Environment Establishing Shot Planner

environment-establishing-shot-planner

Purpose

Translate an environment / establishing-shot intent (a wide locale shot establishing place + mood) into a structured plan. Distinct from character-portrait-scene-planner (single subject) and interior-architectural-scene-planner (interior arch viz).

Quick start

• pin locale + time of day + weather
• pin focal subject (a building, a vehicle, a tree, or "no single focal subject")
• pin camera + lens + altitude
• pin atmosphere (haze, fog, sunlight quality, sky)
• pin foreground / midground / background composition
• emit a structured plan + handoff to checkers

When to use

• intent is establishing a place (wide / outdoor / landscape / cityscape / interior establishing)
• before any modeling
• when consumer is editorial / cinematic / brand

When not to use

• character portrait (use character-portrait-scene-planner)
• product hero (use product-hero-scene-planner)
• interior arch viz with focus on furniture / surfaces (use interior-architectural-scene-planner)

Trigger phrases

• "establishing shot of"
• "wide shot of"
• "city / forest / desert / ocean scene"
• "set the scene"

Prerequisites / readiness

• brief from intent-to-3d-brief-writer is locked
• aspect ratio + use case known

Input schema

Required inputs

| Input | Why it is required | |---|---| | Locale | Drives asset / scope decisions | | Time of day | Drives lighting + atmosphere | | Weather | Drives sky + atmosphere + visibility | | Aspect ratio | Composition rules |

Optional inputs

| Input | Use | |---|---| | Reference images | Calibrate scope and mood | | Focal subject | If "establishing toward something" | | Era / period | Asset style reference |

Assumptions to confirm

• Single time-of-day snapshot (not multi-time animation).
• Camera is locked unless animation called out.
• Locale is realizable in scope (e.g. "New York at sunset" needs decisions about scope).

Output schema

Primary output

A structured establishing-shot plan: Locale, Time of day, Weather, Atmosphere, Sky / lighting, Camera (position + lens + altitude + tilt), Composition (foreground / midground / background), Focal subject, Mood / style.

Secondary output

• asset list flagged for blender-asset-discovery-planner
• depth-cue strategy
• handoff list

Evidence / caveat output

Runtime status: Not Run | Attempted | Produced | Verified | Failed | Blocked / Not Run
Artifact status: Not Run | Not Produced | Produced | Verified | Failed
Evidence used: 
Limitations: 

Required laws

• ../../laws/evidence-before-done.md
• ../../laws/non-blender-user-language.md
• ../../laws/no-arbitrary-python-interface.md
• ../../laws/official-runtime-only.md

Official runtime boundary

Planning skill — does not run Blender, model, or render. If brief is unclear, hand off to intent-to-3d-brief-writer.

Operating procedure

1. Read brief; confirm locale + mood.
2. Pin time of day + weather (see references/time-and-weather-rules.md).
3. Pin atmosphere + sky (HDRI vs sky shader).
4. Pin camera position + lens + altitude (see references/wide-shot-camera-rules.md).
5. Plan foreground / midground / background layers (see references/depth-layering-rules.md).
6. Identify focal subject (or document "no focal subject").
7. List assets needed; flag for asset discovery.
8. Emit handoff.

Decision tree

Locale + time-of-day combination implausible (e.g. "Antarctic noon" with deep dark mood)?
  → Warn; clarify intent
"City scene" + tight close-up framing?
  → Warn; this is not establishing — re-frame or use different planner
Weather conflicts with brief mood (sunny + noir)?
  → Fail; pick one
Focal subject not chosen but every asset has same visual weight?
  → Fail; eye has nowhere to land

Playbooks

Playbook A: City sunset establishing (16:9 cinematic)

35mm wide; camera elevated; warm sun direction; haze layer; subject = skyline silhouette; foreground rooftops; background sky gradient.

Playbook B: Forest mid-day (1:1 brand campaign)

24mm wide; camera at human eye-line; key sun + dappled light; foreground branches; midground tree trunks; background distant haze.

Playbook C: Stylized cyberpunk street (2.39:1 cinematic)

24–35mm; rain wet ground reflections; neon practicals; light haze + atmospheric fog; foreground silhouette; midground signage / cars; background distant towers.

Mode handling

Text-only mode

Plan only.

Runtime-ready mode

Plan + runtime path attribution.

Blocked runtime mode

Plan only; flag what cannot be confirmed.

Validation checklist

• [ ] Locale chosen
• [ ] Time of day + weather pinned
• [ ] Atmosphere + sky chosen
• [ ] Camera + lens + altitude chosen
• [ ] Composition layers (FG / MG / BG) explicit
• [ ] Focal subject decision (or "none") explicit
• [ ] Asset list flagged
• [ ] Handoff named

Pass / Warn / Fail rubric

| Verdict | Criteria | |---|---| | Pass | All sections + plausible time-of-day / weather + clear focal subject (or explicit "none") + assets flagged. | | Warn | One section ambiguous; locale scope very broad ("a city" without specifics). | | Fail | Locale + time + weather contradict; no composition layers; no focal subject and no acknowledgment. |

Failure handling

• Locale too broad → ask for narrower scope.
• Mood + weather contradict → user picks one.
• Asset budget unknown → hand off to budget skill.

Troubleshooting

| Problem | Response | |---|---| | Sun direction conflicts with shadows in reference | Verify time-of-day + sun azimuth; clarify reference. | | Atmospheric haze hides focal subject | Reduce haze density or move subject closer. | | Background too detailed | Simplify; use atmospheric perspective. |

Best practices

• Lock time-of-day + weather + atmosphere together; they form a system.
• Always plan FG / MG / BG depth layers.
• Pair establishing shot with the next narrative step (often character portrait or product reveal).

Good examples

• "Locale: cyberpunk city street, near-future. Time: night, neon lit. Weather: light rain. Atmosphere: haze 0.05 density, volumetric scattering. Sky: minimal (occluded by buildings). Camera: 24mm, eye-level, slight low-angle tilt. FG: silhouetted figure. MG: neon signage + parked cars. BG: distant towers + fog. Focal subject: figure silhouette right-third. Mood: gritty, atmospheric."

Bad examples

• "Wide shot of a city." — no time, weather, lens, depth.

User-facing response template

Locale: 
Time of day: 
Weather: 
Atmosphere: 
Sky / lighting: 
Camera:  |  |  | 
Composition layers: FG:  | MG:  | BG: 
Focal subject: 
Mood + style: 

Assets to discover: 
Limitations: 
Next: blender-asset-discovery-planner / composition-quality-checker / lighting-quality-checker

Anti-patterns

• Mixing single-character framing into wide establishing scope.
• Skipping FG / MG / BG layers.
• "Beautiful weather" without specifics.
• Inventing locale scope.

Cross-skill handoff

• Brief writer → ../intent-to-3d-brief-writer/SKILL.md
• Asset discovery → ../blender-asset-discovery-planner/SKILL.md
• Composition validation → ../composition-quality-checker/SKILL.md
• Lighting validation → ../lighting-quality-checker/SKILL.md
• Quality readiness → ../blender-scene-quality-checker/SKILL.md

Non-goals

• Model the environment.
• Generate Geometry Node setups.
• Render.
• Run Blender.

References

• references/time-and-weather-rules.md
• references/wide-shot-camera-rules.md
• references/depth-layering-rules.md
• ../../docs/skill-system.md

Source & license

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

• Author: ThanhNguyxnOrg
• Source: ThanhNguyxnOrg/blendops
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://github.com/ThanhNguyxnOrg/blendops

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