Brief

Before a generator opens, the director must be able to say what the image is for and what would make it fit. The brief freezes that starting point, so an appealing candidate cannot quietly redefine the commission.

Admit the commission

Start with purpose and audience, then name the target profile, budget, requested visual roles, and acceptance criteria. Each image, model, texture, animation, or sequence needs concrete spatial, temporal, and format constraints. Where the director has not decided, leave a question for review rather than accepting a provider default.

The references need an equally clear boundary. Admit a finite set by snapshot and digest, retaining classification, permitted purpose, retention, and known provenance. A URL helps locate the material but cannot freeze it; possessing a copy cannot grant its use. Before dependent production, resolve the likeness, consent, disclosure, and use boundaries for recognizable people, protected marks, confidential material, and disputed origin.

Those choices continue to matter after generation. Attach prompts, control images, masks, adapters, fine-tunes, and selected examples to each candidate so the influence remains inspectable. “AI-generated” names a production method; it cannot erase lineage or certify a use.

Freeze the starting line

The admitted revision becomes the common reference for production and review. It pins the commission and target profile, exact snapshots and open questions, roles and output limits, review criteria, cost/provider/Portal/retention ceilings, and effects needing separate approval.

Changing the purpose, adding a reference, requesting a new likeness use, or selecting a materially different target creates a successor brief. If essential source authority or consent is missing, answer with a question, reduced safe scope, or refusal before dependent work begins.

Direction and Assets receive the accepted revision and digest. Provider sessions, Sigils, secrets, and downstream permission stay outside that handoff.