Make a comic from a photo

Read the picsart-video-rules skill first. One job: a photo of a person in; a ComicMe creation out, with the person as its hero. ComicMe makes six things from a photo, each through its own tool, and this use case covers them all: the user picks one first (stage 1), then the photos, then the settings, and every one is quoted before anything is charged. The stages below are written for the comic book and apply to each of the others the same way, with that tool's schema in place of picsart_comic_create's (see "Each thing ComicMe makes" at the end). A poster or a single picture is another use case: when the user wants one of those, start that use case instead.

1. What to make

The choice comes before anything else, the photo included. When the request already names it ("make me a reel", "an anime series of us"), take it and go on. Otherwise ASK (with your host's own question tool, such as AskUserQuestion, so the options are buttons the user taps, the recommended one first; only where the host has none, the options numbered in one message; in unattended pace, never ask: write it to the project record's openDecisions with the answer you assumed, as picsart-video-rules says), the comic book first, one line each on what comes out. Stages 1 to 4 are boards of buttons, never lists the user answers by typing, one per turn, as the picsart-video-rules skill says under How you talk to the user. Where the host has no question tool of its own, the board is picsart_ask, one question per call, its answer read from the user's next turn, with recommended left unset: the option to take first is simply first, and no badge says so. The quote's yes in stage 6 is never put on that board.

• A comic book: drawn pages with them as the hero, picsart_comic_create.
• A tale: an illustrated storybook, picsart_comic_create_tale.
• An animated video: pages drawn and animated into one narrated video, picsart_comic_create_video.
• A motion episode: a vertical video of several animated shots with speech and music, picsart_comic_create_episode.
• A reel: one short vertical clip, picsart_comic_create_reel.
• An anime series: several episodes from a story idea and the characters' photos, picsart_comic_create_series.

A narrated quote video, picsart_comic_create_aphorism, needs no photo: offer it only when the user asks for words on screen rather than themselves. Keep the choice in the project record; the stages below name that tool wherever they say picsart_comic_create.

2. The genre

Read the request before you ask (the picsart-video-rules skill's Asking): a value the request already named ("make me a horror comic") is taken and said back, and its board is skipped. That holds for stages 2 to 4. The values and their defaults are in picsart_comic_create's own schema, never written here.

The genre (genre): one board, 2–4 of the schema's values, the default first, each with one line on the world it draws the hero into.

3. The art style

The art style (artStyle): one board, 2–4 of the schema's values, the default first, each with one line on the line and colour it gives every page.

4. The length

How many pages (pageCount): one board, the default first, then more, within the schema's limit; more pages cost more and take longer. The other creations ask their own length from their schema the same way, one board: a reel's durationSeconds, an episode's shotCount, a series' totalEpisodes.

Derive, then say: the tone (tone) follows the genre or the user's words, from the schema's values, or is left to the tool; the language (language) is the language they wrote in.

Ideas get words, not options. When the user tells their own story, keep it as plot, with a title, a heroName and a nemesisName when they gave them: the tool then draws their story under the premise "Custom". Otherwise leave premise to the tool. Never ask for a story the user did not offer: a comic needs none.

"Just make it" takes the defaults and says them as assumed (Asking, rule 6).

5. The photos, as URLs

After the last setting's answer, open picsart_drive_upload_ask for the hero's photo, and say in its prompt that a second person can join from a second photo: the friend of a comic book (friendImage), the companion of a tale (companionImage), either of those for a video or an episode by its style, the secondaryImage of a reel. An anime series takes every character's photo in that one panel, the first the protagonist (characterImages). Ask for all of them in that first panel, as the picsart-video-rules skill says under Asset URLs; the panel is the ASK, and the URLs arrive with the user's next message.

Each goes in as an https URL a Picsart tool returned in this conversation, as those same rules say (a link or an attachment with picsart_drive_upload, a photo in their Picsart Drive with picsart_drive_list); a file on disk, where you can run shell commands, comes in with picsart_upload_local_files, as its description says. The hero's URL is heroImage. One upload serves the whole conversation.

