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Create a Mesh Animation Variant

Add a new variant to an existing animated meshed (rigged) asset-generation version (asset_kind = "mc-animation", "sn-animation", or "dc-animation" — per-part SDFs extracted to a triangle mesh, with a version-level animation contract). The full procedure is in Creating a Mesh Animation Variant.

The key constraint: an asset-generation case declares no references at all and resolution rejects any (common or per-variant) — there is no target model. A variant varies only the brief (an additive spec) the model sculpts toward: a tighter palette, a stricter operation budget, a required CSG technique, or an animation constraint stated as observable behaviour. It may not touch the version-level asset_kind, [voxel] volume, or the [model] animation contract (its required animation names are fixed, so every variant produces the same ones by the same names).

For a static meshed case (any -model kind, one model, no rig) see Create a Mesh Model Variant. For a rigged VOXEL (cube) case see Create a Voxel Animation Variant.

Steps

Section titled “Steps”
  1. Choose a consistent slug (e.g. armored) and display name (e.g. Up-Armored) describing the constraint it imposes, plus a one-line description (there is no menu label to carry it).
  2. Write specs/<slug>.md: an additive brief stated as a delta against the common brief (“same subject, required animations, and mesher, except …”), with precise, testable constraints, saying whether each applies to every part, a named feature, or the behaviour of a named animation. It may reference the common specs but not another variant’s spec.
  3. Create variants/<slug>.toml (a standalone TOML file whose top-level keys are the variant’s fields; dest defaults to source) and add its path to the variants list in test-case.toml (first = default):
variants/armored.toml
slug = "armored"
name = "Up-Armored"
description = "Same subject, required animations, and mesher, with heavier chassis and turret plating — still clearing the hull as the turret sweeps."
spec = [{ source = "specs/armored.md" }]

spec entries are additive on the common ones; within one variant no two seeded specs may share a dest. A variant declares no review_items — an asset-generation case has no reviewer checklist. Do not add a reference, [voxel], [model], or asset_kind here — all are rejected or version-level.

Validate

Section titled “Validate”
Terminal window
tcab seed   --test-case <slug> --version <version> --variant <new-variant>
tcab prompt --test-case <slug> --version <version> --variant <new-variant>

Seed and render the new variant and re-check the existing ones to confirm nothing else changed and the brief still resolves self-contained (no target model seeded, with the [voxel] volume and the [model] animation contract left intact).