Personalities

Four complete motion systems — cinematic-dark, editorial, neutral-light, and montage — each defining timing tiers, easing curves, camera constraints, and primitive filters that the AI enforces automatically across every scene.

Overview

A personality is not a theme. It is a complete motion system: timing tiers, easing curves, camera constraints, entrance/exit defaults, and AI guidance that shapes how every tool in the pipeline behaves.

When you select a personality, Animatic automatically:

• Filters primitive search results to compatible options
• Applies the correct timing tiers to every beat
• Constrains camera behavior to what the personality allows
• Validates choreography against the personality's guardrails
• Flags violations before you compile

This eliminates the most common animation failure mode: inconsistency. A landing page that mixes dramatic 3D camera moves with flat tutorial-style step indicators looks broken, not creative. Personalities prevent that at the system level.

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cinematic-dark

Dramatic, immersive product demos. Full 3D camera system, focus-pull blur entrances, clip-path wipe transitions, and spring physics. Built for moments that need to land with impact.

Characteristics

Timing tiers

Tier	Duration	Use case
fast	180ms	Micro-interactions, feedback
medium	500ms	Standard entrances, transitions
slow	700ms	Hero reveals, emphasis moments
spring	1200ms	Organic, physics-based motion
feedback	120ms	Button presses, toggle states
structural	240ms	Layout shifts, panel opens
spatial	320ms	Position changes, slides
emphasis	600ms	Attention-drawing highlights

Easing curves

Function	Value
enter	cubic-bezier(0.16, 1, 0.3, 1)
exit	cubic-bezier(0.7, 0, 0.84, 0)
smooth	cubic-bezier(0.25, 0.1, 0.25, 1)
spring	cubic-bezier(0.22, 1, 0.36, 1)

The enter curve decelerates aggressively — elements arrive fast and settle slowly. The exit curve accelerates hard, clearing the stage with urgency. The spring curve approximates damped spring physics using a CSS cubic-bezier.

Camera behavior

Cinematic Dark has the most permissive camera system. All 12 movement types are available.

Capability	Value
Mode	Full 3D
Perspective	1200px
Perspective origin	50% 40%
Allowed movements	dolly, truck, pedestal, pan, tilt, orbit, arc, crane, push-in, pull-out, rack-focus, handheld

Parallax

Setting	Value
Mode	3d-translateZ
Max layers	4
Intensity	Full
Depth range	-800px to 0

Depth of field

Setting	Value
Max blur	12px
Entrance blur	Enabled
Rack focus	Enabled
Ambient blur	4px

Ambient motion

Effect	Intensity	Duration
Scene breathe	0.4% scale	8000ms
Drift	1.5px amplitude	12000ms
Element float	5px amplitude	6000ms
Push-in	1.5% scale	6000ms

Camera shake

Setting	Value
Max amplitude	3px
Frequency range	0.5-2Hz
Decay	Exponential

AI guidance

Use for dramatic product demos, landing page embeds, and marketing films. Features 3D camera perspective (1200px), clip-path wipe transitions, focus-pull blur entrances, and 4-tier speed hierarchy (fast/medium/slow/spring). Full camera system: dolly, orbit, crane, rack focus, handheld drift, parallax (3+ layers), DOF blur, ambient breathing/drift. Inky dark palette with Tailwind 100-shade pastel accents. Never use for tutorials or micro-interactions.

Try asking your AI

"Build a cinematic-dark product launch for a SaaS dashboard with 3D camera orbit and rack focus on the hero metric"

"Generate a landing page hero using cinematic-dark with parallax layers and focus-pull entrances"

"Show me all cinematic-dark primitives with camera movements"

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editorial

Content-forward, restrained motion. Animation serves the content rather than framing it. 2D only — no perspective tricks, no blur effects. The signature move is content cycling: rotating through multiple values in the same space.

Characteristics

Timing tiers

Tier	Duration	Use case
fast	150ms	Micro-interactions, feedback
medium	400ms	Standard entrances, content swaps
slow	700ms	Section reveals, slow fades
feedback	120ms	Button presses, toggle states
structural	300ms	Layout shifts, panel opens
spatial	500ms	Position changes, slides
emphasis	600ms	Attention-drawing highlights

Easing curves

Function	Value
enter	cubic-bezier(0.25, 0.46, 0.45, 0.94)
exit	cubic-bezier(0.55, 0.06, 0.68, 0.19)
smooth	cubic-bezier(0.25, 0.1, 0.25, 1)

These are gentler curves than Cinematic Dark. The enter curve has moderate deceleration — elements arrive without drama. No spring easing is defined.

