> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.summerengine.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Hero Art skill for AI agents

> Hero splash art, seamless splash loops and rigged animated heroes, gated. A Summer Engine skill for AI agents.

`hero-art` is a skill from the [Summer skill library](https://docs.summerengine.com/mcp/skills.md): a guide your AI agent reads when the task matches, so it builds the good version on the first try. Hero splash art, seamless splash loops and rigged animated heroes, gated.

| | |
| - | - |
| Status | Preview: not yet exercised in-engine by the Summer team |
| Domains | 2D art, 3D models, Animation, Video, Pipeline, Asset pipeline |
| Version | `1.0.0` |
| Engine version | `>=4.6` |
| Recommended set | No, installed by `--all` or by name |

## When your agent uses it

* Making splash art for a hero, champion or playable class: character select, hero page, loading screen
* One splash looks weaker or more generic than the rest of the roster and must be redone in the same style
* Animating splash art: an animated splash, a living painting, a seamless looping character-select background
* Building a playable hero from approved concept art to a rigged, animated, game-ready model with secondary motion and per-platform budgets
* A generated character has six fingers, fused hair, tears in motion, warps on its skeleton or looks low poly in game

## Install

`summer setup` installs every skill for your agent. To add only this one:

```bash theme={null}
npx -y summer-engine@latest skills install hero-art --agent claude-code
```

Swap `claude-code` for your agent, such as `codex` or `cursor`. See [Skills](https://docs.summerengine.com/mcp/skills.md#quick-start) for every option.

## The skill

Playable heroes (champions, classes, named leads) sell a game twice: on the select screen and in play. This skill covers
the whole path, in three parts. Read the part for the job in front of you; each one stands alone.

| Job | Read |
| - | - |
| A painted splash for each hero, in one house style; inventing a new hero's look | `references/splash-art.md` |
| The splash, alive: a 15 s seamless loop on the select screen | `references/splash-loop.md` |
| The approved design as a rigged, animated, game-ready 3D hero | `references/hero-character.md` |

Order for a new hero: concept (splash-art method) -> the person picks -> 3D hero -> splash -> loop. A redo of a weak
splash or a loop for an existing splash can start at its own part.

## When NOT to use

* A quick NPC or enemy where an auto-rig is enough: `character-model`.
* A square dialogue or codex bust: `character-portrait`. Rough direction exploration: `concept-art`.
* Store key art, covers and icons: `store-art`. A title-screen loop with no character: `animated-loop`.

## Without Summer Engine

In a session without Summer Engine tools (the assets profile; the `summer-assets` skill has the whole loop), every
generation step still works: the splash, its loop and the 3D hero up to the exported desktop and phone files. Skip the
in-engine steps (import, the select-screen player, the scene wiring). Save each file where the person asked with `out`
(the `summer-assets` skill says how) and tell them the paths and formats: the loop's `.ogv` copies play in Summer Engine
and Godot; a plain looping muted MP4 suits the web.

## Rules for all three parts

* **The person's eye is the gate.** Make options, show them full size (images beside their references; motion as a video
  with one line of what to look for), and wait for the person to name the exact one. Never build on an image or a model
  they have not approved.
* **An approved design is locked.** Fix only the defect they named; compare every edit side by side with the approved
  version. Edits drift toward plainer, stockier, younger; reject drift.
* **Fix at the source.** Hands, hair, weapons and framing are cheap to fix in an image and expensive in a mesh or a
  video. When a method fails once, change the method, not its parameters.
* **Adults, attractive, on-model**, in the game's own art style.
* **No text, logos, frames or watermarks** in generated art, and no caption about how it was made.
* **Spend is the person's.** Generation uses their credits: `dryRun: true` shows the cost; say what a batch costs before
  a large one. Long jobs answer with a job id: `jobs.wait`, never a second call.
* **Never overwrite approved or shipped files.** New versioned files, then repoint.
* **Record the recipe** (references, prompts, models, seeds, settings) in `.summer/art-bible.md` or `.summer/memory/`, so
  the next hero comes out the same.

## From a shell

No Summer MCP tools in this session? Run each one as a command; when `summer --version` is missing or below 4.0, use `npx -y summer-engine@latest` in place of `summer`. Fields are flags in kebab-case (`--scene-path res://main.tscn`) or one `--input '<json>'`, and `summer ops describe <op>` prints the exact input. The `summer-cli` skill has the rest.

| In this skill | Command |
| - | - |
| `assets.generate_3d`, `summer_assets_generate_3d` | `summer assets generate-3d` |
| `assets.generate_image`, `summer_assets_generate_image` | `summer assets generate-image` |
| `assets.generate_motion`, `summer_assets_generate_motion` | `summer assets generate-motion` |
| `assets.generate_video`, `summer_assets_generate_video` | `summer assets generate-video` |
| `assets.get` | `summer assets get` |
| `assets.rig` | `summer assets rig` |
| `assets.upload_begin` | `summer assets upload-begin` |
| `assets.upload_complete` | `summer assets upload-complete` |
| `summer_docs_read` | `summer docs read` |
| `summer_get_debugger_errors` | `summer engine get-debugger-errors` |
| `summer_import_from_url` | `summer engine import-from-url` |
| `summer_inspect_resource` | `summer engine inspect-resource` |
| `summer_play` | `summer engine play` |
| `summer_run_script` | `summer engine run-script` |
| `summer_screenshot` | `summer engine screenshot` |
| `summer_stop` | `summer engine stop` |
| `jobs.wait`, `summer_jobs_wait` | `summer jobs wait` |

## Files in this skill

* [`references/hero-character.md`](https://docs.summerengine.com/skills/hero-art/references/hero-character)
* [`references/splash-art.md`](https://docs.summerengine.com/skills/hero-art/references/splash-art)
* [`references/splash-loop.md`](https://docs.summerengine.com/skills/hero-art/references/splash-loop)

## Related skills

* [`character-model`](https://docs.summerengine.com/skills/character-model): Generate a rigged humanoid (player, NPC, enemy, boss) from a T-pose reference, previewed before rigging.
* [`character-portrait`](https://docs.summerengine.com/skills/character-portrait): Generate one polished character bust for dialogue UI, character select, lore cards or codex entries.
* [`concept-art`](https://docs.summerengine.com/skills/concept-art): Explore art direction with 3-4 rough concept variants of a character, environment or prop.
* [`animated-loop`](https://docs.summerengine.com/skills/animated-loop): Generate a short seamless video loop: splash background, animated logo backdrop, idle title screen.
* [`retarget`](https://docs.summerengine.com/skills/retarget): Apply animation clips from one rigged character to another: one clip library, many models.
* [`character-animation-wiring`](https://docs.summerengine.com/skills/character-animation-wiring): Wire a rigged character end to end: real clips and bones, locomotion states, method tracks, root motion.
* [`animation-tree`](https://docs.summerengine.com/skills/animation-tree): Wire AnimationTree state machines and blend trees: locomotion blends, attack interrupts, hit reactions.

***

Source: [`library/skills/hero-art/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/SummerEngine/summer/blob/main/library/skills/hero-art/SKILL.md), rendered from `summer-engine@4.9.2` on npm.


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