Shot

As defined in the Glossary, a [Shot] is the basic entity manipulated by the StoryLiner user interface. As for a live footage it is made of a point of view, thanks to a camera, and a “record duration”, defined by a start time and an end time.

A shot has one and one only camera. When it is not associated to a camera, or if this camera is missing, the shot is considered as invalid and cannot be used in the [Edit].

In StoryLiner we make the disctinction between shots that are used purely for a 2D purpose, the Storyboard Shots, from thoses associated to a 3D camera, the Camera Shots. Because their purpose is different we also treat them differently in the UI.

Shot Properties

Shot types

A shot can be of one of the following types. The type defines how the shot - and in particular its storyboard frame if it has one - will behave in the scene. The type can be changed in the Properties panel of the selected shot, it is identified by a specific icon.

Storyboard Shot

The [Storyboard_Shot] is a 2D shot, meaning it contains only 2D drawings and objects such as text.

It is treated as part of the shots belonging to the storyboard shots grid. Its camera location and orientation will then be changed to place the camera in the grid everytime the grid is updated.

All the shots created when the Storyboard layout is active are of type Storyboard Shot.

Camera Shot

The [Camera_Shot] shot is a “3D” shot, meaning that either the camera is moving or it records an action taking place into the scene.

It is the type of shot to use everytime the camera is shooting content from the 3D space - which is most of the cases basically.

All the shots created when the Previz layout is active are of type Camera Shot.

See also Frame Visibility

Shots Global Controls

Passepartout

You may have noticed that the value you see in the Shot Global Settings passepartout slider is not matching the pass partout value of the camera. That’s “by design”. That’s because Blender is not using linear colors as in Photoshop for example but sRgb values, which are gamma corrected. That’s a good thing then managing pixel colors at render time, but that makes a strange experience for the user in the UI in many cases: for materials for example, and for everything related to transparency.

Indeed, when changing the value of the pass partout directly onto a camera, you will notice that its stays very transparent for a wide range of values (from 0 to 0.7 more or less) and then suddenly goes dark, and you have a very narrow range (0.95 to 1.0) to control all the opaque part. Not a linear feeling at all, as when you change the opacity of a layer in Photoshop for example.

So, in order to improve the user experience, and provide a more natural range, the global pass partout setting in StoryLiner is linear. Hence the difference of value when you compare it to the value the camera gets.