }
)

The phrase "looping, seamless" in the prompt biases the model toward stable first/last frames. options.negative_prompt is one of the few provider keys that does pass through on the video route (prompt, image_url, num_frames, duration, resolution, and model are stripped; everything else is forwarded), so the negative genuinely rules out narrative drift here — unlike on summer_generate_image, where no such argument exists.

aspectRatio is omitted deliberately: it is applied on the text-to-video path only, and this call passes imageUrl.

The call returns { success, queued: true, jobId, ... } and no URL — video generation is asynchronous. Poll summer_check_job(jobId="") until it reports completed, and only then treat the clip as existing.

5. Inspect the seam

Watch the result and the seam (the cut between the last and first frame on replay). If the seam is visible:

• Most common cause: something moved across the frame and didn't return (a particle drifted off-screen, a cloud moved). Regenerate with slow continuous, returning motion, oscillating in the prompt.
• Second cause: lighting drifted. Regenerate with constant lighting, no time of day change.
• Third cause: the motion is simply too fast to close in the time available. You cannot shorten the clip — 5s is the minimum the API offers — so slow the motion in the prompt instead (very slow, barely perceptible drift).

If three regenerations don't seam-close, accept a small crossfade in the engine: set up two VideoStreamPlayer nodes and crossfade between them via a Tween. This is a fallback, not the goal.

6. Import and wire as a looping VideoStreamPlayer

Transcode to Ogg Theora first. The generated clip is an .mp4, and Summer Engine cannot load .mp4. .ogv is the only video container in the build — there is no bundled WebM or MP4 plugin, and nothing transcodes on your behalf. Measured against the shipped binary (4.6.1):

$ Summer --headless --path  -s res://probe.gd
VideoStream exts: ["ogv", "tres", "res"]
ERROR: No loader found for resource: res://clip.mp4 (expected type: unknown)

summer_import_from_url downloads the bytes, runs Godot's import pipeline, and fails the import if the file never becomes a loadable resource — so importing the .mp4 does not quietly half-work, it is rejected and rolled back. Convert first:

ffmpeg -i title_screen_bg.mp4 -c:v libtheora -q:v 8 -an title_screen_bg.ogv

summer_import_from_url(url="", path="res://assets/video/loops/title_screen_bg.ogv")

Then wire it. Every scene-mutating tool takes an explicit scenePath, and summer_set_prop's property argument is named key, not property:

summer_add_node(scenePath="res://ui/title_screen.tscn", parent=".", type="VideoStreamPlayer", name="BackgroundLoop")
summer_set_prop(scenePath="res://ui/title_screen.tscn", path="./BackgroundLoop", key="stream", value="res://assets/video/loops/title_screen_bg.ogv")
summer_set_prop(scenePath="res://ui/title_screen.tscn", path="./BackgroundLoop", key="autoplay", value=true)
summer_set_prop(scenePath="res://ui/title_screen.tscn", path="./BackgroundLoop", key="loop", value=true)
summer_set_prop(scenePath="res://ui/title_screen.tscn", path="./BackgroundLoop", key="expand", value=true)
summer_set_prop(scenePath="res://ui/title_screen.tscn", path="./BackgroundLoop", key="anchors_preset", value=15)
summer_save_scene(scenePath="res://ui/title_screen.tscn")

Anchors preset 15 is "full rect" — the loop fills the menu. Place the logo and menu buttons as children above the VideoStreamPlayer in the tree (Godot draws siblings in tree order; later siblings render on top).

7. Mute the audio track

Loops should never have a baked audio track that loops with them — the audio seam will be even more obvious than the visual one. The video models don't generate audio anyway, but if you ever import a clip that has audio, mute it:

summer_set_prop(scenePath="res://ui/title_screen.tscn", path="./BackgroundLoop", key="volume_db", value=-80)

Score the menu separately with audio/music-track.

Reference card — prompts that work

Pattern: + + + "looping, seamless" + . Keep under 40 words. Always pair with imageUrl.

| Goal | Model | Prompt | Cost | Duration | |---|---|---|---|---| | Title menu — fog forest | ltx | dense pine forest in low fog, fog drifting slowly between trunks, soft moonlight, ambient particles rising, looping, seamless, cinematic painterly | $0.10 | 5s | | Title menu — dungeon torch | ltx | stone dungeon corridor lit by a single torch, flame flickering steadily, dust motes drifting in the light cone, looping, seamless | $0.10 | 5s | | Splash — embers / sky | ltx | dusk sky with slow drifting embers rising upward across frame, deep blue gradient, looping, seamless, cinematic | $0.10 | 5s | | Logo backdrop — magic runes | ltx | dark surface with glowing blue runes pulsing softly in slow rhythm, faint shimmer, no narrative motion, looping, seamless | $0.10 | 5s | | Menu — underwater | ltx | underwater scene with caustic light dancing on a sandy floor, slow drifting bubbles, gentle current sway on kelp, looping, seamless | $0.10 | 5s | | Pause screen — slow rain | ltx | window pane with continuous gentle rain drops, blurred warm interior glow behind, looping, seamless, ambient | $0.10 | 5s | | Title — anime sky | minimax | anime style cumulus clouds drifting slowly across a pastel sunset sky, soft, painterly, looping, seamless, Ghibli | $0.25 | 5s | | Premium splash centerpiece | kling | dragon silhouette breathing in profile against a vast sunset sky, only the chest rising and falling and clouds drifting, looping, seamless | $0.50 | 5s |

