Flat pastel shading simplifies forms and keeps edges clean, which is ideal for looping motion where flicker and shading crawl are common. 2.5D stage lighting adds depth and spotlight drama without breaking the flat look, letting dancers pop against minimal backgrounds. Together, you get vibrant, readable loops that compress well for social and live visuals.

• Palette: low-saturation pastels with 1–2 accent hues. Keep luminance steps small to avoid banding.
• Shading: avoid soft airbrush gradients; prefer large, flat shapes with gentle ramps only on focal areas (face, limbs).
• Lines: thin to medium outlines; use consistent stroke weight. Optional colored lines (slightly darker than fill hue).
• Texture: minimal. If used, apply subtle paper grain uniformly to reduce flicker.
• Backgrounds: flat planes, soft haze, simple shapes. Let stage lighting create separation.

Goal: fake dimensional lighting while preserving the flat style.

• Depth/NORMALS: generate a depth map from source frames (or use a depth control). Convert to normals to inform rim and key lights.
• Key/Rim: place a soft key at 30–45° and a cool rim/backlight for silhouette clarity.
• Gobos/Haze: add subtle volumetric cones and light cutouts for stage feel. Keep intensity low to avoid gradient banding.
• Color harmony: pick light colors from your pastel palette; balance warm key vs. cool rim.
• Consistency: lock light rig across frames; avoid animated light positions unless the loop demands it.

• Source: short dance clips, motion-captured poses, or pose image sequences.
• Duration: 2, 4, or 8 seconds typically; 12 or 24 fps for stylized cadence.
• Loop types: cyclic (first=last pose) or boomerang (forward then reverse). Cyclic is cleaner for stage lighting.
• Beat alignment: align loop length to music bars (e.g., 2 sec at 120 BPM = 4 beats).

Base style prompt: "flat pastel shading, minimal gradients, clean linework, soft rim light, stage spotlights, volumetric haze, low-contrast pastel palette, smooth edges, studio idol dance on stage"

Subject prompt examples:

• "solo idol dancer, medium shot, dynamic choreography, stage background, confetti subtle"
• "duo dance performance, synchronized poses, pastel stage props"

Lighting cues: "2.5D stage lights, warm key light 45 degrees, cool blue rim backlight, gentle haze, soft shadows"

Negative prompts: "photorealistic, glossy specular, harsh shadows, heavy noise, messy outlines, high-contrast gradients, color banding"

Strength tips:

• Keep style tokens early. Repeat "flat pastel shading" once midway if models drift.
• Add "consistent lighting rig" or "static light direction" for stability.

• Pose: use pose control to lock choreography (OpenPose or similar). Keyframe key poses at loop boundaries.
• Depth/Normals: guide 2.5D lighting with depth maps; ensure consistent camera.
• Face: apply face refinement only on keyframes to avoid jitter; keep it subtle to preserve flat shading.
• Motion prior: use a dance motion model or short reference clip for rhythm; constrain strength to reduce wobble.

1. Video-to-video stylization

• Input: a clean dance clip with steady camera.
• Steps: extract frames → pose + depth control → apply flat pastel style model/LoRA → add 2.5D light cues via prompts or shading pass → encode.
• Pros: best timing and rhythm. Cons: may inherit artifacts from source.

2. Pose sequence to video (image sequence)

• Input: generated or curated pose frames.
• Steps: create pose frames at 24 fps → condition style render with depth → light with warm key + cool rim → inpaint hands/face on keyframes.
• Pros: more stylized control. Cons: needs careful interpolation for smoothness.

3. Keyframes + motion interpolation

• Input: 6–12 keyframes that define the loop.
• Steps: render high-quality flat pastel keyframes → 2.5D lighting pass → interpolate (optical flow) to target fps → fix artifacts with light denoise pass.
• Pros: fast and art-directed. Cons: can smear; verify hands and hair.

• Base: choose a toon/cel/flat-style base with gentle color response.
• LoRAs: pastel/flat shading, linework refinement, idol/stage attire (light weight 0.5–0.8).
• Order: apply style first, then subject specifics. Avoid stacking too many look-specific LoRAs—flat styles clip easily.
• CFG and noise: lower CFG (3.5–6) reduces banding; moderate denoise (0.25–0.45) preserves outlines.

• Palette: predefine 5–8 colors (3 base, 2 accents, 3 for lights/shadows). Reuse across shots.
• Dither: add subtle ordered dither or 1–2% noise before compression to hide banding in large flats.
• Gradients: when needed, restrict to face and spotlight falloff; keep small luminance deltas.
• Export bit depth: render at 10-bit if possible; downconvert with dithering for delivery.

• Flicker in flats: reduce denoise, stabilize seed across frames, add tiny dithering noise before encode.
• Lighting drift: lock camera and light tokens; avoid animated light prompts.
• Hand/face mess: guide with regional control or inpaint on keyframes, then propagate.
• Washed colors: raise saturation slightly in post; keep contrast low to maintain pastel feel.
• Loop mismatch: ensure first/last pose and light state match; crossfade 2–3 frames if needed.

• Duration: 2–8 seconds depending on platform.
• Frame rates: 24 fps for cinematic; 12 fps for stylized toon. Keep consistent across pipeline.
• GIF: 640–720px, 256-color palette with diffusion dither; cap at 8 MB.
• WebM/MP4: VP9 or H.264, 6–10 Mbps for 1080p; enable two-pass for cleaner flats.
• Looping: set container loop flag (GIF) or rely on platform settings (WebM/MP4).

• Pastel neon: darker stage with neon pastel accents and stronger rim.
• Paper cutout: add paper grain and slight drop shadow to mimic layered card.
• K-pop showcase: bright key, colorful gobos, fast 2s loops on beat.
• VTuber live: character on virtual stage plates; keep palettes brand-aligned.