---
title: "How to add a kaleidoscope with Claude (tested prompt and script)"
description: "At the 1-second mark the shot cuts to six mirrored copies of the top of the frame fanned around the center, so the bottle's dropper becomes a six-armed star that slowly turns clockwise. Install one skill and ask Claude Code, or run the Python script we tested yourself."
url: https://www.recharm.com/effects/kaleidoscope
---

# How to add a kaleidoscope with Claude

At the 1-second mark the shot cuts to six mirrored copies of the top of the frame fanned around the center, so the bottle's dropper becomes a six-armed star that slowly turns clockwise.

Made by the script on this page, from our own test clip.

## Get this effect

1. ### Switch to Code in your [Claude Desktop App](https://claude.com/download)

2. ### Install the skill (once)

   ```
   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/skills
   ```

3. ### Ask for the effect

   ```
   Add a kaleidoscope to input.mp4
   Second the kaleidoscope cuts in: 1.0
   How many mirrored wedges fill the circle: 6
   ```

## 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 kaleidoscope 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 script.

| Setting  | Default | What it does                                                                         |
| -------- | ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `START`  | `1.0`   | Second the kaleidoscope cuts in. 0 starts it on the first frame.                     |
| `WEDGES` | `6`     | How many mirrored wedges fill the circle. Keep it even; 8 or 12 gives a busier star. |
| `SPIN`   | `30`    | Degrees per second the pattern turns clockwise. 0 holds it still.                    |

## Without the skill

Don’t want to install the skill? Paste this prompt into Claude Code and Claude writes the script itself.

```
Turn input.mp4 into a kaleidoscope from 1.0 seconds on; before that, leave the frames untouched. Take the 60-degree wedge pointing straight up from the frame's center (from 30 degrees left of vertical to 30 degrees right, measured at the center, 270,480 in the 540x960 frame) and repeat it six times around the center, mirroring every other copy so the seams line up, with no scaling (a pixel's distance from the center stays the same). The pattern turns clockwise at 30 degrees per second, starting at 0 degrees at 1.0s, so at 1.0s and 5.0s the bottom half of the frame is an exact upside-down mirror of the top half. For each output pixel: take its angle clockwise from straight up, subtract 30 x (t - 1.0) degrees, add 30, take it modulo 120, fold anything above 60 back to (120 - angle), subtract 30, and sample the input at that angle and the same distance from the center (clamp to the frame edge). Keep the size (540x960), 30fps, the 6-second length and the audio. There's no text; if you add any, draw it with Pillow, not ffmpeg's drawtext. Use Python with numpy and ffmpeg, encode H.264 yuv420p and save it as output.mp4.
```

## Run it without Claude

This is the exact script we tested. Save it as `kaleidoscope.py` and run:

```
python3 kaleidoscope.py input.mp4 output.mp4
```

```
#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Kaleidoscope: at 1s the picture turns into six mirrored wedges around the center that slowly spin.

Usage: python3 kaleidoscope.py input.mp4 output.mp4
Needs ffmpeg and numpy (pip install numpy).
"""
import json
import subprocess
import sys

import numpy as np

START = 1.0      # second the kaleidoscope cuts in
WEDGES = 6       # mirrored wedges around the center (an even number keeps every seam a clean mirror)
SPIN = 30        # degrees per second the pattern turns, clockwise

def kaleidoscope(frame, t):
    """Fill the frame with copies of the wedge straight above the center, every other one mirrored."""
    if t < START:
        return frame
    wedge = 2 * np.pi / WEDGES
    turned = theta - np.radians(SPIN * (t - START)) + wedge / 2
    a = np.mod(turned, 2 * wedge)
    a = np.where(a < wedge, a, 2 * wedge - a) - wedge / 2       # fold into the source wedge, -wedge/2 to +wedge/2
    x = np.clip(np.rint(w / 2 + r * np.sin(a)), 0, w - 1).astype(int)
    y = np.clip(np.rint(h / 2 - r * np.cos(a)), 0, h - 1).astype(int)
    return frame[y, x]

def probe(path):
    info = json.loads(subprocess.check_output(["ffprobe", "-v", "error", "-select_streams", "v:0", "-show_entries",
                                               "stream=width,height,r_frame_rate", "-of", "json", path]))
    s = info["streams"][0]
    num, den = s["r_frame_rate"].split("/")
    return s["width"], s["height"], s["r_frame_rate"], float(num) / float(den)

src, out = sys.argv[1:3]
w, h, rate, fps = probe(src)
yy, xx = np.mgrid[0:h, 0:w]
r = np.hypot(xx - w / 2, yy - h / 2)              # each pixel's distance from the center
theta = np.arctan2(xx - w / 2, h / 2 - yy)        # and its angle, clockwise from straight up

reader = subprocess.Popen(["ffmpeg", "-v", "error", "-i", src, "-f", "rawvideo", "-pix_fmt", "rgb24", "-"],
                          stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
writer = subprocess.Popen(["ffmpeg", "-y", "-v", "error", "-f", "rawvideo", "-pix_fmt", "rgb24", "-s", f"{w}x{h}",
                           "-r", rate, "-i", "-", "-i", src, "-map", "0:v", "-map", "1:a?",
                           "-c:v", "libx264", "-crf", "18", "-pix_fmt", "yuv420p", "-c:a", "copy", "-shortest", out],
                          stdin=subprocess.PIPE)
i = 0
while chunk := reader.stdout.read(w * h * 3):
    frame = np.frombuffer(chunk, np.uint8).reshape(h, w, 3)
    writer.stdin.write(kaleidoscope(frame, i / fps).tobytes())
    i += 1
writer.stdin.close()
if reader.wait() or writer.wait():
    sys.exit("ffmpeg failed")
```

## More distortion and glitch

- [Anaglyph 3D **Anaglyph 3D**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/anaglyph-3d)
- [Black hole **Black hole**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/black-hole)
- [Bulge and pinch **Bulge and pinch**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/bulge-pinch)
- [Datamosh **Datamosh**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/datamosh)
- [Disintegration **Disintegration**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/disintegration)

## Find 3x _winning ads_

Recharm cuts your ad footage into tagged, searchable clips: hooks, testimonials, product shots. Find the shots that win, add the effect with Claude, and ship 3x more ad edits.

[Start 14-day free trial](https://www.recharm.com/get-started)