Origami dragon folds into metal
Origami dragon animation: a paper square folds into a dragon, turns to metal and flies, in 9:16. Copy the prompt into Claude and recolour it.
On a walnut desk under a lamp at night, a creased paper square folds itself into a dragon. The creases glow, pleated wings fan open and a sweep of light turns the paper into glossy metal panels. Its eyes ignite, it loops the lamp, lands on a pencil cup, puffs a spark and a two-word line rises.
Edit both words of the end line (one white, one glowing), the metal panel colour, the glow colour for creases, eyes and core, and the paper colour. It suits toy and gadget brands, game studios and craft channels posting vertical clips to TikTok, Reels or Shorts.
Use it for
- Toy brand vertical teaser
- Game studio mascot reveal
- Craft channel Shorts intro
Specs
- Length: 16 seconds
- Format: vertical 9:16 (1080x1920), 30 fps
- Built with: Three.js in HyperFrames
- Category: 3D
What happens, beat by beat
- 0 to 1.5 s. The camera looks down at 62 degrees and pushes in. Amber light races outward along the creases from the centre, facet by facet, with a bright head at the front. The first…
- 1.5 to 4 s. Steady 3/4 view. The pleats collapse into a strip with three crease flashes. The sheet lifts off the desk, the fans swing up, the body pops into volume, the neck and tail…
- 4 to 5.8 s. The wings snap open (back ease). A glowing seam sweeps from tail to head, shedding sparks. Behind it the paper becomes red clearcoat metal: panels thicken and inset, brass ribs appear on…
- 5.8 to 7.6 s. Low and close on the head: the neck rears, the jaw opens, and the eyes ignite at 6.4 s with a flicker and anamorphic glints.
- 7.6 to 9.7 s. A crouch, then takeoff with dust and a shock ring on the desk. In one wide shot it banks round the lamp shade, backlit amber, wings at the top of their stroke…
- 9.7 to 11.5 s. It hovers. A long-lens push (fov down to 12, camera at least 6 units away) onto the chest window: three brass gears turning round a small ember behind domed glass.
- 11.5 to 16 s. It glides down and flares onto a teal pencil cup rim: landing ring, body squash, three-frame camera jolt. The head rears back and puffs a spark burst with a little smoke. Embers…
- From 12.7 s. [word 1] in white, then [word 2] in a glowing gradient, each rising 40 px and unblurring, over a soft radial dark scrim near the top. They stay to the end.
Light: a night desk
- The only bright source is the lamp spot (2700 K, soft PCF shadows), with a faint additive beam cone and dust motes, a dark enamel shade with a warm unlit…
- Camera-relative lights: a cool rim spot from back-right that turns amber during the loop, with a distance cut-off so the desk beyond stays dark.
- Bake a PMREM environment from soft-edged emissive cards (warm lamp glow, dim cool strip, front fill, wood bounce) so clearcoat reflections stay warm.
- Procedural walnut desk fading into a dark backdrop, a contact shadow under the dragon, a teal glazed cup holding pencils.
How the prompt opens
Make a silent 16-second, 9:16 (1080x1920, 30 fps) motion piece in full-frame Three.js. At night on a walnut desk under an architect lamp, a paper square with sunburst creases folds itself into a dragon. Its creases glow, its pleated wings fan open and a glowing sweep turns the paper into glossy [metal colour, e.g. #c41f17 red] panels. Its eyes ignite, it loops the lamp, shows a glowing core in its chest, then lands on a pencil cup, puffs a spark, and [end line, e.g. "Fold. Fly."] rises over it. The toy is an invented example (e.g. a paper-toy brand called [brand name, e.g. Ember]). Swap in your own words and colours.
The full prompt runs 1,089 words. Copy it free (2 a day) from this page.
Copy the prompt into Claude, or pull the scene into Claude Code and render the MP4 on your machine: how it works.