Bad prompts and why

| Bad | Why it fails | |---|---| | looping background of a hero walking through a forest | "Walking" is non-loopable — the hero arrives and departs. Replace with forest with fog drifting. | | dramatic title screen video | "Dramatic" implies narrative beats; loops want ambient. Specify the ambient motion. | | make it 10 seconds and loop | 10s loops show their seam. Drop to 5s. | | epic looping background trending on artstation | Adjective slop. The model already knows "cinematic"; the rest hurts. | | the door slowly opens, looping | Doors don't loop — they open once. The clip will hard-cut on replay. |

Anti-patterns

• Asking the model for a 10s loop. Past ~6s, identity drifts and the seam shows. duration=5 is both the floor and the right answer; 10 is the only other value the API accepts.
• Treating summer_generate_video as synchronous. It returns { queued: true, jobId } and no URL. Poll summer_check_job before claiming a clip exists.
• Spending kling money on a loop. ltx is the right call ~95% of the time. The constraints favor the cheap model.
• Prompting narrative motion. "Hero draws sword" doesn't loop. Use ambient verbs.
• Forgetting loop=true on the VideoStreamPlayer. The clip will play once and freeze on the last frame.
• Forgetting to mute baked audio. If audio is on, the loop point becomes audible even if it's invisible.
• Expecting aspectRatio to reframe an image-to-video call. It is applied on the text-to-video path only. A portrait splash needs a portrait reference image — the argument does nothing here.
• Importing the .mp4 as-is. .ogv is the only video container the engine can load; there is no bundled WebM or MP4 plugin. An un-transcoded import fails and is rolled back.

Edge cases

• Splash loop must be tiny in build size. Loops compress aggressively because of low motion. Target ≤2MB by exporting at 720p, low bitrate, in DaVinci. Studio's import doesn't re-encode by default.
• Mobile portrait splash. The reference image must genuinely be portrait — aspectRatio is ignored on the image-to-video path, and MCP image generation is square-only, so make the reference in the Summer dashboard or crop it. Anchors preset 15 still works.
• Loop must sync to a music beat. The video model doesn't know your BPM. Generate at the duration matching one bar at the menu music tempo (e.g. 120 BPM × 4 beats = 2s, or 8 beats = 4s) and confirm visually.
• Loop is behind translucent UI. Generate with extra contrast headroom — the model tends toward mid-grey, and translucent UI on mid-grey reads muddy. Push for high contrast cinematic in the prompt.
• Loop seam still visible after 3 regens. Set up two VideoStreamPlayer siblings and crossfade between them with a Tween on a 0.5s overlap. Costs an extra GPU decode but hides the seam.

Fallback (no MCP)

If the Studio MCP server isn't running, route the user to the Studio web dashboard:

1. Image tab → generate the reference still (the loop's "neutral frame").
2. Video tab → image-to-video with ltx, duration 4s, aspect ratio per target.
3. Prompt with the loopable-motion vocabulary above and "looping, seamless".
4. Download the result, transcode to .ogv if needed, place under assets/video/loops/.

Print the exact prompt + model + duration + aspect ratio so the user can paste it into the dashboard.

Handoff

Once the loop is wired:

> Loop title_screen_bg is wired to TitleScreen/BackgroundLoop with autoplay + loop. Next: > - Score the menu with audio/music-track — a quiet ambient bed scored to the loop's mood. > - For the logo and menu UI on top, hand off to 2d-assets/ui-graphics. > - If the user wants a punchy 5s shot for the trailer using the same look, hand off to video/trailer-shot (reuse the reference image). > - If the user wants a narrative intro that plays before the title loops, hand off to video/cinematic-cutscene.

See also

• video/trailer-shot — punchy marketing footage.
• video/cinematic-cutscene — narrative cutscenes with dialogue.
• audio/music-track — score the menu.
• 2d-assets/ui-graphics — logo, menu buttons, HUD that sits over the loop.
• 2d-assets/concept-art — produce the reference still that anchors the loop.
• ../../references/mcp-tools-reference/mcp-tools-reference.md — summer_generate_video parameter schema and error codes.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: SummerEngine
• Source: SummerEngine/summer
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://summerengine.com/

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.