Paper Video Cover
Generate a Gemini/SUSTech 16:10 cover from a paper directory. The generator installs output only after LaTeX compilation and PNG conversion both succeed.
Package and setup
The installed uv project is:
<SKILLS_DIR>/paper-video-cover
It manages its Pillow dependency and includes both required themes:
<SKILLS_DIR>/paper-video-cover/templates/beamerthemegemini.sty
<SKILLS_DIR>/paper-video-cover/templates/beamercolorthemesustech.sty
LuaLaTeX and Poppler pdftoppm are external tools. Both must resolve before
generation. Each tool is resolved in order: explicit CLI flag, LUALATEX or
PDFTOPPM environment variable, then PATH. An invalid higher-priority override
is fatal and is not bypassed.
Run
uv run --project "<SKILLS_DIR>/paper-video-cover" `
"<SKILLS_DIR>/paper-video-cover/scripts/generate_poster.py" `
"<paper_dir>"
Default output is <paper_dir>/poster. Select another directory with:
uv run --project "<SKILLS_DIR>/paper-video-cover" `
"<SKILLS_DIR>/paper-video-cover/scripts/generate_poster.py" `
"<paper_dir>" --output-dir "<output_dir>"
Options:
--data <json>: optional JSON overrides.--scheme <default|lab|bilibili>: SUSTech colour scheme (defaultdefault; 实验室调研 usesbilibilito match the lab-survey deck).--title-font <points>: override the automatic title size.--output-dir <directory>: final output directory.--lualatex <path-or-command>: explicit LuaLaTeX executable.--pdftoppm <path-or-command>: explicitpdftoppmexecutable.
PNG generation is mandatory; a successful output contains non-empty
poster.tex, poster.pdf, and poster.png, plus copied themes and converted
figures. The build occurs in a sibling temporary directory, so a failed build
does not replace an existing final output.
Lab survey poster generator (实验室调研, generate_lab_poster.py)
For 实验室调研 surveys use scripts/generate_lab_poster.py instead of the generic
path — it fills the repo poster template
(<TEMPLATE_DIR>/main_template_lab_poster.tex, source of truth;
fallback copy in templates/) with the DECK's 可视化分析 section-divider format:
full-bleed slides-beamer/figures/background.png (REQUIRED — fatal if missing;
if the deck lacks one, build it with
paper-group-to-beamer/scripts/gen_viz_background.py --survey-dir "<LAB_DIR>")
- FOUR white rounded shadow boxes (rows): 实验室调研+date pair / institute block (brand-colour eyebrow + English line) / Prof. name / title_2+title_3 with emph rule. NO metric row, NO blurb, NO lab-name line.
NOTE (2026-08-07 default change): the poster is the REQUIRED ARTIFACT for lab dirs (the uploader fails closed without poster/poster.png), but the Bilibili UPLOAD COVER defaults to the deck's FIRST SLIDE (video/cover.png) — do NOT copy the poster over video/cover.png; keep the pipeline's slide-001 render. See lab-survey-to-bilibili-runbook.
uv run --project "<SKILLS_DIR>/paper-video-cover" \
"<SKILLS_DIR>/paper-video-cover/scripts/generate_lab_poster.py" \
"<LAB_DIR>" --data "<LAB_DIR>/poster_data.json"
--data JSON: title_1_pi is REQUIRED (≤30 chars). Naming convention:
中文名 PI → xxx教授（如 李飞飞教授、刘华平教授）; 非教授角色不加
Prof./教授（如 Sergey Levine 等联合创始人）; 英文名教授 →
Prof. First Last（如 Prof. Yann LeCun）.
title_1_uni optional (width budget 40 units, CJK glyph = 2 units, other =
1, e.g. 纽约大学 = 8, Physical Intelligence = 21; empty → line dropped),
title_1_uni_color optional (#RRGGBB — the institute's LOGO brand colour,
e.g. NYU 57068B, Stanford 8C1515, CMU C41230, Berkeley 003262,
Tsinghua 660874, SUSTech 2C5F7C, HKUST 003366; institutes without a
brand colour default to black 000000),
title_1_uni_en optional (≤40 chars, e.g. NEW YORK UNIVERSITY) — the title
block renders the university as an institute-brand-colour eyebrow (25pt
semibold in title_1_uni_color, 0.25em CJK tracking auto-inserted by the
generator, side dashes 80×3px at 50% of the brand colour), the English small
line (13pt #8A8F98), then the Prof. name (55pt pink bold, single line). title_2/title_3 optional (width budget 30 units each,
e.g. 从卷积网络到世界模型 = 18, IEEE Fellow 2026 = 15; empty parts drop
their line). date (optional, default today) fills the date block. Corpus
stats from papers.json are informational only — a missing file degrades with
a warning, never fails the run. NO lab-name line, NO blurb line, NO metric row,
and NO · separators. Example:
title_1_uni="纽约大学", title_1_uni_en="NEW YORK UNIVERSITY",
title_1_pi="Prof. Yann LeCun", title_2="从卷积网络到世界模型",
title_3="图灵奖得主的40年深度学习谱系". The upload title in
video_meta.json keeps the full {机构缩写} {PI姓名}教授：主题 — Hook format
independently. Poster layout (tikz rounded boxes with drop shadows over the
deck's 可视化分析 background): FOUR rows in a 0.6971\textwidth container,
absolutely centered on the page (fixed top 0.107\textheight / bottom
0.103\textheight offsets; stack ≈ 77% of the page): row 1 =
实验室调研 + 〈DATE〉 pair (0.3092\textwidth text width each, 32pt, height
0.1250\textheight); row 2 = institute block — NYU Purple eyebrow (25pt
semibold, side dashes) + English line 13pt (0.6706\textwidth, height
0.1250\textheight); row 3 = Prof. name block (55pt pink bold single line,
0.6706\textwidth, height 0.1806\textheight); row 4 = title_2/title_3 + rule
at 37pt (height 0.2153\textheight). Gaps: horizontal 0.0258\textwidth /
vertical 0.0417\textheight (60 px both ways in the 2324×1440 reference
canvas).
