Prompting Guide

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Basics

• Input video: What Lucy can see and track.
• Reference image: The visual material for an edit. It may not show every angle the video needs.
• Prompt: The change you want. Describe the edit, not every visible detail — enhancement fills in the rest.

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Choosing an input video

• Keeps the subject fully visible and well lit.
• Holds steady framing, and avoids fast motion, motion blur, and heavy occlusion.
• Uses a clean, uncluttered background, especially for background edits.

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Core prompting principles

• What should change? Describe the intended result: a new appearance, object, character, or scene.
• Where is the change applied? Anchor the edit to a visible location, such as a body part, garment detail, object surface, or background.
• How does it interact and move? Say how the edit attaches to the subject and holds up as the subject moves. Name the physical behavior — attaches to, wraps around, trails with motion, reflects on, casts light on, or is occluded by — so the result tracks the subject instead of looking pasted on.
• What stays the same? Name the details the edit should not affect, such as physical features, garment details, or objects.

Add blue smoke and white smoke to the person's shoulders. It follows their movement, billows outward, and passes behind their arms and body. Keep their face, clothing, and background unchanged.

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Using reference images

• Show the intended item or style clearly and completely, with the full subject visible and centered.
• Keep important details visible, such as shape, material, color, pattern, and fit.
• Avoid cluttered backgrounds, occlusion, and extra people or objects.
• Use a sharp, lightly compressed image, about 1280px on the longest side.
• Pad unusual aspect ratios to the output orientation — 16:9 landscape or 9:16 portrait — instead of cropping or upscaling.

• Name the item, character, or style to use.
• Call out the visual details that matter, such as color, material, texture, shape, pattern, logo placement, or fit.
• State where or how it should appear in the video.
• Ignore reference details that are not part of the edit, such as the reference subject’s pose, lighting, or background.

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Prompt templates and examples

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Character transformation

• Original person
• Space explorer
• Cartoon chef
• Día de Muertos

Template:

Replace the character in the video with <description of character>.

Prompt:

Replace the character in the video with a silver-armored space explorer with a reflective blue visor, white gloves, glowing shoulder lights, and a short navy cape.

Prompt:

Replace the character in the video with a cheerful cartoon chef wearing a tall white hat, red neck scarf, double-breasted jacket, and round glasses.

Prompt:

Replace the character in the video with the Día de Muertos festival dancer from the reference image. She has tangerine and ivory face paint, an orange flower crown, a black dress with blue and orange floral embroidery, cream lace edging, a tiered skirt, and a fringed shawl.

• Capture the character’s defining traits, not just how it looks — its materials, textures, and how they move, like rigid armor, flowing fabric, or glowing energy.
• Include distinctive details the reference may not show, such as wings, a tail, a shield, a backpack, or a cape.

• If the person’s face or identity changes: This is the expected behavior – use Virtual Try-on (VTON) for costume changes that preserve identity.

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Add objects

• Original subject
• Macaw parrot
• Blue helmet
• Cape

Template:

Add <description of object> to <where it should appear>.

Prompt:

Add two blue, yellow, white, and green macaw parrots to each of the person's shoulders.

Prompt:

Add the sparkly blue helmet to the person's head. The helmet has wings, chrome flames, and a transparent yellow glass visor that shows the person's face inside.

Prompt:

Add a long sparkly blue cape attached to the person's shoulders. The cape has a stand collar, an opening for arms, silver trim, and a yellow inner fabric.

• Describe the new object in detail — its parts, colors, and material properties.
• When adding more than one, say how many and where each one goes.

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Replace objects or features

• Original objects
• Heart glasses
• Tropical plants
• Fountain

Template:

Replace <description of object or detail> with <description of change>.

Prompt:

Replace the person's sunglasses with the heart-shaped sunglasses, including the glossy hot-pink frame and mirrored rose-tint lenses.

Prompt:

Replace the plants in the background with tropical foliage.

Prompt:

Replace the fence with a waterfall-style fountain along the edge of the deck.

• To change many similar elements, name the category — like the plants in the background — instead of listing each one.
• Describe what you want to see, not how the edit should be done.

• If the original still shows through the replacement: Describe the new object in full, including the parts that should change.

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Change attribute

• Original items
• Headphones color
• Sweater and bag
• Camo crossbody bag

Template:

Change <object or feature> to <new color, material, texture, or style>.

Prompt:

Change the material of the person's headphones to glossy orange plastic.

Prompt:

Make the person's sweater medium blue and his bag white leather.

Prompt:

Change the material of the person's black bag and its strap to the camouflage print from the reference image.

• Describe material properties — gloss, transparency, reflectivity, weave, finish, or graphic placement — not just the base color.
• Change one or a few related attributes at once, and keep each one specific.
• Try a reference image to apply a specific pattern or texture.

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Remove objects

Remove <object> from <where it appears>.

Remove the woman sitting on the bench and the book she's holding so the result shows the people moving in the background.

Remove the cyclist behind the woman so the result shows only the path, bushes, trees, and grass in the background.

Remove the large yellow sun umbrella, including its pole and cast shadow, so the result shows the woman in full sunlight.

• Describe what should be visible after removal — the surface or background behind the object, including its texture and lighting.
• When removal changes what remains, such as the lighting or shadows on nearby objects, describe the new state.

• If a shadow or outline of the removed object remains: Name it in the prompt so it’s removed along with the object.

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Change background

• Original background
• Festive street
• Fall hike
• Art deco concourse

Template:

Change the background to <description of scene>.

Prompt:

Change the background to a Mediterranean street scene with streamers and flags that blow in the breeze.

Prompt:

Change the background to a nature preserve in fall with red and yellow trees and river rapids flowing beside the dirt trail.

Prompt:

Change the background to an art deco concourse with softly glowing overhead lights.

• Say how background elements should move — flags blowing, water flowing — so the scene isn’t static.
• To help the subject and new background read as one scene, try matching the light — direction, color, and time of day.
• Keep the prompt focused on the background change — extra instructions about the subject may steer the model toward changing the person instead.
• The background may be fit to the input’s framing and camera angle rather than copied 1:1 from the reference — treat the image as a guide to the look, not an exact layout.

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Restyle the entire video

Transform the entire scene into <style keyword or description>.

Transform the entire scene into a watercolor painting.

Transform the entire scene into a Japanese woodblock print with flat layered color, carved linework, visible grain, and simplified shadows.

Transform the entire scene into a handcrafted crocheted world with chunky yarn surfaces, stitched details, soft fibers, and rounded three-dimensional forms.

• Name a specific style — a 2D or 3D technique like oil painting or origami, or a material like clay or yarn applied across the whole scene.
• Describe one style through concrete traits, such as palette, texture, brushstroke, linework, or material.

• If the restyle flickers between styles: Use one well-defined style — avoid vague labels like ‘artistic’ or ‘stylized,’ and don’t mix several styles in one prompt.