CoD Ultimate Thumbnail Workflow

SkillMedia

The master workflow for Jamey "Quix". Transforms CoD screenshots into 3D Blender-style renders, composites them onto backgrounds, and applies a heavy YouTube thumbnail enhancement stack focused on weapon sharpness and vibrant (but controlled) environments.

Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.

Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.

Then ask your AI: use the CoD Ultimate Thumbnail Workflow skill

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by alecs5am/ralphy in notes/skills/cod-ultimate-thumbnail/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

This is the consolidated production pipeline for Quix. It combines 3D rendering, environmental compositing, and thumbnail enhancement into a prioritized sequence.

Trigger

Use this when the user (Quix) provides a weapon screenshot (and optionally a background) and asks for a "render", "composite", "thumbnail", or "enhance".

The Pipeline

  • Phase 1: The Blender Render (Blender Look + Better Lighting)

Even if compositing later, the weapon must first be transformed from flat game graphics into a photorealistic 3D asset.

Model: nano_banana_2

Goal: Convert game camo/meshes into PBR materials (glossy metals, emissive glows, subsurface scattering on skin). Lighting: Three-point studio lighting (Soft Key, Fill, Rim). Look: "Blender Cycles path-traced render, ultra-detailed photorealistic 3D model." Phase 2: The Composite (Environment Integration) If a background is provided, the Phase 1 render is placed into the scene.

Model: imagegen_2_0 (or nano_banana_2 if matching exact pixels is critical). Lighting Match: The lighting from the render must be adjusted to match the background environment's color temperature and direction. Phase 3: The Quix Enhancement (Aggressive Focus + Controlled Background) The final pass that makes the image "stop the scroll."

Foreground Priority: Aggressive sharpening on weapon body, hex patterns, and camos. Razor-crisp edges. Background Control: Vibrant and clear sky/environment, but with a slight radial zoom blur to ensure the weapon is the undisputed subject. No Vignette: Avoid dark edges. Quix prefers clean, bright, and punchy.

Prompt Construction

3D Render & Placement Prompt (Unified Pass 1) If you have both a weapon and a background, you can often run this as a single high-quality pass:

text

Composite the weapon inspect from reference 1 onto the environment in reference 2.

RE-RENDER the weapon as a high-end 3D Blender Cycles render:

  • Transform the [name/description of camo] into a PBR material with metallic reflectivity and soft emissive bloom on glowing parts.
  • Preserve the exact first-person silhouette and hand placement from reference 1.
  • Apply high-end studio lighting to the weapon: soft highlights on the upper surfaces, subtle rim light to separate it from the background.

ENVIRONEMENT & COMPOSITION:

  • Place the weapon naturally into the [background map] from reference 2.
  • Match lighting color temperature and direction from the background onto the weapon/hands.
  • Foreground weapon must be aggressively sharpened and razor-crisp.
  • Add a slight radial zoom blur to the background environment to draw focus to the weapon.
  • Boost overall vibrancy and saturation, keeping the sky vivid but the background environment slightly softened compared to the hyper-sharp weapon.

Absolutely NO text, NO UI, NO HUD, NO minimap, NO vignette, NO dark edges. Clean YouTube thumbnail plate. Model Selection & Parameters Generator: imagegen_2_0 (GPT Image 2) for the best text/detail control, or nano_banana_2 for strict pixel preservation of the weapon silhouette. Resolution: 2k (mandatory for Quix's sharpness requirements). Quality: high. Aspect Ratio: 16:9.

Multi-Image Handling

medias[0]: Weapon Inspect Screenshot (media_input) medias[1]: Background/Map Screenshot (media_input) Pitfalls Don't over-blur the background: Quix wants it "vibrant but not too much" and "controlled." Keep the background blur subtle (slight camera zoom feel) rather than a heavy gaussian wash. Focus is the Weapon: All sharpening and contrast boosts should be centered on the weapon and camo details.

Signals

GitHub stars
134
Forks
13
Last commit
Sep 2026
Advanced
Catalog kind
skill
Gateway key
cod-ultimate-thumbnail
Source
github.com/alecs5am/ralphy
CoD Ultimate Thumbnail Workflow: Skill · ahel