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Install the skill (once)
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Install the Recharm video effects skill: download https://recharm-growth-staging.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/website/downloads/recharm-video-effects.zip and unzip it into ~/.claude/skillsAsk for the effect
Add a clone effect to input.mp4 Width of the center strip that gets cloned, as a share of the frame width: 0.30 Pixels over which each clone's edges blend into the background: 48
Several videos, several effects, one ask
Put your clips in the folder, mention them with @, and ask for everything at once. Claude runs one tested script after another on each clip, then joins them.
Add a clone effect to @clip1.mp4, put a sale badge on @clip2.mp4, give @clip3.mp4 a VHS look, then join all three with crossfades.
Settings you can change
Ask Claude to change any of these, or edit them at the top of the command.
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
STRIP | 0.30 | Width of the center strip that gets cloned, as a share of the frame width. |
FEATHER | 48 | Pixels over which each clone's edges blend into the background. |
LEFT, RIGHT | 1.0, 2.0 | Seconds the left and right clones appear. |
FADE | 0.4 | Seconds each clone takes to fade in. |
LEFT_X, RIGHT_X | 0.18, 0.82 | Where the clones are centered, as a share of the frame width. |
Without the skill
Don’t want to install the skill? Paste this prompt into Claude Code and Claude writes the command itself.
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Make a clone effect on input.mp4 (960x540, the bottle centered). Take the center strip of the frame, 30% of the width (288 pixels, x 336 to 624, full height), and give it soft side edges: opacity rises from 0 to 1 over the first and last 48 pixels across. Lay two copies of that strip over the video: one centered at 18% across (x 173), delayed by 1.0 seconds so it starts from the clip's first frame at 1.0 seconds, and one centered at 82% across (x 787), delayed by 2.0 seconds so it starts from the first frame at 2.0 seconds. Each copy fades in from transparent over 0.4 seconds as it appears. The middle of the frame stays the untouched original, and before 1.0 seconds the video is unchanged. Use ffmpeg, keep the size, frame rate, 6 second length and audio, and save it as output.mp4.Run it without Claude
This is the exact command we tested. Save it as clone-effect.sh and run:
sh clone-effect.sh input.mp4 output.mp4Show the command
#!/bin/sh
# Clone effect: two more copies of the centered subject fade in at the left (1s) and right (2s), each replaying the shot from its start.
# Usage: sh clone-effect.sh input.mp4 output.mp4 (a wide shot with the subject centered and room either side)
set -e
IN="$1"; OUT="$2"
STRIP=0.30 # width of the center strip that gets cloned, as a share of the frame width
FEATHER=48 # pixels over which each clone's side edges blend into the background
LEFT=1.0 # second the left clone appears
RIGHT=2.0 # second the right clone appears
FADE=0.4 # seconds each clone takes to fade in
LEFT_X=0.18 # centers of the clones, as a share of the frame width
RIGHT_X=0.82
LEN=$(ffprobe -v error -show_entries format=duration -of csv=p=0 "$IN")
# each clone is the center strip of the shot, delayed so it starts from the first frame when it appears,
# with soft side edges and a fade in
CLONE="crop=w=trunc(iw*$STRIP/2)*2:h=ih:x=(iw-ow)/2:y=0,format=rgba,\
geq=r='r(X,Y)':g='g(X,Y)':b='b(X,Y)':a='255*clip(min(X,W-1-X)/$FEATHER,0,1)'"
ffmpeg -y -i "$IN" -filter_complex "\
[0:v]split=3[base][l][r];\
[l]$CLONE,setpts=PTS+$LEFT/TB,fade=in:st=$LEFT:d=$FADE:alpha=1[lc];\
[r]$CLONE,setpts=PTS+$RIGHT/TB,fade=in:st=$RIGHT:d=$FADE:alpha=1[rc];\
[base][lc]overlay=x=W*$LEFT_X-w/2:y=0:eof_action=pass[b1];\
[b1][rc]overlay=x=W*$RIGHT_X-w/2:y=0:eof_action=pass,format=yuv420p[v]" \
-map "[v]" -map 0:a? -t "$LEN" -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -pix_fmt yuv420p -c:a copy "$OUT"
