Make video thumbnail
make_thumbnailRender a click-driving YOUTUBE / Shorts / Instagram THUMBNAIL or video cover — the full production pipeline (concept framework → casting → scene → render → surgical tweaks → text), not a bare image prompt. Use this for any "thumbnail", "video cover", "video preview" or MrBeast-style packaging ask INSTEAD of generate_image. About 9 credits per variant; the headline overlay is free.
CONCEPT — every thumbnail must open an INFORMATION GAP (the image raises a question the title answers) while staying truthful to the video. Brainstorm ≥5 concepts across the 16 frameworks before you pick, and feel free to combine two. Frameworks (pass as framework): before_after · social_ui · three_step · screenshot · posed_portrait (the default) · posed_action · specific_day · graphical · landscape · map_aerial · product · adding_text · repetition · size_difference · news_clip · amplified_reality. Call hermoso_capabilities for each one's full 'realize it with' note plus the emotion, overlay-style, font and rim-colour catalogs.
THREE GATES, all BEFORE you render:
WHO IS IN FRAME — never assume and never silently substitute a stranger. If the framework puts a person in frame and no face photo is attached, the tool refuses (nothing rendered, nothing charged) and tells you to ask the user once: themselves (send a face photo → the identity gets locked), a generated person (
castGenericPerson:true), or a people-free framework.TEXT — the default is a CLEAN render with the headline TYPESET OVER THE TOP afterwards (free, always legible, correctly spelled). Just pass
headline. Only setbakeText:trueif the user explicitly asks for the words painted INTO the image — verified live, that renders the asked-for words correctly but leaks garbled invented text across the rest of the frame. Never infer text intent from the topic or the framework.HOW MANY — ask once whether they want one thumbnail or a SET (offer 4: the same concept at different emotions and/or camera takes). Default is 1;
variantscaps at 16.
IDENTITY LOCK is automatic for every attached face photo. emotion is the single biggest CTR lever on a face: shock · hype · fear · confusion · determination · smug · charisma · disgust · awe · rage · laugh (or your own phrase). Finished thumbnail needs a fix? Re-call with tweak + sourceImage for a surgical, pixel-faithful edit (emotion / background / background_color / rim_light) instead of re-rendering — tweaks chain. ALWAYS check the returned postRenderCheck against the image before you present it.
PROMPT LANGUAGE — write every DESCRIPTIVE field in ENGLISH (sceneBrief, keyElements, location, composition, background, topic, each person's describe, and every reference field), translating the user's wording where needed: the image models are trained on English and a non-English scene description renders noticeably worse. Text that gets BAKED OR TYPESET stays verbatim in the user's own language — headline, headlineLines and bakedUiText are never translated.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| font | No | headline font (default Anton). Alternatives incl. Bebas Neue, Oswald, Archivo Black, Montserrat, Inter, Playfair Display | |
| logo | No | a brand logo URL or path to place into the composition | |
| split | No | split/panel LAYOUT — only when the user asks for one ("split", "before/after", "versus screen"). "X vs Y" as a SCENE stays one unified frame | |
| takes | No | camera takes per emotion, 1–4: designed framing / low-angle hero / extreme close-up / wide dutch tilt | |
| topic | No | the video's topic — used to pick the hero object when you don't name keyElements | |
| tweak | No | surgical pixel-faithful edit of a FINISHED thumbnail — needs sourceImage | |
| logo3d | No | first turn the flat logo into a volumetric 3D render (one extra billed image), then composite that | |
| people | No | people described in prose instead of by photo (each still gets the chosen expression) | |
| emotion | No | the expression on the face (default 'shock') — a preset id or your own phrase | |
| bakeText | No | default false. true paints the headline INTO the generation — only on an explicit user ask; it leaks garbled text elsewhere in the frame | |
| emotions | No | render one variant per emotion (variants = emotions × takes, max 16) | |
| headline | No | 2–4 word headline. Typeset OVER the finished render by default (free, always legible); newlines split it into stacked lines | |
| location | No | place, time of day, weather, atmosphere | |
| rimColor | No | colored back+hair light — ONLY when the user names one: 'ice-blue' / 'neon-magenta' / 'toxic-lime' / 'amber-gold' / 'pure-white' | |
| variants | No | how many thumbnails to render (default 1, max 16). Each is its own billed render — offer a set of 4 rather than assuming | |
| framework | No | concept framework id (default 'posed_portrait'); see the list in this description / hermoso_capabilities | |
| reference | No | fields YOU extracted by eye from a reference thumbnail. Extract ALL of: brief (one dense sentence on the concept), subject (pose/action generically, NEVER a specific identity), elements, location, composition, background, split (boolean), split_count, person_count (0-3), emotion (one of the 11 presets or 'other'), emotion_detail (one vivid sentence covering eyes, brows, mouth, head angle). emotion + emotion_detail carry the reference's actual facial performance, which is the single biggest CTR lever on a face; split/split_count reproduce its panel structure. The reference image itself is never sent to the model | |
| background | No | override the default bold saturated colour-field background | |
| faceImages | No | up to 3 face photos (URLs or local paths) — each becomes a locked CHARACTER identity, in order | |
| sceneBrief | No | what the thumbnail depicts — the concept in one dense sentence, rendered exactly | |
| aspectRatio | No | '16:9' (YouTube, default) / '9:16' (Shorts) / '4:5' (Instagram) / '4:3' / '1:1' | |
| bakedUiText | No | short label for a text-carrying framework (a chat bubble, a DAY N badge, a news lower-third, a map callout) — needs frameworkRequested:true | |
| composition | No | override the default large-foreground-subject composition | |
| keyElements | No | signature props / effects that make it pop — oversized, flying toward camera | |
| sourceImage | No | the finished thumbnail URL a `tweak` edits; tweaks chain, so feed each accepted output into the next | |
| overlayStyle | No | headline style: 'beast' (default, white + heavy black stroke) / 'fire' / 'neon-lime' / 'clean-glass' / 'marker' | |
| forceGenerate | No | render the 'screenshot' framework anyway (it is normally a real video frame, not a generation) | |
| headlineLines | No | explicit headline lines (up to 3) — overrides splitting `headline` on newlines | |
| headlinePlace | No | where the headline sits — never over the face (default 'bottom') | |
| restrainedGrade | No | true for a calm / premium / muted look instead of the default punchy poster grade | |
| castGenericPerson | No | pass true only after the user has explicitly chosen a generated stranger over their own face | |
| frameworkRequested | No | true ONLY when the USER named this framework — it is what authorizes a text-carrying framework (social_ui / news_clip / specific_day / map_aerial) to bake its short UI label |