# Animation Studio — Asset Licenses & Provenance

> **Honesty note:** the two character assets (`miko`, `luma`) are now **Aura3D-authored,
> procedurally generated CC0 animation characters** — genuine authored rigged GLBs with a
> real face blendshape — that REPLACE the former reused three.js RobotExpressive + Mixamo
> Soldier placeholders. They are simple, low-poly, stylized helper robots (not finished
> production hero art); a commercial release would still benefit from art-directed
> modeling/texturing. The **set/prop** assets remain development placeholders.

## Bundled assets (`public/aura-assets/`)

| Asset | File | What it actually is | License / provenance | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| `miko` | `miko.authored.glb` | **Aura3D-authored procedural** animation helper robot (rounded, cyan). Skinned low-poly mesh, 7-joint skeleton (root/spine/head + 2 arms + 2 legs), clips `Idle/Wave/Walk`, and ONE real `mouthOpen` face blendshape (lower-lip drop) that drives lip-sync in pixels. Generated by `scripts/build-characters.ts`; verified to load through the engine GLTF loader by `scripts/validate-characters.ts`. | **CC0-1.0**, authored by Aura3D (no third-party source) | Authored — distinct stylized "Miko" |
| `luma` | `luma.authored.glb` | **Aura3D-authored procedural** animation helper robot (taller, warm-gold). Same rig/clip/morph structure as Miko, visibly different proportions + color. | **CC0-1.0**, authored by Aura3D (no third-party source) | Authored — distinct stylized "Luma" |
| `moonGarden` | `moonGarden.gltf` | 3-quad anchor stub (floor / glow-stone / skyline markers) — not real garden geometry | Aura3D starter stub, **MIT** | Placeholder — the live-3D route builds a primitive garden instead |

> The previous placeholders `miko.047f5e5f.glb` (three.js RobotExpressive, CC0) and
> `luma.humanoid-fixture.glb` (Mixamo Vanguard) are no longer referenced by the live route
> or `aura.assets.json`.

## Catalog / starter pack
The `@aura3d/asset-index` animation starter pack maps to **Kenney CC0** game-kit GLBs
(`cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/gchahal1982/aura3d-cc0-assets`). These are generic blocks (e.g.
"moon-garden" → a grass cube), suitable as license-clean filler, not art-directed animation assets.

## Live-3D render path (`episode:render-3d`)
The real-3D path (`src/render-live-route.ts`) loads the two **Aura3D-authored** rigged GLBs
above, skins + animates them, and drives the `mouthOpen` blendshape from the sampled viseme
mouthOpenness for real geometric lip-sync (the former primitive mouth-card is gone). The
garden set around them is still engine-built **primitive** geometry (moon orb, glow stones,
lilies, broom) — procedural primitives/emissive materials, no third-party art.

## What "production-licensed" requires
1. ~~Author/commission rigged **Miko** + **Luma**~~ ✅ **Done** — `miko.authored.glb` /
   `luma.authored.glb` are Aura3D-authored CC0 rigged characters with a `mouthOpen` face
   blendshape for real lip-sync. (Optional polish: upgrade these simple low-poly robots to
   art-directed hero models with textures.)
2. Author a real **moon-garden set** + props (broom, glow-stones, lilies) or source license-clean equivalents.
3. Record/synthesize **dialogue audio** (none ships; AuraVoice is timing metadata only).
4. Re-run `assets validate-animation --require-license --no-placeholders` against the new assets and update this file.