Draughtsman

Version 1.0.0 Unreal Engine 5.0 – 5.8 Personal $19.99 Professional $49.99 on Fab

Draughtsman is an Unreal Engine editor plugin that takes a storyboard to Sequencer. It reads your storyboard panels, a shot list (CSV or plain text) or a Final Cut Pro 7 XML edit and builds the master sequence for you: one shot per row, each with its own cine camera, the listed lens, a camera cut and the right length. While you lay out a shot, the board panel sits over the camera view, so you match the drawing instead of guessing. When the list changes, sync again: cameras, keys and the timing you set in Sequencer stay. Then export a board animatic, a camera animatic or both side by side, with burn-ins.

A storyboard is an asset, so the whole team works from the same board through source control.

Who it is for

• Previs and layout artists who turn a storyboard into shots and cameras, and want the panel over the viewport instead of on a second screen.
• Cinematic and cutscene teams whose shot list keeps changing, and who need the sequence to follow without losing their camera work.
• Directors and leads who review timing with a quick board or camera animatic.

Features

• Import from what you already have. A folder of panel images, a shot list from Excel or Google Sheets (saved as CSV) or a plain text file, an FCP 7 XML edit from Storyboard Pro, Storyboarder or an editing tool, in any mix, matched by shot number. See Importing.
• Review before anything changes. The import window lists every shot as NEW, CHANGED (with what changed), SAME or REMOVED, with its matched panels and anything the reader did not understand.
• Build / Sync the sequence. A master sequence with a shot track, and per shot its own level sequence with a spawnable cine camera (the listed lens, a filmback in the board’s aspect) and a camera cut. Syncing again keeps your work, and Pull timing brings lengths and order edited in Sequencer back into the board. See Sequencer.
• The panel over the camera. While the master or a shot is open in Sequencer, the panel under the playhead is drawn over the level viewport: Overlay, Lines, Wipe or Corner. See Panel over camera.
• Animatics as MP4 or PNG frames: Board, Camera, Side by side and Board over camera, with burn-ins. See Animatics.
• Python and Blueprint API for all of it. See Python.

Quick start

1. Install the plugin, open the level you are laying out and open Tools > ta Draughtsman (in the tridiART section of the Tools menu).
2. Choose New storyboard… from the board menu at the top right.
3. Import > Import…: pick your panel folder and/or shot list, press Read sources, check the plan and press Import. The sequence is built right away.
4. Double-click a shot (or press Open in Sequencer) and scrub: the panel follows the playhead over the camera view. Switch to Lines and move the camera until the scene matches the drawing.
5. Open the Animatic tab and press Export animatic.

The full walkthrough is in Quick start.

Note

The panel overlay is drawn by a post-process pass on the active level viewport only, and the cameras are spawnables inside the shot sequences. Nothing is placed in your level, Play In Editor and your game are not affected, and nothing of Draughtsman is packaged.

Supported versions

Unreal Engine	5.0 – 5.8
Platforms	Win64, Mac and Linux editor
Module type	Editor only (not included in packaged builds)
Dependencies	Level Sequence Editor plugin (part of the engine, enabled by default)
Animatics	MP4 (H.264) on Windows; PNG frames on every platform
License	Fab Standard License: Personal $19.99, Professional $49.99
Get it	ta Draughtsman on Fab

Quick links

InstallationAdd the plugin and open the panel.

Quick startFrom a panel folder to an animatic, step by step.

ImportingPanel names, shot list columns, durations, XML and matching.

The Shots pageThe shot list, the details and the panels.

SequencerBuild / Sync, what is kept, and Pull timing.

Panel over cameraOverlay, Lines, Wipe and Corner.

AnimaticsBoard, camera, side by side, burn-ins.

PythonEvery function of TADraughtsmanSubsystem.

SettingsProject settings and storyboard properties.

FAQAnswers to common questions.