--scheme default bilibili
(deck-matching); --template/--theme-dir override the repo paths (deck
sustech-theme is copied into the build). Token contract (fatal if unreplaced
on code lines): 〈DATE〉〈TITLE1UNI〉〈TITLE1UNIEN〉〈TITLE1PI〉〈TITLE2〉〈TITLE3〉.
Compiles with xelatex (two passes; the deck theme is xelatex-only) and renders
poster.png at 300 dpi (32×20 cm page → ~3780×2363 px); output <LAB_DIR>/poster/.
Gotcha — spaces in large title text: TikZ nodes + \fontsize{72}{84} under
the sustech theme drop interword spaces (even \ ); the generator therefore
converts plain spaces in title_1/2/3 to \hspace{0.25em} glue (verified via
pdftotext: NYU Prof. Yann LeCun keeps its spaces).
Gotcha — row centering and block widths: (1) an \hbox to \containerwidth
is NOT a paragraph line and \centering will not center it — rows must be
\hbox to \textwidth{\hss … \hss} so the content centers inside the full line.
(2) tikz text width with a \dimexpr-based macro can raise Dimension too large on the 32 cm paper — use literal widths (e.g. 0.44\textwidth). (3) a
tikz node's outer width = text width + 2×inner sep — subtract the sep
padding from the width macros so box edges land exactly on the container.
Gotcha — full-bleed background: the poster geometry MUST be
\geometry{papersize={32cm,20cm},margin=0cm}. Any positive margin offsets
beamer's background-canvas origin to the text-area top, producing a white strip
across the top (~1.1 cm for margin=1.1cm) and clipping the background image's
top edge. Verify after every poster build: top/bottom 3% rows of poster.png
must have ~0 white pixels (PIL scan).
Lab survey posters (实验室调研)
Chinese titles are supported (the generated preamble loads ctex; the beamer
title fallback no longer strips CJK). The poster title follows the upload-title
format {机构缩写} {PI姓名}教授：主题 — Hook (e.g.
NYU 杨立昆教授：从卷积网络到世界模型 — 图灵奖得主的40年深度学习谱系 /
清华刘华平教授：机器人具身智能 — 从视触觉到操作学习). Run with
--scheme bilibili and a --data JSON:
{
"title_1_uni": "纽约大学",
"title_1_uni_en": "NEW YORK UNIVERSITY",
"title_1_uni_color": "57068B",
"title_1_pi": "Prof. Yann LeCun",
"title_2": "从卷积网络到世界模型",
"title_3": "图灵奖得主的40年深度学习谱系",
"date": "2026-08-06"
}
The palette source of truth is <TEMPLATE_DIR>/sustech-theme/beamercolorthemesustech.sty
(default blue / lab red / bilibili pink); the deck theme is copied into the
build and the frame compiles under xelatex (the deck's engine). The background
slides-beamer/figures/background.png must exist (the deck's 可视化分析 divider
background) — the generator fails closed without it.
Example with explicit tools:
uv run --project "<SKILLS_DIR>/paper-video-cover" `
"<SKILLS_DIR>/paper-video-cover/scripts/generate_poster.py" `
"<paper_dir>" `
--lualatex "C:/path/to/lualatex.exe" `
--pdftoppm "C:/path/to/pdftoppm.exe"
Example with environment configuration:
$env:LUALATEX = "C:/path/to/lualatex.exe"
$env:PDFTOPPM = "C:/path/to/pdftoppm.exe"
uv run --project "<SKILLS_DIR>/paper-video-cover" `
"<SKILLS_DIR>/paper-video-cover/scripts/generate_poster.py" `
"<paper_dir>"
Inputs
The generator extracts title, venue, project URL, figures, and metrics from the
first MinerU markdown file under md_output/*/auto/. If caption-based extraction
finds no figures, it searches slides-beamer/figures/, paper-source/image/,
source/image/, Figures/, then md_output/*/auto/images/.
PNG, JPEG, and PDF sources are supported. PDFs use the resolved pdftoppm.
Missing, unsupported, empty, or unconvertible referenced figures are fatal.
All JSON fields are optional. figure_map paths are absolute or relative to the
paper directory:
{
"title": "Override Title",
"venue": "CVPR 2025",
"title_font": 220,
"cards_col1": [],
"cards_col2": [],
"figures": {"col1": ["fig1"], "col2": ["fig2"]},
"figure_map": {
"fig1": "md_output/1234.5678/auto/images/figure-1.png"
}
}
Batch
Use a UTF-8 file with one paper directory per line; start and count are
optional positional arguments:
uv run --project "<SKILLS_DIR>/paper-video-cover" `
"<SKILLS_DIR>/paper-video-cover/scripts/batch_generate.py" `
"<papers_file>" 0 20
The batch uses the uv-selected interpreter, requires all three artifacts for each paper, and returns nonzero if any item fails.
Failure behavior
The generator returns nonzero if a required executable or packaged theme is missing, a child command returns nonzero, or a required artifact is missing or empty. Treat any nonzero result as no publication; the failed temporary build is removed and the previous final output remains unchanged.
Related skills
- skill://lab-survey-to-bilibili-runbook
- skill://paper-group-to-beamer
- skill://lab-poster-deck-format
- skill://paper-bilibili-uploader
- skill://paper-lab-survey-to-bilibili
- skill://paper-to-bilibili