Guide › Shooting

Floor Plan

The Floor Plan page prepares the shooting of each scene: its setups, placed on a floor plan, and its cameras.

Setups

A setup is one way of shooting: the set, the characters, the cameras and the lights, in their place. A scene has at least one; add another for a second arrangement.

Setups are tabs above the plan: click the active tab to rename it; the × deletes the setup (not the last one).

The floor plan

The plan carries its tools, overlaid:

• at the top left, undo and redo;
• at the bottom centre, the set tools and Place (characters, extras, vehicles, props, cameras, lights);
• at the top right, the grid, the print frame and full screen (F key);
• at the bottom right, the zoom and the scale;
• at the bottom left, the list of elements, sorted by type: this is where you choose the element to edit. The button at the end of the row opens its settings (name, focal length, orientation, range, beam…).

A character, a vehicle or a prop has the colour of its sheet; it is chosen with a click on the dot of its row.

Animate: keys and timeline

A key fixes, at one moment, an element's position and orientation (and, for a camera or a light, its focal length, range and beam); between two keys, the element glides.

1. In the plan's list, choose an element.
2. Place the cursor of the timeline, under the plan.
3. Move or rotate the element, or change a value in its settings: the key for that moment is created or updated. "Set a key" (K) sets it without moving anything.

On the timeline:

• a diamond is selected with a click and dragged in time; Delete removes it;
• Shift+← / Shift+→ go to the previous or next key;
• on clicking a diamond: where the element slows down (arriving, leaving, both) and the shape of the path (corner or curve);
• a hold is set by stretching the bar that follows the diamond; with Shift, everything after it shifts;
• when zoomed in, the timeline scrolls with the horizontal wheel, or with Shift.

On the plan, the selected key shows two handles: drag them to curve the path; a double-click switches between corner and curve.

Running time

The action played on the floor plan is compared with the running time estimated from the screenplay. Unless set otherwise (Settings › Project), the floor plan prevails: its action gives the scene's time, everywhere in the project. Beyond a 30% gap, the estimate is shown as an alert. See Running times.

Snapshots

A snapshot records one moment of the floor plan. Place the timeline cursor, then take the snapshot: the image is redrawn each time it is shown and follows the changes to the plan.

• Ticked "In the shot list", snapshots replace the shot's thumbnail in the shot list and the Bible.
• A click on a thumbnail brings the cursor back to its moment.
• Export as PNG saves the image.

Cameras

A shot is a camera. Its sheet describes it:

• six principles: size (LS, MS, CU…), subject (1S, 2S…), point of view (OBJ, POV…), angle, orientation, function;
• movement and focal length: read from the floor plan when the camera is placed there, entered otherwise;
• intended support, lens and camera;
• light, colours, grain;
• in and out transitions, visual and sound;
• a directing note and references.

The camera's name is automatic: the abbreviations of the first three principles filled in, for example LS-2S-OBJ. Type another name to replace it; "Auto" brings back the automatic name.

The values in the lists come from the conventions.

On a phone

The floor plan can be viewed but not edited: one finger moves the view, two fingers zoom. It is prepared on a tablet or a computer.