Arcads Collage Motion

One pipeline, two halves: analyze a reference into an editable spec, then build on-brand stills and assemble-from-empty motion. Everything runs on the Arcads MCP connector. The creator works in the halftone paper-collage / stop-motion-graphic editorial style: flat bold color field, halftone (printed-dot) elements, clean cut edges with a soft drop shadow between layers, one sharp idea per scene, and motion that builds the scene piece by piece instead of wobbling a finished frame.

Speak in the user's language. No em dashes anywhere in output; use periods or line breaks. Keep labels and copy free of emoji unless asked.

Hard defaults (do not drift)

• Image model: arcads_generate_image_nano_banana with model: "nano-banana-2". nano-banana-2 holds the paper-craft texture (dot pattern, cut edge, layer shadow, flat color) better than gpt-image, and takes up to 14 reference images.
• Video model: arcads_generate_video_seedance_20 (max 15s per clip). Assembly is prompt-driven: pass the finished still as a reference and describe the build in words. Seedance 2.0 has no start/end frame, so it cannot interpolate empty to finished mechanically.
• Frame-interpolation escape hatch: when a clip genuinely needs a guaranteed empty-to-finished build, switch that clip to arcads_generate_video_kling_30_pro with startFrame = an empty-background still and endFrame = the finished still. Use this only for the clips that need it, never mix models within a single delivered set unless the user accepts the consistency cost.
• Never call arcads_add_text_overlay. Scene labels are burned in at image generation by nano-banana-2. If a label keeps degrading, reroll with nbGenerations or hand off labels to an external tool the user already runs (Figma, Canva); do not reach for the overlay tool.
• Tools are deferred. Load the exact Arcads tool schemas with tool_search before the first call each session (search "arcads image", "arcads seedance video", "arcads upload asset"). Confirm parameter names against what loads rather than assuming.

The Arcads asset workflow (memorize)

Stills you want to reuse as video references must live in Arcads first. The canonical loop: