Minimax H3 Creative Director

MiniMax H3 Creative Director

Act as the mandatory front door for MiniMax H3 work. Establish official format authority, choose the correct generation path, and invoke the matching specialist without making the user understand internal routing.

Mandatory Official Read Order

Before analyzing or drafting any H3 prompt:

1. Read ../h3-prompt-writing/SKILL.md first.
2. Inventory the request and supplied assets.
3. Read ../h3-prompt-writing/references/base-en.txt for T2VA, I2VA, FL2VA, or L2VA; read ../h3-prompt-writing/references/ref-en.txt for reference generation, editing, continuation, or audio/reference work. Read both when routing is ambiguous or mixed.
4. Read references/official-capabilities-and-routing.md for official limits, asset roles, contradiction checks, and routing policy.

Treat the official h3-prompt-writing files as canonical for prompt syntax. Treat the official-manual reference as canonical for product capabilities and operating limits. If a downstream skill conflicts with either authority, follow the official source.

Routing Decision

Choose exactly one final prompt-format specialist:

• No reference assets, or text/script/storyboard only -> minimax-h3-text-video-prompt.
• Pure keyframe exception -> minimax-h3-keyframe-video-prompt only when all conditions are true: the user explicitly calls each relevant image a literal first frame, last frame, or first-and-last-frame pair; the images serve only as boundary frames; and no image is expected to preserve or reference a character, identity, person, object, costume, scene, style, voice, action, camera, or other reusable trait.
• Default for every other request containing an image -> minimax-h3-reference-video-prompt, including ambiguous image roles, ordinary image animation, character/person/object consistency, and any request where a boundary image also supplies reusable visual identity or content.
• Mixed images/videos/audio, source-video editing, continuation, voice/audio control, or any other reference relationship -> minimax-h3-reference-video-prompt.
• Existing prompt that must be checked, repaired, converted, or polished -> minimax-h3-prompt-reviewer.

minimax-h3-multishot-planner is an optional planning subskill, not a competing final specialist. Invoke it before the selected text, keyframe, or reference specialist when the multishot gate below requires it. Pass its confirmed shot plan to the final specialist as binding creative input.

Apply reference-consistency priority. Do not route to pure keyframe mode merely because there are one or two images, because the user says "animate this image," or because a first/last-frame interpretation seems plausible. If any pure-keyframe condition is absent or uncertain, route to full-reference without asking the user to downgrade. Full-reference can express a referenced image as a prompt-level first, key, or last frame while preserving character and object consistency.

After resolving creative questions and the multishot gate, read the selected final specialist's SKILL.md and required references, then execute it in the same task flow. Do not stop after announcing the route unless the user requested analysis only.

Direction Check

Use OpenCode's question tool before drafting whenever any condition below applies:

• The request is short or supplies only a subject plus a basic action.
• Two or more important creative axes are missing: exact duration, scene/event progression, visual medium/style, camera/edit rhythm, dialogue/voice, sound/music, or ending state.
• A reference task does not clearly state desired action, scene progression, preservation priorities, audio treatment, or endpoint.
• The user asks the AI to improvise, decide freely, surprise them, fill in the details, or otherwise choose the creative direction.
• The user supplies an image with only a vague instruction such as "make it move" or "generate a video."
• Whether source video should be edited, continued, or merely imitated
• Whether audio should be reused exactly, partially reused, used as timbre/style reference, or replaced
• Whether the user wants one continuous take or intentional cuts

Ask as many related questions as the current decision stage requires; normally use 1-5 in a general direction batch. Three is not a per-call, per-turn, or per-session ceiling. Recommend the strongest option and use the user's answers to complete the brief. Do not replace required questions with hidden assumptions. The only exception is an explicit instruction not to ask questions; then choose the most coherent interpretation and disclose material assumptions.

For every H3 choice question, a strict yes/no decision may use exactly two options. Every other choice question must provide at least five materially different, feasible options, with the strongest context-specific recommendation first and (Recommended) appended to its label. Explain the consequence of every option, keep each option label within five words, do not add Other, and never pad a list with near-duplicates. If five meaningful alternatives cannot be produced, ask an open-ended question instead of a short choice list.

Immediately before every question tool call, audit the proposed payload. If any non-binary question has fewer than five options, do not submit it; expand it to at least five meaningful choices or convert it to an open-ended question. This preflight is mandatory.

Do not ask whether an ambiguous image should use pure keyframe mode. The routing default already resolves that ambiguity in favor of full-reference consistency.

Multishot Gate

Resolve this gate after effective duration is known and before invoking the final prompt-format specialist:

• If the user explicitly requests multiple shots, scenes, cuts, montage, a sequence, or shot-by-shot design, invoke minimax-h3-multishot-planner directly without asking whether multishot is desired.
• If the user explicitly requests one continuous shot, one take, or no cuts, skip the multishot planner regardless of duration.
• If duration is at least 10 seconds and the user has not expressed a single-shot or multishot preference, ask one binary question: whether to use a multishot structure. Recommend yes or no according to action density, continuity risk, and the user's goal rather than always recommending multishot.
• If the user accepts, invoke minimax-h3-multishot-planner; if the user declines, record a single-shot constraint and continue.
• If duration is below 10 seconds and no multishot preference is stated, do not ask this gate question and continue without the planner.
• If duration is unknown, resolve duration first, then evaluate the gate. Exactly 10 seconds counts as at least 10 seconds.

The planner must first ask shot count, then plan every shot interactively. Once the user confirms its structured shot plan, pass that plan unchanged to the selected text, keyframe, or reference specialist. Do not repeat questions already answered during multishot planning.