SL-98 / Graphic Layer

Rotoscope Commitment

A traced-outline look sustained for a full sequence. Consistency across motion is the test.

The brief

A fully traced-outline treatment held across a whole sequence, with constant line weight and an even, rhythmic frame-to-frame boil.

Why it's hard

The look drifts mid-clip: outlines thicken, fills go photographic on the face, and hands lose their contours the moment they overlap something.

The craft key

Rotoscope fails in motion, not in stills. The grade is whether the line survives an occlusion.

Skill Tests

03 / 28
Animal anatomy Human anatomy Biomechanics Physics & mass Water simulation Crowd dynamics Multi-shot continuity Face consistency Camera movement Unbroken take Motivated lighting Cutting rhythm Hands & fingers Hair & fabric Reflection & refraction Scale & depth Impossible geometry Period accuracy Music sync Aging & time Natural asynchrony Eye-lines & gaze Particle behaviour Motivated light source Consequence & persistence Time manipulation Graphic-layer discipline Colour as storytelling

Every challenge is scored against the same vocabulary, so you can compare them. Lit cells are what this one tests.

Starter prompt

Built with the CEMI MediaMax system for Google Veo 3.1. Prompts stay in English — that is the language these models take instructions in. Treat it as a starting point and start varying it.

rotoscope-commitment
A man folds shirts at a laundromat folding table, sustained in a fully traced-outline rotoscope look in the style of Richard Linklater's rotoscoped features. The look is total and unbroken: every surface carries a hand-inked contour and flat interior fill, line weight constant, the characteristic frame-to-frame boil kept even and rhythmic rather than random. Consistency across motion is the test — the shirt's contour must survive the whole fold, the sleeve crossing the torso must re-resolve as one shape, the hands must not swim. Underneath it is a real handheld shot: operator standing, small breathing sway, one slow reframe as he reaches for the next shirt. Dirty foreground: a wire cart with a bent castor across the near frame. Buzzing overhead tube light, terrazzo floor, lint-fuzzed dryer glass, worn cotton with a permanent collar crease.

Derived from the CEMI MediaMax production canon — cemi.media

Style reference: Richard Linklater's rotoscoped animation style

Why it's built this way

Rotoscope fails in motion, not in stills — the grade is whether the line survives an occlusion. Naming the boil as even and rhythmic stops the model treating instability as texture. Keeping a real handheld base underneath gives the traced line something human to track.

Watch for

The look drifting mid-clip — outlines thickening, fills going photographic on the face, and hands losing their contours the moment they overlap the shirt.

Ran a challenge? Show us what you got.

Share your attempt — the triumphs and the glorious failures. The most instructive entries get featured on the board.