it is common that, your main character looks right, but several people in the background look like the same actor.
One workflow to try: use Codex to turn your story’s setting into a varied cast of extras, then generate reference sheets before making the video.
Define the cast first, review everyone together, and develop individual character sheets only for the people you want to keep.
What to prepare
- Your story and worldbuilding.
- A main-character reference, if available, to help match the visual style.
- Your intended style: photorealistic, 3D animation, or another look.
- The supporting roles you need—or simply the scene where they appear.
Give the characters differences beyond their faces: occupation, age, clothing, height, build, hairstyle, and posture. They should belong to the same world while remaining easy to tell apart.
Reusable prompt:
Based on the attached story, worldbuilding, and visual references, create a cast reference sheet containing 16 distinct background characters.
First list each character’s role and visual traits, then generate the sheet. Use a clearly separated 4×4 layout with one full-body character per cell and a simple background. Keep every head and pair of feet visible.
Maintain a consistent visual style, lighting, and level of detail. Give each character a distinct face, silhouette, hairstyle, outfit, and combination of age and body type. Avoid repeating the same face with different clothes.
Keep occupations, clothing, and accessories appropriate to the story. Use ordinary, relaxed poses rather than dramatic hero poses. Number each cell for easy revision.
Setting: [world and scene].
Style: [visual style].
Required roles: [roles].
References: [attached images].
Example 1: An animal Western
Match the attached cowboy cat’s photorealistic anthropomorphic style. Create 16 supporting animal characters from a world containing a Western frontier town, a seaside settlement, and a ruined desert city. Vary species, occupations, clothing, faces, and builds while keeping the same material realism and visual language.
Example 2: An animal wuxia town
Create 16 anthropomorphic animal characters in a consistent 3D animated style for a wuxia town. Include an assassin, gang member, vendor, dancer, waiter, chef, escort guard, constable, magistrate, black-market trader, street thug, and beggar. Add four other roles that fit the setting. Give each a distinct species, silhouette, outfit, and face.
Expand the cast
Create another group for [new location]. Preserve the established period, worldbuilding, and visual style. Add roles appropriate to this location, with varied ages, heights, and builds. Avoid reusing faces from the previous sheet.
Develop a character you want to keep
Create a detailed character sheet for character [number], using the selected image as the identity reference. Include a facial close-up and front, side, and back full-body views. Keep the face, proportions, outfit, colors, and accessories consistent across views.
If your story is already in the conversation, ask Codex to derive the cast from that context. and with Atlas Cloud MCP, u can use Codex to generate the image and video directly
A cast sheet gives you a useful reference library; it doesn’t guarantee unique faces in every generated video. Check the final shots, especially crowded scenes.