Camera behavior

Editorial uses a 2D-only camera. Most camera movements are explicitly forbidden.

Capability	Value
Mode	2D only
Perspective	None
Allowed movements	push-in, drift
Forbidden movements	dolly, orbit, pan, tilt, crane, arc, handheld, rack-focus

Parallax

Setting	Value
Mode	2d-speed-differential
Max layers	3
Intensity	Subtle
Offset range	20-60px

Parallax uses speed differences between layers rather than Z-depth. Background layers move slower. No translateZ.

Depth of field: Disabled. Depth is communicated through opacity and contrast reduction on background layers, never through blur.

Ambient motion

Effect	Intensity	Duration
Scene breathe	0.2% scale	10000ms
Drift	0.5px amplitude	12000ms
Push-in	0.5-1% scale	6000-8000ms

Camera shake: Disabled.

Hard constraints: 2D translate and scale only. Max translateX/translateY: 30px. Max scale change: 1%. No filter:blur() on entrances.

AI guidance

Use for content-forward product showcases, feature pages, and data visualization reveals. Animation serves the content rather than framing it. No 3D perspective, no clip-path wipes, no spring physics. Uses opacity crossfade for phase transitions, slide+fade (translateY) for entrances. Content cycling is the signature effect. Camera: 2D only — subtle push-in (max 1% scale), ambient drift (max 0.5px), speed-differential parallax (no Z-depth). Depth via opacity/contrast, never blur. Stone palette with blue/green accents.

Try asking your AI

"Create an editorial feature showcase that cycles through three product benefits with slide-fade entrances"

"Build a docs page hero animation using editorial personality with content cycling"

"Show me editorial-compatible primitives for a data visualization reveal"

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neutral-light

Tutorials and onboarding. Clarity over flair. No blur, no 3D, no camera movement at all. Instead, Neutral Light introduces attention-direction primitives: spotlights, simulated cursors, step indicators, and positioned tooltips. Motion guides focus, never distracts from it.

Characteristics

Timing tiers

Tier	Duration	Use case
fast	175ms	Micro-interactions, feedback
medium	350ms	Standard entrances, step transitions
slow	575ms	Section reveals, tooltip appearances
feedback	120ms	Button presses, toggle states
structural	300ms	Layout shifts, panel opens
spatial	400ms	Position changes, cursor movements
emphasis	450ms	Spotlight highlights, step focus

Neutral Light is the fastest personality by default. Tutorials should not make users wait.

Easing curves

Function	Value
enter	cubic-bezier(0.25, 0.46, 0.45, 0.94)
exit	cubic-bezier(0.55, 0.06, 0.68, 0.19)
smooth	cubic-bezier(0.25, 0.1, 0.25, 1)

Same gentle curves as Editorial. No spring easing.

Camera behavior

Neutral Light has no camera system. Zero camera movement of any kind. Instead, it uses attention-direction primitives to guide viewer focus.

Capability	Value
Mode	Attention-direction (no camera)
Perspective	None
Allowed movements	None
Forbidden movements	All 12 camera movement types

Parallax: Disabled.

Depth of field: Disabled.

Ambient motion: Near-zero scene breathing (0.1% scale over 12s) for scenes longer than 10 seconds. No drift, no push-in.

Camera shake: Disabled.

Attention primitives (unique to Neutral Light):

Primitive	Purpose
nl-spotlight	Highlight a region of the screen by dimming everything else
nl-cursor-to	Simulate a cursor moving to a target element
nl-step-progress	Animate a step indicator (1 of 3, 2 of 3, etc.)
nl-tooltip	Position and reveal a tooltip near a target element

AI guidance

Use for onboarding tutorials, help documentation, changelog introductions, and internal reviews. Features spotlight highlights, cursor simulation, step indicators, and positioned tooltips. No blur effects — tutorials should feel sharp and clear from frame 1. No 3D perspective, no spring physics, no camera movement. Camera replaced by attention-direction: spotlight, cursor, step indicators. Near-zero ambient breathing only for scenes >10s. Light stone palette. Architecturally: editorial choreography + tutorial primitives + light mode colors.

