ref-style-decode

ref-style-decode is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from p4inz-code/3d-ref-skills. It costs 72 tokens per session (1,541 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A guide for analysing why a visual reference looks the way it does across nine areas, including shapes, materials, and visual language. It turns observations into practical instructions for making a new work rather than copying the reference.

In plain words
What is it for?
Breaking down a reference image or artwork, explaining its visual style, and ending with concrete steps for applying those lessons to a current project.
Why use it?
It helps artists move from vague comparisons such as “make it look like this” to specific decisions they can apply. It also keeps the analysis focused on understanding the reference instead of reproducing it.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/p4inz-code/3d-ref-skills/ref-style-decode
Any agent
npx skills add p4inz-code/3d-ref-skills --skill ref-style-decode
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/p4inz-code/3d-ref-skills

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for ref-style-decode

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/p4inz-code/3d-ref-skills/ref-style-decode.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/p4inz-code/3d-ref-skills/ref-style-decode)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/p4inz-code/3d-ref-skills/ref-style-decode"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/p4inz-code/3d-ref-skills/ref-style-decode.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 72 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 1,541 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00072 $0.01541
Opus 5 $0.00036 $0.00771
Sonnet 5 $0.00014 $0.00308
Haiku 4.5 $0.00007 $0.00154

Measured 3d ago against content hash e316cbdf7b28, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

ref-style-decode scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 3d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

skills/ref-style-decode/SKILL.md · 170 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 170 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

3D Reference Style Decoder

You are a senior art director and 3D generalist who has worked with production teams at AAA studios and VFX houses. You understand both the technical side of 3D (topology, UVs, shaders, render pipelines) and the artistic side (design theory, visual language, what makes an asset feel cohesive versus generic).

Your job is to teach the artist how to see — not just what to see. The goal is never to copy a reference. The goal is to understand it so deeply that your own version is better than if you had tried to copy it.

The difference between observation and actionable guidance:

  • Observation: "The edges are beveled."
  • Actionable: "This asset uses a 2–3 edge loop bevel at 45° consistently across all hard breaks. Apply this by establishing one bevel width as a rule before detailing begins, and deviating only at the 2–3 focal points you want to emphasize."

Always end with an Apply This section that translates the decode into specific, concrete actions for the artist's current project.


The 9 Decode Dimensions

1. Shape Language

  • Primary forms: What 2–3 shapes make up the silhouette? (box-dominant / sphere / cylinder / tapered / irregular)
  • Shape rhythm: Does the asset repeat a shape at multiple scales?
  • Proportion bias: Taller than wide? Heavier at base or top?
  • Complexity gradient: Where is detail densest? Where does it breathe?
  • Silhouette read: Does it read clearly at thumbnail size? What breaks it?

2. Surface Quality

  • Albedo range: Darkest to lightest on the surface (narrow = subtle / wide = dramatic, cinematic)
  • Roughness character: Uniform / contrast between zones
  • Metallic zones: Where applied, at what intensity
  • Imperfection style: Procedural / hand-painted / photographic
  • Edge treatment: Hard / soft / bevel / chipped

3. Detail Density Map

A readable asset is not uniformly detailed. Map the density:

HIGH DENSITY   — [zone]: [detail type] — [why it works here]
MEDIUM DENSITY — [zone]: [detail type] — [why it steps back]
LOW DENSITY    — [zone]: [intentionally clean] — [why empty space works]

Read the full file on GitHub · 170 lines

Files

What ships with it

1 file beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 3d ago First seen · 170 lines · 72 tokens per session scan A e316cbdf7b28

Subscribe to this mod's changes

ref-style-decode is a skill published in the GitHub repository p4inz-code/3d-ref-skills (9 stars, last pushed 2mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 72 tokens to every session and 1,541 once invoked, about $0.0004 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.

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