BigBotArt FAQ

BigBotArt is a local-first macOS workbench for AI video and image generation agents: the agents live inside an infinite canvas, a persistent chat edits nodes directly, and storyboards, shot takes, and timeline export close the loop in one project.

BigBotArt ships as a macOS Apple Silicon (arm64) app (v0.1.1). Models and compute run on your own Mac and assets never need to be uploaded to a cloud; you only need a connection to download models the first time and to update the app.

The h3.c video engine runs MiniMax-H3 (BF16, ~144GB) for shot-level video with audio — text-to-video, first-last frame, and Ref2VA; optional style packs merge LoRA offline into a copy of the base model. mlxgen (package mlx-gen-jzg) downloads image models on demand: Z-Image-Turbo (default T2I/img2img), Qwen-Image-2.1 and Turbo (with references), Qwen-Image-Edit (instruction edit / inpaint / outpaint), FLUX.2 Klein 9B (multi-reference / outpaint), SeedVR2 3B (upscale), and a Qwen3-VL caption model for Agent vision; an Uncensored T2I variant needs a manual local convert. Agent chat uses any OpenAI-compatible endpoint (for example LM Studio). Final export runs through local FFmpeg; optional post-process Real-ESRGAN / GFPGAN / CodeFormer must be installed separately.

Four steps on one screen: ① describe the brief and pick a Skill on the home screen; ② arrange storyboard and shot nodes on the canvas while the resident agent executes; ③ pick takes from the take pool and drop them into the timeline; ④ export the finished cut with local FFmpeg.

A Skill is a preset in two forms — a canvas template plus operating instructions — that you inject into the current project in one click, so the agent lays out storyboards, locks the style, and runs batch generation the way you want.

Download the macOS Apple Silicon build from GitHub Releases: https://github.com/jiangzhenguo/bigbot.art/releases/download/v0.1.1/BigBotArt-0.1.1-arm64.dmg . Source code and changelog live in the same repository, https://github.com/jiangzhenguo/bigbot.art , and you can also reach us at jyllyj826@gmail.com.

You need an Apple Silicon (arm64) Mac. h3.c (MiniMax-H3 alone is about 144GB) and the mlxgen image models are large, so allow tens to well over a hundred GB of free disk before first-run downloads; the exact minimum macOS version and memory requirements are listed on the GitHub Releases page.

No. Models and compute stay on your Mac: video, images, and prompts are written only into the local project, and export runs through local FFmpeg, so nothing has to be uploaded to a cloud.

Common cases are e-commerce product films (turning multi-angle product stills into a product video with sound), short-drama storyboard previz, and shot-level generation such as product rotation or scene extension.

The three main creation screens are Home (three columns — brief, Skill picker, project stream), Canvas workbench (infinite canvas with resident agent chat and a node palette), and Timeline (take pool, dual audio tracks, export presets, and continuity checks); the app also includes Projects, Assets, Skills, Settings, and the Engine Wizard screens.

Yes. The current release, v0.1.1, ships only as a macOS Apple Silicon (arm64) build, and the release notes list M1, M2, M3, and M4. You need an Apple Silicon Mac: models and compute run on that machine.

h3.c (MiniMax-H3 alone is about 144GB) and the mlxgen image models are large, so allow tens to well over a hundred GB of free disk before first-run downloads. The exact minimum macOS version and memory requirements are listed on the GitHub Releases page.

Download BigBotArt-0.1.1-arm64.dmg (https://github.com/jiangzhenguo/bigbot.art/releases/download/v0.1.1/BigBotArt-0.1.1-arm64.dmg), double-click it, drag BigBotArt into Applications, and launch it from Applications. On first launch, follow the wizard through environment detection, component installation, and model downloads; that step needs a connection. If 0.1.0 is already installed, quit the old app before replacing it.

The infinite canvas workbench provides 11 node types for arranging storyboards, shots, and assets; storyboards, shot takes, and timeline export close the loop in one project. The resident agent lives in the chat on the right side of the canvas, edits nodes directly, shows tool calls in ToolRunCards, and supports ask.user confirmation cards plus the worker protocol.

No account and no subscription. Models and compute stay on your Mac; projects, the canvas, takes, and assets are written only to the local directory ~/.bigbotart, and video, images, and prompts are not uploaded to a cloud. Final export runs through local FFmpeg. You only need a connection to download models the first time and to update the app.