Try asking your AI

"Build a tutorial walkthrough showing three steps with spotlight highlights and cursor simulation"

"Create an onboarding animation using neutral-light that guides the user through account setup"

"Show me all neutral-light attention primitives"

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montage

Sizzle reels and brand launches. Rapid-fire scenes, hard cuts, whip-wipes, and zero ambient motion. Montage packs 5-7 phases into a 30-40 second loop with the energy of a keynote product reel. The signature technique: per-phase transition mixing, where hard cuts and whip-wipes alternate within the same sequence.

Characteristics

Timing tiers

Tier	Duration	Use case
fast	150ms	Stat pops, grid cell reveals
medium	400ms	Standard entrances, scale reveals
slow	800ms	Hero moments, full-screen typography
feedback	100ms	Button presses (fastest of all personalities)
structural	250ms	Layout shifts, split-screen setups
spatial	300ms	Position changes, whip-wipe transitions
emphasis	400ms	Stat overshoot, highlight pops

Easing curves

Function	Value
enter	cubic-bezier(0.16, 1, 0.3, 1)
exit	cubic-bezier(0.7, 0, 0.84, 0)
smooth	cubic-bezier(0.25, 0.1, 0.25, 1)

Montage shares Cinematic Dark's aggressive enter/exit curves. The fast deceleration and acceleration match the punchy editing rhythm.

Camera behavior

Montage has no camera system and no ambient motion. Scenes are too short (2-4 seconds each) for any ambient effects to register.

Capability	Value
Mode	None
Perspective	None
Allowed movements	None
Forbidden movements	All 12 camera movement types

Parallax: Disabled. Depth of field: Disabled. Ambient motion: All disabled. Camera shake: Disabled.

Montage-specific patterns

These patterns are unique to Montage or work best within it:

• Scale entrances — Hero elements enter at 1.15x and settle to 1.0x
• Stat pops with overshoot — Numbers animate in with a slight overshoot bounce
• Split-screen comparisons — Side-by-side before/after reveals
• 2x3 feature grids — Six features revealed cell-by-cell with staggered timing
• Full-screen typography cards — Bold text fills the viewport between product scenes
• Hard cuts — 0ms instant swap between phases (no transition animation)
• Whip-wipes — 250ms directional clip-path transitions

AI guidance

Use for sizzle reels, brand launches, product campaigns, and keynote-style demos. Rapid-scene energy with 5-7 phases in a 30-40s loop. Signature: per-phase transition mixing — hard cuts (0ms instant swap) and whip-wipes (250ms directional clip-path) within the same reel. Scale entrances (1.15 to 1.0), stat pops with overshoot, split-screen comparisons, 2x3 feature grids, full-screen typography cards. No 3D, no blur, no camera motion, no ambient effects, no spring physics. Dark palette with violet accents. Never linger on a scene >4s.

Try asking your AI

"Build a montage sizzle reel for a product launch with 6 phases, mixing hard cuts and whip-wipes"

"Create a keynote-style demo reel using montage personality with stat pops and split-screen comparisons"

"Generate a 30-second brand launch montage with scale entrances and full-screen typography cards"

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Decision matrix

Your project	Personality	Why
Product launch, feature demo	cinematic-dark	Full camera system, dramatic timing, 3D depth
Docs site, blog, feature page	editorial	Content-forward, restrained motion, content cycling
Onboarding flow, tutorial	neutral-light	Spotlight/cursor primitives, fastest timing, zero distraction
Sizzle reel, brand video	montage	Rapid cuts, high energy, 5-7 phases in 30-40s
Data visualization reveal	editorial	Restrained motion keeps focus on the data
Conference presentation	cinematic-dark	3D camera moves and blur effects command a stage
Help documentation	neutral-light	Clarity-first motion, step indicators
Social media content	montage	Punchy pacing works in short-attention contexts
Marketing landing page	cinematic-dark	Dramatic entrance sequences drive engagement
Internal team review	neutral-light	Clean, professional, no flashy distractions
Product campaign	montage	Hard cuts and scale entrances match campaign energy
Changelog, release notes	neutral-light	Gentle motion, instructional clarity

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Custom personalities

The four built-in personalities cover the most common animation contexts, but you can define your own. The create_personality tool lets you specify custom timing tiers, easing curves, camera constraints, and primitive restrictions.

Custom personalities extend the same system. Once defined, all Animatic tools — scene generation, choreography validation, compilation — respect your custom personality's constraints exactly like the built-in ones.

Try asking your AI:

"Create a custom personality called 'corporate-calm' with slower timing, no spring physics, and 2D-only camera"

"Define a personality that uses cinematic-dark's camera system but with editorial's restrained timing"