ToonKit Shorts: customize the look
All styling lives in ONE file: toonkit/look.yaml (falls back to looks/mort-and-blitz.yaml). TOONKIT_LOOK=/path/x.yaml
overrides it. Presets: toonkit/looks/{mort-and-blitz,clean-tech,retro}.yaml.
- Switch preset:
cp toonkit/looks/retro.yaml toonkit/look.yaml, or create look.yaml withextends: retroplus only the keys to change. - After changing voices run
./setup.sh(downloads new Piper voices). Check withbin/toonkit look. - Re-render to see changes. Cached audio is reused per episode id; after a voice change run
bin/toonkit clean <script> --stage audio.
| key | what it does |
|---|---|
show_name | tag on the title card + thumbnail, {show} in the description |
hosts.a / hosts.b .name | host names; scripts may use them as speaker (or A/B) |
.personality | how the daily-run skill writes that host's lines (a = hype, b = deadpan closer works best) |
.voice | any Piper voice id, e.g. en_US-ryan-medium, en_GB-alan-medium (list: https://huggingface.co/rhasspy/piper-voices) |
.tts_style | hype (faster, punchier) or flat |
.caption_color | #RRGGBB highlight for that host's active caption word |
.art / .lock | reference art + description used by the paid Imagine modes (--mode hybrid/rig) to draw NEW shots |
palette.tints | allowed color treatments for title cards/thumbnails: toxic electric hotpink purple acid blood cyan sunset |
font.file / font.name | TTF for captions + title cards (name = the font's family name for captions) |
captions | size, y (0-1920; keep < 1500 to stay above the Shorts UI), base color, outline, max_chars per chunk |
title_card | enabled, seconds of cold-open card, show_tag (show_name badge) |
thumbnail | enabled, tint: auto or a fixed tint name |
episode | length_s, niche (topic the daily-run researches), lines, music `{bpm, riff: chug |
upload | privacy (default private), category id, tags, playlist, made_for_kids, synthetic_media (keep true), description template ({show} {niche} {title} {source}) |
Characters / art
Free mode ($0) animates the bundled art library (two character slots: host a = the "hype" guy, host b = the deadpan woman, plus
sets and reaction shots). Renaming/re-voicing/re-coloring works on that art instantly. Brand-new character art means new
shots: drop reference PNGs at hosts.*.art, describe them in hosts.*.lock + art_style, and render with --mode rig
($0.6/episode, xAI Imagine, needs XAI_API_KEY) or $1.7). Ask the user before spending anything.--mode hybrid (