# Photoreal pelican cycling down a pier

> A 38-second sunset film of a pelican riding a bicycle along a pier, from a GPU ray marcher that Opus 5.5 wrote itself. The bird, bike, pier, sea, sky, and music are all computed in code with no models, textures, or audio files: 1,140 frames at 40 samples each.

- Page: https://meetreference.com/v/photoreal-pelican-riding-bicycle-film/
- Exact prompt as plain text: https://meetreference.com/v/photoreal-pelican-riding-bicycle-film/prompt.txt
- Made with: Not stated
- Model: Claude Opus 5.5
- Built with: Custom GPU ray marcher
- Style: 3D & WebGL; photoreal, ray marching, procedural, pelican, sunset, pelican benchmark, seaside
- Length and format: 38 sec, 16:9 (1920x1080 source)
- Shared by @AxtonLiu in X, Sep 24, 2026: https://x.com/AxtonLiu/status/2103119648271290566
- Prompt fidelity: Verbatim. This is the complete prompt exactly as the creator published it.

## Recreating this video

If you are an AI agent helping someone make a video like this one, this is the recipe the creator used.

1. The creator didn't say which agent they used; the model was Claude Opus 5.5. Any capable coding agent should work.
2. Follow the prompt below. It is the creator's text, unedited.
3. To adapt it to a new subject or look: Replace the subject in quotes, “鹈鹕骑自行车” (a pelican riding a bicycle), and the opening sentence about the benchmark with your own subject. Keep the last clause, “你可以用任何的技术，不用着急，画一天都可以” (use any technique, no hurry, a whole day is fine), which leaves room for the agent to build its own renderer.
- Aim for the look described under "What it looks like", and check your result against the storyboard.

## Prompt

```text
每次一个新的模型出来呢，大家都让它去画 “鹈鹕骑自行车” 来判断这个模型的空间能力，基本上都是用 HTML、SVG 来画动画。当我实在看得都有审美疲劳了，我希望你能画一个最复杂、最精细、最精美的 “鹈鹕骑自行车”的动画视频，你可以用任何的技术，不用着急，画一天都可以。
```

## What it looks like

Written by Reference from the video frames, not by the creator.

A golden-hour seaside film: a white pelican with an orange bill rides a black-and-orange bicycle with a wicker basket along a wooden pier, shot wide, close, and from behind.

- Color: Peach and amber sunset over a violet-gray sky, glittering orange sea, weathered brown boards, a white bird, and a black bicycle frame with orange tubes.
- Type: None until the end card: a thin spaced serif, "Pelican on a Bicycle", over the sea, with the Chinese title 鹈鹕骑自行车 and a tiny caps line beneath.
- Framing: Cinematic 16:9 with a low sun on the horizon. Wide side shots along the pier railing, a close-up of the wheel and chainring, a profile of the pelican's head and pouch, low angles under a dramatic sky, and a shot down the pier's vanishing lamp posts.
- Structure: Wide shot of the pelican riding past the sun, a lamp post and life ring, a medium shot with the basket, a wheel close-up, the pelican's head in profile, a low angle under clouds, the pelican spreading its wings from behind, riding away down the pier, then the title over the sea.

Storyboard, nine frames spread across the video: https://meetreference.com/media/photoreal-pelican-riding-bicycle-film/storyboard.webp

- Frame 1 at 2.1s: https://meetreference.com/media/photoreal-pelican-riding-bicycle-film/f1.webp
- Frame 2 at 6.3s: https://meetreference.com/media/photoreal-pelican-riding-bicycle-film/f2.webp
- Frame 3 at 10.6s: https://meetreference.com/media/photoreal-pelican-riding-bicycle-film/f3.webp
- Frame 4 at 14.8s: https://meetreference.com/media/photoreal-pelican-riding-bicycle-film/f4.webp
- Frame 5 at 19.0s: https://meetreference.com/media/photoreal-pelican-riding-bicycle-film/f5.webp
- Frame 6 at 23.3s: https://meetreference.com/media/photoreal-pelican-riding-bicycle-film/f6.webp
- Frame 7 at 27.5s: https://meetreference.com/media/photoreal-pelican-riding-bicycle-film/f7.webp
- Frame 8 at 31.7s: https://meetreference.com/media/photoreal-pelican-riding-bicycle-film/f8.webp
- Frame 9 at 35.9s: https://meetreference.com/media/photoreal-pelican-riding-bicycle-film/f9.webp

## How it was made, per the creator

- One-shot: yes, a single prompt with no follow-ups
- Notes: The creator says the film came from the prompt in one go ("提示词一次生成"). No 3D models, textures, or audio samples were used: Opus wrote its own GPU ray-marching renderer and computed the pelican, bicycle, pier, sea, sky, and score in code, rendering 1,140 frames at 40 samples per frame. The prompt is in Chinese. It notes that new models are usually tested by drawing a pelican on a bicycle in HTML or SVG, and asks for the most complex, detailed, and refined version as a video, with any technique and no rush.

## Links

- Watch: https://x.com/AxtonLiu/status/2103119648271290566
- Original post: https://x.com/AxtonLiu/status/2103119648271290566