6. The quote

picsart_comic_create charges credits for every page it draws, and gives no quote of its own: say that each page is charged, that the amount is not known in advance, and the balance from picsart_credits, in one message, then SPEND (quote it in one line, then get the yes with your host's own question tool, such as AskUserQuestion, "Yes, go ahead" / "Yes, up to N credits for this task" / "No", never as a typed question; only where the host has no such tool, those options numbered in one message; unless a spend limit the user stated covers it: N credits or an explicit no-limit ("as much as needed"), never inferred from words like "go ahead". Within it, ask nothing: quote it in one line ("About 8 credits; 12 of 20 left after this"), call it, then say what it spent and what remains, keeping a running total that includes failed calls, and stop to ask before the first call that would cross it. A money amount is asked once to restate it in credits; in unattended pace, never ask: call only with a consent or a stated spend limit already recorded, otherwise write the quote to pendingSpends and stop, as picsart-video-rules says). A page the tool could not draw is not charged. When the balance looks short, offer fewer pages. When the result carries a link to top up, give it exactly as returned.

7. Draw it

One picsart_comic_create call, with every input from stages 1 to 5. It answers with a job receipt, not the comic: drawing takes a few minutes. Pass the receipt's job verbatim to picsart_job_status until it reports the result, as the picsart-video-rules skill's Tools says. While it runs, say in one line that the pages are being drawn. Never call picsart_comic_create again while its job runs: a second call draws and charges a second comic.

A FAILED job carries a user-facing error: give it, and offer another photo or fewer pages, which is a new SPEND.

8. Show it

COMPLETED carries result.pages, each with its page number and url, the same pages in order as image assets in result.assets, and result.comicId. SHOW every page as a link, in order, with one line each on what it is: "the cover", "page 1". Look at the cover as the host notes say under "Looking at an image", and say in one line what the hero looks like in it. A number in result.failedPages is a page that could not be drawn: say so, and that it was not charged.

Keep result.comicId in the project record: it names this comic in a later turn. Then offer one next step in a sentence (another genre, more pages, a comic for the friend), and do it only on a yes: it is a new SPEND.

Each thing ComicMe makes

Stage 1's choice names the tool. Each is a job like the comic's: the same stages, the same quote before anything is charged, the same picsart_job_status polling with the receipt's job verbatim, and never a second call while the job runs. The values and their defaults are in each tool's own schema.

• A tale, an illustrated storybook: picsart_comic_create_tale, with a setting, artStyle, tone, theme and premise of its own and a companionImage for a second person; charged per page; its result carries result.taleId.
• An animated video drawn from the photo and narrated: picsart_comic_create_video, in the comic or tale style; charged per page; its result carries result.url and result.videoId.
• A motion episode, a vertical video of several animated shots with speech and music, as long as its shotCount and clipSeconds make it, within the schema's bounds: picsart_comic_create_episode; charged once; its result carries result.url and result.episodeId.
• A reel, one short vertical clip, as long as its durationSeconds within the schema's bounds: picsart_comic_create_reel, with the user's own story when they told one and a secondaryImage for a second person; charged once; its result carries result.url and result.episodeId.
• A narrated quote video, no photo needed: picsart_comic_create_aphorism, with the text and its author; charged once; its result carries result.url.
• An anime series of several episodes from a story idea and the characters' photos, as many as the schema's characterImages allows: picsart_comic_create_series, with storyIdea, characterImages and totalEpisodes; charged per finished episode, and the job runs a long time; its result carries result.episodes, result.fullVideoUrl when there is one, and result.seriesId. Say the length and the per-episode charge before the quote.
• A video of a comic or tale that already exists: picsart_comic_export_video with the comicId or taleId kept in the project record; free; its result carries result.url.

A video or a clip is SHOWN as its link, the way a page is; a series is shown episode by episode.

When a call fails

• The photo refused ("URL refused", a local path): get a URL (stage 2), then call again.
• A setting refused: read the value from the tool's schema, correct it, and quote again.
• The job is not found: the receipt was changed on the way back. Give what you have, and offer to draw the comic again, which charges again.