Paper Operators

Paper Operators / 纸片人

Paper Operators turns an article idea into a tactile paper-stage illustration where a small folded-paper person performs the core conceptual action.

默认面向中文文章配图；用户使用英文时再切换英文输出。Use this skill to create a consistent article-illustration style: paper people, physical metaphors, readable labels, clear reader paths, and domain-aware tools. The character is never decoration. If removing the paper operator does not weaken the image, do not use one.

Workflow

1. Read the article, excerpt, topic, or image-edit request.
2. Identify one source anchor: the sentence, paragraph, claim, tension, turn, or feeling that deserves a visual.
3. Read the user's real intent with references/intent-reading.md: who reads it, what they should feel, the author's stance, and the content-specific particulars that must appear. The image must fit THIS document, not the topic in general.
4. Route the asset with references/asset-routing-and-truth.md: decide whether this is an article figure, story/book card, data story scene, center illustration for a card/slide, or reference-informed explainer. Record final container, display ratio, text ownership, exact truth constraints, and whether another tool should own the job.
5. For stories, books, biographies, cases, or narrative explainers, read references/story-card-grammar.md and identify protagonist, conflict, turning point, choice, consequence, and transformation.
6. For metrics, charts, rankings, benchmark results, project reports, or evidence summaries, read references/data-story-scenes.md and write the exact data contract before prompting.
7. For scientific, historical, cultural, geographic, brand, model, artifact, species, or apparatus topics, read references/reference-informed-explainers.md and gather stable visual/factual cues before prompting when accuracy matters.
8. Name the core relationship the image must show, using references/relationship-grammar.md: connection, sequence, dependency, causality, feedback, contrast, tradeoff, hierarchy, transformation, boundary, divergence, or tension. Choose the relationship before the operator; precision comes from rendering the exact relation, direction, condition, and state.
9. Choose the domain and mood: art, culture, personal essay, business, product, engineering, education, psychology, finance, history, lifestyle, or another field.
10. Choose the core action: pull, frame, reveal, block, tune, fold, sort, mend, weigh, arrange, carry, shelter, distill, balance, light, archive, or transform.
11. Decide whether a Paper Operator is necessary using the inclusion test.
12. Before locking the default metaphor, diverge with references/creative-divergence.md: sketch a few candidate worlds and converge on the one that fits this content most precisely — do not reflexively reuse route-table, gallery, or room.
13. Select one operator family from references/operator-library.md that can physically perform the relationship; use the Operator × Relationship map when unsure.
14. Choose the composition mode with references/composition-modes.md: one dense single-image-multi-beat composition (e.g. four river crossings on one terrain) vs a multi-image series — pick what the content's own structure demands, not a default.
15. Assemble the scene from the kit in references/primitives.md, and encode status, degree, and state precisely with references/state-coding.md. Reuse the same primitive for the same meaning so the image stays consistent.
16. Adapt the world, props, palette, texture, and typography using references/domain-adaptation.md.
17. Write readable labels with references/text-strategy.md. For simple figures, use 3-6 short labels; for story/book cards use 4-8 beat labels; for data scenes, include exact values only when readable. Prefer short labels, and move headline/explanation/citations outside the image when the outer layout should own them.
18. For exact labels, data, chart values, scientific parts, historical cues, brand cues, or proper names, put exact truth constraints into the final prompt. Do not let the image model invent numbers, categories, dates, axes, or reference-specific details.
19. For final artifacts that will enter README, social cards, slides, docs, or article packages, read references/layout-handoff.md and return caption, crop guidance, safe margin, and handoff owner.
20. Build the final image prompt using references/prompt-template.md.
21. Generate or edit one image at a time.
22. When the article needs more than one image, plan the set with references/series-and-chaining.md so the figures share a world, operator, palette, and a progressing throughline instead of reading as N unrelated pictures.
23. For public examples or reusable packages, record the source anchor, asset role, truth constraints, reference cues, final prompt, output path, rejected attempt reason, and QA result using references/prompt-records.md.
24. Run QA with references/qa-checklist.md, include the asset-routing checks from references/asset-routing-and-truth.md, the failure scan from references/failure-patterns.md, and the Swap Test from references/variation-engine.md: if the image could move onto a different article unnoticed, it is not precise enough. Regenerate if the operator is decorative, the style drifts, the relationship collapses into a generic arrow, the image feels template-locked, labels are missing, exact truth is wrong, or the idea is unclear.
25. For README, portfolio, or showcase images, include at least one non-engineering domain when possible: art, culture, life, psychology, education, food, travel, or personal essays. The skill should not look like it only draws workflows.

Inclusion Test

Before adding a paper person, answer:

paper operator:
- use operator: yes/no
- source anchor:
- domain:
- relationship type:
- core action:
- object acted on:
- relation clarified:
- what breaks if removed:
- operator family:
- forbidden drift:

Use an operator only when what breaks if removed is concrete. Good answers include:

• "The connection path loses agency."
• "The boundary no longer reads as a decision."
• "The hidden layer is no longer being inspected."
• "The artwork no longer feels curated, repaired, tuned, or reframed."

Weak answers include:

• "It looks more fun."
• "It adds personality."
• "It fills empty space."

Default Style

Read references/style-dna.md before generating final images.

Core visual DNA:

• Chinese-first article illustration unless the user asks otherwise
• high-angle tabletop paper-model scene when the user wants the newer polished style
• adaptive complexity: choose the simplest sufficient form, but allow complex multi-state scenes when the article needs them and the path/status system stays clear
• mandatory readable labels by default: short Chinese/English labels attached to objects; use 3-6 for simple figures and more for complex multi-state figures when the extra labels make the route clearer
• folded-paper people with a calm plain face by default, or one simple hand-drawn expression (a few line strokes for brows/eyes and mouth, profile or three-quarter) when it encodes the operator's state; never realistic, never head-on, never Xiaohei white-dot eyes
• off-white paper body, charcoal outline, small semantic color tabs
• tactile paper, translucent tools, light shadows, quiet editorial composition
• flowing blue carrier ribbon/path for the main reader route when useful
• labels arranged as tabs, plaques, hang tags, gallery captions, route signs, sentence strips, or stitched cards; do not leave the image text-empty
• one paper operator, one tool, one core action
• 16:9 horizontal article body image by default
• generous margins and clear focal hierarchy
• concise Chinese or English labels attached to objects
• no Xiaohei-like black blob body, white-dot eyes, tiny thin legs, or deadpan monster identity
• no generic stick figure, robot, avatar, office worker, mascot sticker, or PPT icon set

Domain Adaptation

Paper Operators are not only for engineering diagrams.

For an art article, the operator may hang a frame, tune a color strip, hold a light card, restore a torn composition, arrange plinths, or reveal a hidden brush rhythm.

For a personal essay, the operator may fold a memory, carry a small weather panel, shelter a fragile note, untangle a ribbon of choices, or place an empty chair.

For business or product writing, the operator may route a carrier line, filter a funnel, weigh a tradeoff, stack a roadmap, or stamp a decision.

For technical writing, the operator may inspect a cutaway, bridge a handoff, block a failure branch, or repair a loop.

Always let the article choose the operator's tool and world. Do not force engineering props into art, culture, life, or emotional essays.