⚠️♥️The help zone♥️⚠️

5ac327dfdae3037bbb784c92281f7e308f94c11c41c4d336607ece9462c9259d.0
Hi everyone, I’ve been on episode since 2015
I’ve always wanted to write story’s for people to see…but it was do confusing.
When I wrote my first story it was on the writers portal in early 2017 and I was so confused!
I didn’t know what to do or where to go or who to ask for help.
And the tutorials really didn’t help me because I’m kinda slow :joy::joy::joy::joy:

So this post is all about help
Where to find it
Where to go
And who to look for when to ask.
And I will be giving some advice I learned when coding story’s so let’s get into it!

Please feel free to correct anything
Or give an easier way
Or add something to the help zone :blush:
It can be on how to improve plots I’ll be adding everything in sections :blush:

Talking

I use to have a real big problem with keeping the Characters in sync with there animation when talking so here’s how I personally do talking for Characters it’s very simple and easy :blush:
For me I like my characters SCRIPT NAME to be in the middle where it’s blue
But I think you can add it on the sides aswell correct me if I’m wrong
But you would pick an animation
And close it in
Here’s an example

                      BONNIE (talk_asif_annoyed)
            I really wish I had some food. 

The animation should come off as green when you close it in :blush:
I suggest you add a different animation after a character is done talking if it is a LOOP animation
Here’s an example :blush:

Hope this works for you

narration for Characters

If you don’t want a character to speak but instead give a narration
You would simply type in this code
You would type
NARRATOR (CHARACTER)
Hey look at me I’m a narrator!

Thats an example. :blush:

Using caps/capitalized

Episode will give you an error if you write any text with out a capitalize word at the start
Or if you have all caps
So my solution

            MALEAVATAR (animation)
      WOW WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY!

You would add punctuation at the end of a sentence :blush:

And capitalize

                   MALEAVATAR (animation)
         Wow what a beautiful day!
Display and script names

Some people are really confused when it comes to display and script names and that’s ok :blush:
I am to still :joy::joy:
But this is an example

You see the difference?

I can edit the display name for all viewers
And the script name is what I will be using for a character when I am writing :blush:

See I changed the FEMALEAVATARS display name as name

And I will use FEMALEAVATAR in my script it’s how I’m going to write :blush:

Just because the display name is NAME I will still continue using

@FEMALEAVATAR
To talk or to do an animation or to walk :blush:

The display name can even be fully erased when creating suspicious characters

Outfits

This might not be helpful to some people
But when you have a character
And you’re designing an outfit
I like to put caps when I type in there name :blush:
It’s a lot easier to find characters and it’s alot more neat and organized for me

When you place a characters name in all caps when you create a Outfit
Male or female
It finds the characters immediately
So you don’t have to switch the characters wearing the Outfit :blush:

sound and music

This tip is very easy :blush:
When you’re adding sound to a story
It’s very easy and simple!
Just don’t add a sound or music label at the end of your script you cannot end a scene with a label :blush:
So when you add sound or music they must be lowercase

music musicname
sound soundname

When you click on the music it will go to your script immediately so you don’t have to type it in

And if you want the sound off or music

music off
sound off

Zooms

Zooms are awesome to use in a new story
They can make readers feel scared, sad, nervous or laugh
I suggest zooms a lot they help with different pov in the story here’s how I use them
In the mobile app there is a section you can go to it’s called

Create

You would want to go SHOW HELPERS

Then camera :blush:

Then here’s your zoom option

There’s three options

Zoom
Focus
&
Reset

Zoom is when you can change the screen to go further or closer to your character or thing

Focus is when you can change the screen to go left or right or up or down

Reset is when you reset the whole camera it goes back to where you can see the person fully

You cannot change things on mobile!

You would need to copy the code into your script :blush:

You see this thing right under reset

It’s a code

You may be wondering what the 0 at the end is

That’s how fast your zoom is going to go

Let’s say we wanted a fast zoom

We would put

@zoom on 184 417 to 250% in 1

That would be a VERY fast zoom

If we wanted a slow zoon we would do

@zoom on 184 417 to 250% in 5

We can do zooms anywhere

From left to right
Ir
Up or down

Diagonal
Your pick :blush:

Also you can’t copy down the code on mobile
You can on your portal but I find it much easier on mobile :blush:
I just write it down
And to reset zoom in your script type in

@zoom reset

spot direction

When I heard of spot direction I thought I was going to have to do alot of math :sweat_smile::joy:
So I thought my episode career was over because that’s not my best subject

Spot direction is making a character small big
Short tall
Anything you would like :blush:

Here’s an example

You would want to go right here
Spot direction

I’ll explain what all these buttons do :blush:
Change tool

Scale: Scale is where you can change the body size, and placement
Move: is where you can only change the body size :blush:

Bring to front: this is where your character is in from of every other single Character (or overlay)
They moved a layer :blush:

Forward 1+: this is where you can bring a character up a layer
It can be up one layer or up two layers or more :blush:
You’re either adding them to the front
In between or front front like
Bring to front

Backwards 1-: complete opposite of the forward

Move to back: this is where the Characters is moved all the way in the back :blush:

Change char: when you are working with overlays it can sometimes get in the way of stuff when you’re trying to move a character :joy:
So you would hit change char
It will not focus on the overlay only Changing your Characters position

Change overlay: complete opposite

Change overlay and char: you can move both

Not at the same time but there both in the way :joy::joy::joy:

Also there’s a code you need to copy or write down
I personally keep a messanger chat head to copy it
But you can do anything
Like writing it down on paper
So here’s my code for my characters position
Everyone’s could be different

