Importing

An import reads up to three sources together and matches them by shot number:

• a panel folder of storyboard images,
• a shot list: CSV, TSV, semicolon or pipe separated, or a plain text file with one shot per line,
• an XML edit: Final Cut Pro 7 XML (xmeml) from Storyboard Pro, Storyboarder or an editing tool.

Use any mix. When there is a shot list (or an XML edit), the list leads: its order is the board order, and panels are matched to it. Nothing changes until you press Import.

The import window

Open it with Import > Import… on the Shots page, or Import > Re-import to read the sources of the last import again. The Shots page is in the ta Draughtsman panel: open it from Tools > ta Draughtsman (in the tridiART section), from the Storyboard button in the Sequencer toolbar, or by double-clicking a Storyboard asset in the Content Browser. From Python, open_import_window opens it with given sources.

Field	What it does
Panel folder	The folder with the panel images. Subfolders too looks in subfolders.
Name pattern	Empty (automatic) reads the numbers in the file names by itself. Or give a pattern.
Shot list	A CSV / TSV file with a header, or a text file with one shot per line.
XML edit	A Final Cut Pro 7 XML file.
Remove shots the list no longer has	Shots of the board that the shot list or XML no longer has leave the board. Their sequences stay on disk. On by default.
Read sources	Reads the sources and fills the Summary and the Import plan.
Build / sync the sequence after the import	Runs Build / Sync right after the import. This is the project setting Build After Import: changing the checkbox changes the setting too.
Import (N changes)	Writes the plan into the board and imports the panel textures.

The Summary counts the new, changed, unchanged and removed shots and the panels, and lists the shot list columns it recognised (Read: Shot, Name, Duration, Lens ...). The Import plan has one row per shot:

• Status: NEW, CHANGED, SAME or REMOVED.
• Name / changes: for changed shots, what changes, for example duration 3.50 s -> 2.50 s or lens 65 -> 50 mm.
• Panels: the matched panel images and their file names.
• Timing / lens: the length and the lens after the import.

Panel files that match no shot, and lines the reader did not understand, are listed as warnings.

Panel images

Supported formats: PNG, JPEG, TGA, BMP, EXR, TIFF and PSD. Panels are imported as textures into <Board>_Panels next to the board (or the board’s Panel Folder). Re-importing only re-imports files that changed.

Note

PSD panels go through the engine’s texture importer, which needs the editor UI in some engine versions. Import PSD panels in the open editor, not from a commandlet (a headless Python run). The other formats work in both.

Automatic names

With an empty Name pattern, Draughtsman reads the scene, shot and panel from the numbers in the file name. All of these work:

File name	Shot	Panel
010_A.png	010	A
010A.png	010	A
sh020_p3.png	020	3
SC01_SH010_P02.png	scene 01, shot 010	02
Seq1_Img3_Frame48.png	1	3, 48 frames long

Words such as sc, scene, seq (scene), sh, shot, cut (shot), p, panel, img, board (panel) and f, frames / sec, duration (timing) are recognised, with Turkish words such as sahne, cekim and pano too. A scene or sequence number with no shot number in the name is read as the shot: Seq1_Img3 is shot 1, panel 3.

Name patterns

For other naming schemes, type a pattern with these tokens:

Token	Meaning
{scene}	Scene or sequence number
{shot}	Shot number (a letter right after it is read too, e.g. 010A)
{panel}	Panel label inside the shot
{frames}	Panel length in frames
{seconds}	Panel length in seconds
*	Anything

For example SC{scene}_SH{shot}_P{panel} reads SC02_SH040_P1.png, and {shot}_{panel}_{frames}f reads 040_B_36f.png as a 36-frame panel.

Shot lists

Spreadsheets

Save the sheet as CSV first (in Google Sheets: File > Download > CSV). Comma, tab, semicolon and pipe separated files are read, and decimal commas work. The first row is the header; columns are recognised by name, in English or Turkish, in any order:

Column	Recognised names (examples)
Shot	Shot, Shot No, No, Number, ID, Code, Çekim, Plan
Scene	Scene, Sc, Seq, Sequence, Sahne
Name	Name, Title, Label, Ad, İsim, Başlık
Description	Description, Action, Summary, Açıklama, Aksiyon
Dialogue	Dialogue, VO, Line, Script, Subtitle, Diyalog, Replik
Notes	Notes, Comment, Remarks, Not, Notlar
Duration	Duration, Length, Time, Seconds, Süre
Duration in frames	Frames, Frame count, Kare
In / Out	In, TC In, Start / Out, TC Out, End
Lens	Lens, Focal, Focal length, mm, Objektif
Shot size	Shot size, Size, Type, Framing, Ölçek
Camera move	Camera move, Move, Movement, Camera, Kamera hareketi
Image	Image, Panel, File, Board, Görsel, Resim

The Image column names the panel files of a shot, when they are not named after the shot number.

Durations

Written as	Means
2.5, 2,5, 2.5s	2.5 seconds
60f, or a number in a Frames column	60 frames at the board’s frame rate
3+12	3 seconds and 12 frames
00:00:04:12	timecode (hours, minutes, seconds, frames)
1:30	1 minute 30 seconds

In and Out columns give the length as their difference.

Plain text

A .txt file works too, one shot per line. The shot number comes first (after a scene number, if there is one). A length, a lens and a shot size can follow in any order, a quoted part is the dialogue, and the other words become the description:

010 3s 24mm WS Wide of the ruins "We're late."
020 3+12 35mm MS Look up
025 1:30 85mm CU The key

FCP 7 XML

Export Final Cut Pro 7 XML (xmeml) from Toon Boom Storyboard Pro, Storyboarder or an editing tool. Each clip is one panel, with its exact timing, and the clip names give the shot numbers. The XML’s frame rate is used. Images that were moved are looked for next to the XML file.

How matching works

• Shot numbers are compared without padding or prefixes: 010, 10, sh010 and SH_010 are the same shot. Scenes keep shots apart (SC01 010 and SC02 010).
• A letter right after the number is the panel (010A, 010B are panels A and B of shot 010), unless the shot list has a shot with that letter (020A as an inserted shot).
• The shot list leads: its order is the board order, and panels that match no row are listed as unmatched. Without a list, every numbered panel name becomes a shot, in number order, and names without numbers become shots of their own.
• Timing: the list’s duration, otherwise the panel timing (XML clips, {frames} or {seconds} in names). Without a shot list, a shot gets the board’s Default Panel Duration (2 s) per panel. With a list that gives a shot no length, a new shot gets the board’s Default Shot Duration (3 s). Inside a shot, timed panels keep their time and the others share the rest.

Tip

Re-importing an unchanged list does not touch timing you changed in Sequencer. A shot’s length only changes when the list gives it a new one.