fix: gallery quality audit pass two — restage the seven pre-#61 examples and codify the visual style

[TMHSDigital]

Second and final pass of the gallery quality audit: brings every example not touched by #61 up to the standard that PR set, and codifies that standard in docs/VISUAL-STYLE.md (new) — view transform (Standard, always; the washed pre-#61 look traces to renders that never set one), stage values (floor/wall 0.03/0.032/0.037, world 0.02/0.021/0.025), the key/fill/rim/wedge lighting shape, material saturation rules, framing scale, and output/webp settings. CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md now point at it, so future examples inherit the look.

Scope confirmed from git history: the 14 examples not modified by #61. Every hero was inspected at full size, card crop, and thumbnail scale before any verdict.

Audit table

Example	Comp	Light	Materials	Proof	Consistency	Copy	Verdict
swatch-grid	✗ spheres clipped both edges, dead space	✗ flat, washed	✗ AgX-flattened; emissive clipped white	✓	✗ old era (worst)	alt stale	FAIL → re-staged
turntable	✓	✗ washed light backdrop, unmaterialed floor	✗ copper reads beige	✓	✗ old era	✓	FAIL → relit
shape-key-blend	✗ featureless slab	✗ 1500 W frontal wash	✗ pastel	✗ blend not visible	✗	alt stale	FAIL → re-staged as progression
driver-wave	✗ first column clipped, dead foreground	✗ washed cool pool on wall	✗ tan columns	✓	✗	✓	FAIL → reframed + relit
gn-instance-grid	✗ subject small	✗ 1500 W wash	✗ "Lime" reads sage	✓	✗	✓	FAIL → relit
depsgraph-export	✓	✗ bright washed floor (0.24 albedo)	✗ flat	✓	✗	✓	FAIL → relit
curve-bevel-arc	✗ dead space, small subject	✗ washed	✗ salmon	✓	✗	✓	FAIL → reframed + relit
gn-sdf-remesh	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	PASS — untouched
wave-displace	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	PASS — untouched
shader-node-group	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	PASS — untouched
temp-override-join	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	PASS — untouched
bmesh-gear	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓ (anatomy reference)	✓	PASS — untouched
compositor-glare	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	PASS — untouched
damped-track-aim	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	PASS — untouched

Fixes (one commit per example, worst first)

• swatch-grid — grid re-framed so verify_png()'s cell sampling and the ortho frame agree (old ortho_scale 6.6 gave a 3.7-unit-tall view for a 4.0-unit grid → clipping); dark staged wall + wedge; Standard transform; emissive strength 6.0 → 1.4 (at 6.0 every channel clips and the swatch reads white); metals separated as polished gold vs brushed copper — the roughness gap keeps their sampled patch means > 0.10 apart on the dark stage, which the render check requires. Two failed candidates (regions=5) were diagnosed by measuring actual patch means; no tolerance was touched — the scene was fixed until the existing check passed.
• shape-key-blend — the still now shows Basis → half → full blend left to right (render-only mesh copies; the check runs before staging on the original object). A failed blend is now visible as three identical boxes.
• turntable / driver-wave / gn-instance-grid / depsgraph-export / curve-bevel-arc — restaged to the spec: stage values, shaped warm key, faint cool fill, warm wedge, Standard transform; driver-wave additionally reframed (lens 42 at 13.5 units so the 11.1-unit skyline fits with margin).

Editorial

• Fixed the known card stutter in color-attribute-wheel ("asserts that, that active_color" → "asserts the sizing, that active_color…"). A mechanical duplicated-word sweep over all 20 READMEs and every card string found no other instances.
• README alt text updated for swatch-grid and shape-key-blend (compositions changed); other alts verified against the new renders.
• Gallery regenerated with scripts/build_gallery.py; no generated page hand-edited; release-owned version fields untouched.

Whole-gallery review

The regenerated gallery was served locally and reviewed end to end with every thumbnail loaded: all 20 cards now read as one studio — dark stage, saturated hero subject, warm backdrop pool. The six post-#61 examples still lead visually.

Verification

Proven by live run (local): check-only exit 0 on Blender 4.5.11 LTS and 5.1.2 for all seven modified examples (including both sides of the version-gated shims in swatch-grid's engine-id witness and turntable's channelbag bridge); all renders on 5.1.2 EEVEE with every candidate's pixels inspected; swatch-grid's render+pixel-verify path exercised end to end (exit 0, 6/6 regions).

Established by inspection only: the --engine cycles render path (scene staging is engine-agnostic) and the 4.5 EEVEE-Next render path (same scene code behind the existing engine-id gate; CI smoke is check-only by design).

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