You would want to copy the whole thing down as well like the numbers

It would look like this in your script

@MALEAVATAR spot 3.365 168 -1006

If you wanted them in another zone you would add
@MALEAVATAR spot 3.365 168 -1006 in zone 1/2/3 or whatever zone it is :blush:

If you want a character to be upside down this would be the code

@MALEAVATAR spot -3.365 168 -1006 in zone 1/2/3

The first # would be a negative

And you have to add your zone or they might not show up :eyes:

Zones

When you’re working with zones you need to know how big your background is :blush:

If you wanted a cut to a zone

It would look like this

@cut to zone 1
@cut to zone 2
@cut to zone 3

When you cut to a zone it will not pan nor will it zoom it will automatically cut to a zone
I suggest you rest your zoom before going to a zone I make those mistakes lol

Panning:

Panning is when the camera pans around the screen it will not cut to a scene but it will move to a scene
It can even follow characters

If you make a character walk to another zone you can use a pan or a cut to follow them

If you don’t want to show the surroundings and just focus on your main character getting to a certain place I’d suggest a cut

But if it’s the opposite I suggest a pan :blush:

Here is how I’d do it

@pan to zone 2
@MALEAVATAR walks to spot 3.365 168 -1006 in zone 2 in 2

The camera will follow the character :blush:

Also suggestion

I have no idea if this is possible
But on one zone when the Characters exit
If they are big
Or small they will go back to there defult size

So I suggest if you want a character to stay a certain size you would make them walk away in a 2 or three zone background

uploading a background

On episode I wamted to upload a background
But honestly I didn’t know how I was do confused…
My suggestion for Android users is to get Ibspaint :blush:
Or any drawing app
Here is an example

Go to art catalog

Then go to this and change it to

Backgrounds uploaded to YOUR account

Then hit this and select a picture

Once you select a picture here are the instructions :blush:

I didn’t understand them before lol

I’ll explain what everything means :blush:
Above the picture it says
Choose a size
CAUTION: Your picture will not upload if it isn’t any of these sizes


Ok :blush:
640x1136
This is a one zone background
1280x1136
This is a 2 zone background
1920x1136
This is a 3 zone background :blush:

640,1280,1920 as the W
And
1136 as the height :blush:

Suggest

Ibspaint to edit backgrounds
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.ne.ibis.ibispaintx.app

Next is naming

This will probably make things much easier for you

EXT. means outside
INT. means inside

When naming a background it can either look like

EXT. NATURE - DAY
EXT. NATURE - NIGHT

INT. BED - DAY
INT. BED - NIGHT

:blush:

If it doesn’t upload you might have forgotten to press agree on the agreement policy

Where to find backgrounds

https://pixabay.com/images/search/

https://www.pexels.com/

http://www.episodelife.com/p/backgrounds.html?m=1

CAUTION: EPISODE LIFE BACKGROUNDS WANT CREDIT THE CREATOR HAS THERE TERMS UNDERNEATH THEIR PICTURE

and you can find Backgrounds on the forums :blush:

Walking

Walking was really confusing for me but I’ve figured it out a bit :blush:

When I do walking i use the code

@MALEAVATAR walks to spot 3.365 168 -1006 in 2 and MALEAVATAR is walk_angry

When I say
In 2
That will be how many seconds he walks :blush:
And the code
“And”
Is for him doing something while walking like a certain animation

Happen at the same time

If you want someone to do something at the same time or someone try the & method :blush:
You can use this instead if the @
It makes Characters do things at once
If I wanted all my characters to walk at the same time I’d use this
Or wanted a animation all together I’d use this
It doesn’t have to be the same animation btw :joy:
And it can be used for spot direction or zooms

Example

&FEMALEAVATAR is dance_grind
@MALEAVATAR is dance_groove

&MALEAVATAR spot 3.365 168 -1006
@FEMALEAVATAR stands screen left

&FEMALEAVATAR faces left
&BONNIE faces right
&CLAIRE faces left
@MALEAVATAR faces left

I’ll probably add more tomorrow :blush:

12 Likes

7981844cfa5fb5165422991d66fd6b64ef178e2044d0ca1fef628ede85a77282.0

I hope this helps some people :blush:

Please feel free to add on or correct me!

6 Likes

This is extremely helpful. I’m seeing good things for this thread :eye::lips::eye:

3 Likes

Thx fam it took 2 hours to write

:eyes:
:lips:

3 Likes

I appreciate the work you put into this thread, and I’m sure we will use it for our story
:eyes:
:nose:t2:
:lips:

3 Likes

:eye::lips::eye:

Wow I’m shocked lol tysm :joy::joy:

3 Likes

Isn’t it , “Wow, what a beautiful day!” ?

2 Likes

Yes :eyes: I was in rush because I’m really tierd lol

2 Likes

Don’t blame ya, tiredness gets the best of ya.

2 Likes

Yeah this took 2 hours to write :joy::joy::joy:

2 Likes

Damn, really? Well thanks for writing it, it’s very helpful.

2 Likes

You’re welcome :blush:

Sorry for the grammar

It’s 2 am :eyes::joy:

2 Likes

How sweet of you to make this! This is really helpful :kissing_heart:

2 Likes

bump she put 2 hours into this

2 Likes

This is really helpful thank you :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: :heart:

2 Likes

This is so helpful Bonnie thank you :sob::sob:

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Np!

2 Likes

Bump! :heart:

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Wow, this is great! Thank you so much!

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okay so I have this issue when I’m doing customization the second character will be in the frame when i’m trying to customize the first. Anyone know how to fix it?

1 Like