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Import Cast and Scenes

Hello,

is it possible to import the cast and scenes with scene numbers from a script (example from a Final Draft file) or does everything have to be entered manually? I am very happy about a short answer.

best
Johannes

5 comments

5 Comments

Per Holmes

Feb 13

Hi,

That kind of workflow is unfortunately not a good fit for Shot Designer. Shot Designer is scene based, not project based, so all we could do is create a bunch of blank scenes with characters in a row, which isn't how you normally use the app. Rather, you'd build each location and do Save As on those scene to reuse the locations for other scenes, but none of that would exist at the beginning. So simply importing and generating a bunch of scene files is a bit useless, and/or actually counter to how people actually use the app.

Per Holmes

Feb 21

Replying to

Hi,

I hold that having 100 empty scenes with characters in a row created automatically is more obstruction than help. One of the most common workflows is to fork scenes with full locations and setups into the next scene you need to do in the same location, and such a workflow would be gone.

This is different in Shot Designer 3D, which thinks in whole projects, and where locations and cast can be shared among scenes. But for Shot Designer 2D, where each scene is its own file, I hold that such a workflow would be an impediment.

Wayne Hope

Mar 11

Replying to

Hey Per, How's SD 3D travelling? ETA? This year??

Per Holmes

Mar 11

Replying to

I don't think I can make it this year. It's also a little bit hard to see the timeline, because I've built so many things separately. The document/sync infrastructure is in one project, the UI is in another project, and much of the 3D stuff like our shaders are developed in their own project. So it looks like nothing, even if I've written tens of thousands of lines of code.

The reality in making an app is that you can quite quickly slap a UItogether and have what looks like an app. But it lives and dies on the infrastructure that's under it, and you still have 90% of your work in front of you. Knowing that, I've been doing all the underground stuff first, and properly, and it's only now that anything is starting to poke above ground.

The infrastructure is kick-ass. Sync and collaboration is inherent and already running. The data model in the app can handle the load of a large app. Usually, development on apps becomes slower and slower, because all the shortcuts you took earlier on lead to more and more duct tape, until the app is all duct tape. The data models we're now using for both Causality and Shot Designer allow almost any level of easy expansion without ever straining. It's so good we're debating whether to write a computer science paper, because this is how all apps should be designed internally.

Bottom line, it's pedal to the metal, and has been for a long time. But realistically, it's probably around 2024 that there's anything to show publicly. I wish it were faster.