Writer's Portal Update: Week of December 14, 2023

Announcements! Writer's Portal Updates
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Hello Episode Authors!

We’re excited to announce the following features are now LIVE on episodeinteractive.com :

:arrows_counterclockwise: Overlay Rotation Tool with updated spot directing menu :arrows_counterclockwise:

  • The spot directing menu in the previewer has a refreshed layout!
    • “Modes” are on the left side
    • Layering tools are now in “Move” mode
    • Characters support Move & Scale modes
      • “Flip Char” has been moved from the right side menu to the left side menu
  • Overlays can now be adjusted with a suite of new tools and modes! You can now do the following with overlays after clicking on the “Change Overlay” button:
    • Rotate mode
      • drag to adjust rotation value
      • reset & adjust rotation in 90 degree increments
    • Scale mode
      • (same as before) drag to adjust scale
      • flip across X & Y axes
    • Anchoring mode
      • drag to adjust the overlay around the anchor point (black and white square)
      • adjust the anchor point in 0.1 increments and between fixed positions
    • Opacity mode
      • drag to adjust opacity between 0 and 1
      • reset & adjust opacity in 0.1 increments
    • Move mode
      • (same as before) drag to adjust position
      • layering buttons relocated here
  • While dragging with these tools, other elements of the HUD will dim to reveal more of your scene
    Spot Directing Layout
    Spot Directing Layout500×591 63.4 KB

:pinching_hand: Shorter Overlay Command - ovl :pinching_hand:

  • You can now use “@ovl” where you would’ve used “@overlay” (the same applies with “&”)
  • You can also use it with AND like the following:
    • @ovl INT. OFFICE SUPPLY CLOSET BOXES shifts to 100 100 AND ovl INT. OFFICE SUPPLY CLOSET BOXES scales to 2.0 2.0

:handshake: Variables: SET command :handshake:

  • String variables can be used with SET command! These can be displayed in dialogue with replaceables. For example:
    • set my_favorite tuna fish
      NARR
      How is the [my_favorite] on toast?
      String Variables
  • Explanation: the string “tuna fish” is stored into the variable “my_favorite” and you can use brackets around that variable name to have it appear in your dialogue

:red_square: Outfit Editor: Generic Female → Female plus outfit convertor :large_blue_circle:

  • To assist with Female plus branching, you can now create Female plus outfits from a saved Generic Female’s outfit by creating a new Female plus outfit name and clicking the “Convert to Plus” button.
    Convert Outfit
  • A new Female plus outfit will be generated and saved with clothing asset that is usable by both Generic Female and Female plus characters.

:couple:t4:Outfit Editor: Filtering shared clothing :couple:t4:

  • With the outfit editor, you can now filter and see what clothes are shared with the current character you’re editing.
  • The red box shows the current character type you are dressing. The blue box allows you to filter which clothes are shared with another character type.
    1600×735 264 KB

:curly_loop: Looping Backgrounds via Donacode :curly_loop:

  • You can now have any background loop on screen via Donacode! All you do is specify a loop speed as the last part of your background (after any overlays). Examples:
    • Without overlay
      • EXT. ABBEY GARDEN - DAY with loop speed 320
    • With un-moving overlay
      • EXT. ABBEY GARDEN - DAY with BANISTER SIMPLE with loop speed 320
    • With negative loop speed and un-moving overlay
      • EXT. ABBEY GARDEN - DAY with BANISTER SIMPLE with loop speed -1000
    • With an overlay that moves along with the background
      • EXT. ABBEY GARDEN - DAY with loop speed 320
        &overlay DUST CLOUD WHITE create
        &overlay DUST CLOUD WHITE shifts to 480 240
        &overlay DUST CLOUD WHITE scales to 1.0 1.0
        &overlay DUST CLOUD WHITE rotates 0 anchor point 0.5 0.5
        &overlay DUST CLOUD WHITE to layer 1
        &overlay DUST CLOUD WHITE opacity 1
        &overlay DUST CLOUD WHITE shifts to 480 240 in 0 THEN overlay DUST CLOUD WHITE shifts to -160 240 in 2 loop INFINITE times
      • Explanation: We have the background moving at 320 units per second; the overlay is moving a distance of 640 units in two seconds to match.
  • This works with your custom backgrounds as well!

:rock: Solid Color Backgrounds via Donacode :rock:

  • If you’d like a solid color background for a scene, you can now do that in Donacode! Examples:
    • COL. #ffc0cb
      • for a pink background
    • COL. #00ffff
      • for a cyan background
  • We think of “COL.” as “Color-based scene”, similar to “INT.” and “EXT.” for interior and exterior scenes
  • You can use the color picker in the Transitions section of the Library to pick the hexadecimal code.

:eye: Transition previews :eye:

61 Likes
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Woo!

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oh im so glad we got theseeeee

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The looping feature has saved my life :sob:

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Eats. Ate. Have eaten. It’s late here, but I can’t wait to test everything out tomorrow. I’m so exciteddd for this!!!

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What an awesome update with the loop and overlays rotation! Thank you :sob:

This too! :laughing:

5 Likes
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Fantastic! That SET command will save me having to use character names to hold variables.

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omg yes!!

life changer

always a fan of new commands

i wanted to scream when i saw this cause i spent 8 hours doing this manually for a story :face_holding_back_tears:

time saving for sure!

i can delete my green sceen bg now :rofl:

just a fantastic update can’t wait to test them

4 Likes
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Oh my God. Wow! Thank you so much!!

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The fact that we can loop our own backgrounds now is SICK!! Thank you Episode! I love this new update!

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Thank you episode! Now I can use custom looping BGs :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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we’ve gotten 3(?) portal updates this year. i hope this keeps up for next year(s)

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  • Temporarily fading the HUD while moving characters and overlays is such a neat little addition, and it really makes a difference while coding!

    • Same with flipping overlays across the X and Y axes. Cool!

  • I was a little sad we could only rotate in 90-degree increments, and then I clicked and held and ahhhhh!!! Free rotatioooonnn!!! I must have skipped over this in the original post
    Overlay Rotation

    • Same with anchor points, yes!!!
      Anchor Point

  • There are two “-.1X Anchor” buttons; I believe the first one should be “+.1X Anchor”

  • This has been my favorite update of the year, easy :heavy_heart_exclamation:

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Thanks for the feedback! And thank you for pointing out that bug with the two -.1X Anchor buttons! We’ll fix that label in our next update :slight_smile:

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THE WAY YALL HAVE ATE THIS DOWN IM FR CRYING THIS IS F*CKING AMAZING!

(Like, no joke, this is amazing!)

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Okay, this is called: episode really wants to end this year with a blast!!
I love all updated things we have received in the last weeks. Great job, Episode team!🩶🩶🩶

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So happy about this! Thank you, Episode! :heart_eyes:

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LETS GOOOO
yall we got fed at the end of this year thank you episode :sob::heartpulse:

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