# Create skill

Use the $glyphfield-create skill to build and revise layered Design Lab compositions while keeping their source, layer IDs and layer order intact.

`$glyphfield-create` covers editable composition in Design Lab, the Studio's layered composition tool. Use it for artboards with text, marks, images, stickers, shader layers, converter effects and saved designs.

<DocsMedia alt="Design Lab showing a layered composition and the layer dock" caption="The create skill edits the Design Lab composition model" meta="CanvasDocument schema 2 · source 4" src="/screenshots/studio-gt-design-lab-dark-2026.webp" />

## Invocation [#invocation]

Name the skill or describe a matching outcome:

```text
Use $glyphfield-create to build a 1920×1080 launch card with Gem Smoke,
two editable text layers, the active brand mark, and a subtle Bayer overlay.
Save the composition as “Launch signal”.
```

## Workflow [#workflow]

1. Identify the active brand, the dimensions, still or motion output, and whether the work starts from an existing design.
2. Open Design Lab at `/studio?tool=material` and call `describe()` before relying on controls or actions. Design Lab's public tool ID is `material`.
3. For existing work, call `readSource()` and keep unknown fields, stable page and element IDs, asset records and back-to-front order.
4. Add or update only the layers the request needs. Use each layer's own opacity, blend mode, geometry and effect settings.
5. Apply the complete source through the Studio adapter, then read the normalized CanvasDocument again.
6. Inspect the canvas at the intended shader frame. Save the design when it needs to be restored later.

## Composition rules [#composition-rules]

* Leave out the shader when the brand mark carries the design alone. Otherwise use Gem Smoke as the general-purpose material.
* Keep shader layers behind authored content unless the design masks or converts them on purpose.
* Give Bayer, ASCII, halftone and posterize converters explicit foreground and background colors.
* For Engraving, Halftone, Light Leak, Watercolor, Chalkboard and the other Shaders.com image effects, add an Effect layer with `design.effects.add { effectId }`. Image effects need WebGPU, and an export stops with an error when WebGPU is missing. Check each layer's `status` with `design.effects.describe` first.
* Use `design.layers.arrange` to align or distribute, `design.layers.lock` to protect finished layers, `design.layers.rotate` to turn layers about their centers, and `design.layers.copyStyle` with `design.layers.pasteStyle` to reuse an appearance.
* Keep white artwork visible against a white sticker border with a fill, outline, alpha-aware shadow, surface or border color.
* Treat shader size as material zoom from `0.1` to `10`. It does not change the canvas zoom.
* Save the design so that its selected frame and timeline settings are kept.

## Completion check [#completion-check]

The work is not finished when `applySource` resolves. Confirm the layer order, visible placement, identity, opacity, selected material frame, saved-design restore and the rendered canvas. If the request includes a file, hand the result to [`$glyphfield-export`](/docs/skills/export).