Key Concepts

These are the building blocks of every StoryBoards project. Understanding them will make the rest of the app click.

Workspace

A workspace is the production home you pick in the header with Select workspace. It holds your projects and the shared library (recurring characters, props, locations, and visual styles). On Studio, several people can share one workspace after you invite them onto seats. Switch workspaces to work on a different show or client. See Workspaces, seats, and people.

Project (Story / Episode)

A project (also called a story or episode) lives inside a workspace. It holds one script, one storyboard, and optionally a video timeline. This week’s scenes, shots, and generated frames belong to that project. Recurring cast and looks can live in the workspace library and be added to each episode. You manage projects from the Projects dashboard.

Scene

A scene is a chunk of your story that happens in one place or time. Scenes contain shots and are displayed as groups on the Board. You can create scenes manually or let the script analysis detect them automatically.

Shot

A shot is a single storyboard frame — one camera angle, one composition, one moment. Each shot has a text description (the prompt) and an image. Shots live inside scenes and can be reordered, duplicated, or moved between scenes.

Characters

Characters are the people or creatures in your story. Each character has a name, description, optional outfit details, a selected image, and an image portfolio. To keep a character looking consistent across shots, prepare the character in Entity Builder and build a useful portfolio of generated, uploaded, or edited images. On Studio, keep recurring characters in the workspace library and add them to each episode from the Story Inspector (Characters section) or Asset Manager.

Props

Props are objects that need to look consistent across shots — a specific car, a sword, a branded product. Props can have image portfolios and references so the AI reproduces them faithfully. Recurring props belong in the workspace library the same way characters do.

Backgrounds

Backgrounds define the look of locations. You can create backgrounds with reference images so the AI maintains consistent environments across shots in the same scene. Reuse locations across episodes from the workspace library.

Art Direction (Visual Look)

Art direction is the look of your storyboard — cinematic live-action, graphic novel, watercolor, anime, and other treatments. You pick it in the Story Wizard Style step or later from the Art direction control in Create View. Built-in looks are ready to click. You can also create a custom style (example images + look plate) and select it as the project look. Shot prompts should describe the scene; Ciaro applies the look when generating images. Character portraits stay as identity photos and are not restyled. Changing the look does not rewrite images you already generated until you regenerate them.

Create View (Shot Editor)

The place where you generate and refine images for a shot. Hover a shot on the Board or Concept canvas, then click Create or Edit on the image to open it. Typical tools include Generate, Edit, Sketch, and annotations. Consistency comes from reference images in slots plus / chips — see Reference-based generation.

Reference images

Pictures you prepare for a character, prop, or location, then drag into Create View slots so the model can keep the same face, object, or place. Ciaro does not train a custom model for this. Build the portfolio in Entity Builder, drop it into slots, and generate. Art direction is the look of the board; references are who and what appear.

Asset Manager

The file cabinet for characters, props, locations, styles, and generated media. Open it with A or the folder icon in the header. Inside a story, Story shows this episode only; Team shows the workspace library (shared across episodes). Drag assets into Create View as references. See Asset Manager and Reusing cast and looks across episodes.

Credits

Credits (or allowances, depending on your plan) are consumed when you perform AI operations — generating images, creating videos, running script analysis, and similar generation work. You can check your balance in the header or under Account Settings. See Credits & Plans for details.

Video

The optional final step: turn your storyboard shots into video clips using AI video generation, then arrange them on a timeline. You can add transitions, trim clips, reorder segments, and export the result.