# Plasma Orbital — Imagery Art Direction

**Style name:** Slate Noir — Tactical Monochrome Product Illustration

This is the house style for hero and product imagery (satellite renders, mission scenes). It is the *only* sanctioned look for generated/3D brand imagery. Editorial blueprint line-drawings and desaturated photography (documented in the design sheet) remain the other two imagery modes.

## Core aesthetic & texture
- **Palette:** True monochromatic (pure grayscale) — deep charcoals, slate grays, matte black. No colour saturation.
- **Texture:** Tactile, physically detailed. Bead-blasted metal on the satellite body; precise grid etching on solar panels; subtle micro-texture on catching edges.
- **Mood:** Covert, premium, highly technical, state-of-the-art — a covert-ops briefing or secretive high-end tech unveiling.

## Lighting (the determinant of tone)
- Dramatic, sculpted, low-key cinematic lighting.
- Harsh, precise **rim lighting** carving objects out of a pure black void.
- No soft, even fill. Light sculpts mechanical form for robustness and mystery.

## Composition & narrative
- **Perspective:** Sophisticated three-quarter orbital view, looking down on an Earth segment from a dark void.
- **The accelerator accent:** The single permitted non-grayscale element is a vivid, cool **violet-blue laser** fanning from the onboard processor — the application of advanced data/compute. Use sparingly; one beam.
- **Distribution lines:** At least five laser-fine **white** geometric lines fanning down from the satellite to a monochrome Earth segment.
- **Data-points:** Each ground target carries a clean **white circle** (`--po-white`) at its core — the detection mark.

## Detection overlay (the labelled variant)
When annotating, draw **thin white bounding boxes** around each vessel with a mono caption above: `[SHIP 001] Cargo - Bulk, 0.98c` — bracketed ID, type/class, confidence. White rules and white type only; never vermilion on the imagery.

## Execution notes
- Background near-pitch-black; Earth desaturated.
- No text labels baked into the hero (labels live in the detection variant only).
- Information is carried by geometric flow, not chrome.
- Emphasise the contrast between matte dark surfaces and the single violet-blue accent.

## Files
- `assets/imagery/slate-noir-hero.jpg` — clean hero scene.
- `assets/imagery/slate-noir-detection.jpg` — detection-overlay variant with bounding boxes.

## The generation prompt (verbatim — reuse for new renders)

> **Slate Noir: Tactical Monochrome Product Illustration.** True monochromatic (pure grayscale) — deep charcoals, slate grays, matte black; absolutely no colour saturation. Surfaces tactile and physically detailed: bead-blasted metal for the satellite body, precise grid etching for the solar panels, subtle realistic micro-textures on catching edges. Mood: covert, premium, highly technical, state-of-the-art — like a covert operations briefing. Lighting: dramatic, sculpted, low-key cinematic; harsh precise rim lighting carving objects out of a pure black void; avoid soft even fill. Composition: sophisticated three-quarter orbital view looking down on an Earth segment from a dark void. The only non-grayscale element is a single vivid cool violet-blue laser beam fanning from a multi-layered glass-and-metal processor cube to the satellite. At least five laser-fine white geometric lines fan down from the satellite to a monochrome dark-grey Earth segment. Earth targets, each with a clean white data-point circle at its core: a multi-wheeled scientific rover (charcoal), a ground satellite dish (slate), a research vessel (dark slate), a small community centre (charcoal/slate), a cluster of sea-bed buoy-mounted sensors. Keep background near-pitch-black; no text labels; emphasise matte dark surfaces against the single violet-blue accent.
