What’s inside

One SKILL.md (the playbook) + one starter template. A preview:

Chapter Grid Pan

When to use

• A course overview where the narrator walks the viewer across the chapter map, one chapter at a time
• A series or season guide where the camera travels the episode grid and pauses on each episode
• A workshop agenda walkthrough where the host tours the day's sessions in order
• A documentary preview where the camera sweeps the segment map and settles on each segment's tile
• A compilation intro where the grid holds every segment and the camera visits each before the show starts
• A portfolio or curriculum map where the viewer needs to feel the scale of the whole grid and the detail of each tile

Workflow

1. Build the grid as one canvas (input: chapter list → output: single large grid canvas)
   Lay out all chapter tiles on one large canvas — 3×3 or 4×3 for nine to twelve chapters — with consistent tile size, gutters, and one tile per chapter (number + short title + one visual cue). The canvas is bigger than the frame: the camera sees only a portion at a time, roughly 2×2 tiles per view. Build the canvas at 2× the delivery resolution so pans stay sharp when the virtual camera zooms. Unlike a flip grid, tiles here never move — the camera does all the travelling, and the tiles stay perfectly still.
2. Plan the camera path (input: grid canvas → output: keyframed camera path)
   Plot one smooth path that visits the tiles in reading order (left to right, top to bottom), with a keyframe at each tile: the camera centers on the tile, holds, then moves to the next. Path segments between tiles should be straight lines or gentle curves — never zigzags that double back, and never a path that crosses its own earlier route. If the grid is wider than one screen, snake the path row by row (left-to-right on row one, right-to-left on row two) so the camera never jumps back to the left edge mid-tour.
3. Set the pan and settle timing (input: camera path → output: move/settle timeline)
   Each move between tiles takes 0.7–1.0s with ease-in-out (slow start, steady middle, gentle stop). Each settle — camera fully still, tile centered — lasts 0.9–1.4s, long enough for the viewer to read the tile's title and for narration to name the chapter. The settle is the point of the technique: a pan with no settle is a screensaver; a pan that settles is a tour. Total tour time is (moves × ~0.85s) + (settles × ~1.1s) — for 8 tiles, roughly 15s, so reserve this pattern for overviews, not for transitions between every chapter.

Template preview

Chapter Grid Pan — Starter Template

Fill in every {placeholder}, then hand this spec to your video tool or motion designer.

Project

• Video title: {video_title}
• Frame size: {width}x{height} @ {fps}fps
• Tour purpose: {overview_preview / guided_walkthrough}

Grid canvas (tiles NEVER move — only the camera moves)

• Canvas size: {canvas_width}x{canvas_height}px (build at 2× delivery resolution so pans stay sharp)
• Grid dimensions: {columns}x{rows} (3×3 or 4×3 typical)
• Tile size: {tile_width}x{tile_height}px, gutters {gutter}px
• Tiles per camera view: ~2×2
• Tile content: chapter number + short title + one visual cue

Tiles (in tour order)

Camera path

Buy the full skill pack — $4.99 Pro — all 471 skills