| name | render-imessage-cascade |
| description | Assemble an iMessage notification-cascade video ad (≈14s, 9:16) from a phone-on-desk plate + 3–5 messages — authentic Apple Messages banners composited in PIL (SF Pro text, green Messages icon, warm translucent-greige fill, soft shadow) spring in one-by-one at the BOTTOM and push the stack UP, a right-aligned Show-less/X pill rides above, the X clears the stack, then a serif end card resolves. FREE assembly (PIL + ffmpeg); the recipe supplies the per-brand plate, notifications, and end-card config and gates the paid plate-clean/music calls to their own capabilities. Use for the imessage-notification-cascade format. |
| status | active |
render-imessage-cascade
The free, deterministic renderer for the imessage-notification-cascade video ad
format — the viral iOS trend where a phone sits on a desk and Apple Messages
notifications STACK IN one after another. The signature mechanic is the bottom-up
push: each new banner springs in at the bottom (nearest the phone) and shoves every
existing one UP a row; the iOS grouped "⌄ Show less / ✕" pill rides above the stack;
the ✕ clears the stack; then a serif end card resolves.
This is a DETERMINISTIC composite — no generative video of the UI. Authentic
iMessage banners are drawn in PIL and animated in FFmpeg over a Ken-Burns plate, so
the notification text + wordmark stay pixel-crisp (a video model would smear type).
The template recipe supplies the per-brand plate, notifications, and end_card
config and gates the only paid steps — cleaning the plate (→ create-image-fal) and
the music bed/pop (→ create-music-elevenlabs) — to their own capabilities. This
capability itself makes no paid calls.
Scripts (free)
scripts/build_assets.py — draws the assets from config: nb-1..N.png (authentic
banners — green Messages icon, warm translucent-greige fill, soft box-shadow,
title/body/NOW/handle), pill.png (right-aligned "⌄ Show less / ✕"), endcard.png
(serif CTA + wordmark lockup + url). Fonts are load-bearing: SF Pro (SFNS.ttf)
via set_variation_by_name for the banner title/body/NOW/handle (Arial fallback),
Times/serif for the end-card CTA. Do NOT swap in Helvetica/Arial as the primary —
the banners must read as the real iOS system font.
scripts/compose.py — Ken-Burns push-in on the plate → each banner springs in at the
BOTTOM while later arrivals push the stack UP (FFmpeg overlay y expressions) → pill
rides above → ✕-clear swipes the stack up + fades → serif end card fades in → optional
audio (bed + pop per arrival + a free FFmpeg swoosh on the clear) → encode h264 + aac.
scripts/config.example.json — the shape of the brand config the recipe binds.
Geometry contract (load-bearing — build_assets.py and compose.py MUST share it)
W=1080 H=1920, SIDE=135 → banner width BODY_W=810, BANNER_H=176, PAD=60,
row pitch H=214, bottom anchor YB=1200. Icon ~100px at a ~24px left inset; body
text starts ~150px from the banner's left edge. Change one, change both.
Craft rules (faithful to the source molecule)
- Keep the REAL iMessage UI: green Apple Messages icon, warm TRANSLUCENT greige banner
(NOT white, no white bloom), soft dark box-shadow. Do NOT rebrand the banner to the
brand's colors — the brand lives ONLY on the handle (bottom-right) + the end card.
- SF Pro for all banner text (title Semibold ~38, body Regular ~36, NOW/handle ~25).
Never AI-render text.
- 3–5 notifications (more crowds the top / clips the pill); newest enters at the BOTTOM,
so banner 1 is the oldest and ends up on TOP.
- ✕-clear then end card (a real hand-swipe needs a paid i2v — out of scope here).
Requires
watch (QC the final master). The recipe gates create-image-fal (plate clean) and
create-music-elevenlabs (bed/pop) — both paid, proxy-routed, billed to the Ads agent.